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Philco 42-345 - Printable Version

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Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-13-2024

This appeared on my porch this morning for $30.
Appears to be completely original and intact down to the Philco tubes and the original grill cloth. The 7Y4 rectifier is missing and the power cord is trashed. 
Case is in excellent shape. Advice on proper cleaning/polishing procedure would be appreciated.
I’ve just been using the standard yellow tubular caps I get from justradios - not sure there’s any advantage to upgrading to more expensive caps

Should be fun restoration after I get this SX-62 finished. That’s about done I think as soon as some parts get here.

RE: Philco 42-345 - Paul Philco322 - 05-13-2024

You have received what should be when restored a very fine receiver, I have that set. It used to pick up SW with just internal antenna in the daytime. I use it now for AM and AM DX. I may have that tube for you if you need one and most likely any others if they test bad. LMK. BTW you paid 9.95 less than it was originally priced!Icon_smile.

https://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1942a/#Model_42-345T

Paul

RE: Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-13-2024

I found the missing tube stuck in the back of the radio. A complete set of Philco branded tubes.

I’ve ordered a complete set of replacement caps this morning. And a can of non-abrasive Goop to clean up the case.  The only missing part is a missing push button.

I’ll get on this as soon as I finish this SX-62. That’s about done so when it’s working I’ll put it on the end of the bench and let it play while I do this Philco. I figure about 10 hours of burnin should tell me whether the SX-62 is fully repaired.

RE: Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-14-2024

Before I get started on this…I’m thinking of using a polarized plug with a 1 amp fast blow fuse before the line caps on the hot side of the switch.  In the location indicated by the red dot on the photo. That sound about right or is there some other preference? To preserve the original look I think I’ll just use an under chassis fuse rather than drill a hole.

RE: Philco 42-345 - radiorich - 05-14-2024

Hello bridkarl,
Looks good to me because that is where I would add it too !
Sincerely Richard

RE: Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-14-2024

Thanks. Just always good to check. This apparently also has the line caps in a Bakelite box per normal. 

I’ve got two of those .01 x/y ceramic safety caps on order.  

Shouldn’t be a hard job except for finding that missing push button. Looks fairly straight forward layout.

RE: Philco 42-345 - radiorich - 05-14-2024

Hello BridKarl,
Yes, I buy those Safety capacitors from mouser and yes that set should be fairly easy and having a power transformer is a plus !
Sincerely Richard

RE: Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-14-2024

I’m getting mine from Justradios for around .39 each.
These seem a good size for fitting inside the block.

RE: Philco 42-345 - radiorich - 05-14-2024

Hello Karl,
I keep a few diffrent ones in stock including ones just like yours plus these made by Vishy .
Sincerely Richard

RE: Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-15-2024

Thanks. This should go smoothly especially since I have a spare cleaned out Bakelite block I can swap out for what’s in there.

Yesterday I got some of the smooth non-abrasive Goop cleaner which seems to do a good job removing the grime and dirt from the wood.

RE: Philco 42-345 - David - 05-15-2024

When the set is finish if the fast blow 1 amp fails might need a 1 amp slow blow try not to go higher with the fast blow if possible. David

Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-18-2024

I put the Hallicrafters sx-62 away for later as it still is not working. Still just a buzzing and then the current spikes.

This 42-345 seems fairly easy. Seems clean on the inside - no issues. 


I replaced most of the caps this afternoon. I’m waiting for some parts to finish this up. The only hard part was two .05 caps which were placed under the coils. That’s just an evil location.

The screws holding the chassis to the case on the bottom are gone. I’ll have to figure out what size these were. One or two runs of rotten rubber wiring that need to go.

RE: Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-20-2024

More slow progress. I replaced the condenser block today using two .01 safety caps. I’m just replacing other caps later this week like the electrolytics.
It’s clear to me that I’m the second person to recap this as the 12mfd cap clearly isn’t the original.
I’m curious what the original power cord would have been - plastic?  Run through a grommet? The previous owner just ran the cord through a piece of orange rubber tubing.

RE: Philco 42-345 - bridkarl - 05-31-2024

I’m finishing this up. As I tested my new parts I found that what is supposed to be a .006 cap for the tone control is testing out of circuit at .003. It’s a 1000 volt cap. 

As the voltage value on the new cap is 1600 volts that’s fine - I’m just wondering how critical this would be - given that originally these had a 20 percent tolerance. Generally I’m not sweating this with these kinds of radios, but I’ve not done this Philco model before.

It would have some effect on the tone, I guess a lower value might make it a little brighter based on what I know of guitar amps. I’ll replace this later with the right value when I get it ordered, but will there be a any issues with basic functionality etc in the meantime?

RE: Philco 42-345 - morzh - 05-31-2024

I am not sure why exactly they need hi-V cap there. Seems like everyone had it at the time.
That is, I understand, that this guards against the unplugging the speaker hot.
But this is rare event, same as open voice coil.
I usually use 600V or 630V caps.
If I happen to have a cap with the right voltages, then yes, i use the one meeting the original specs, but that happened maybe once.