Need 60's era fabric - like the TOS Speaker Grilles

[Macrossmaster]

Hey all. I am building a "replica 60's TV" for my Mad Men inspired office. I bought a 60's era nightstand and am gutting it to install a Commodore monitor plus compact DVD player and converter box. The catch is, in order to work the remote controls, I need to be able send the signals through the front. I'd like to us a very 60's looking cloth, much like Star Trek used on the speaker grilles. Any idea where to get some? I don't need a lot. Maybe 14" by 5" or so.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I would check pawn shops and garage sales and pick up a set of old, vintage, used no-good speakers just for the grill cloth.

 

[phase pistol]

This is the TOS desk comm speaker cloth, which I photographed at Worldcon 2006.

 

[Brianpettit]

I have been toying with the idea of making a vintage looking TV for awhile. I did a post about it on my blog...
Atomic Addiction TV

Maybe you want to look into speaker grill cloth for amps and such...

Grill Cloth

It is pretty accurate to cloth used in TVs of that time period. I just listed one source but there are more out there (I think). As far as getting a signal to pass through? I dunno about that. I mean sound is suppose to travel through them so they can't be that bad.

Don' forget these for your TV...

Rabbit Ears
:lol I found these at a thrift store for a few bucks. It is a crappy picture but they are EXACTLY like the rabbit ears on Harry Crane's TV in his office on the show. It was a happy find.

Good luck on this project! Please post pics when you are done! I look forward to it.

Brian

 

[exoray]

Even the cloth might cause remote issues...

You might end up getting an IR to RF conversion system... Basically a universal remote that is RF (radio) and inside the cabinet you place the receiver that spits out the IR signal to your equipment... They even have some real fancy models that are made like batteries and fit in your existing remote in place of the batteries and convert it to an RF/IR remote... I have no experience with any of them but I hear they are popular for people who install outside speakers and want control of their audio system from outside so they should be common place and easy enough to find info on...

 

[Wildefarer]

Here is another selection of Grill Cloths for vintage radios:

http://www.radiodaze.com/grilleclothpatterns.htm

 

[thegreatgalling]

This office sounds like a COOL idea, good luck man!

 

[Jack T Chance]

Another possibility would be to find and purchase a vintage TV from the era! :cool

Now, granted, to get it to do what you want it to do, you'd probably have to gut it, removing the original electronics and replacing them with the set-up you described, but you'd still have a vintage housing for the project. And since it would be hard to upgrade such TVs to digital, you could probably get a good deal on one. thumbsup

 

[Apollo]

Maybe you want to look into speaker grill cloth for amps and such...

Grill Cloth

I got great customer service from them! :thumbsup

 

[Macrossmaster]

OK, to answer all the stuff thus far, here we go:

1. I'm hoping the office turns out awesome. It's based entirely (so far) on Mad Men, and I work in a church. No one will ever know.

2. Thanks so much for the links! That cloth is the last link. It's gonna make it awesome.

3. I'd love to make it out of a real vintage TV - but I can't find one at ALL around here. I am not one of those crazy people who says "don't touch it!" I mean sure, i'm not gonna go around screwdrivering capacitors, but I want my vintage TV!

4. Ok, here's the deal thus far. I found a 60's era nightstand. I'm gutting it and making a new face for the thing. It's in essence going to be a tight tolerance entertainment center. There's just enough room inside for the TV, a TV broadcast box (the $40 gift from the US govmt) and a mini-dvd player from Target. I'm putting the OTA convertor in a small cavity that will be covered by the speaker cloth. The TV? It's a Commodore monitor from 1985! The great thing is, it's perfectly square and fits nicely. Plus, the bezel looks very much like a vintage TV.

No worries about the remotes, the OTA box and DVD player each have their own. I need to snag a vintage antenna - I unfortunately threw one out from the church a month ago before I figured out to do this project. I'll post pics at the end.

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[subxinu]

Look on craigslist; I found a 1953 Philco TV cabinet (for 19" TV) for $20 that I am "restoring." I also found a 1978 Sylvania 19" with rotary knobs that I am going to use for the "guts." I was originally thinking of using a more modern CRT and with electronic turn knobs to replace the buttons but I kinda want the "clunk clunk" sound of the rotary knob. I have a couple of props that are higher on the "to do" list but I'll eventually get to this beast. For now, the TV cabinet looks great next to my Samsung 53" LCD. lol