[WWIIRadio]

I recently bought a beat up Philco 41-225 for $10, it is missing three tubes, the back panel, a knob, power cord, and the speaker cloth. The speaker itself has a large hole in the cone, and the wires are rotten. Is this radio worth restoring, or should I part it out or trash it. This is my first purchase of a tube radio, I normally collect wind up phonographs. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

[morzh]

It is not rare or expensive but could be a beautiful piece. Missing tubes are replaceable. Speaker could be tested and patched (cheap) or refined (not cheap).
40-s Philco have rubber coated wires rot away, so yes, this is the PM least pleasant part. But this is a small radio do not too many wires.

Power cords almost never survive anyway.

I cannot say yay or nay, it is your decision to make. For many people any radio that has enough to start with is worth restoring. If however you plan to ever sell it, it will be money loss no matter what.

[Steve Davis]

Welcome to the Phorum!

 If the cabinet is in good shape, my vote is to restore the radio. In addition to what Morzh said, plan on replacing all the paper capacitors. The cost is less than a dollar a piece. Here is a link to a schematic. http://www.nostalgiaair.org/pagesbymodel...013395.pdf  There are plenty of fellows here on the Phorum to help when questions come up.  The first thing to do is take a drive over to Gateway Electronics. They are located near Page and 270. They have thousands of tubes and will have the ones you need for $3.00 each. It may take an hour the find them, as they are piled in plastic bins with no order. But it sure is fun to look! Good luck with your project.

Steve

[klondike98]

Welcome to the Phorum!
All good advice above! If your hobby is restoring vintage vacuum tube electronics and cabinets its worth restoring. If you want to turn a profit on it the flip it as-is to the next hobbyist for $25.

[WWIIRadio]

I am a college student, as such, I cannot afford a whole lot. I just want a tube radio to listen to in my dorm. Would it just be better to buy a functional one than restore the 41-225?

[klondike98]

Yes, unless you want to spend the time and $ to restore what you have (probably $50 in parts plus you need soldering iron, solder and a multimeter) buying one thats already working would be best.  Keep in mind pre-WW2 sets are all just AM or AM with shortwave, no FM.

Some suggestions:
1. There is a radio club close to you, http://www.archradioclub.com/
Go to their meeting and see if someone has a set they would sell you.
2. In Kansas City, about 4 hrs from you there is another club with an auction coming up on Oct 10. https://sites.google.com/site/midamerica...radioclub/
3. Put an ad for what you are looking for in the Wanted section of this Phorum. 
http://philcoradio.com/phorum/forumdisplay.php?fid=17
4. You might find a working set on Craigslist.
5. As a last resort there are restored sets on ebay, but are usually a little pricey.

[codefox1]

Agree, if most everything's still there, a restoration can be done, although you need patience and come back anytime with specific questions. Good suggestions have been made above, and it is a nice hobby if you like tinkering, expecially in the winter months.

[WWIIRadio]

I bought a 1950s silvertone to use until I get the Philco up and running again, which probably wont be until next summer after college when I can start working again. Im from St.Louis, but am in Linn MO for school. Thanks for the advice, I will make it play again someday. within the next year or two.

[Raleigh]

If you are handy and patient, you should be able to restore this radio. I particularly like the styling of the 41-255 cabinet, and the sound is quite good for a table radio. It is not a particularly easy or fast radio for a beginner to restore, mainly because of all the wires insulated with rubber, which turns hard, cracks, and flakes off, leaving uninsulated wires ready to short out. Changing out those wires is tedious.

The first radio I restored was a similar 41-250. I did it slowly but without too much trouble,. The one I had worked, so I was able to test it after I changed each component or wire (or several) to make sure I hadn't messed up too badly.

Because there are so many wires to change, it is easy to get confused and put it together wrong, so before you change any parts, take photos of where every thing goes. Get a good set of schematics from The Philco Repair Bench, and be sure you read the section on production changes. Make drawings and take notes.

The on-off switches often go bad on these models, as do the output transformers. There is a wealth of info and some great guys on this phorum to help solve both of those problems.

[WWIIRadio]

The on and off switch on mine was bad and was replaced with a brass toggle switch long ago, i personally like the look of that switch.

[Raleigh]

WWIIRadio, where did they put the toggle switch? Did they drill the cabinet to mount it, or was it on the chassis? I have a 41-280 with a toggle switch on the back of the chassis, so before I fixed it you had to reach behind the radio and feel around for the switch to turn it on. That was annoying.

I'm working on a 41-255 now. It's one that has a lot of miles on it. There are several screw holes drilled in the chassis where there aren't normally holes, maybe for modifications or repairs that have since been removed. Most of the tubes are replacements. The 41 and 84 tubes are not the ST type and are various brands other than Philco, so I conclude that it has been played, repaired, and tinkered with a lot.

Both the power switch and the output transformer were bad. I replaced the output transformer with a Hammond 125B. In retrospect, I think I'd use a 125C if I did it again because the "B" has six secondary wires, 4 of will be unused. I'll probably cut them off, but for now they are a nuisance. I think I'll probably use #1 and #3, but I don't want to cut them off until I have a chance to test that those are the best choice.

All the other 125 series transformers have solder lugs for the secondaries, which eliminates the admittedly minor irritation of the six secondary wires.

I repaired the on-off switch simply by drilling out the rivets, cleaning the contacts with steel wool and then reassembling with self-tapping screws. De-oxit without dis-assembly might have worked as well, but I didn't think of that until too late. Next time.

[WWIIRadio]

the rod for the power button was bent over, and the toggle was placed in that button hole, I thought it was original at first.