Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41-608
Posts: 3
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2011
Hello everyone, my name is Kathy and I live in Florida. I'm so glad to have found this website! It has really helped me in identifying and learning about my new "old" baby, Philco #41-608. Just got him on Saturday off a Craigslist ad for $60.00.
The cabinet appears almost mint and everything seems to be original on the inside. I've posted some pics - just used Howard Naturals Wood Cleaner & Polish
I've read many questions & answers through this forum, but one thing I haven't read too much about is your personal experiences with financial investment in a DIY restoration.
Would any of you mind sharing how much you have spent on some of your projects?
Thank you!
Kathy Cochran
Longwood, FL
Posts: 13,776
Threads: 580
Joined: Sep 2005
City: Ferdinand
State, Province, Country: Indiana
Hi, and welcome!
If you do the work yourself, you can spend between $10-30 in capacitors and resistors to restore a radio. Tubes, when needed, add more to the tab. However, more often than not, most if not all of the tubes in an old radio are still good. It is the failure of capacitors that causes most of the problems in old radios.
As you can see, the cost of parts themselves is not expensive. But your time and effort in repairing the set adds up fast. Not to mention the fact that your 41-608's chassis is full of wires that have rubber insulation. This rubber dries out and falls off over time, and therefore needs to be replaced for safety and reliability. So now you're spending more money on either wires to replace every wire, or heat shrink tubing to use as sleeves over every old rubber-covered wire in the set (the method I prefer).
This operation adds even more time to your restoration.
So (and I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, but I'll provide this bit of info anyway just for fun), if someone wants to charge you $200-400 to rebuild the chassis of that 41-608, they aren't trying to rip you off - they are actually being fair both to you, and to themselves. Doing this type of work the right way takes a lot of time, but the end result is worth it.
I should point out that I noticed your 41-608 still has its original record changer, but the main tone arm is missing - only the optional record cutter arm is in place. The record cutter was used to actually make home recordings of 78 rpm records. But, the playback arm is missing. This may be a hard part to find. You might try asking West-Tech Services if they have one for sale.
http://www.west-techservices.com/
At any rate, enjoy your new find! And feel free to ask questions as you go along - that is what we are here for.
--
Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
Posts: 3
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2011
Thank you Ron. Obviously this is going to be my first restoration attempt. I have a basic understanding of capacitors, fuses, soldering, heat shrink tubing, etc., from working for Grainger for the past 14 years. But knowing about these things and actually using them are 2 different things.
I certainly don't mind the work. It will be a labor of love for sure.
Kathy
Posts: 1,703
Threads: 55
Joined: Sep 2005
City: Evanston, IL
Welcome! After reading this thread, you will want all the service bulletin and documentation for your 1941 console.
See my website's Schematic Info page to order a set. My photocopy service provides copies from the ORIGINAL Philco service bulletins, as well as any subsequent Production Change Notes issued. Also have the service manual for that changer, which is a part of the entire packet.
See also the Beam-of-Light section of my site for insight on the unique record player.
Regards,
Chuck Schwark
Website Partner with Ron's site here.
Posts: 2,128
Threads: 18
Joined: Oct 2008
City: Merrick, Long Island, NY
Well my first recommendation is not to quit your day job. It's a great hobby, and for most of us, at best a self liquidating persuit, that is discount labor, and see if you can make a few bucks on a sale to pay for the next wreck you find at your door from the post office or UPS.
Somewhere there is a guru on top of a mountain, probably in Europe, who earns a 7 figure income by restoring ancient microphones, radios, maybe even obscure glass optics for even more obscure film cameras.
Great hobby, very doubtful career path. When that ***hole finallly goes silent, not gonna be much on AM. Or is he gone > Dunno.
Posts: 13,776
Threads: 580
Joined: Sep 2005
City: Ferdinand
State, Province, Country: Indiana
codefox1 Wrote:When that ***hole finallly goes silent, not gonna be much on AM. Or is he gone > Dunno. Huh? ![Icon_confused Icon_confused](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif) :
Oh, you must be referring to "The Golfer."
--
Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
Posts: 3
Threads: 1
Joined: May 2011
Hi Chuck - thanks for the information on where to get all the documentation. I must admit that I'm starting to feel a little frightened about doing this. Reading your page about the Beam of Light Phono Pickup was almost like reading Greek.
I've got a gazillion questions. Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do.
