- 5 weeks ago
find more Series on RealTV :
https://realtv.mytvchannel.org
https://realtv.mytvchannel.org
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Up next on American Restoration.
00:03This is a scoreboard from the 1940s.
00:05That's so cool.
00:06Can you make it look good?
00:08I can make it look good.
00:09Can you make it work?
00:11Um...
00:11This is a uranium detector.
00:13No way. Really?
00:14Yeah.
00:15This detecting the radiation that it emits.
00:17This goes all the way back to your physics thing that you failed.
00:20I got a D. It wasn't failing.
00:21You failed.
00:22Ha!
00:22There's a lot of wires, and what I need you to do is label each one of them.
00:27Whatever.
00:27Cowboy, every single wire gets a label.
00:31Wait till you see. I'm gonna label everything.
00:33What the ?
00:35Cowboy!
00:38Look at a man's workbench.
00:40You see his passions.
00:43His work's in progress.
00:46The things that drive him crazy.
00:51Projects that?
00:52You get the point.
00:54Anyway.
00:55Every workbench tells a story.
00:57And this is ours.
00:59American Restoration.
01:09Wait.
01:10There's somebody here to see you.
01:12Oh, okay.
01:13Come on.
01:13Bring it in.
01:13Here at my shop, we can restore anything from any part of the world.
01:18But no matter how obscure an item is, if it's made in the USA, it's extra special to me.
01:24What is this?
01:25This is a scoreboard.
01:26Came out of a high school from the 1940s.
01:29Can I open it?
01:29Sure, go ahead.
01:30I'm here at Rick's Restorations today to drop off my scoreboard.
01:33I own the local bar.
01:35We used it when we shot pool.
01:37And I'd like to see it restored back to its original condition.
01:41It is so awesome.
01:43It's not baseball or football.
01:44It's definitely, definitely basketball.
01:46Yes.
01:46That's a countdown clock.
01:48Yep.
01:48That's the buzzer.
01:49He got quarters.
01:50First, second, third, and fourth.
01:51I remember in our gym in high school, we had sort of something like this, right?
01:55Yeah.
01:56Yeah, similar.
01:56Did you know the manufacturer on this or anything?
01:58It's all American.
01:59Yeah.
02:00The guy that invented the All-American Scoreboard Company, he was actually a principal of a
02:04school.
02:05They wanted a scoreboard, an electric board, and he actually made it.
02:08Later on, he quit school and he started making scoreboards.
02:12Yeah.
02:12I mean, this was really cool to be able to have an electronic scoreboard because before that,
02:16it would be nothing but the guy.
02:18Yeah, it was just a big wood board and these guys with numbers had to climb up there and
02:22be behind there and actually hang numbers or spin numbers in the back.
02:25Yeah.
02:25Back when this scoreboard was made, life revolved around your community, your school, and high
02:30school athletes were the hometown heroes.
02:33So to make the school feel special and fancy, they get a cool scoreboard just like this.
02:38This is basically the controller that operates this entire face.
02:42Everything about it, resetting the clock, it would do each one of the numbers, it probably
02:46even blew the horn.
02:47Push the number up here that you want and then you change the score, you push the red button.
02:52Yeah.
02:53All right.
02:53So does it work though?
02:55Right now, I don't believe anything works.
02:57Oh.
02:58I want to know what you want to do with it though.
02:59I want it to look good and I want it to work.
03:02Okay.
03:02I like to hang it in my office.
03:04I have a combination office game room.
03:06I like to keep score on it.
03:07Okay.
03:08I was hoping maybe in the center, you could put a regular clock face in there.
03:12This is actually a picture of the original building it came from.
03:16Oh, wow.
03:16Maybe you could put like a ghost of that picture.
03:19Okay.
03:20So what you're going to do is sort of inlay this background or it looks like that.
03:23That'll look cool in there actually.
03:24Very cool.
03:26All right.
