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Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration (/showthread.php?tid=26639)

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RE: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - radiorich - 09-30-2026

Hello Joseph,
Cool you will find a lot uses for it including on furniture and wooden radio cabinets .
Sincerely richard

RE: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - jrblasde - 10-19-2026

Good evening, folks! I haven't posted an update on the electronic restoration in a little bit, so let me get y'all up to speed. I've still predominantly been working on rust removal. I will admit, I've worked at it on and off again. It seems that I'll work very intensely on it for a few days, and then something will distract me for a bit. It's not exactly the funnest part of the process, but I'm making my way through it. Work has been busy (in fact, I recently interviewed for a principal engineer position at the same company; should know by the end of the week), but the big shocker was that my grandfather had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. He's okay, and luckily he went to the hospital. They found a blockage, put in a stent, and he was back home after a couple of nights. Thank goodness!

On to the restoration. I've gotten the top of the chassis cleaned up, just about as well as it's going to get. It's not flawless, but the difference is day and night. 

   

I also cleaned up and repainted the bells on the power transformer. I covered the model number with tape, so that it would be preserved after repainting.

   

   

Now I'm focusing my attention onto the underside of the chassis. In the back corner where the power cord passes through the chassis, there was a nasty looking rust spot in the corner. I forgot to get a photo before I treated it with any vinegar, but here's a photo after one application.

   

And here it was tonight, after two or three rounds of soaking in vinegar. I think it's about satisfactory.

   

Here's a couple photos of the process. So that I can localize the vinegar without removing components, I soak cotton balls in vinegar and press them over the affected rust spots.

   

   

I'm seeing another spot I'd like to treat under the chassis, but I'll have to plan my attack. It's on the other side of the chassis, tucked up above the air gap tuning capacitor. Perhaps I can unbolt it from the chassis and wiggle it over just enough to treat that rusty area.

   

   

I've also been working on a design for the new chassis-mounted electrolytics. I've been working on C102A/B. I've got it all placed onto a PCB, but I'd like to move the components around just a bit more to spread the two capacitors apart a bit more. 

   

   

   

   

RE: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - radiorich - 10-19-2026

Hello Joseph,
That looks great and far as the vinegar I have new used it on radio chassis to remove rust I will have to try that and far as that circuit board goes that looks great .
what program did you use to make it?
Sincerely Richard

RE: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - MrFixr55 - 10-20-2026

Great work Joseph! As far as the dust, cobwebs, etc., it's amazing what a compressor and air gun will do. Maybe tape over delicate coils and transformers, like the openings to the IF transformers. but then blow away.

RE: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - jrblasde - 10-20-2026

Thanks, folks! Rich, I use KiCAD for the PCB designs.

RE: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - radiorich - 10-20-2026

joseph ,
cool I am thinking of using that program !

RE: Philco 47-1230 Electric Restoration - jrblasde - 10-20-2026

For a free set of software, it has truly proven to be powerful and versatile. It’s true usage is for PCB design (hence why I use it for designing all these PCBs to replace the original multisection electrolytic capacitors, but I find that it can be made to work well for pure schematics. I have used it for all the schematics I’ve created for each Philco I restore.