08-16-2008, 09:07 PM
One thing we usually lose sight of is that when our radios were in everyday use, and needed to be fixed, some of the repairs we speak of now, were perfectly acceptable. The radio wasn't expected to go more than 7 0r 8 years, then trashed. So, however the fix was executed, it was OK, because it did the job. I was one of those techs of ancient days, because I worked in a radio shop, on a bench, during WW II. Fortunately, we didn't repair sets with new components dangling from the chassis, nor bridge bad filter condensers with new tubulars. The boss taught us that the open electrolytic could change its mind some day, and become shorted. But remember that in those days, the screw mount aluminum can electrolytics were still in the catalogues, so in the better shops (ours was), screw base got replaced with screw base.
The sets that were the ones most dreaded were intermittents or "faders" (not to be confused with Fada). They were (are) foxy, and defied any attempt to isolate a bad component. Nowadays, intermittents aren't much of a problem, because all capacitors are replaced. and whatever may have been intermittently bad, is removed, anyway.
Sort of amusing even that I like RCA sets as much as Philco, but RCA used the worst junkiest cpacitors in their sets that anyone ever even came close to. They were in little cardboard tubes with a drop of tar in each end, and literally came apart in the set. Those were the only intermittents that were easy to trouble shoot.Almost any tubular cap in the set was falling apart, and we did have customers where they let us totally re-cap a 3 year old radio! There was no other way out.
Probably, the bakelite (note that spelling!) block capacitors that Philco was famous for, don't really bother me. They were tie points when the set was designed, and while new terminal strips can be a neat replacement, I do like ti re-gut the bakelite blocks, more to preserve the appearance oif the chassis, than anything else.
The issue of re-stuffing tubular caps is, to me, a process of shoveling manure against the tide. Even if a radio is to be judged in a contest, judges can't see the craftsmanship beneath the chassis, so I see it as an exercise in futility. When you have as many artifacts as I have (besides radios), I just can't see myself, consuming time with labor that produces satisfaction or acclaim to nobody beyond myself.
The sets that were the ones most dreaded were intermittents or "faders" (not to be confused with Fada). They were (are) foxy, and defied any attempt to isolate a bad component. Nowadays, intermittents aren't much of a problem, because all capacitors are replaced. and whatever may have been intermittently bad, is removed, anyway.
Sort of amusing even that I like RCA sets as much as Philco, but RCA used the worst junkiest cpacitors in their sets that anyone ever even came close to. They were in little cardboard tubes with a drop of tar in each end, and literally came apart in the set. Those were the only intermittents that were easy to trouble shoot.Almost any tubular cap in the set was falling apart, and we did have customers where they let us totally re-cap a 3 year old radio! There was no other way out.
Probably, the bakelite (note that spelling!) block capacitors that Philco was famous for, don't really bother me. They were tie points when the set was designed, and while new terminal strips can be a neat replacement, I do like ti re-gut the bakelite blocks, more to preserve the appearance oif the chassis, than anything else.
The issue of re-stuffing tubular caps is, to me, a process of shoveling manure against the tide. Even if a radio is to be judged in a contest, judges can't see the craftsmanship beneath the chassis, so I see it as an exercise in futility. When you have as many artifacts as I have (besides radios), I just can't see myself, consuming time with labor that produces satisfaction or acclaim to nobody beyond myself.
