Hi All - I have been persuaded to look at restoring a Philco 514 with RCA 100 Speaker. It is now in my front room being checked out. I will be getting the speaker re-coned and covered. The voice coil measures 1200 ohms and produces a faint click with a battery cell. The 514 is in pretty nice shape being in the same family since new and hasn't been operated and stored in a basement for 20+ years. It is dusty inside with a few spots of rust. The case has surface rust and some paint is missing around the bottom. I have read the thread here on the forum once and will go over it several more times. The first thing I will do is check the transformers and coils. The dial wire appears broken. What should I use as a replacement? Can I use Go-Jo to clean the cabinet surface? Should I do anything with the rust? It seems that if I treat the rust issue then it may destroy the artwork. I will probably have more to ask later as I'm anxious to get started. Any comments are welcome.
Rod
So, I'll be replacing the power cord with a cloth version. Can someone recommend a seller of a suitable reproduction and the right gauge wire?
Rod
"Radio Daze LLC" is a good source for practically anything you may need from the dial face to the cord.
I bought some of the cloth power cord from Radio Daze a few years ago, the 18 gauge they sell is too thin, basically zip cord with a fabric cover, I've seen some old lamp cords that are similar in thickness, but not radio or appliance cords. From what I heard the A.E.S cord is thicker then the R.D cord, so more like the original pre 1936 Philco cords, Sundial Wire is another source, but there are probably others if you want to do an online search. If you can find some, there is a company called "Globe Electric" that markets fabric covered extension cords, I've seen some 5' ones in some local dollar stores, but they also market 10' foot ones I think, you may want to check around. Of course if the original cord is still in good shape, and pliable, and not rotten, then you may not have to change it.
Regards
Arran
Thanks for the tips on cords guys. Anything to shorten the search works for me. The current cord is a replacement zip cord. I've checked out the Sundial products and will relay some links to the owner of the radio. Still have to check out Globe. Maybe I'll start a thread in the cabinet forum to handle the case rust and cleanup.
Rod
I now have the chassis out of the coffin. First thing I noticed was a small amount of millet bird seed and mouse droppings but no chew marks on insulation. Measurements show all the coils are good with the exception of PT primary, bad toggle switch to deal with later. Probably the reason the radio was retired. Something I noticed was the phone plug for the headphones was mounted to the front panel without an insulating washer. The schematic shows that the jack is un-grounded, if I'm not mistaken. The jack looks fairly new.
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/pagesbymodel...013735.pdf
The carbon resistors are suspended between clips and are way out of tolerance. They are 3 meg and 155K, s/b 2 meg and 70K. Any ideas how to substitute for these? If they were the glass type I would just remove the ends and insert the correct resistor. The 70K is in the power supply and I'm thinking either 68K or 72K at two watts.
I also noticed one of the hum controls on the PT secondary doesn't have a connection on the wiper. Since the controls are exposed wirewound I pressed on the wiper and it registered on the ohmmeter. Quick fix for that.
I'm digging out the vacuum cleaner next and attempting to make the toggle switch work. If it doesn't then cut the wires. Getting a list of needed caps and tubes together.
I will probably wire in a fuse on the PT primary. Any thoughts to adding safety caps since the chassis is not earth ground?
All for now. Rod
What I did in my 86 was, I neatly wrapped a new resistor's leads around the old one's contacts, soldered them closer to the ceramic tube and then simply re-inserted it to the holder.
I made the value of the added resistor such that the parallel connection yields the needed number of ohms.
So here's a progress report. All the coils and transformers have continuity. Tested 2(20 & 37, 70K) resistors they are way off, replaced them. Re-stuffed the cap. in #27 which is the output to the speaker. Discovered the wipers on the hum controls are not making contact. Removed the wipers(they are open to the fresh air), cleaned, adjusted and re-installed. Now tests good. Tried cleaning the power switch, worked for a few minutes then became flaky. Cut that sucker out and put another part on the order list. Slooooowly applied power to the PT with no tubes and measured the secondaries at 120 VAC on the pri. YES!! all are good without load. Replaced the four .1 mfd caps in the RF and speaker circuit(7,12,17 & 39). Started cleaning the chassis and cabinet. Waiting for delivery of parts for the messy power supply filter cap. box which was removed from the chassis.
