Philco 37-116X is home and back together! - Printable Version
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+--- Thread: Philco 37-116X is home and back together! (/showthread.php?tid=23048)
Philco 37-116X is home and back together! - Jayce - 11-30-2021
Also my car after having nearly $1500 worth of work put into the front end. I sweated bullets getting the speaker back into the cabinet (The 38-116XX is actually easier to do speaker-wise.), but I got everything back together without breaking the radio or myself. So far the guy's rebuild is holding fine and the radio sounds good. He did warn me there were a couple caps he could NOT get to in the IF section even with the chassis apart. Since the radio was playing fine, he decided to let well enough alone up there as it would have meant two more days solid work to just get in there. Sounds like they are buried up under the coils like the two still in my 38-116 that made my late friend say several choice words. He could have made a sailor blush! Actually, no-one around here likes working on Philcos. This guy has worked on radios since his teens and is around 70 now, but still hates Philcos and my buddy and I had to coax him to work on the 37-116X. He said he'd rather work on another Scott!
Anyways, everything seems to work fine except the fine tuning control. Perhaps something I can tackle in the future. Even though it is better than my 38-116, even the tuner on this has some slop in the gearing, so am thankful for the Magnetic Tuning feature, which actually works on this one. He took the extra time to replace the speaker wires, all the dial light wires (possibly sockets too) and even repainted the transformers on the chassis that were getting a bit rusty. Very pleasant radio to listen to. I only wonder if he checked that 6L7 tube. It checked a bit gassy on my checker and I forgot to pull it before taking the chassis up.
RE: Philco 37-116X is home and back together! - morzh - 11-30-2021
Jayce
Yes 37-116 is a formidable enemy. So are 38-116 or 690 for that matter.
All caps can be accessed, but a couple are indeed will require some ingenuity to be extracted (I was able to).
But it is all worth it in the end when it plays.
RE: Philco 37-116X is home and back together! - Brad Winder - 11-30-2021
Very good sounding and performing sets!
37-690 is a bear too. And I have one to finish...plus a 37-116 that needs some love. What are the caps that will drive me to drinking?
RE: Philco 37-116X is home and back together! - rfeenstra - 11-30-2021
the IF section shouldn't be a problem. It's the separate chassis for the RF section that is a bit of a pain. I've done 2 37's and 1 38. The RF chassis needs to be removed and partially disassembled. A pain, but doable. I kind of enjoy the challenge! Great radios.
RE: Philco 37-116X is home and back together! - Arran - 12-01-2021
From what I could see on Bob Andersen's video series where he rebuilds a 37-650 chassis, is that they are not that bad to work on , IF you treat the set like a series of separate modules, and dismantle the chassis rather then work as a whole. The bandswitch assembly actually comes apart, the shaft slides out, and you can access the hard to get caps in, and above the wafers that way.
RE: Philco 37-116X is home and back together! - Jayce - 12-01-2021
Oops, RF section. Sorry, couldn't recall right. Right now the radio is playing great, so I am going to take my buddy's advice and 'LEAVE IT ALONE!'. Learned that the hard way with my little Zenith 705 a few months. Just had to pull that chassis and check the tubes one final time. Bottom cover is held on by only one screw on the end (Why, Zenith?) and when I put the chassis back in the radio it shifted and shorted right to a solder joint. Thankfully, it could be repaired. We secured the bottom a little better as well.
Oh, I will have to come up with a beefier voltage reducer to use with these radios. It and my 116X are too much for the one the old gentleman at my buddy's shop rigged up for me. It's only really good up to 100 watts input, after that and it gets way too hot.