[Ron Ramirez]

Last night, I took the 66B cabinet back outside, and went over it twice with acetone. The results:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_013.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_014.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_015.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_016.jpg]

I have declared it ready for light sanding, followed by a couple coats of sealer. I hope to get it sanded, sealed, and grain filled tomorrow.

I think I'll take the night off from cabinet work tonight.

[NickinMD]

Wow, really coming along! As an aside, it would be a good idea to wear a face shield when using the methylene chloride.  Here's a link to the NIOSH recommendations:https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/93-133/

[Ron Ramirez]

I appreciate your concern, but this was the first time I've used a methylene chloride-based stripper in literally decades. I only have one more cabinet I'll be using it on this year - the 41-KR. Plus, I am doing this outdoors in the shade where there is plenty of ventilation.

So, on this first day of September, I sanded down the 66B cabinet and then applied sanding sealer. Here's how it looks now:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_017.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_018.jpg]

That is my last can of Deft sanding sealer next to the 66B cabinet, and it's nearly empty. I bought some Mohawk sanding sealer a few weeks ago so I won't run out anytime soon.

This cabinet is still a bit dark for my liking, but it will have to do. In any event, it looks much better than it did, flaws and all (there are several against-the-grain scratch marks on top).

Oddly enough, only the front panel appears to be conventional open grain walnut. The top and side panels appear to be some sort of more closed grain wood. I'll try some grain filler on the top and sides, but I don't know if there will be anything to fill in those areas.

Now to move on to a different cabinet while the sanding sealer dries...

[Ron Ramirez]

The first of September and the grain filling is complete on the 66B.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_019.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_020.jpg]

Goal for tomorrow: Sand away the grain fill residue, then begin toning the cabinet. This will receive Medium Walnut and black lacquer on the trim, as per original.

[Steve Davis]

Oddly enough, only the front panel appears to be conventional open grain walnut. The top and side panels appear to be some sort of more closed grain wood.

I have never worked on one of these , but most of the "Clyde Shuler" style cathedrals and the shouldered tombstones used fir plywood for the sides. They were toned dark to look like walnut.

Steve

[Ron Ramirez]

Hmmm...fir...makes sense to me. After all, if Philco could cut corners somewhere, they would.

Now...I give you this afternoon's progress on the 66B:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_021.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_022.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_023.jpg]

Take a good look at that right side panel. It certainly does not look like walnut (not to me, anyway)!

I wet sanded the entire cabinet with 400 grit paper to remove the grain fill residue and prepare the cabinet for toning. After wiping the cabinet off and then letting it dry, the cabinet received two good coats of Medium Walnut toner with one of Mohawk's optional fan spray nozzles. It is starting to look as it should once again.

Tomorrow, I plan to mask off the areas which will remain Medium Walnut, and then spray black lacquer on the trim.

[Arran]

Ron;
  The front panel looks like it has some sort of mahogany veneer, the top and sides look like they might be poplar, or possibly maple. This is odd because I thought that the 66MB was like the 60MB that Bob Andersen has, I think that his had veneer on the top and sides. http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread...light=60mb
If the 66MB was made with grainless wood on the top and sides it was obviously intended to be heavily toned in those areas like a 620B cabinet.
Regards
Arran

[Ed Locker]

Purty! 

[Ron Ramirez]

Thanks Ed!

Most of this morning was spent masking off the 66B cabinet and the RCA 6T2 cabinet.

Here is the 66B before I began to spray the Mohawk black lacquer:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_024.jpg]

After two coats of black:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_025.jpg]

It turned out well, save for one little run on the trim whcih is at top center:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_026.jpg]

I will try to correct that in a little while by carefully sanding the run, then (also carefully) reapplying more black lacquer to the area. All of this while the cabinet is still masked off.

[Ron Ramirez]

So I carefully sanded the drip with 400 grit sandpaper.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_027.jpg]

I sanded it a little more than this in an attempt to feather out the spot. Then I took the cabinet back to the detached garage and sprayed some more black on that area.

While I was at it, I found some areas of the bottom trim that I had missed, and resprayed these as well.

Afterwards, the spot where the drip was looked like this:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_028.jpg]

From a drip to a slight depression. I can live with that.

So I brought the cabinet back into the basement and removed the masking. Here's the result:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_029.jpg]

Now this cabinet looks as it was originally supposed to look.

-----

In case you're wondering about the escutcheon...

I removed it from the cabinet and removed the plate from the back of the escutcheon. This, along with the tiny nails which held it in place, is in a Ziploc bag with the 66B chassis.

It was just as difficult to remove the thick paint from the escutcheon as it had been to remove it from the radio cabinet itself. I decided to try something drastic while I was stripping the cabinet - I soaked the escutheon in acetone for an hour or so. This worked well and I was then able to remove the remaining residue from the grooves of the escutcheon with an old toothbrush.

-----

Next up: To dust off the cabinet, then add the PHILCO decal, then begin spraying clear lacquer on the cabinet. And I'd better spray that escutcheon black also before I forget.

[KCMike]

Looks good.   You're getting there.

[Ron Ramirez]

Well, I thought I was...

As I said in the RCA 6T2 thread, this was not a good afternoon.

I applied the PHILCO decal and then applied the first couple coats of clear lacquer.

All seemed well.

I decided to start putting things away.

As it turns out, I moved the 66B too soon, nearly dropped it, and in trying to recover I managed to get a nice thumbprint in the top.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_031.jpg]

 

That was it for the day, and probably the week.

If you don't look at the top of the cabinet, it doesn't look too bad.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...18_030.jpg]

After calming down and looking at it some more, I am now hoping that I can correct the flaw with some careful wet sanding - and by spraying some Medium Walnut into a lacquer can lid and applying it to the bare spots with a brush.

But that will likely wait until next weekend.

[morzh]

Haste makes .... an unhappy Ron

I'm sure you can remedy it to the not noticeable state.

[Ron Ramirez]

Indeed...

But everything was going so smoothly until this afternoon! In this one afternoon, I managed to screw up both of the cabinets upon which I had worked so hard over the past few weeks.

Lost in the shuffle was the 66B escutcheon, by the way. No, I didn't lose it...I mean that after all this happened to both my 6T2 and my 66B, that I didn't bother with spraying the 66B escutcheon, choosing instead to call it a day before I messed up the escutcheon, too.

Oh, and the photo above shows the toner which has lifted in spots from my thumb accidentally touching the top of the cabinet. It does not show the actual thumbprint whcih is now in the lacquer.

[Paul Philco322]

I too have goofed up the last week, messed up a dial glass, oh well. I think you can fix yours though. It is hard where the margin for error is slim, makes every move important. 

Good luck. 

Paul