That's it for now, Rod.
Cleaning out the cap. can was not bad after all. It is an original paper lined can stuffed with 6 caps and wax. Since the can is a tin it has corroded so I will give it a coat or two of gray metallic paint. Lots of grimy dirt and melted wax on the chassis to clean. Anyone know where I can find a diagram for stringing the dial cord? This one has one end dangling.
Rod
Hey Terri, that's the same tuning dial. You hit the nail. The diagram and pics are what I am looking for. I was hoping I didn't have to take the tuning unit off but now it looks like it will happen. In addition to great advice you guys have good memories too!
Rod
Update: Installed the base of the cap. can with new capacitors wired in. While soldering in the wires on the bottom terminals I questioned the jumper wire from terminal 1 to 4. I didn't remember any external jumpers on the schematic. PANIC!! Maybe I had labelled the wires wrong or numbered them wrong. The answer was discovered on the schematic right above the power supply in the middle of the page was a 3 step note explaining the re-wire. On to the re-stuffing of the hum control caps and a new reproduction of the yellow Aerovox label which is on the back side when the can is installed. The new one goes on the exposed side. Now the toggle switch on the primary tap select of the power transformer crapped out so will have to replace it. Since the transformer is 90 years old I am considering dropping the primary voltage to around 115 volts with a dropping resistor so it won't work so hard. So, now I have to go find some brass wire for the tuning capacitor control.
Rod
Before you drop the voltage to the primary too much remember that these sets use #26 tubes, which have 1.5 volt filaments, at 1.2 amps each, so a drop in voltage at the primary could cause a commensurate drop on the 1.5 volt secondary. I would test it on a variac before making anything permanent, 115 sounds like it may be a safe primary voltage as it is within original specs, 110 may be too low. Does the primary tap allow one to operate the set on 125 volts or just 117-120 volts?
Regards
Arran
Finally got back to the radio. Yes the Primary tap allows for 115-125 or 105-115. Had to replace the toggle switch for that. I'm going for 115. I will be monitoring the filaments. I'm working on the dial cords next. I have a spring hook that may save a few cuss words.
Progress report:
I spent a lot of time cleaning and experimenting with a few cleaning agents. I settled with getting most of the surface gunk off with a single edge razor blade then a 50/50 mix of naval jelly and water. The dial cords were a different story. After 2 attempts and several hours I stepped away for a while. Third attempt was a couple nights ago after much thought and finally have success. One dial cord is original but the other is missing, so I finally replaced it with thin picture cord. Everything else was too stiff. If a good replacement comes along it won't take much to do it because it is the front cord. A few preparation tasks like a substitute speaker and plugging in good tubes and the 514 was ready for showtime. The speaker I used is a 6x9 oval, 8 ohm with 1800 ohm resistor in series. Brought the 514 up on the variac, everything looks good, voltages are nominal. Volume all the way up but no sound. Touched the first audio amp grid and hum comes from the speaker. Sending an audio signal in to the same point and it sings at all audio frequencies (ones that I can hear, anyway). Tried it on the other side of the 250pf coupling cap. from the detector and got nothing.
Today I replaced the 250pf mica cap. and tuned in the local station blast at 1500 khz. that is 3 miles away. Now I need the alignment instructions for the Philco 511, 512, 513, 514 or 515 and maybe the 86 would work. By the way, my antenna is something I rigged together during a recent restore and it works like a charm. I had an old 6 foot CAT5 ethernet cable laying around so I cut off the ends, soldered alternate wires together to get 48 feet of antenna in a 6 foot cable. The radio I restored has the antenna coiled up in the top, fastened with velcro.
Next is the alignment then try re-coning the RCA 100. I think I might take pictures of the re-cone and post them. That is, if it works.
I'm just so excited, wish they were all this easy...
Rod