03:27So we can go ahead and fix the clock.
03:29This will be a clock with 12 numbers instead of eight.
03:32It'll light, like you said, a ghost shadow of the school.
03:34We'll redo the hands, you know, whatever they were originally.
03:37Right.
03:38We want to make the buzzer buzz.
03:39Yep.
03:40We'll replace all the bulbs.
03:41I definitely like to have the original connectors.
03:44The original ends on it and everything.
03:46So what do you think this will cost?
03:48In order to do the whole thing and make it work again, make it pretty, I'm looking between
03:52$95 and $9,800.
03:54Whoa.
03:55Wire is very, very expensive.
03:57It's copper.
03:58You can run into, you know, one to five bucks a foot.
04:00And I can't see inside of this.
04:02If I have to replace every single piece of wire in there, we could get in trouble.
04:09I'd love to see it working again, so let's do it.
04:13All right.
04:13All right.
04:16This scoreboard is such an awesome piece of Americana.
04:19And the nice thing about these early electronics is they're fairly straightforward.
04:23I can't wait to get started.
04:25And he shoots.
04:26He scores!
04:38Hi.
04:39Hi.
04:40I'm Rick.
04:41Melissa.
04:42What can I do for you?
04:43I was cleaning out my father's garage and I found something and I wanted to restore
04:46it.
04:46Oh, cool.
04:47Well, let's bring it over here, okay?
04:48My dad was a lover of gadgets, a lifelong educator, and I found something on his workbench.
04:54I wanted to restore it because it just really summed up what my dad was.
04:58Wow.
04:59What is that?
05:00This is a uranium detector.
05:02No way.
05:03Really?
05:03Yeah.
05:04I was cleaning out my father's garage and I found it in a pile of junk.
05:08He was a gadget man and...
05:10Man after my own art.
05:11Yeah, yeah.
05:12He loved interesting devices.
05:14That's pretty cool.
05:15These were around a lot, actually, in the 50s and 60s.
05:18This thing is so cool.
05:20I remember back when I was a kid, people used to use them to look for precious metals
05:25on their property.
05:26The government was building so many nuclear weapons, they'd actually pay you if you found
05:31some radioactive material.
05:32So many people were investing in these things.
05:35All right.
05:35Well, what do you want to do with this thing?
05:38Well, I'd like it cleaned up.
05:40I'd like the glass repaired, the rust removed.
05:43I want it looking good.
05:44And in memory of my father, I would love to see it working.
05:48Okay.
05:49Um, restoring it.
05:50All the chroming.
05:51We can go ahead and just clean that.
05:53Redoing the face of it.
05:54I think I can definitely make it look great, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to
05:58make it work.
05:59So I gotta go inside of it and see what's there.
06:01Um, I'm assuming it's electronic, but it may be tubed.
06:05I don't know.
06:05Because it's another one of those pieces that I've never ever seen before.
06:08So I know there's an expert in this kind of stuff.
06:12He might be able to tell us, you know, what, how it worked.
06:14Okay.
06:14So I'll ask him whatever I gotta do to make it happen.
06:16But if I can get the whole thing done working, um, I'm looking at probably 1,500 to do the
06:22whole thing.
06:23Ooh.
06:24Okay.
06:24That is a lot for such a little device.
06:30Well, this is the only thing I kept at my father's.
06:33And, uh, this will be a good tribute to him.
06:35So let's do it.
06:36All right.
06:37That's awesome.
06:38Let's go in the office.
06:39We'll take care of a little paperwork.
06:40Okay.
06:41I'll get started.
06:42Fifteen hundred dollars is a lot of money.
06:44Um, for that price, I really hope you can get it working again.
06:54I've never had to restore a uranium detector before.
06:57So in order to do this job right, I need some more information about it.
07:01So Tyler and I are heading to the National Atomic Testing Museum to speak to some experts.
07:06How you doing?
07:07I'm Rick.
