11-12-2010, 06:04 PM
OK, there's Good News and Bad News. The good news is that the cabinet label is intact and tells me that my radio is a "code 121, which is useful in determining what parts I need. The rubber corner bumpers are not all that bad. The same neighbor who volunteered to restore the cabinet on the 39-45 has offered to work on the cabinet for the 41-285, but she can't get to it until Spring (which is OK, because I don't think that I will be ready to mount either of the radios before then).
The bad news is that the radio is a mess. The speaker had been taped with masking tape. When I removed the masking tape, there were two gaping (one inch) holes and several small (about 1/2") in the paper. I cannot imagine what I am going to do about that - it if was just a tear or two, I would use the glue method of restoration.
Then there is the chassis. When I removed the chassis from the cabinet, the inside of the chassis was packed solid with an old mouse nest. After I removed the mess (ugh!), I was greeted by the sight of insulation chewed away and even some of the wires chewed away. If I really intend to restore this radio, I will likely have to re-wire a fair portion of the chassis, as well as replacing most of the capacitors and resistors. It would remind me of a badly wired Heathkit that needed to be taken down and started all over again. I hope the service information that I ordered from Chuck Schwark includes an image of the wiring. I will also take your previous advice and install an in-line fuse when I place a new line cord (the rubber on the old one just crumbled in my fingers, so I cut it off in case someone had the bright idea of plugging it in).
Also, both dial cords (one for the slide rule dial and the one that raises and lowers the light that shows which band is being activated) were chewed, and I think one of the little pulleys is missing from its mounting stub.
Some images can be seen at http://public.fotki.com/mikesloane/philco-radio/
As usual, any thoughts/advice you might have would be greatly appreciated,
Mike
The bad news is that the radio is a mess. The speaker had been taped with masking tape. When I removed the masking tape, there were two gaping (one inch) holes and several small (about 1/2") in the paper. I cannot imagine what I am going to do about that - it if was just a tear or two, I would use the glue method of restoration.
Then there is the chassis. When I removed the chassis from the cabinet, the inside of the chassis was packed solid with an old mouse nest. After I removed the mess (ugh!), I was greeted by the sight of insulation chewed away and even some of the wires chewed away. If I really intend to restore this radio, I will likely have to re-wire a fair portion of the chassis, as well as replacing most of the capacitors and resistors. It would remind me of a badly wired Heathkit that needed to be taken down and started all over again. I hope the service information that I ordered from Chuck Schwark includes an image of the wiring. I will also take your previous advice and install an in-line fuse when I place a new line cord (the rubber on the old one just crumbled in my fingers, so I cut it off in case someone had the bright idea of plugging it in).
Also, both dial cords (one for the slide rule dial and the one that raises and lowers the light that shows which band is being activated) were chewed, and I think one of the little pulleys is missing from its mounting stub.
Some images can be seen at http://public.fotki.com/mikesloane/philco-radio/
As usual, any thoughts/advice you might have would be greatly appreciated,
Mike
