Philco 111 Lowboy - Printable Version
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Philco 111 Lowboy - palegreenthumb - 05-06-2014
Picked up a Philco 111 lowboy. The cabinet is a goner, including any labels it used to have. Apparently, it was stored for the last several years under a lean-to beside a wood pile. The white stuff is mildew, as much as 1/2" thick in places. All plywood is delaminating, all glue joints are loose, significant sheets of veneer are just missing. The fact it still stands up amazes me.
Most of the radio itself seems remarkably usable, including the original falling leaf grill cloth. The speaker cone is in great shape, although the pedestal is pretty rusty. There was one knob missing (the little one) and one tube missing (a 45
).
RE: Philco 111 Lowboy - OldRestorer - 05-06-2014
looks saveable to me....
too bad but good for the parts
RE: Philco 111 Lowboy - morzh - 05-06-2014
This is the one I have just finished.
Speaker: check the field coil and the transfomer.
All is done buzzing the plug: all 4 pins should show continuity to each other.
Wires under chassis: in mine the insulation is brittle, so do not bend it much.
I also had to replace the interstage transformer.
RE: Philco 111 Lowboy - jerryhawthorne - 05-07-2014
Just amazing what the damp weather of the PNW can do when things set outside. The cabinet would be a fun exercise and the chassis looks good if all the iron in the speaker and chassis are fine. I understand you did net a bunch of Acturus tubes in the radio. A big plus if they work. The labels are available on the Phorum for download. I'm a fan of the 111 with a highboy displayed prominently.
[Image: http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129/JerryHawthorne/111done.jpg]
Jerry
RE: Philco 111 Lowboy - morzh - 05-07-2014
In my 111 every single tube (and most of them were Philco balloon types) worked, and tested not even marginally.
Well, the 80 (also balloon) tested somewhat marginal but still in Green.
RE: Philco 111 Lowboy - TA Forbes - 05-07-2014
I am impressed with the early 111 and 112 superhets. They receive well and sound good.
I have different model SW converters on some of my early BC-only high-tube count sets. They make good sets even better.
RE: Philco 111 Lowboy - Arran - 05-08-2014
I saw that, the posting was rather amusing to say the least, I thought it may have been a Philco 96. The cabinet is likely salvageable, though it would need to be completely dismantled and parts like the plywood side panels replaced. My 96's cabinet was almost that bad before I set to work on it, the side panels fit into slots and can be removed once the top is taken off. That being said it is a lowboy and a fairly common cabinet style, so there are others out there, but that doesn't mean you should completely junk the cabinet, the legs with corner posts and the turned grill bars should be saved as donors for another cabinet.
Regards
Arran
RE: Philco 111 Lowboy - palegreenthumb - 05-10-2014
Good point about the legs, Arran, I hadn't thought of that. I also thought it was a 96. I got there and counted 11 tube sockets, and was confounded. I hadn't taken note of the 111 model before going to see it. I think it would be a lot easier to find a good cabinet to put the chassis in, than to make anything of this cabinet. There were, after all, 130,000 of the cabinets made. I see them come up every so often.
The radio came with 7 blue globe tubes, 3 - 224s and 4 - 227s. One of the blue 227s tests marginal, otherwise they're all solid. Also 2 other 227s that test fine, one mediocre ST-style 45 (tests about 65%), and a brand-new ST-style 80.
One of these days here, I'll get around to ringing out the electronics to find out if the coils have continuity. I did try measuring continuity on the speaker plug before I bought the radio, and I got about 210 ohms across two of the contacts, and all other pairs were in the 1 to 2 Megohm range. None of those values seems right to me. Will require more investigation.