02-26-2016, 05:51 PM
(02-26-2016, 04:59 AM)titan1a Wrote: I'm having a 37-665B restored. As with yours, trying to find a shadowmeter and the two metal mounting clips is a real exercise! It isn't unusual to find Philco radios without them or the appropriate wiring. I lucked out by combing the Internet far and wide and snagged the last one on a very unusual website. Snagging the clips and escutcheon required daily searching Ebay for WEEKS! You'll probably have little trouble getting a replacement dial. Mine most be redone as mine as a "rare bird." I believe your only hope is to find a beat-up radio that can be cannibalized. Just don't quit! You have a good radio.Fortunately the clips and escutcheon are all there - its just the meter I'm missing. The problem with getting a beat up radio for spares is that I would just want to restore that too and probably end up worse off parts-wise
(02-26-2016, 10:41 AM)Mike Wrote: Both cabinets look pretty good to me and the 630 is mostly there. If you have the resources to get parts, you could try to just restore both of them. They are both a nice design. Good luck.Yep the 630 is in stunning condition all things considered and I had always intended to do it up the way it deserves... its just having the 640 chassis that makes me wonder if I should 'upgrade' it and have a stunning 640... and have a not-quite-so-good 630. I will restore them both in time (within the limits of my abilities) because I love how these look.
I also like the idea that they're a pain in the butt to restore due to the sub-chassis... I get so many radios working in under an hour (often well under) by simply recapping them that something with a bit of a challenge is always welcome... and this presents mechanical and electronic challenges. I can't just throw a few caps at it and call it working, so I may as well fully restore it since its coming nearly completely apart anyway.
The cabinet on the 640 is not as good as it appears - there is some bad veneer (rippled and split) on the front right and a hole in the side and what I think is a brush-coat of poly... the Philco label is missing so I suspect its been stripped at some point. I'm going to teach myself to lacquer spray soon (Preval sprayers have arrived) so it might be a good one to do once I figure out how... and I have some spare decals I got for my 89B... so neither of these will become a parts radio, but one of them will probably look a little better (more authentic maybe) than the other.
Cheers
Steve
There are no personal problems that can't be overcome with the liberal application of high explosives