The PHILCO Phorum

Looking forward to seeing more in this thread. Those cabinets pictured really came out looking beautiful.

I see I was thinking out loud three months ago about not spraying any more lacquer until September...

Quote:When Deft blushes, then you know the humidity is high!

Because of this, I'm thinking about holding off on any more lacquer spraying until September.

Those words ended up being unintentionally prophetic. We're heading towards the end of September, and tomorrow, I hope to start spraying lacquer on my 39-330AT and 41-246T cabinets.

I filled both with grain filler yesterday, gave both a second coat of grain filler today, so everything should be ready for lacquer tomorrow. The temperatures are milder now.

I can get the pumice, rottenstone and pads later, and rub out the cabinets after we move into the "new" house. This can even be done over the winter.

welcome back to nicer weather, Ron! I was taking to lacquering @ midnight for a while there. was pretty amazed at how well I did with such little light.

Today, I sanded both cabinets, wiped both down carefully, then proceeded to spray a wash coat of clear followed by a couple coats of Medium Walnut on the 41-246. It seemed to turn out OK.

Before I sprayed the 41-246, though, I sprayed a clear coat on the 39-330AT, then began to spray Medium Walnut.

I guess I did not learn my lesson from earlier this year. I was spraying outside, and there was just enough breeze to take a lot of the lacquer away from the cabinet and leave the left and right side looking like it has walnut color stripes instead of a solid Medium Walnut color.

To add insult to injury, somehow (I do not know how this happened), I managed to knock two small pieces of veneer loose on the left side of the cabinet.

So now I have to glue the veneer chips back down, remove the streaky lacquer from both sides, and start again.

Edit: I forgot to mention...after the 39-330AT debacle, I took the 41-246 cabinet into the limited space of the garage, and sprayed it in there. Much better results.

Since I am unable to engage in cabinet work due to my healing new knee, I am doing the "busy work" like fixing annoying little issues that have cropped up in some of my playing sets. Also did some work on my Eico 666 tube tester and got it to where I now have confidence in it's results. Although the Eico 666 does NOT give a reading in uMhos, it's results are very comparable to both my Hickok 800A and my I-177A. When you read the manual and understand what the tester does for a merit test, you see that it gives uniquely valid data for your tube. ALSO, I think the shorts tests are better than many other testers.

Also got a Philco 46-1209 done for a friend. They really are a good sounding set when right, and the weird (9.5 t 15.5 MHz) shortwave band picks up several stations at night on the internal antenna.

My Sparton 1568 sits there mocking me.... saying in it's own inimitable way (I know you have all had a set do this) "c'mon, big guy... TRY and get ME to play."

Yesterday, I masked off the 41-246 cabinet and sprayed black lacquer on the top and bottom trim. Later, added a couple coats of clear Deft.

Today, I wet sanded the cabinet with 400 grit wet/dry paper, then sprayed two more coats of clear gloss Deft.

This may be as far as I go for now - I just discovered my decals are packed away somewhere. So this one may get finished after we move, weather permitting, or it may not get finished until next Spring. We shall see. The same goes for the 39-330AT cabinet.

I'll provide a photo or two of the 41-246 cabinet later.

Tom, take it easy and don't overdo - you want that knee to get better!

OK, since my last post, I have sanded down the side panels of the 39-330AT just enough to remove the runny coats of toner, sprayed two coats of Medium Walnut on both sides (I didn't end up with a striped finish or runs this time! ), added one coat of Medium Walnut to the top and front to the single coat previously sprayed, let dry overnight, and then added contrasting colors to the top and side edges and bottom front trim of the cabinet and have given it its first two coats of clear lacquer.

While packing things over the weekend, I found my decals! So if I have the chance to do so this week, I will try to add decals to both cabinets and may be able to finish both before the moving begins.

Well...decal application didn't happen, no time for it. We now have possession of our "new" house, so moving time is upon us.

Depending on the weather, once we've finished moving, I *might* apply the decals, and apply the final coats of clear. But I have a feeling this will not get done until next spring. I have other projects waiting for me now...such as rewiring three Mid Century UFO ceiling light fixtures for the "new" house, among other things.

I'll try to post pictures of the 41-246 and 39-330AT as soon as I can.

In 2014 I hope to refinish even more cabinets than I did this year. I need to finish stripping a 41-KR and then repaint it in white, and I also need to add decals not only to the 41-246 and 39-330AT, but also the Tropic 42-761EZ from last year. Other cabinet candidates for stripping/refinishing: an R-3 cathedral extension speaker from 1932; a 16B Deco tombstone; a 46 cathedral; a 90 cathedral; a 32B cathedral; a late version 116B tombstone; and a 490 console cabinet. There are a few others that could use some work as well.

So, boys and girls...that is it for this year's edition of Ron's Radio Refinishing.

Thanks, it was fun to follow along I look forward to seeing next years projects too.

I'm trying to squeeze one last cabinet in but it's too warm and humid right now. Didn't expect that to be an issue in October.

Over a year later...

Here, at last, is one finished product from my 2013 refinishing work - 610T with 630 chassis and speaker:



I took the speaker screws outside and sprayed the screw heads with Extra Dark Walnut toner, followed by Deft clear. I also finished off the chassis by adding a new cloth-covered AC cord, and replaced the speaker wires with new cloth-covered wires.

The Philco "Ribbed" grille cloth was sold by Radio Grille Cloth Headquarters before they went out of business. I had been saving this cloth for this project - the original cloth was badly stained and had a hole in it.



The dial looks brighter in the photo than it actually is. It is illuminated by a 4-LED lamp from Pinball Life. The dial scale is the original celluloid dial, but it has a hazy or cloudy look, as if I had printed it on paper and then laminated it.

I had bought this as an empty cabinet. I had a complete 630B but the cabinet had some serious issues, so I decided to remove the shadowmeter and install the 630 chassis and speaker into this 610T cabinet. Both fit perfectly, and it plays as well as it looks.

Very nice!

Looks fantastic, Ron! Excellent cabinet work.

Yea! - - - got any lined up for 2016?

Very nice!

(10-27-2014, 10:49 PM)Phlogiston Wrote: [ -> ]Yea! - - - got any lined up for 2016?

It may be 2016 before I can start on cabinets again...and, yes, I have several still patiently waiting.

Thanks to all for the kind comments!