The PHILCO Phorum
Midwest 88 - Printable Version

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Midwest 88 - bridkarl - 09-02-2023

I’m working on this Midwest 88. I put on a replacement transformer. I used an 11 gauge plate to mount the unit on - this preserves the original holes for later replacement if needed. 

I put heat shrink near the transformer bell to protect the wires from the sharp edges of the metal hole. I did the same on the other side by the socket  just to add some stability. 

My soldering is all shiny - the stranded wire sticking out makes it look bad but there is a solid mechanical connection. 

I get this may not be how everyone uses heat shrink.
I don’t see what’s wrong with doing it this way. My reasoning was that, from what I’ve seen, over decades normal movement of the radio, vibration, heat, normal deterioration of the cloth insulation causes issues. This preserves enough of the wiring near the transformer that wiring could be replaced - it gives an inch or two to work with so maybe you don’t have to take the transformer apart. It’s just also a way of protecting against a short.  

I posted this to my Facebook group on radio repair - it caused a vicious mean reaction - my soldering sucked, I used heat shrink wrong.  Basically I was an idiot. I’ve totally given up on Facebook. It appears populated by the same people who used to run my HOA - I found this 75 year old duffer at 3 am on his knees with a flashlight measuring the height of my lawn.  

I have an essential tremor - sort of similar symptoms to Parkinson’s -  so my work is just not going to be that neat. All I can say is that my repairs work. 

If there’s something fundamentally wrong here I’m happy to listen. My next problem is fixing the speaker.

RE: Midwest 88 - morzh - 09-02-2023

Karl,


I am not a social psychologist, but unless you are a wide-eyed kid who has just started exploring this world by gloing to Facebook and saying "People! Hi! I love ya!" waiting for the reaction, you by now should know the difference between Facebook (and most GP social networks) and specialized forums.
Suffices it to say that most people go to FB to showcase themselves, to present their lives for others to see for whatever reason (if only to make some folks envious by posting copious amount of selfies with most idiotic facial expressions), and to have some semblance of life, which they for whatever reason failed to achieve in the physical world.

I do have a semi-anonymous account on FB solely for the reason of looking for some help with stray cats 4 years ago. I spend exactly 5 minutes there. Look at the new cats arriovals, go to two radio groups, maybe quipping every couple of months (like just right now) in a radio group or two.

But for the real experience I come here. For real adv ice on HiFi I go to Tapeheads or Audiokarma, and even that happens every other year or even less.

Here folks are for one reason only: share experience or ask for advice. Wel, yes, some of us have bnecome friends or good acquaintances, and so we go to chat off-topic in "Old Ron's", and then many of us know each other in person. So it is not highly likely that here your soldering of whatever quality will garner vicious responces. If someone finds your soldering lacking, it will be put in a form of question of a benign suggestion.

I am sure you understand this yourself; just re-iterating and reminding you not to be surprised by the reactions in mega-social-networks. It is only .....normal Icon_lol


PS. I have what one doctor said was essential tremor (since 15 yo), and the other said "intentional" tremor. It makes soldering somewhat challenging, more so recently, but a week ago they needed 0402 capacitor placed in some tight neighborhood on a PCB, and the tech failed to do it. Guess who did it (and they all know my hands shake). Yeah, I like to snub'em techs like that. Icon_lol They solder every day and I still do that better than them. With tremor and all.
PPS. No, I do not solder 0201 parts.

RE: Midwest 88 - bridkarl - 09-02-2023

I’m near sixty and expect to be dead in five to ten years. 
I’m well past worrying about anyone’s opinion.

I got a Facebook account - not looking for positive affirmations - but just to share some of my experience.  I thought people would appreciate it. I was wrong. Bad experiment not to be repeated. 

I have a tremor from nerve damage. It’s not usually a problem but why I stay well away from any radio after about 1965. Just can’t do circuit boards usually.


 People here are agreeable. Have a great holiday everyone.

RE: Midwest 88 - morzh - 09-02-2023

>>People here are agreeable.

Most of the time.

You too have a great weekend.

RE: Midwest 88 - MrFixr55 - 09-03-2023

+1 on Morzh's comments. You have Phriends here. My only suggestion is to clean up the socket, especially of that stray strand. Heatshrinking the wire where it enters the transformer case, even if NOS is a best practice. there was this plastic centipede type stuff that they used to use on one of the instruments that I serviced that you could work around wires threaded through a sharp hole, even after the wiring was installed.