07:08Alan, director of the National Atomic Testing Museum.
07:12Awesome.
07:13I'm carrying it.
07:13I'm carrying it.
07:14This is it right here.
07:15Okay.
07:16It's something that we need to restore, but, um, I need to know a little bit more about
07:19it.
07:20You came to the right place.
07:21Awesome.
07:22Okay.
07:22Let's go take a look.
07:23All right.
07:23The National Atomic Testing Museum is the keeper of the story of the nation's nuclear
07:29weapons testing programs, and particularly here in Nevada.
07:33So, Rick, here's Geiger counters.
07:35All right.
07:36So, I mean, that piece of equipment there was a uranium detector, and then all these,
07:41I mean, you're calling them Geiger counters.
07:43It's really the same kind of thing.
07:45Yeah.
07:45You're trying to detect radioactivity in materials, and a uranium detector does exactly that.
07:51It will find uranium because it's detecting the radiation that it emits.
07:55This goes all the way back to your physics thing that I was trying to help you with.
07:58Yeah.
07:58It's great that you failed.
08:01I got a D. It wasn't failing.
08:03You failed.
08:05So, Rick, let's go see how we use the Geiger counter.
08:08Okay.
08:09Being here reminds me a little bit of being back in school, but it never hurts to learn
08:12anything new because I never really know what we're going to get into the shop.
08:16I mean, any knowledge is helpful.
08:18We've got a couple of samples here so we can kind of test this out, and I'll show you
08:21how it sounds.
08:22Okay.
08:23So, every time you hear it beeping, it's picking up a particle.
08:27The more beeps you get, the more radiation is coming out of the material.
08:30Wow.
08:31I think I know how to make the thing look beautiful, but I want it to work, and I don't
08:35know how to do that.
08:36There are some components that are critical.
08:38There are circuit boards, there are batteries inside, and certainly the Geiger-Mueller tube.
08:42This thing here.
08:43That tube is actually filled with an inert gas.
08:47Can the gas leak out of these?
08:48Well, it dissipates over time.
08:50You would have to send that out to a company to have it recharged.
08:54Ah.
08:55You've got a lot of work to do.
08:56You've got a lot of work.
08:56So, okay.
08:58Thank you very much.
08:59This is great.
08:59I never would have thought of sending out the GM tube for a recharge.
09:03So that alone made the trip well worth it.
09:06When I saw there was that many wires and that much cable, I freaked out.
09:09I could see it taking me a long, long time to be able to do this.
09:12It's time consuming.
09:13Oh.
09:14It's really cool.
09:15Can we see it work?
09:16The only thing is I don't have any uranium.
09:30Earlier, a customer brought in a really awesome scoreboard, just like the one from my high
09:34school days.
09:35But when Kyle and I took a closer look, we realized the cabling was corroded.
09:39It's so crispy when you move it.
09:41Watch.
09:41That's trash.
09:42And the wiring was a total mess.
09:44We've got to replace it all.
09:47I got so excited to restore the scoreboard from my high school days, I overestimated the
09:52condition that it's in.
09:53So I called in a heavy duty wiring guy to sort this thing out.
09:57I'm Jason.
09:58Jason, I specialize in electronic scoreboards.
10:00Hopefully, we can get the wire straightened out and we'll get it completed.
10:04Oh, wow.
10:05I called you because the cables and wires, all of them are all broke.
10:09Gotcha.
10:09They're not colored.
10:10They're not numbered.
10:11It's like, oh, my God.
10:12How are you going to get to know where this wire goes to this wire?
10:15Actually, what I would do is just mark the back of this where these wires need to go
10:18really well and just hand me the cable.
10:20Okay.
10:21As long as everything's marked, we can get you a new extension cord.
10:24So mark each one of these wires.
10:26Correct.
10:27I could see it taking me a long, long time to be able to do this.
10:30It's time-consuming.
10:32So if I do all the wire labeling and cosmetic stuff, what's it going to cost me to get it
10:37up and running wire-wise?
