[Greggshere]

Hello everyone, I'm new to your forum, but not forums in general. I've been in heavy equipment service all of my 41 years of working career, as a technician, manager, etc. and recently retired. My career touched most everything from mechanicals & hydraulics to electronics.
I've always been a hands on self taught kind of guy and most of my hobbies were restoring older automobiles every aspect from wiring to paint, body, engine building and interior. I've always loved antiques and my retirement home the wife and I recently purchased was built in 1907. We have furnished it about 90% using antique furniture and such. I recently came across a beautiful Philco radio/phonograph, non functional due to a totally rotten cord. The cabinet is in such nice shape after I cleaned it up that I decided I want to restore the unit to functioning condition.
I found this forum and read most of the restoration threads, and also found a gentleman in Utah named Michael who has a 14 part restoration video complete on U-Tube, and I've watched up through part 8 so far. The videos are awesome, since it is my exact model unit and I have been following along with the disassembly and cleaning of everything. I contacted The Philco Repair Bench for schematics yesterday to place my order and am awaiting them to send me a Paypal request so I can pay for them and get them coming. I would like to get all of the caps and resistors coming as well, because that is currently where I am in the restoration. I'm wondering if anyone who has restored their 47-1230 has a list of the caps and resistors needed that I could have to get those items on order? Any and all suggestions or comments are welcome and encouraged, since this is my first radio restoration. I have a lot to learn, so please be patient with me.
I have taken a ton of photos for reference and saved all of Michael's videos for reference as well. If there is a preferred source for purchase on the components where I can get quality at affordable prices that would be great to know as well. The good news is that when I hooked up a new power cord temporarily to bench test the system on my work bench, there were no dead shorts and I could even get a few pops out of the speaker. I think I have a unit that will be usable with a good electronics restoration. I'll post some pictures once I get them out of my phone and into my computer.

[Radioroslyn]

Hi Greg and welcome,
Here's the online Philco service info for your 47-1230:  http://www.audiophool.com/Philco.html
Scroll down to 1947 and click on 47-1230.

> 47-1230 has a list of the caps and resistors needed that I could have to get those items on order?
Not that I know of but you can be the 1st! It's simple enough to do. On the caps goto the parts
list for each section and look for cap values that end in mf, mfd, ufd, or uf (they're all equivalent).
These are the one you'll want to replace. Just about all of these will be a fraction of a mf. There will
be 3 or 4 that are several mf those are electrolytic caps.
For now ignore the ones that end in mmf, mmfd, or pf. These are typically are made from different
materials and age much better.

Resistors For the most part are going to be 1/2watt @ the resistance noted by the color bands.
Tolerance of 20%. I measure them before replacement to see if they are within the tolerance.

> where I can get quality at affordable prices that would be great to know as well.
http://www.tuberadios.com/capacitors/

[Greggshere]

Thank you Terry! Awesome information, very helpful!
Gregg

[klondike98]

Welcome to the Phorum!

[Greggshere]

Thanks Bob! I hope to learn much from all you nice folks. By the way, just checked out your restorations page, Beautiful work!

[Greggshere]

