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capacitor source - DanDanPhilcoMan - 09-08-2025

Hi All,
New member here. I recently picked up a `47 Philco 46-1226 Radio Phonograph. The cabinet is in very good condition and the guts seem to be intact. To satisfy my curiosity, I plugged it in (in our driveway) and, not surprisingly, it didn't work. Suspecting all the capacitors are bad, I plan to replace the wax paper capacitors, along with other parts. I know Fender and Jupiter Condenser make wax paper capacitors. My question is: are there other sources that I might want to explore?
Thanks,
Dan

RE: capacitor source - radiorich - 09-08-2025

Hello Dan,
Welcome to the Philco Phorum,
Far, Wax capactors they are not very reliable so what we use use to restore our radios is modern Film capacitors .
There tons of places that sell them and one such place is Radio Daze .


Sincerely Richard

RE: capacitor source - DanDanPhilcoMan - 09-09-2025

Hi Richard,
Thanks for the information. After posting my query, I looked through what Fender and Jupiter have to offer and it's very limited. I just took a quick look at the Radio Daze website. Their inventory looks extensive. I'm sure I'll be using them a lot.
Take care,
Dan

462ron - 462ron - 09-09-2025

Try Just Radios…..justradios.com

Ron

RE: capacitor source - DaleHCook - 09-09-2025

DanDanPhilcoMan Wrote:  I plugged it in (in our driveway) and, not surprisingly, it didn't work.

Dan -

That is never a good idea. You should always do some basic repairs and troubleshooting before powering up a set for the first time in order to avoid possible failures that may damage additional parts. The first repair is always replacing all of the wax paper caps with plastic film caps, and replacing all of the electrolytic caps with new electrolytics. That eliminates the parts which are most likely to fail and whose failure may cause additional damage.

When powering up a set for the first time you need to control the chassis voltage in a way that allows you to see problems without causing damage. Many people use a dim bulb tester, which is inexpensive and effective. I prefer to bring the line voltage up slowly with a variable autotransformer equipped with output AC voltmeter and output AC ammeter. I own an fairly inexpensive thermographic camera, which plugs into my cell phone, and uses an app on the phone as its display. With the chassis mounted on a chassis stand I can look at the components above and below the chassis as I slowly increase the line voltage. That lets me easily see if anything is running too hot.

RE: capacitor source - morzh - 09-09-2025

Well, you got lucky and it did not smoke and you survived.
Now recap it.

RE: capacitor source - DanDanPhilcoMan - 09-09-2025

Thank you all for the cautions and advice. I will proceed with that in mind.