10:38About $2,000.
10:41Whew.
10:45Quite honestly, I think that's better than sending it back to him broke.
10:48He wants it working.
10:49Right.
10:50So if you can do your end, I'll do my end, and I think we can actually come together
10:54and figure it out, right?
10:55Exactly.
10:55All right.
10:56Okay, you got it.
10:56We'll do that.
10:57Two grand is more than I thought this wiring would cost.
11:00But I didn't think the wiring was going to be so complex.
11:03So having Jason do the heavy lifting is going to be money well spent.
11:15Since we got back from the atomic testing museum, we've been going full tilt on this Geiger counter.
11:20We took it apart, fixed the casing, and now we're painting it.
11:27Meanwhile, my brother Ron has gone MIA, and that's never a good sign.
11:36Cowboy, I got a job for you.
11:38What the deal is, is there's a scoreboard in the back.
11:41There's probably a hundred wires.
11:42I need it all labeled.
11:44Okay?
11:45Can you handle that?
11:45That's a job for the boys.
11:47I don't know why Rick's always got me doing these little jobs.
11:50I'm going to be a pain in the ass over there labeling all them damn wires and that hot-ass
11:53sun.
11:54The boys can handle that.
11:55I really want it done right.
11:57If it's not labeled correctly, it's not going to work at all.
12:00Okay?
12:01Every single wire gets a label with like post-its or something.
12:06Damn it.
12:07And you know how long it's going to take me to label all them wires?
12:09I know it's a tough job, but it's a really, really important one.
12:12And I need you to do it.
12:13You saying it's important don't mean I got to do it.
12:16Cowboy, you're the guy.
12:17How come every time I give Cowboy a simple job, he has to give me crap about it?
12:21Why can't he just say, okay, Rick?
12:24Can I have a beer at the same time?
12:25You know dang good and well you can't have a beer, all right?
12:28I'll label it all right.
12:38It's hotter than a son of a out here.
12:40If Rick's going to give me the world's worst job, I'm not going to suffer alone.
12:43Kyle owes me for a night out of the bar.
12:45We got like 92 more.
12:47Get this over with.
12:49This is going to take us all day.
12:52You know I'm getting paid back for Rick for this .
12:57The uranium detector is going to be done pretty soon.
13:00But if we're going to show them that it really works, we're going to need some uranium to test it
13:03on.
13:03Since they don't normally have any at the local hardware store, I called up the Atomic Testing Museum to see
13:08if they could help me out.
13:09Now, I don't know what to expect, but I'm seeing glowing green rocks and a hazmat suit in my future.
13:16How's it going?
13:16Hey, I'm Ron with Rick's Restorations.
13:18I'm here to pick up a package.
13:21Oh, yes.
13:22I think this is it for you, sir.
13:23All right.
13:25Now, if we could have you sign that for the two items we have in here.
13:29We have one fiestaware teacup and one saucer.
13:39Kitchenware?
13:40Seriously?
13:41Is this stuff like glow when you turn the lights off or anything?
13:43No, what they did was they crushed up uranium and they used it for the orange glaze process.
13:48And it's what gives it the nice orange burnt color.
13:51Oh, really?
13:52Oh, yeah.
13:52This isn't radioactive or anything, is it?
13:54Yes.
13:55Slightly.
13:56That's pretty crazy.
13:57It's not going to top the charts on your radiation detector, but it will definitely give a signal.
14:02Right on.
14:03All right.
14:03Have a good one.
14:04You have a good day, sir.
14:05Thanks.
14:08Back at the shop, we're hard at work on the cosmetics for the 40 scoreboard.
14:12While we're bead blasting and buffing the light fixtures, Ted is using a pressure pot to make the lenses for
14:19the period lights on the scoreboard.
14:22It's flawless.
14:25Hey, Rick.
14:26Rick.
14:31Hey, Melissa's here for the uranium detector, dude.
