The PHILCO Phorum

Here one of my Ebag tags I got for $68.....Shipping is another story but here she is. Bought from the grandson of the original owner. He used it for years, had it on a few months ago and it started to smoke. Trannie is cooked. Luckily I have a parts donor from another 650 chassis. The recty tube was installed backwards and forced into the socket.



More pics here

http://www.1970gtx.net/650.html

Nice catch, Brian. Glad you have a donor set.

I'll be watching for another YouTube vid when you get that shadowmeter perking I have really liked the others you've posted.

Good luck!

Charlie

I'm actually working on it tonight Charlie. Maybe I'll have it talking tomorrow? The chassis is especially clean on this one. The speaker frame has a dull shine, it actually looks new, cone and all. All the tags are in the cabinet for a change. All the caps and electrolytics look original. The dial scale is very clean, again for a change. I'll make a vid when it's done and hopefully the shadow meter works Been thinking how nice Ron's 650B cabinet turned out. Maybe this one should get the professional touch eh

Ok, completely recapped her last night, from front to rear. The resistors actually checked out well within the %20 range for this set. Anyhow I replaced the transformer this morning. She plays nicely so far. I have yet to align it but reception is strong on all bands, and dial calibration is surprisingly accurate for not having touched it yet. The shadow meter works well, again for a change. It turns out someone had forced the rectifier tube into the socket incorrectly, then tried to get the set to play. Turning the tranny into a piece of charcoal. Don't ya just love it!! Believe it or not the original electrolytics still functioned properly.

I wanted to see if one of the electro's might have been bad. They weren't shorted so slowly I powered it up on the variac after the cap and tranny replacement. She came to life somewhere around 90-95v, and played nicely. I let it play for 10 minutes or so. Powered it down, then replaced all the electrolytics. Proof positive someone was stupid with this set, causing a perfectly good tranny to hit the dumpster

Now it gets funny. One of the replacement electrolytics let the smoke out. I had it playing for about 10 minutes with the new electro's and suddenly POOF! Smoke rolled out hard from the left front of the chassis under the two electrolytic cans. It was still playing fine though I quickly pulled the plug. Waited a few minutes, turned it upside down and couldn't see anything wrong. That is until I touched that electrolytic, it was hot as the devil, but not deformed. I thought WTH? Cap was right, not shorting out, and correct polarity......I installed another and it's been fine for the last 10 hours playing straight.

That's the first time I've ever experienced a bad new cap.........The sets haunted!! Next stop, getting one of my 116Bs up & running. Time to get serious before the summer sets in. Then I'll never get off my ar$$ until next winter

Hey Brian. Now, when you said you might get "her talking tomorrow," I had my fingers crossed. These days (at least with me and my radios), it never seems that simple. Seems there's always that gremlin that gets in there and niggles the wires around or fiddles with something that we least see coming. Philco's are pretty bomb-proof, it seems, and it looks like you've got another good set there.

Good luck with the burn-in.

Charlie

Oh Charlie, I have/had my share of failures believe me. I still have a few that have had me scratching my head for the last year. I just haven't delved into them hard yet. I probably spent 4-5 hours total going through this set over the last day or so. There are/were other issues with it that needed to be hammered out. Like the on/off switch that was always on, the tone switch with no tone change. The tuner grommets that turned to dust. A flopping tuner gets my attention everytime.

Now on the flip side, know one has ever been in this set, at least not in the last 40 years or so. This has to be one of the most original sets I've run across. All tubes were Philco brand. Not the printed type mind you, but the etched type. All still are with the exception of the rectifier tube which is now a Zenith brand The chassis has absolutely no corrosion. The speaker frame & cone look new, not clean but new! I doubt this set was ever in high humidity for any length of time. As we all know, Philco chassis generally have a film of rust with the lack of a painted chassis. I'm uploading a vid of this set right now on YouTube.

Sad that an inexperienced individual took out the original tranny

I wanna know the shipping story...I know from before what you were dealing with

Email on the way Bill. That was somewhat of a fiasco!

Here's a vid of it in operation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOM9Y-3jOj8

Looks and sounds great! I don't think I have *ever* gotten a set done "overnight!" I was never particularly partial to that shouldered cabinet style; however, after seeing and hearing your success, I may have to try to find one!

Regards,
Charlie

Brian - nice catch, and interesting video, also. My hat's off to you for recapping this set in one evening.

Thanks Ron. Started around 8/pm, finished around 10/pm except for the electrolytics. Replaced the tuning condenser grommets, removed both the volume and tone switches. They weren't being very nice so I straightened them out Cleaned the dial mechanism but I'm still having issues with that. It's not rotating the dial itself when fine tuning. Got up Sunday around 8/am and replaced the xfmr, tested it real quick then replaced the electrolytics. Except for the new electro that went POOF! Everything went ok, for a change

When things don't and it gets beyond me, I'm usually on the mail to Bill(exray)

Well, aligned her up tonight. While the dial calibration was on, that's all that can be said. The IFs were way out, tuned somewhere around 451/2 kc. Also the primary IF was off from the secondary IF. I suspected this as the selectivity wasn't quite up to my other two 650s. But fidelity was better.....An added plus I guess. After aligning the IFs, selectivity increased as did over all sensitivity, but lost some fidelity.

The 1st IF secondary adjustment was goofy, I didn't like it. This calls for disassembling that IF to see what's up. Anyhow, as usual the dial calibration came almost spot on. I mean within a hair of accuracy. It amazes me how accurate these sets are on the dial. Anyone that knows me, knows I'm an anal prick when it comes to dial calibration Another added plus is the shadow meter is now more responsive.

Last, I mentioned the tuner assembly was sloppy. Trying to fine tune a station was a lesson in futility. The tuner gang moved, but not the dial. The dial disk mount was tight, though I could hold it lightly, and keep it from moving while tunning. The set screw was tight, so I just loosened it, and moved the disk out a fraction of a hair. Problem solved. Plus the dial scale no longer rubs the diffuser hard. Now you can fine tune to your hearts content.

Well, for you gents who are looking for a nice example, might I recommend one of the 36 models. My reasons are this. Easier to service than the 37 series with their RF sub-chassis. Hot performers right down to the 620, they have that great "30s" look. What else can I say

Here are a few pics of the xfmr work