The PHILCO Phorum
Been out having fun today! - Printable Version

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Been out having fun today! - Radioroslyn - 05-09-2011

Took a two and a half hour drive to go p/u a Philco 96 and came home it and a AK 976 and an oddball set. I'm pretty sure it's made by Radio Products Corp in Chicago around 1933 or so. have a look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53710524@N06/5704327973/in/photostream

Terry

Re: Been out having fun today! - Uffda - 05-09-2011

Nice going Terry. Always nice to pick up extra sets to improve your RPG average. I love the oddball's dial.

Re: Been out having fun today! - TA Forbes - 05-09-2011

Hello, Terry: that's a different looking set. Nice find!

The AK 976 is one of the last models AK made. The final AK's came with 6V metal tubes, as evidenced by the lack of any provision for tube sheilding. All the previous models had the 2V stuff. You should have a good player there once you get it right. Good luck with the fun rubber insulated wiring. Heh heh heh......

Re: Been out having fun today! - Radioroslyn - 05-10-2011

Yeah I know. I was trying to use that as a bargaining chip to keep the price down. All in all it's in pretty nice shape. I had a 206 back in the '60's it too had that rubber wire and those funny color coded resistors. I read some where the in the plant they used sodium lighting that was very yellow in color. In normal light the colors look very different. Would mine finding one of those 206's but they really bring in high $'s
Terry

Re: Been out having fun today! - TA Forbes - 05-10-2011

Hello, Terry: I had a 206 but traded it for some Philcos. Still have a 735, which is similar but only a 5 tube. I collect the AKs for what they are, but I collect the Philcos because I love them.

Re: Been out having fun today! - Radioroslyn - 05-12-2011

So I got the RPC on the bench did some testing, Replaced a few leaky caps and it plays. That's the good news the bad is the power transformer is shorted. NUTZ!!! Looks to have been like that for a while as there is tar on top of the chassis. This set too has the old police band. So I guess I've on the prowl for the small power transformer with a 2.5v filament winding. It will play for about 5 mins till you'll start to smell it cooking. It's a shame it plays good! Added a few more pics of the chassis.
Terry

Re: Been out having fun today! - Radioroslyn - 05-14-2011

Stopped in at local thrift store and got some secondhand shot glasses. They fit swell in shelf on the door.
Terry

Re: Been out having fun today! - Radioroslyn - 05-18-2011

Well I ordered the power transformer the end last week and it came in today. It cost more than I paid for the set but it was a perfect replacement. Fit right in the original holes and the voltage and current was right on the money. After a hour of working on it on the bench she back working with a nice shiney new transformer. It runs a little warm so I'm going to do a little more checking to see how much current the HV side of things is hauling down. I think there something funny going on in the grid bias for the 47 tube. It's done though a resistor to ground on the center tap on 2.5 volt heater winding.
Terry
Started working on the Philco 21 again. Rebuild a speaker for it as the original one the field coil was open. Tnx to a member here who hooked me up with a speaker from what he thought was the 20. In reality it was from a 70 or 90 with a single 47. So swapped out the output transformer too. Onward to the chassis!

Re: Been out having fun today! - Arran - 05-19-2011

7estatdef Wrote:So I got the RPC on the bench did some testing, Replaced a few leaky caps and it plays. That's the good news the bad is the power transformer is shorted. NUTZ!!! Looks to have been like that for a while as there is tar on top of the chassis. This set too has the old police band. So I guess I've on the prowl for the small power transformer with a 2.5v filament winding. It will play for about 5 mins till you'll start to smell it cooking. It's a shame it plays good! Added a few more pics of the chassis.
Terry

So what was the cause, was the high voltage winding shorted? Did it still start cooking itself even with everything disconnected?
Regards
Arran

Re: Been out having fun today! - Radioroslyn - 05-19-2011

Well this is what I know about it. Had original filter caps which I thought was the cause. I measured the plate voltage on the 80 and there was about a 30v difference between the plates with good filters. Fils looked ok in terms of brightness. So I suppose it's either the HV or the primary that is bad. I have given thought to rewinding it myself as it is a small transformer and have never done one before.
Terry

Re: Been out having fun today! - Radioroslyn - 05-23-2011

Well after having a closer look there isn't enough bias on the 47. Only about -4v and it has 260v on the plate. Transformer is rated @ 40ma. Measured the total HV current and it was 46ma. So what I did was remove the hv ct from ground and put in a few resistors. What did was give me a tap so I could come up with -15v for the 47 tube bias and it lowers the total hv. As it stands I got it down to 36ma total and the hv is about 190v.
Overall I'm happy with it. It still runs a bit warm but isn't unconformable to touch. Audio sounds good and clean with plenty of volume.
Terry