Re Facebook- Ms. Fixr has a t shirt that states "I hope your life is at least 1/4 as great as you claim it to be on Facebook".

RE HOAs, not for me! My house is small, has only 4 small strips of land around it, but it is ours and there is no jurisdiction smaller than a town that can tell us what to do to it or on it.

Dad was widowed for 3 years before he married again. He and his 2nd wife decided to sell the family house to my sister and her husband (Ms. Fixr and I could not afford it) and move into a retirement community (One member of household had the be 55 or older, and no one under 18 in household). Dad was disabled, on crutches and a scooter, and could not drive, and the garage was too small for both him (passenger) and wife (driver) to open the doors in the garage, so he put up a wooden handrail so he could walk from the garage, along the front walkway. to the front door. A few weeks later, a woman with a clipboard was in his yard. When he asked what she was doing, she informed him that she was from the HOA and that his wood handrail was a violation. The rail had to be brass, and, of course, she had the name of an "approved" contractor (a relative, no doubt). Unfortunately, this was before the Americans with Disabilities Act.

RE: Midwest 88 - bridkarl - 09-04-2023

Thanks. I usually clean up all the sockets and tubes last - blow the whole chassis out with an air compressor, use deoxit on the sockets, and also clean the sockets underneath with isopropyl alcohol. That way I know this is all clean and hasn’t been messed up by some other debris, etc. There’s also some greasy residue which is probably nicotine.
I’m planning to touch up all those solder connections so it looks better. I should have tinned the leads before I soldered them in. I will note that these were not tinned originally.

I refused to buy in an HOA. Of course now I couldn’t afford to buy a house. In my neighborhood prices have have gone up 4X in 10 years. My neighbor got $400,000 for a house that is just a 1 story 1960 ranch house. All the Californians moved to Idaho and bought everything.

RE: Midwest 88 - Paul Philco322 - 09-04-2023

To Heck with the grumpy Facebookers. If it works, and is safe and make you feel good when you know you did your best, Hoorah! I am not the technical wizard that many here are but this Phorum works well for us.

Lots of techtalk, and good vibes for the most part.

Have fun, take care.

Paul

RE: Midwest 88 - Chas - 09-04-2023

To MrFixr55,

Please tell us about "I hope your life is at least 1/4 as great as you claim it to be on Facebook" Tee shirt?  Custom made? More so where can I get one for my wife?

No HOA's here either, yes, there was a sunset HOA, for 1 year, to insure that all homes in the area development got sold. Now, 50 years later, wouldn't recognize the place. All "heck" has broken loose, but like any neighborhood there are neat properties and there are "dump sites"...

To bridkarl,

Sorry to hear such issues so young, still, this is great hobby, nothing like it can give such a reward and can still say "I did it myself!"

I see your speaker has been converted to a tweeter Icon_sad 

There still is a vendor on eBay who has NOS cones and spiders. Your speaker is very salvageable. It is the skill (easy), materials and technique to re-cone. Choose wrong materials and awkward methods and the repair may be mediocre.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/speakerguy2002

Try pre-tinning stranded wires first, do use 63/37 solder so larger strands don't get too stiff. The heat also causes insulation retraction. So wires are not bared when soldered or splayed on bend when soldered. Use LOTS of active liquid solder flux, and 91% alcohol to clean the rosin mess.

GL

Chas

RE: Midwest 88 - GarySP - 09-04-2023

I have little technical experience as well. Like you, I have a modest ranch house outside of Detroit. I count on the "gurus" here when I need sound advice so as not to electrocute myself! Everyone here, whether close friends or just casual pen pals, adhere to the "treat people as you wish to be treated" philosophy. As Paul said, "this Phorum works well for us". Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary

P.S. I was on Facebook for about two months then saw enough and left. That was over 10 years ago!

RE: Midwest 88 - Ron Ramirez - 09-04-2023

Bridkarl,

I am sorry you experienced that sort of thing on Facebook.

