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Restoring a Philco B37OFWH portable Television - Printable Version

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Restoring a Philco B37OFWH portable Television - Guest - 07-14-2010

Hey gang,

I discovered an excellent Philco TV at a flea market and after being told it worked I bought it for $10. It DOES work just not all that well. I'm able to pick up one of the channels that's still broadcasting analog here in LA but the Horizontal Blanking is off (?) and the dials on the back aren't adjusting it properly. The casing is discolored so I removed it and painted it a brilliant white. After looking at the mechanics inside I'm finding myself a bit intimidated. I'm not exactly an amateur but I've never worked on a solid state tube TV. I looked for the TV Servicing Guide by Deane and Young mentioned in this forum but I've not been able to find one. I also don't have any documentation for the TV but I assume that's par for the course when it comes to this hobby. Any advice or guidance from a veteran on where to get started would be greatly appreciated. The other option is to remove the tube and replace it with a small LCD TV but I'll resort to that after I break the Philco while trying to fix it ;)

Thank you for your time and advice!

Hypnosavant

Re: Restoring a Philco B37OFWH portable Television - Ron Ramirez - 07-15-2010

Hi

Here's two copies of the TV Servicing Guide available on eBay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/380100452478

http://cgi.ebay.com/350218285436

Oh, and you should be able to find a SAMS Photofact for that set. Start your search for that here:

http://www.samswebsite.com/

Re: Restoring a Philco B37OFWH portable Television - Guest - 08-01-2010

I found my television on the SAMS website and purchased it but I have yet to receive it. I have some idea of what a photofact sheet is but does it include schematics? I'm finished with the housing, speaker replacement, and coax conversion but I'm still going to have trouble with the horizontal blanking being off. You can't really power up this model without it being in it's housing because of it's strange shape. I'm sure there's a way to suspend it but it just looks dangerous and I'd hate to blow out a capacitor. I've cleaned it, replaced a few damaged wires and searched high and low for any dry solder joints. If she starts back up when I put it all back together it'll be a miracle-though I'm mentally and emotionally prepared for it not to. I'll post pictures if everything goes according to plan, otherwise I'll see you on the next one!

Thanks for your help,
Chad

Re: Restoring a Philco B37OFWH portable Television - codefox1 - 08-02-2010

The Sam's will have the schematics. Be careful when measuring voltages, etc, for solid state devices are far less forgiving than tubes. Use a modern digital meter, (or an ancient VTVM) only to do this.

Like any other device, tube or transistor, I would first suspect filter capacitors in the power supply need to be changed. If you have a picture and sound, this one can probably be fixed. And use a nice strong clear analog signal from your cable to do the testing. I'm sure you can find a cable to analog converter for next to nothing.

And any controls (potentiometers) should be cleaned; I like deoxit. And any accumulation of dust and crud needs to be cleaned out from the circuit boards and the flyback area and cables must be cleaned up too. I like denatured alcohol for this. Make sure you let everything dry out for a day before powering up after you clean things up.

Re: Restoring a Philco B37OFWH portable Television - Guest - 08-05-2010

Codefox,

This is great advice and you have in mind exactly why I started this project. I'm working like a dog for the next two weeks but as soon as I get a day off I'll post some photos of my progress. I DID get my hands on a photofact and man is that ever a big help.

Talk soon,
Hypno

Re: Restoring a Philco B37OFWH portable Television - Guest - 08-07-2010

I have a question about safety.

This television doesn't have a traditional chassis it's all one big plastic piece with no access to any of the internal components without extracting it from the housing. I've removed it and discharged it and have done an extensive amount of cleaning and I replaced the speaker. I would like to turn it on see where I stand as and will need to do this often in the future. I don't want to short anything out so am I supposed to suspend it somehow so that it's not resting on the worktable (which is currently a piece of tempered glass)? I've attached a photo to better illustrate...

Thanks for your input guys I appreciate you experience.

Hypno

Note from site admin: Sorry, but the photo which was attached to this post is no longer available.