[Mutantmoose]

Okay, I'm just starting to dig in, and I'm looking forward to getting this sucker up and running correctly! 

The low down - 

I bought this two weeks ago, and it is in fine shape, it actually functions to tune AM stations and play records, though the crystal cartridge is kaput and very faint. All the controls are dirty, it needs all the electrolytics replaced, blah blah blah. I do have experience working with tubes and capacitors, I rebuilt my own Fender Super Reverb from scratch a few years back. 

So, there are some questions I have - 

First, what is up with these speaker wires? I plan to tear this mess apart and do a much cleaner job of putting the wires together with some heatshrink for better protection, but is this a factory thing, or what? The bare ends of the wires are clearly not good, and probably dangerous. 

   

Second - here are the can caps. On the left is the 20mf cap, and the right is the 25 and 10 mf  multicap. Looking at this, I feel might be hard-pressed to really fit new caps inside these cans, especially the multicap in that not too big can. I'd like to do the new guts thing and preserve the caps, but I'm not so determined that I feel it is a necessity. If I was to do this, what caps should I get that would fit in the cans and have the correct temperature rating? 

   

Third - here is the cartridge. As I said, it is a crystal cartridge that is shot. The rest of the player operates beautifully, though I think a little cleaning and lube would be a good idea. What can I replace this cartridge with? Is there a modern ceramic that will fit and has the right 3.0 stylus? I seem to recall a post somewhere about an Astatic jukebox cartridge that works. 

   

And last, just for grins - what the heck is this hole for? 

   

Thanks so much for all the knowledge shared around here!

[Radioroslyn]

>what is up with these speaker wires?
I would just replace them. Two of them have HV on them (connected to the field coil) and the other two are more or less at ground potential. Radiodaze sell a good selection of colored wire.

> I feel might be hard-pressed to really fit new caps inside
Don't think it will be a problem. Modern caps are fairly small 10 and 22mfd aren't giant. Look for 105 deg. If you want have a look at Hayseed  https://hayseedhamfest.com/pages/quote  They can manufacture a new twist lock caps.

> Is there a modern ceramic that will fit and has the right 3.0 stylus?
Generally The crystal cart have a pretty high output like 2-3v where the ceramic are abt a volt. It maybe be difficult to get full volume. I don't fool w/phonos much.

>what the heck is this hole for?
Methinks the diagram sez it's a test point to measure the avc volt when doing the rf and if alignment.

GL

[Mutantmoose]

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to simply replace the speaker wires - of course that makes perfect sense. 

I'll ponder the caps - I'm not sure if it really matters if I keep the original cans or not. It's cool to keep 'em, but does it really matter? I had a hard time imagining caps fitting in them because I'm used to the really big axial caps in Fender amps. Those Spragues take up a fair amount of real estate.

[jcassity]

Here is my resto on a 46-1226 code 125.

good luck and let me know if you need anything

http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread...ht=46-1226

[Mutantmoose]

Oh, believe me, I have read your series of posts several times in the last week, and I really thank you for them!

[jcassity]

that resto is rather long only because i am new to tube radio restorations.
this is kinda good for me because i have not had to use component level troubleshooting since 1995, i am often finding myself embarrassed about forgetting some of the most basic things....

what does not embarrass is asking questions ,, i have never felt stupid asking questions even though i often know i am setting myself up for well deserved constructive criticism, something of which society in general really needs to resurrect because it makes us better at what we do and builds appreciative respect.

good luck with your set,, id be interested to see if you have the same issue with a particular resistor that i had where i had to mount it on the top of the chassis in order to get the plate voltages down on the push pull 6k6's...........

to this day we dont know exactly why but what i know is that particular resistor was a constant root cause for why dad had to have it and other parts repaired in the past.

that radio is lucky to have fell in my hands, and i am lucky to have found this site! there is none other like it anywhere on the planet or the web.

[Mutantmoose]

I'm pretty sure I won't have that issue, as my model has the electromagnetic speaker which works as a choke, which is probably what that resistor of yours was replacing.

So, I dug in and did some cleaning yesterday, and it looks like everything has a really thick coating of cigarette smoke on it. Are there any suggestions for cleaning that kind of crud off, or is it just a matter of doing the manual labor?

Will warm water and soap get it off the tubes? I assume I would try to not get any water in the base, but I'm reluctant to try this unless all else fails.

I did some cleaning of the record player, and the yellow smoke crud is thick on everything, but cleaned off the idler wheel nicely. The wheel is hard but round, so I might try to modify it to hold a silicone o-ring instead of having it resurfaced.

[jcassity]

mine was sorta like that,, it was manual labor.
letting the chassis sit up on one of the sides, i did a soft paint brush application / scrub along with tooth brush letting the liquid run down to the pile of folded shop rag it was sitting on.

my cleaner was rubbing alcohol,, its cheap, it penetrates and the 70% stuff wont evaporate off so quickly.
it did slightly take off some ink stamping but i was careful.

i also did the air gun on it as well to get water droplets that were "stuck" in areas to move along and "down".

i had all my tubes and transformers off the chassis before i did this and i avoided getting the cleaner in the IF cans.

of course i had to re-lubricate everything that needed to spin, twist and roll. the Tuning caps ball bearings and such which i used winter green lucas engine assembly lube since it is really sticky and doesnt run away ,, just sorta stick to what its stuck to.

[Mutantmoose]

I'm playing with a couple of different cartridges for the turntable. I have a Pfanstiel 51-3, and one of those common as dirt ceramic cartridges that are on EVERY modern turntable-like-object.

The load resister for the current cartridge is 150k ohms. I probably need to change that out to a different value for a ceramic cartridge, but I'm not sure what. The volume control is the next item in the circuit, and that is a 2 meg.

Thoughts? I could always just put everything together and sub in a 2 meg pot for the load resister and adjust that until it sounds good, and then put in the closest value I can find.