14:33Hey, Melissa.
14:34I heard it was done.
14:35I can't wait to see this.
14:37Are you excited?
14:37Yes.
14:37This is pretty cool.
14:38It came out really, really nice.
14:39I can't wait for you to see it.
14:41Oh, great.
14:41When I dropped it off, it wasn't working.
14:43And you could tell it had sat around for a long time.
14:45But I'm really hoping it works and excited to see it.
14:49Okay, Melissa, you remember what this looked like, right?
14:52Yeah.
14:52It had its own little character at the time.
14:54Right.
14:54You ready?
14:55I'm ready.
14:55All right.
14:56Here we go.
14:58One, two, three.
15:02Oh, my goodness.
15:04Oh, it is beautiful.
15:07Just like new.
15:10Glass and the diesel are fixed.
15:12To actually see it was just thrilling.
15:16I was really amazed at the appearance of the wand.
15:19That chrome looks perfect.
15:20It just looks great.
15:24So this must have been a bit of a job.
15:26Oh, yeah.
15:27This is all aluminum.
15:28Okay.
15:28So we sandblasted that all.
15:29We actually handmade the plastic bezel on the front of it there.
15:32Really?
15:33And then we shot it with the same color that would have been back on it in the day.
15:36It's called Hammer Tone Aqua Blue.
15:39Silk screened all that art on there, so it looked just like it did back in the day.
15:42Yeah.
15:43You did an amazing job.
15:45It is just beautiful.
15:46I was hoping that it would look like new, but I'm really concerned about whether or not
15:50it's working.
15:51I'm going to be disappointed if it's not.
15:54So can we test it?
15:55Can we see it work?
15:57It does work, but the only thing is I don't have any uranium.
16:00Well, that's not exactly true.
16:01Your little brother has a little surprise for you, all right?
16:04What do you mean he has a surprise?
16:05Hold on one sec, okay?
16:08He doesn't know what uranium is.
16:09He has no clue.
16:11I, too, made a trip to the National Atomic Testing Museum.
16:16You did?
16:16And I've had some uranium sitting around this place.
16:20What are you doing with uranium sitting around the shop?
16:22I mean, really?
16:23I don't know if I should have gloves, but...
16:27It's a teacup.
16:28Glazed with uranium.
16:29That's pretty cool.
16:30Is this okay to have sitting around my house?
16:32Yeah, but don't drink out of it.
16:34Yeah.
16:36All right, so pull this out.
16:38Okay, this is the wand.
16:39And what it does is this thing is going to read it.
16:42Okay.
16:42When you go over top of it, you're going to hold it down like that.
16:45Oh, okay.
16:46Okay?
16:46Ready?
16:47Ready.
16:47So watch the needle and you'll sort of hear it.
16:48Ready?
16:49Here we go.
16:52Oh, I hear it.
16:53Yeah.
16:53Oh, that is so cool.
16:56See?
16:56Wanna try it?
16:57Yes.
16:59Okay.
17:01Oh, there it goes.
17:03Oh, this is great.
17:06I've never seen it work.
17:08So to see the indicator move and to hear it clicking, that was really exciting.
17:15Thanks a lot.
17:15Thank you so much.
17:19Any project that I restore, I like taking completely apart down to the bare bones, even if it's riveted.
17:26But removing rivets can often be a challenge.
17:29What is the best tool to remove small popped rivets?
17:32A.
17:33A drill.
17:34B.
17:35A hammer and chisel.
17:37C.
17:37An angle grinder.
17:39D.
17:40A punch.
17:41The answer and more coming up.
17:47What is the best tool to remove small popped rivets?
17:51The correct answer is A. A drill.
17:54To take a pop rivet off, you simply find a drill bit that's just a little bit bigger than the
18:00hole in the rivets head.
18:01When you drill into it, all you want to do is drill the head of the rivet off.
