01-03-2024, 12:14 AM
T'is the height of summer here - so yep, summer project. But it wasn't supposed to be a project - it was meant to be a day job to get it running again... sigh 
Anyway, I have got the chassis to the point I am ok with it. I'm sure that will offend the real restorers - but this isn't a restoration... I'm just tidying it up. Even so, it took a couple of days to get it to that point. I was considering spraying the chassis in appliance satin silver, which I've used on Philco chassis' before - but I'd lose the original Beggs label on the back (Chas. Begg Ltd were the NZ distributors for Philco in New Zealand). I did paint the transformer... I considered doing a Buzz on it, but bright red transformers just don't do it for me...
And I found a (K7?) speaker in my stash (I tend to hoard EM speakers)... probably from my Philco 89B, which I'll need to pull out of storage and check... if it is the 89B's then I'll need it back, but for now it's tacked in to test...
Then I fitted a new power cord. Well, an old power cord. I had to swap the speaker wires and the power cord as the ferrule for the original power cord is too small for a 3-core cord. I've also cleaned out the death cap, so it's just a junction block now - I was going to remove it, but it's actually a handy way to attach the power cord.
So it's all back together. It's got a 6F5 instead of a 6K5 and had a 6V6 instead of a 6F6... I have a good VT66 so I fitted that.
On power up I got filaments everywhere except the 5Y4, which was stone cold - so I fitted a spare and it powered up and crackled, but nothing else. Wiggling the 6A8 got it to intermittently burst into song - so I replaced that with a 6A8G from my stash, and it goes. Not well, but it goes. We're rural though, and older sets without an RF stage tend to be pretty hopeless here.
Next step - I'll actually test all the valves I have in it now and see how they stack up. I'll replace any marginal ones - then I'll align it...
So, progress
Anyway, I have got the chassis to the point I am ok with it. I'm sure that will offend the real restorers - but this isn't a restoration... I'm just tidying it up. Even so, it took a couple of days to get it to that point. I was considering spraying the chassis in appliance satin silver, which I've used on Philco chassis' before - but I'd lose the original Beggs label on the back (Chas. Begg Ltd were the NZ distributors for Philco in New Zealand). I did paint the transformer... I considered doing a Buzz on it, but bright red transformers just don't do it for me...
And I found a (K7?) speaker in my stash (I tend to hoard EM speakers)... probably from my Philco 89B, which I'll need to pull out of storage and check... if it is the 89B's then I'll need it back, but for now it's tacked in to test...
Then I fitted a new power cord. Well, an old power cord. I had to swap the speaker wires and the power cord as the ferrule for the original power cord is too small for a 3-core cord. I've also cleaned out the death cap, so it's just a junction block now - I was going to remove it, but it's actually a handy way to attach the power cord.
So it's all back together. It's got a 6F5 instead of a 6K5 and had a 6V6 instead of a 6F6... I have a good VT66 so I fitted that.
On power up I got filaments everywhere except the 5Y4, which was stone cold - so I fitted a spare and it powered up and crackled, but nothing else. Wiggling the 6A8 got it to intermittently burst into song - so I replaced that with a 6A8G from my stash, and it goes. Not well, but it goes. We're rural though, and older sets without an RF stage tend to be pretty hopeless here.
Next step - I'll actually test all the valves I have in it now and see how they stack up. I'll replace any marginal ones - then I'll align it...
So, progress
There are no personal problems that can't be overcome with the liberal application of high explosives
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