I used to have a Facebook account. However, people I otherwise liked and respected were posting things on there highly critical of those who felt a certain way politically (this was in 2015). So, to keep from getting fed up and saying something I would regret later, instead I cancelled my Facebook account on New Year's Eve, 2015, and have not looked back since. And, besides the political nonsense, I found that Facebook was taking up too much of my spare time. I don't miss it. Oh, sure, sometimes I sort of wish I could still interact with fellow collectors on the various Facebook radio groups. But really, this Phorum and ARF are enough.

> I’m near sixty and expect to be dead in five to ten years.

Icon_eek I am sorry.

I'm 63 and expect to be dead in one to two years. Why? Stage 4 cancer, which is only growing worse and cannot be cured. I used to give regular updates on here about my condition, but I quit doing that some time ago because I did not wish to come off sounding like "Poor me." I live my life, having spent the entire summer doing something I have not done in five years - working on radio cabinets - and in doing so, try to keep my mind off my troubles. I have long since accepted the inevitable. It's in God's hands. I know The One who makes it possible for me to get through every day, and this gives me peace.

Regarding HOAs - No offense intended to anyone, but I would never wish to live in a neighborhood with an HOA. You pay annual dues in order to be told how to live on your own property. Living under a Soviet repressive rule, where your nosy neighbors are constantly looking out for everything that might be "wrong" about your house or property, is not my idea of the peaceful, calm, home life. Not to mention being told what you can or cannot do within the boundaries of your own property. With the assistance of my son in law, I put up a longwire antenna some years ago. He also put up a new TV antenna for me earlier this year. This sort of thing would require special permission from the HOA комиссары (commissars), who would likely deny both ideas. No, thank you!

RE: Midwest 88 - morzh - 09-04-2023

1. Second Chas's request about the T-shirt. I'd like one too.
2. HOA. Well, my first place that I owned was a condo, a flat. And closer to the end I came to find out what HOA could do when they mismanage the property and the funds. The slap you with "special assessment" which is in thousands of dollars. I sold that place (well, just in time - the guy who bought it, and he wanted this unit as his Father in law was right below me, so eventually they would own an up-and-down section, he bought it in the nick of time for me to escape and for him to receive a special assessment of $10,000 over the next 3 years...whew!). Now I only own standalone houses. I hope I could get one to be the place from where I will go the way everyone eventually goes. My parents own one in FL. It is nice. No HOA. and the local government even gives you some dough back, which is not that much in the firts place. If it only weren't for the 102F every day this summer, that would be a dream place to retire. Icon_lol



On soldering stranded wire. I twist it well befor I tin it. If I need to bend around something.....well, there is no good solution here and this is why I prefer the solid type if I need to.
I do not use acid flux. Rosin, rosin in alcohol, or rosin core solder wire, eutectic Tin-Led type only for my home electrical needs..

RE: Midwest 88 - Arran - 09-04-2023

A lot of radios had a rubber, or brass grommet in the holes where they routed wires so as not to chafe the insulation. The horizontally mounted power transformers did not usually need this of course, leaving a rectangular hole in the chassis. I've been pointing people towards the power transformers AES sells as replacements in tube guitar amps as many of those are horizontally mounted, and for some reason cheaper then the generic replacements Hammond offers, which are all vertical mounted. I've found that preparation is more important then a steady hand for soldering, I have a habit of using fine sandpaper to polish up leads on components, and the ends of wires, using flux seems a good idea too. Soldering cloth wires is nasty sometimes, the rubber, or whatever it is inside, gets between the strands, and likes to melt black goo into the joint, one time I had to clean them with lacquer thinner just to prevent this with a transformer I was re-using. I never did bother with Fakebook, or Twatter, it's just not my thing, the number of "retired" Feds Elon Musk had to fire from Twatter was disturbing, meanwhile Meta seems to be lurching from financial failure to failure, not that I care.
Regards
Arran

RE: Midwest 88 - morzh - 09-04-2023

>>I have a habit of using fine sandpaper to polish up leads on components

Arran, when we meet, I will give you an 0402 resistor, a piece of sandpaper, will pour me a pint and will enjoy watching you polishing them leads Icon_lol Icon_clap Beerchug

RE: Midwest 88 - RodB - 09-05-2023

Mike, Don't forget the tweezers.

RE: Midwest 88 - morzh - 09-05-2023

Rod,

Oh no....no tweezers. Sandpaper and tweezers are not to be used in the same sentence.