The PHILCO Phorum
Nomination for best wife - Printable Version

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Nomination for best wife - Groundhog74 - 07-18-2013

The wife went to a feal market yesterday and came home with this. A really nice little RCA 120. Even works..... a little. $20 bucks


[Image: http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t679/Groundhog4906/image_zps1273b7f3.jpg]

[Image: http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t679/Groundhog4906/image_zpsbb28f7e1.jpg]

[Image: http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t679/Groundhog4906/image_zpsdfcd0a48.jpg]

RE: Nomination for best wife - Groundhog74 - 07-18-2013

The chassis. SHe got this one for $20.00

[Image: http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t679/Groundhog4906/image_zps9981997d.jpg]

[Image: http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t679/Groundhog4906/image_zps7fa80311.jpg]

[Image: http://i1319.photobucket.com/albums/t679/Groundhog4906/image_zps529eb874.jpg]


Just ran a brush over it to clean off the big chunks.

RE: Nomination for best wife - morzh - 07-18-2013

She's a keeper, that's for sure.
I mean the wife.

RE: Nomination for best wife - exray - 07-19-2013

Good find on both counts. I hope you took her out to dinner Icon_smile

RE: Nomination for best wife - Electrothaumaturgist - 07-19-2013

Saw one of those on fleabay recently (with the Kayro finish) for about $500 (or was it $1500?) Interesting cabinet! Icon_thumbup

RE: Nomination for best wife - Arran - 07-20-2013

I have a similar Canadian G.E model, a K-52, but it has five tubes instead of six like yours has, the control layout is the same and the frequency coverage is the same. It is also unmolested and mostly original near as I can tell, even under the chassis, and there is no rust. The curious part is that it has a tuned RF amplifier stage but no IF amplifier, but it seems to work quite well in spite of it. I paid $100 for it, not as great of a deal as $20 but it's also in better condition, $500 (or $1500) is just getting absurd, especially for a flea market even without the Kayro finish.
Regards
Arran

RE: Nomination for best wife - Groundhog74 - 07-24-2013

Started working on it this weekend. What a pain. First, the chassis is so tightly packed you can hardly get to the components. Second, I have removed and replaced two capacitors so far....and nothing is marked. On the Zeniths and Philcos I have done, the capacitors all have had the value on the outside so it was easy to take it out and match up the replacement. So far this thing's componenets have no markings other than a part number...that does not match anything on the original parts list. Plus the schematic on Nostalgia Air, and in my Beitman's are very grainy and hard to read. This thing will be a challenge.

RE: Nomination for best wife - BrendaAnnD - 07-24-2013

You can get nice service literature here:

http://www.antiqueradioschematics.org/rca.htm

$9.95, downloadable. Always crisp and clear. He has the 120.

RE: Nomination for best wife - Arran - 07-24-2013

The Nostalgia Air service info seems to have an under chassis parts diagram, it's a little blurry but I can read the values if it's blown up 300%.
Regards
Arran

RE: Nomination for best wife - Groundhog74 - 07-24-2013

Thanks for the tip BrendaAnnD. If it gets too tough, I'll check 'em out.

I have the Nostalgia Air info, if I squint real hard and hold my tongue just right I can sometimes make out some figures that appear to have been numbers and letters at one time Icon_e_biggrin

RE: Nomination for best wife - BrendaAnnD - 07-24-2013

Nostalgia Air is, for a free service, very good. Unfortunately, some of the scans were of poor quality. It seems that the site was in the process of being upgraded at one time with better scans. Unfortunately, the site originator has passed on. Still in all, I'm very VERY thankful for the site's existance, since there are a large number of schematics that would otherwise have gone the way of the dinosaurs.

RE: Nomination for best wife - Groundhog74 - 07-26-2013

When I got home last night I couldn't find the cabinet.... looked all over. I thought maybe aliens had abducted it. Then I finally located it in the house. She had found a place for it in an antique cabinet in the living room where we keep the Philco 90. I thought that was a good sign.

Finished the radio refurb last night. I moved it up to the front of the list as it was one she found and I felt like if I got it looking good and working right away it may encourage her to find more. 8)

The electronics refurb was more challenging than most I've done. Mainly due to the fact that 95% of the components did not have any markings other than a part number that did not match up with anything on the schematic. Plus the schematic was fuzzy and hard to read. I blew the schematic up to a size where it took 4 sheets of paper taped together. With that and the Beitman's schematic, which was clearer and mostly legible with a magnifying glass, I was able to figure out the values. Also, the mica capacitors were a type I hadn't run across before. They looked like small candholm resistors. That threw me off for a little while. Finally, all the old repairman's alterations were a bit of a challenge too. Let's just say those guys were "creative". The radio plays very well. Good reception, nice volume and tone adjustment. I was pleasantly suprised with it. I used the gojo, Howard's Finish Restorer and Howard's Feed-n-wax process on the cabinet after I glued the loose stuff. First time I have tried those products. I was really happy with the results. Not as dramatic as I thought, but very good. For the faded part on the grill cloth, I darkened it with a moist tea bag applied to it, and then carefully drying it with an iron set at about 3. I did this about 4 times before I felt the colors matched pretty well.

On to the next project.