06-26-2011, 10:32 AM
I picked this little radio up at an antique mall in Cincinnati last weekend. It is the undocumented variant of the 39-6, with different grille cutouts like this one in the Gallery:
http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1939a.htm#b
The cabinet looked very nice overall, but had a spot on top where the finish was missing, as if something had been placed on top like a drinking glass.
I decided to try a spot repair to the top of the cabinet. So far, it's turning out pretty good. Not perfect, but certainly acceptable. I'll be making a trip to Evansville this week to pick up some semi-gloss spray lacquer to finish the job. That's the bad thing about living in a rural area...for the most part, you can't find lacquer around here. This is amazing to me, since Jasper (12 miles away) is well known as a town of furniture manufacturing.
The chassis was another story. Ugh! The thing was advertised as "working," and indeed it did work. However...the original power transformer (as with all 1939 USA Philcos which used power transformers) had rubber-covered wiring, and the rubber was dried out. If the wires had been slightly disturbed, the insulation would have started flaking off and the transformer could have easily shorted out.
The chassis itself was a mess of yellow cadmium powder and severe rust spots on top. All of this was carefully cleaned off, and the chassis was then primed, and later painted. I am currently finishing up work to the chassis - none of the capacitors had been replaced except for one electrolytic, which was replaced decades ago. Yes, one of the original wet electrolytics was still functioning!
I have replaced all of the paper caps. I have carefully removed the crumbling rubber from the power transformer leads, and replaced the insulation with color-coded heat shrink tubing to match the original colors. I still have to rebuild the electrolytic cans, reassemble the power transformer (the bells are out in the garage, having also been primed and painted, and I'm waiting for them to dry) and install these parts.
I did not take any photos during the restoration process, but now I'm thinking I probably should have. However, I will post a couple photos when it's all done.
http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1939a.htm#b
The cabinet looked very nice overall, but had a spot on top where the finish was missing, as if something had been placed on top like a drinking glass.
I decided to try a spot repair to the top of the cabinet. So far, it's turning out pretty good. Not perfect, but certainly acceptable. I'll be making a trip to Evansville this week to pick up some semi-gloss spray lacquer to finish the job. That's the bad thing about living in a rural area...for the most part, you can't find lacquer around here. This is amazing to me, since Jasper (12 miles away) is well known as a town of furniture manufacturing.
The chassis was another story. Ugh! The thing was advertised as "working," and indeed it did work. However...the original power transformer (as with all 1939 USA Philcos which used power transformers) had rubber-covered wiring, and the rubber was dried out. If the wires had been slightly disturbed, the insulation would have started flaking off and the transformer could have easily shorted out.
The chassis itself was a mess of yellow cadmium powder and severe rust spots on top. All of this was carefully cleaned off, and the chassis was then primed, and later painted. I am currently finishing up work to the chassis - none of the capacitors had been replaced except for one electrolytic, which was replaced decades ago. Yes, one of the original wet electrolytics was still functioning!
I have replaced all of the paper caps. I have carefully removed the crumbling rubber from the power transformer leads, and replaced the insulation with color-coded heat shrink tubing to match the original colors. I still have to rebuild the electrolytic cans, reassemble the power transformer (the bells are out in the garage, having also been primed and painted, and I'm waiting for them to dry) and install these parts.
I did not take any photos during the restoration process, but now I'm thinking I probably should have. However, I will post a couple photos when it's all done.
--
Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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