[tubenutt]

Finally!! I picked all the bugs out, and it's finally stable! These sets are REALLY prone to oscillator intermittents, as the paperwork Chuck sent me says! I *thought* for a while that the globe-shaped Philco 36 first detector/oscillator I found for it was gonna work. But one minute, it was doing fine, the next...NOTHING!! Typical oscillator dropout.
So-o-o-o, I had to stick in an NOS Raytheon 236. It's been howling away over on the bench with no dropouts for an hour. Aligning the whole set brought me a little more sensitivity/volume/selectivity. This old gal needs a longwire antenna without a doubt!
Gee, I can't pick anything up on the Police band. Well DUH! There's nothing ON that band anymore! But there it is , just the same.
After recapping the whole set, I am no longer daunted by the Philco Bakelite Condensers! pfffft! Piece o' cake! This one was hard, because the chassis is only some 12" X 14", yet has 11 baklite tarboats in there, one which has so much going on above it, you can't see it much, and can't read the number on it. What a MESSY job it can be! I literally had to beat the tar out of the chassis! nyuck-nyuck! The only thing I could find to cut that tar was laquer thinner. Naptha might do it, too, but neither denatured alcohol or acetone will.
I REALLY MUST find a shield for the 236. I guess, since I can't locate a proper shield for it, I can put a 4-piece Goat shield on there, and see if I can get solder to stick to it to properly ground the shield to the chassis. You can wave your hand around the tube while the set runs and tell it needs shielded.
But it's done!!! And to think...I shocked my self once with my hands inside a live chassis, and only once did I burn myself
"checking to see how hot the 42 output tube runs."
NEEEEEEXT!!

[exray]

Congrats!

As for the Police band, not sure where you are located but in the Eastern US we can usually hear the time signals from CHU-Canada on 3.330 and a couple of international broadcasters around 3.2. I think all these guys are transmitting from the East Coast. (Maine, Tennessee in particular - WHRI might be there out of Indiana?).

Minimizing the tar mess when redoing the blocks is a balance with a heat gun or hair dryer. You don't want to melt the tar itself. Instead you want to heat the casing JUST ENOUGH (there's the tricky part) to where the tar lets go and you can push out the old innards as a solid block. WD40 works good for cleanup.

Shield for a globe 36. Hmmm, not sure what to recommend other than tin foil or an old tin can Once the radio is in its cabinet maybe there won't be any issues about your hand in proximity?

[tubenutt]

I'll change the proper shield over to the 236 and put a Goat shield on the 75 second detector. I finally realized that a Goat shield won't fit around an S-shaped tube! 's all I can do. I hope to solder it to a ground with a piece of wire, because the Goat shield won't fit to the original shield mount.

Yeah Exray, after the first bakelite condenser, I wised up, because I had the tar everywhere! I've learned to heat them up and let the heat soak through the bakelite, so you can just push the old guts out using a drill bit stuck through one of the holes where the leads up come through. I used a little drill bit for that.
My cleaning ladies will come tomorrow and see bits of black stuff everywhere! lol All from the first one. I learned to put a shop rag under my work to catch the final crumbs of tar I dig out. Work smarter ,not harder, right?

[exray]

. Work smarter ,not harder, right?

Thats what they say but in general we don't see that until after the first clue stick hits

Speaking of tar junk from the old boats. There is a guy from Chile (don't have the link) that recommended "Bitumen de Judea" to mix as a stain for old radios. (basically asphalt). Ya still with me? I mixed some of the Philco tar for a stain concoction and it was a beautiful color and was perfect! It takes some finesse in the application and spraying over it with lacquer but you couldn't ask for a better stain color.

So save a little bit of it.

[tubenutt]

Not Mario?? No, he's from Venezuela, isn't he?? I miss hearing from Mario!
Yer kidding about the tar stain, right?? That 'work smarter' crap is what the Postmaster used to tell us Carriers! B.S.! lol
Hey OM, you must be slipping for not nailing me about that "hand near the detector" bit! After I get this chassis back in the cab, I'm not sticking MY hand up in there. I've already had one of the "compensating condensers" bite me today!
I have other shields that will fit, but I'm loath to take them out of my 16-B. It has five of them. Hmmmmm....now I wonder....nahhhhhhh!
And that clue stick might have to nail me a few times to make an impession on my Scottish skull! My 16-B is looking at me sideways! It KNOWS it's next! I did the cab last year, but now is the time for every good.....my head hurts! I gotta quit working on these things in my skivvies! Where are those nice men with the straitjackets?? AHHHHHHH!!!!

