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City: Columbia, SC
Hi everyone, here's some pics of the 620 I got today. It's my first tombstone.
The cabinet is completely intact and solid, but someone slathered it with a nasty coat of clear. Not sure what it is, but the finish is horrible looking. Runs, streaks, and dimples are all over it. Should be a perfect candidate to learn refinishing on. The electronics are more or less untouched.
It will be a fun summer project.
[Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L4Kqr...C_8109.jpg]
[Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9oZed...C_8110.jpg] [Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DY-kp...C_8111.jpg]
[Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Xz1ie...C_8114.jpg]
Will
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City: Kentucky
Looks great! ... Someone probably slathered shellac on the cabinet. That seemed to be a popular home refinishing technique from back in the day. I'm currently working on a Philco Jr that's also covered in it.
Anyways, great find! You'll really enjoy it.
The artist formerly known as Puhpow! 8)
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City: Clayton, NC
Yes, a good set. Enjoy! 
Posts: 3,147
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City: Lexington, KY
If it is shellac, denatured alcohol will remove it w/o damaging the lacquer underneath. Years ago it was a common practice in some households to go around and spruce up their furniture with a fresh coat of shellac.
I have a Jesse French Jr. cathedral that had a coating of shellac slathered on it. After removing it with denatured alcohol it revealed a beautiful lacquer finish. As always, try this in an inconspicuous spot first.
I learned about this years ago at a MAARC meet in Maryland where Ed Lyon was giving a seminar on finishing tips.
John KK4ZLF
Lexington, KY
"illegitimis non carborundum"
(This post was last modified: 04-27-2014, 11:19 AM by Eliot Ness.)
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Hey John back in the '80's I was a member of MAARC. They had about 15-20 guys back then. That was 1984. My how things have changed!!!!
Terry
(This post was last modified: 04-27-2014, 11:39 AM by Radioroslyn.)
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Beautiful set! Good luck with it.
Jon
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City: Columbia, SC
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
John, I tried rubbing it with denatured, and it's working great! The stuff is really stubborn and takes forever, but the lacquer underneath is in very presentable condition. It looked very dull, but a little bit of Howard's made it much better. Still a few dings and scratches, but much better than before. Thanks for the tip!
Is it safe to use alcohol on the knobs and escutcheon as well?
I'll post another photo once I finish the sides.
(This post was last modified: 04-28-2014, 04:05 PM by skyscraper.)
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Quote:John, I tried rubbing it with denatured, and it's working great!
Looking forward to some pictures.
John KK4ZLF
Lexington, KY
"illegitimis non carborundum"
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State, Province, Country: Massachusetts
In an odd sort of a way maybe the glop was like a protectant.
Paul
Tubetalk1
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After nearly two hours and half a bottle of poisoned moonshine later, I got all the shellac off. It looks significantly better than before, but it's easy to see why they did it in the first place. The lacquer underneath is in rough condition in several places. I still may end up refinishing it later, but for now I think it looks fine.
It was a protectant, now I wish they had put it on earlier 
Before and after:
[Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L4Kqr...C_8109.jpg][Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ud_Lb...C_8116.JPG]
It's worst on the top:
[Image: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8EdSA...C_8117.JPG]
Will
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City: Lexington, KY
Well it was worth a shot! You can always refinish later if you change your mind.
John KK4ZLF
Lexington, KY
"illegitimis non carborundum"
Posts: 239
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Joined: Dec 2013
City: Columbia, SC
Thank you so much for the suggestion! It looks much better than my photos late last night show, and at the very least has moved to the back of the 'queue.'
This is rather off topic, but what is the cheapest place to buy capacitors? I'm looking at buying enough for a dozen radios, and the cost really adds up. So far Wjoe is the cheapest I've been able to find. $.33 for .01 and 47uf 250v $.45
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City: Sandwick, BC, CA
The cheapest place to buy capacitors? I gather you mean replacements for paper capacitors? I would say WJOE for most of the common axial lead ones, at least up to .5 uf 630 volts, for anything larger I would say Mouser or Digikey, sometimes Allied. With WJOE the more you buy the more you save per unit, I just stocked up with parts from his place. One thing I should mention though, the finish quality of the WJOE caps isn't as good as lets say an Illinois or Mallory cap, with wrinkled labels and so forth, but they test fine up to full rated voltage. One other way to save money is to get radial lead versions of a given size, axial types are better for restuffing tubular paper caps though, with Philco Bakelite blocks it doesn't matter.
Regards
Arran
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City: Sandwick, BC, CA
By the way, the underside of your chassis is not untouched, I can see at least a few replacement paper caps mounted underneath, some may be to bypass failed block capacitors. It's been a while since I looked under the chassis of my 620B, most of it's issues are cabinet related, but the radio always worked so I never got around to working on the electrical part.
Arran
(This post was last modified: 04-29-2014, 09:49 PM by Arran.)
Posts: 239
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Joined: Dec 2013
City: Columbia, SC
Thanks Arran! Wjoe it is.
That's why I said more or less untouched. Nothing irreversible. If they are replacements, whoever installed them did a clean and excellent job, and used Philco parts.
Will
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