18:09This allows the back of the rivet to fall off without affecting the original hole.
18:15Then when you want to reassemble your project, you can go ahead and use the same size rivet and start
18:20putting it all back together again.
18:29With all the electrical now done on this 40 scoreboard, Kyle's putting it all together for the customer who's coming
18:35in later today to pick it up.
18:39Hey Rick!
18:40Dale's here.
18:41Oh hey.
18:42Hey Rick.
18:43Good to see you.
18:45Everything good?
18:45I hope so.
18:46You excited to see this thing?
18:48I am excited to see my scoreboard.
18:49Alright. It was a huge project for us, but I can't wait to show it to you. It's in here.
18:53Come on in here.
18:53Okay.
18:54I'm really looking forward to seeing the scoreboard working again with all the lights working and hopefully the buzzer is
18:59going to buzz.
19:00You remember what this thing looked like, right?
19:01It was bad.
19:02A little disgusting, right?
19:03I can't wait to see it, Rick.
19:05Here we go.
19:05One, two, three.
19:09Wow.
19:10Wow.
19:12The paint, everything on it, it's just so shiny.
19:14And I asked for it to look like it came out of the factory.
19:17And Rick, this does.
19:19Rick really did an excellent job with it.
19:21And it's a perfect tribute to where this scoreboard actually came from.
19:25This was a huge project.
19:27I mean, the wiring behind there, there's like 200 wires in here.
19:30The wiring thing was just a nightmare.
19:32I think I got probably 120 hours of just figuring out what wire went to where.
19:38In fact, I had to have an expert come in just to help me with just the cable itself.
19:42The rest of it, you know, the can itself, we went through, restored the can.
19:46Ted did all the artwork on here.
19:48It's all been cleared over.
19:49It's brand new.
19:50The horn itself, we redid all this, powder-coated this, make it all red.
19:54Of course, the face.
19:55Ted did, took your art off your postcard and transposed it onto this plastic to where it's
20:01actually, when you backlight it, you can see through it.
20:03So it looks really cool.
20:04We took and put a new clock in there that was capable of doing, you know, hours instead
20:09of like the eight-minute clock.
20:11We kept the same hands and everything.
20:13The clock, I just can't believe it.
20:15It's perfect.
20:15You nailed it.
20:16Good.
20:17Now, my next question, does it work?
20:20Yeah.
20:20You ready?
20:21Watch the clock.
20:21Okay.
20:22It's going to come on first.
20:23Here we go.
20:24One, two, three.
20:27Wow.
20:28See it's lit up?
20:29Yep.
20:29All right, you ready for some more?
20:31Let's see some other lights.
20:32Okay, here we go.
20:33All right, so let's just pretend we're into the fourth period.
20:37Okay?
20:38Wow.
20:38All lit up.
20:39The score is 77 to 77.
20:43Never seen that many lights on before.
20:45And we're almost, we're right at the end of the game.
20:47The clock's coming to the end.
20:48The buzzer's about to go.
20:52It was great to see the numbers light up again.
20:55The period lights, the clock face, I mean, everything was great.
20:59And then when that horn went off, it just took me back to high school.
21:02I guess the final question is, where are we at with the budget?
21:06You know, we ended up with quite a bit of time in it.
21:08But as far as what I told you before, we're on budget.
21:10Okay?
21:11I'm extremely happy.
21:12You bet.
21:13Thank you, Dale, very much.
21:14Well, let's go in the office.
21:15We'll finish up the paperwork, and then we'll get this loaded.
21:17Okay?
21:18Okay.
21:18All right.
21:22Sucks.
21:23How's that for labeling?
21:25Rick gave me this stupid job with all these crappy little labels,
21:29so I'm going to label the out of his truck.
21:33What the ?
21:35Cowboy!
21:39Label one to a hundred, just like you wanted.
21:42Next time, he'll be smart enough not to give me the crappy job.
21:48Unbelievable.
21:51Wow.
Comments