I recently found a philco model 111 lowboy @ local flea market guy said it came from a barn. Horrible shape! no Veneer, legs gone, bird poo, mice droppings. BAD BAD SHAPE! A couple amazing plusses, STILL HAS THE ORIGINAL GRILLE CLOTH! with fall leaves (beautiful embroidery) which is unavailable, as I understand. Also the speaker cone is fine, along with the tubes. Someone attempted to steal the tubes, pulling on the shield, then gave up. THANK YOU PHILCO FOR INSTALLING THAT TUBE SHIELD! Someone managed to run off with the 80 rectifier tube, oh well. Anyrate I bought it for $5! I didn't have a 80 rectifier tube so I fitted a 5Y3GT which my tube guide says is the same/electrically, and hooked it to the variac to see if we have hope, IT ALL LIGHTS UP! was expecting to hear 60 cycles per second, but I have no audio. I have no magnetic field @ my speaker. I know I need to re-cap it! Schematic says: power for the field coil (speaker) comes from the condenser block, and shematic shows diffrence from 111 & 111A I have no label anymore what do I do! Should I just use 3uf caps (bigger is better) or do I need to figure out if I have a 111A or not and how do you tell the diffrence. Also need guidance on where to buy caps and what type, are the orange drop kind what I need? or should they be electralic kind? hard to find high voltage ones, was planning on using 450v caps. Am I on the right path? Antique electronic supply has a sale this month on caps, am I in the right place? This is my first radio restoration, I have lots of experience with other stuff pinballs & whatnot, but this is my first radio. cant mess up too bad here it's really in really rough shape not much to loose here. I am amazed by how good electrically this unit is compared to what it looks like! They dont build em like this anymore! Any guidaqnce here would be greatly appreciated. after I make this work I can move on to cabinet restoration!! OH BOY WILL THAT BE A CHORE!
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Posts: 46
Threads: 14
Joined: May 2008
City: Lake Worth Florida
Well Wildbill it sounds like an exciting find and you absolutly have a thrill ahead of you. As for advice I offer this. I have been repairing electronics since the age of 13, some 40 somthing years ago. I learned on the tube tv's and radios and kept on going to today with all the challanges new devices offer. Here is the advice part. Take a tour through the Phorums various postings. What you will find is an absolute wealth of knoledge and practical tips. Hindsight also offers history of problem parts and circuit issues that our fore-fixers had to learn the hard way. I personaly have a new respect for the folks that serviced this new technology in the 20's and up. The Phorum has been my overall best resource and the links associated with it.
In testing I whould check for shorted caps and anything on the B+ line. The last thing you want is a short on the B+ to cause the power transformer to go open. In my mind that would be the kiss of death with a radio with so many other unknowns. As for the speaker, I would unplug and test basic continuity of the feild coil, voice coil and audio transformer. The caps will all be replaced, most will be bad and the rest are on borrowed time. Same for the resistors. Most that I check are more than twice the marked value, change em all. If you have a schematic, before making a parts order check the contiuity of IF coils and such. Dont adjust anything, it was likley working before it went into "long term storage" with or without a componet fail to help it along. When component replacement is finished and the tubes are good it may well play to some extent and alignment at that time will be so much easier.
There are good folks on this site ready to help if they can and share in the excitment, Good Luck.
Dave Casazza
Keep em glowin and goin...
Thanks for the newbie advice. yes I read alot, have seen all the philco forums, repair sites, and whatnot. just still unclear of where to order the parts from. I have several other radio projects other than this one, this one is so ugly it deserves to be the first! But I will probably order some "missing tubes" for my other projects while I'm at it.
Posts: 40
Threads: 5
Joined: Apr 2008
WildBill, That barn find looks like a great challenge, Just my kind of radio. I have two sites to offer for capicator purchases. The first is Mark Oppat at Old Radio Parts. He has a nice selection of caps plus the best reproduction dials I have seen. He also has many other items and is very helpful. The other site is Just Radios, a Canadian firm. They have a very largs selection of capacitors and provide very good service. Just be sure to pay the extra dollar for air shipment. Most of the good sites do have a minimum order charge but I bet you will need more that one set of caps. Best of luck with the low boy.
Dave D