CORRECTION: the 16-B shields are NOT the ones I need! The ones I need are 1 7/8" in diameter and the 16-B shields are smaller. I wonder if the shields I need were MADE for S-tubes, because the 16-B ones fit ST tubes. I don't remember if they made S-shaped 75s, but they DID make 239/244s, which may have been the original RF and IF tubes. My head hurts again!

[exray]

Not Mario?? No, he's from Venezuela, isn't he?? I miss hearing from Mario!
Yer kidding about the tar stain, right??

If its the same Mario that I know he's in Argentina. I visited him last year. He's got one of those S.Am Philcos that leaves you scratching your head.

I'm serious about the 'Bitumen de Judea' stain.

Hey OM, you must be slipping for not nailing me about that "hand near the detector" bit! After I get this chassis back in the cab, I'm not sticking MY hand up in there.

Well, there ya go. Problem solved!

Pic...

[Image: http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/b...ngo600.jpg]

[exray]

Not Mario?? No, he's from Venezuela, isn't he?? I miss hearing from Mario!
Yer kidding about the tar stain, right??

If its the same Mario that I know he's in Argentina. I visited him last year. He's got one of those S.Am Philcos that leaves you scratching your head.

I'm serious about the 'Bitumen de Judea' stain.

Hey OM, you must be slipping for not nailing me about that "hand near the detector" bit! After I get this chassis back in the cab, I'm not sticking MY hand up in there.

Well, there ya go. Problem solved!

Pic...The Tango Piazzola.

[Image: http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q18/b...ngo600.jpg]

[tubenutt]

Bill, that's the Mario I'm referring to, indeed! I loved to chat with him when he was over on A.V.'s forums! Hey, keep your head down. it's HURRICANE season!
I've been mightily tried today. I finally got all the cans of maggots out of this set, or so I thought.
After unravelling the oscillator problem, I turned the set back on a few minutes ago to check its night-time reception......nothing again!
Again, I used the click method starting at the wiper of the volume pot and worked backwards. And AGAIN, I got nothing out of the RF coils. Not that dropout crap again, after I cobbled together a sheild system out of a Goat shield. I could solder to the shield, but not to the old shield ring. So I soldered a thingie (that's what I call solder lugs) on the wire and found a screw to mount it to.
Anyhow, I digress! It wasn't osc dropout at all... The RF tube (39/44) somehow blew its filament out! I don't have another that isn't buried by 2000 or so other tubes. The only sub for a 39/44 is a 39 or 44! **si-i-i-i-i-i-igh**
No other radio here uses one either. So I'm DONE tonight. I'll dig tomorrow. At least, this way, I'll have a front-end full of NOS stuff. But there goes 2 of my hot-branded (pre-1938) used Philco tubes! Well, the 42 was an RCA double-circle logo tube any way.
These are the times that try man's soles(pun intended). I'll get back on it tomorrow AFTER I've seen my VA shrink!!
I dug a whole bunch of tar out of my bench trashcan for tar to make ME some of that toner...that is unless you WERE pulling my leg about it. I had that tar crap all over again. Did you know that laquer thinner leaves an oily residue on your hands? I don't use WD-40. Whatever happened to WD-39??
Yeah, instead of picking the nits out, I'm putting them right back in just as fast! **si-i-i-i-i-igh** This thing is completely silent again. MAKE MONGO ANGRY!!! (think Blazing Saddles)
Nice picture, Bill, except for the ugly guy in the white shirt! (he quickly ducks)

[exray]

Sorry to hear about the tube. I thought they never went bad - haha.

Here's the article where the guy uses Bitumen de Judea for staining.
http://ludens.cl/Radiohis/ak206/ak206.html

Good restoration tips there! That gave me the idea of using the Philco tar. You have to apply it very sparingly and let it cure well or the lacquer won't stick. All the caveats about oily surfaces, etc. apply. Or you can mix it for a toned lacquer. The color is very pleasing.