As they say on other forums I've been on, "without pictures it didn't happen", so I guess I post some pictures. So I plunged in this week and disassembled the 47-1230 and found someone has been in it before and didn't do such a hot job. First I noticed the original back is long gone and someone had the wiring stuck in the grooves with thumb tacks. The main chassis was missing two mounting screws and the other two were loose. Does anyone know where I can get those screws? They look to be some cross between a lag screw and a machine screw.
I took the chassis, speaker and phonograph down to my work shop and started looking at the chassis first. I checked for any bare wires or possible dead shorts and then removed the rotten power cord and rigged up a temporary cord. I plugged in the speaker and plugged  in the power cord and waited to see if anything was going to smoke. Everything seemed ok, so I switched it on. A few of the tubes came on and a few didn't. I could get a few pops or cracks out of the speaker when I moved the tuner and had the volume up, so I think this is viable. I disconnected the power and using the link Terry supplied I got the schematic and proceeded to look the circuitry over and compared it to the schematic.
Someone has definitely been into it as a couple of items were not per the schematic and some not to snuff wiring has been added. I then went to work identifying all of the caps and resistors and placed an order for all of them and plan to replace pretty much all of it and according to the schematic.
Today, while I am waiting for the parts, I disassembled the phonograph completely, cleaned, lubricated and polished everything and reassembled it. I cleaned and tested the motor while it was out and it was good. When I got it all back together and hooked it up to power tonight everything worked beautifully. Now I just need to convert the head as the original was pretty much in pieces. I'm going to look at "The Voice of Music' tonight to see about converting it.
The phonograph turned out great for a 71 year old set and with only a few tiny bits of paint bubbling (rust) and some pits on the chrome, I'm very happy with it. Even the wiring cleaned up nice. I don't want it new, I want it functional and nice for a 71 year old antique. Anyway, here are the photos I promised. I took a ton of them, but won't bore you with all of them, just some. I have no idea why they are sideways.

                   

[Greggshere]

Also, I noticed when I powered it up, one of the panel lights is burned out. I want to just go ahead and replace both panel lights and the door light. I know several were not on and once I cleaned them all up I saw some separated/broken filaments. Here are a few more pics of what I discovered when I took it apart.
                   

[Greggshere]

Here is the phonograph all freshly restored to its former glory. I need to still convert the head assembly, thus it is not on it. I added a weight to the arm for testing purposes and it worked beautifully. Next up is the main chassis once all my pieces come in. And a shot as it currently sits.

                   

[Greggshere]

Does anyone know what the panel and bin light bulbs convert to as far as a number of bulb? I know the panel bulbs are Philco part# 34-2040 and the bin bulb is 34-2039. They are bayonet style and 6 - 8v, but I'm not sure how that relates to say a #43, 44 or 45, or others higher up the line. I'm pretty sure the resistance of the bulb matters. Any assistance is appreciated.

Oh, I did get the push button section cleaned up today and the mechanical's working well. Before I started none of the button arms/switches would stay engaged except the phono. Looks and works good now, at least mechanically. Electrically will is yet unknown. I also cleaned up the speaker today and that turned out pretty nice as well.

       

[KCMike]

Nice work the cabinet looks good.
Look here for dial lamp info. I believe a # 51 will work.
https://web.archive.org/web/201607161719.../lamps.htm
Edit here is a place to order bulbs from.
Good guy to do business with and fair prices.
http://www.radioantiques.com/pilot_lamps.html

[Greggshere]

Thanks KCMike!

[Kenneth F. Besso Jr.]

they Blast them sets,,,loud volume,,,

[Greggshere]

So I've been working feverishly over the last week and a half or so restoring the main chassis. I got replacement caps and resistors from the folks up in Canada and also some parts from Radiodaze. Tonight I ordered new tubes from Bob in Ohio. Right now I have successfully replaced every cap and resistor in section 1,2 & 3. I'm starting section 4 tonight. I decided to just replace everything vs. testing each piece, that way I know everything is new in there. I make sure to test the new part before and after installing it, so I think it should be fine. Probably by the time the tubes get here I'll be ready to start testing and checking under power. I'll post some pictures of the finished chassis once I get it completed.

On another note and probably not suited for this forum, I bought supposedly a 1929 RCA floor radio at an estate sale. Looks like it will be my next restoration once the Philco is completed. I need to research it to see exactly what I have, but it is gorgeous and for $75 I am very happy with it. Ok, back to the basement workshop and on to section 4.

[Ron Ramirez]

Lots of us have radios other than Philco, myself included. Feel free to start a thread about your RCA in the Other Radios (Non-Philco) forum here.

[Greggshere]

Thank you Ron, I will do just that.