Codefox1: This radio is for me, not for resale. When I was a teenager, I used to work in an antique shop, which eventually progressed to me becoming an antique dealer. I had a few old radios come through my hands, which I resold. Now that I'm older and no longer in that business, I wish I had kept them.
Thanks for responding everyone!
Kathy
Posts: 2,128
Threads: 18
Joined: Oct 2008
City: Merrick, Long Island, NY
OK, there will be a lot of help available to you here to get your set up and running again. There is tons of stuff on this forum you need to look at, dealing with replacing all the capacitors, using a variac, etc... But that looks like a nice clean set, so you shouldn't have to deal with the nightmares of rodent infestation, etc... that we often find in these old sets.
If you haven't worked much with electical devices, please be especially aware that you should not touch anything when power is applied to the set. Never ever! We do want to hear from you again.
Fixing old radios is a wonderful hobby, and a great way to starve to death as a profession nowadays. Others might beg to differ.
Posts: 336
Threads: 13
Joined: Apr 2011
City: Montreal, Qc
Hey Kathy,
your console is the big brother of mine, that I am currently restoring.
here's my thread in case it can be useful:
http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showth...p?tid=3110
It is my understanding that most of the wires you have in your radio will have to be changed, in addition to the capacitors.
I know it sounds harsh when you start (I was there not long ago) but take up one issue at a time and you will progress. When you have questions, do ask. The people on the phorums know about them Philcos.
The $$$ for restoration ain't that big if you already have the tools. Particularly if you can locate a place locally that sells the proper capacitors (which I didn't until I had already received my order...)
I have about 80$ worth of parts so far invested in mine, and I think it'll cover all I need until its completely recapped. This includes Philco water transfers, felt for the knobs, and refinish material.
overall, I don't find it too pricey, the audio quality was already good to begin with, but its getting even better now that I am replacing the caps.
Enjoy your project.
-Mars
Posts: 4,639
Threads: 51
Joined: Sep 2008
City: Sandwick, BC, CA
codefox1 Wrote:Well my first recommendation is not to quit your day job. It's a great hobby, and for most of us, at best a self liquidating persuit, that is discount labor, and see if you can make a few bucks on a sale to pay for the next wreck you find at your door from the post office or UPS.
Somewhere there is a guru on top of a mountain, probably in Europe, who earns a 7 figure income by restoring ancient microphones, radios, maybe even obscure glass optics for even more obscure film cameras.
Great hobby, very doubtful career path. When that ***hole finallly goes silent, not gonna be much on AM. Or is he gone > Dunno.
Are you talking about Ed Schultz? There is lots of stuff on AM, it just depends on where you are and when you listen.
Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)
|
Recent Posts
|
Rare zenith 6s137 restore
|
All of these restorations are two projects. The chassis and the cabinet. You're done with the chassis.
I would keep ...RodB — 01:29 PM |
PT-6 antenna connections
|
Thanks. The transformer tested per your numbers. Checked the wiring and it appears to be good. I’ll move on to checking ...bridkarl — 12:37 PM |
GE Model P-975F
|
There are 2 of these on ePay and several pics on Radiomuseum. Although the front looks like a very popular Hong Kong ra...MrFixr55 — 09:26 AM |
Rare zenith 6s137 restore
|
Hi Fred,
I get things to work, but what you, Russ, RadioSvit and many others on the Phorum do with cabinet and chassis...MrFixr55 — 09:02 AM |
PT-6 antenna connections
|
Hi Bridcarl
+1 on the others. Pin 6 of the 7C6 is the AVC Diode so it is appropriate that that pin 4 of the coil con...MrFixr55 — 07:30 AM |
462ron
|
Joseph, this is beyond awesome. A lot of thought and engineering went into this and you hit a home run! Now I must save ...462ron — 07:27 AM |
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
Outstanding work indeed. I wish I could come up with solutions like this.slford310 — 11:16 PM |
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
The abilities of our 'Phorum Pholks" never ceases to amaze me! Fantastic fabrication, Joseph! I'm waiting now for...GarySP — 08:27 PM |
PT-6 antenna connections
|
Thanks. I never realized that was a notch noted in the schematic as described. I’ll recheck my wiring.bridkarl — 08:13 PM |
Cannot Adjust an IF Transformer’s cores
|
Thank you! I was quite new to the Phorum when I started this post, so I feel like it might be advantageous to publish a ...jrblasde — 08:07 PM |
Who's Online
|
There are currently 4665 online users. [Complete List] » 1 Member(s) | 4664 Guest(s)
|
|
|
![>](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/asb/right_arrow.png)
|