[klondike98]

This is a nice little Motorola set that appears to be in relatively good shape. None of the external plastic case is broken although the power cord has been cut off.
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/shvjhrl7t...n2eg&raw=1]
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cgovcp7mw...5yil&raw=1]

The outside is very dirty but seems to be cleaning up nicely with some waterless hand cleaner on a paper towel, well, lots of paper towels and cotton swabs.
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nmamaisap...vglp&raw=1]

So far the only obvious broken parts are the two red plastic mounts for the front door hinges.
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/78hk5g63j...j5a6&raw=1]

Here's a close up of the hinge inserted into the space where the hinge mount should be supporting the hinge. I'll have to do some thinking about out to manufacture something to do this. Since the on-off switch for the responds directly to the opening and closing of the front panel on the radio its important to find a fix.

[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jja1y95nj...t0x2&raw=1]

The underside of the chassis has a nice date stamp of May 4, 1949 and when that panel is removed you get a look at the wiring and components housed there. A lot of stuff packed into a small space so replacing caps is going to be a little difficult.
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/156mut4ri...tphn&raw=1]

[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/j2cgmt46e...hrp4&raw=1]

Fortunately it looks like all the transformers are still intact (unlike the Philco 39-7 I just set aside),the tubes all test out OK and the loop antenna housed in the front panel ohms out OK.

[Joe Rossi]

Bob, Nice radio.  I’ve not seen one before.  Keep us updated!

[Arran]

This would be the second portable in the "other radios" forum where I have a similar one in my collection. I have a Canadian market Phillips portable that looks identical to the Motorola 5A9M Bob just posted. It's called a model CMB41L here is an example: https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philips_cm..._41_l.html and even the chassis looks the same, not sure of the wiring. I will have to look it up but I think the Phillips may be a 1951 model, so maybe they bought the tooling from Motorola in Chicago, and started making them in Montreal? It's sort of odd because Phillips bought out Rogers after the war, and were making most of their sets in the Toronto area as that was where the Rogers-Majestic factory was. I believe that Motorola also set up a factory in Canada around the same time, though I will have to find out when, and where. They riveted a brass plate over where it says "Motorola" on Bob's set, and put a sticker over the plastic button that releases the lid. Here is the service info on the Pacific TV site: https://pacifictv.ca/schematics/philipscmb41ldata.pdf
Regards
Arran

[Arran]

Hello All;
I found the CMB41L down in the basement, it is definitely a 1950-51 model, the capacitors have date codes from February and April 1950, and the tubes have patent dates of 34-51 stamped on them. There are two toilet roll style filter caps mounted above the chassis in a metal band, and a date of April 1950, both made in Canada, I may restuff the cardboard tubes since there really isn't anywhere else for the replacements to go other then there, plus they can be seen with the back open anyhow. I also found a 150 ohm sand resistor, 2.5 Watt, just ahead of the selenium rectifier, in typical fashion the ends are turning green so it has to go, the main dropper for the filaments is a nice enameled power resistor, so it's probably fine. The chassis is pretty cramped so it's not surprising that not much work was done to it, they probably used the set until the filter caps crapped out and then put it in a closet after replacing it with a transistor radio.
The hinges for the front door are mounted on some plastic insulators, in a sort of shallow "U" shape, but the plastic appears to be different from the ones used on Bob's set, it's clear plastic, with a bit of a rubbery feel, possibly Tennite II as they have some mold on them. The plastic mounts had a pair of pins that plug into some leads above the chassis to connect the antenna, there does not appear to be a wire connecting the antenna loop to the pins so I think they rely on the hinge springs for that purpose. How you would recreate this would take some thought, maybe some ABS plastic, or nylon, they are about 1-1/4'' long, 1/4'' deep, and maybe 1/8'' thick, with a 3/4'' channel inbetween for the hinge.
Regards
Arran

[klondike98]

Thank for that info Arran! Very interesting. Phillips and Motorola must have made some type of marketing deal back then. I like that schematic as well. Yes the loop antenna is connected to the hinges. That was one of the first things I checked after disconnecting the front antenna panel from the chassis. Using the hinges as the contact points, there was about 3.5 ohms across the loop.

I've been scratching my head about how to fabricate the crumbled and missing red plastic mounts for the hinges on the chassis side of the front dial panel. Fortunately the riveted hinges on the antenna loop panel side are still solid. Because of the way the mounts were not only riveted to the front dial panel, they were also separately riveted to the hinges and the hinges need to be electrically isolated from the front panel metal. I tried to reuse the existing rivits without removing them by creating a small block of wood with slots that would slide into the rivit but I just could not make that work. I've now gone to a small block of hardwood that uses M2 machine screws with nuts to hold the mount in place. In the picture below I have used some electrical tape to isolate one of the hinges from the metal frame and it seems to be a viable solution. The other hinge looks similar. The prong that is sticking up is the fitting for the connector between the radio chassis and the antenna. I may redo the set up to make it neater and paint the wood to be a maroon color like everything else but at least the concept of the repair will work. I will note that its not easy to get those screws in and tightened down while trying to hold everything in place but it can be done. For those of you who watch the British TV show "The Repair Shop", I can say "Its very fiddly!"

[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vwsanaych...uwsz&raw=1]

[klondike98]

I've started replacing the electrolytic caps now. As Arran mentioned, they are housed under a metal strap. Here's a photo of those caps. There is an 80uF (yellow) and a 40-20-15uF cap (black). To get to them you undo the metal strap and desolder a handful of wires from that wire bundle and the caps themselves. I've got them restuffed and back in the set now.

[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/syt4nix2y...nrwj&raw=1]

[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tl2lft2yy...m0ni&raw=1]

[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0pd7sql3j...inaa&raw=1]

[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p42kk1m7j...ic6t&raw=1]

Now its time for what I think will be the most difficult part. Replacing the caps and resistors in the rest of the set. Its really packed together and I'm not sure how much of it I'm going to be able to access without completely dismantling everything. There is also a selenium diode that will need replacing but I think that should be pretty straight forward.

[Arran]

Bob;
I think that the Phillips was actually manufactured in Canada, though they may have imported many of the components from Motorola in the U.S, particularly the cabinet and hardware. The capacitors, and probably the tubes, were made in Canada, the filter caps are of lower quality then the ones in your set though, they are the cheap ones stuffed in a cardboard tube, with a wax bung at either end. That type are fairly easy to restuff so I likely will, I don't think I will bother with restuffing the paper caps in this thing, as you say it's very cramped, and I am having a hard time just seeing the tube socket terminals with the rat's nest of wire everywhere.
I did find out roughly when Motorola began manufacturing in Canada, it was in 1952-53, which makes sense since everything I have seen from them was made in the 1950s or later. What the arrangement with Phillips was will have to remain a mystery I guess, the set says it was manufactured in Montreal but all of the other Canadian Phillips stuff was made in the Toronto area. I have seen this with Wilcox Gay Recordios, they seem to have had an arrangement with Canadian Marconi to market Recordio models in Canada, though they may have assembled them here.
Regards
Arran