[Guest]

Hello all - I'm new to Philco restoration but thanks to Chuck S. and his great service documents and this Phorum, I've been learning a great deal!
I was recently given a 41-280 that is 95% intact except for the stringing of the bandswitch, among a few other things. I'm assuming that it connects in some fashion to the pivoting lamp assembly. I fear that there may be parts missing. I would like to know if a diagram exists for this or even a photo from a completed restoration that would clarify this. Thanks in advance for your help.

[rghines1]

Oldradiofixerupperguy.com has the Sams dial string diagrams online.
Below is a link to a pdf file. See diagram no. 353 for the Philco 41-280.

http://www.theoldradiofixerupperguy.com/...00_355.pdf

Richard

[Guest]

Thanks Richard - Great website! The diagram for the tuning dial stringing is on my schematic but the stringing for the bandswitch to the pivoting lamp assembly is the part of the puzzle that I can't find. I appreciate your help very much. Rick

[Raleigh]

I just took the chassis out of a 41-255. It has what I think is the same arrangement of the pivoting lamp assembly.

It wouldn't photograph well because the spaces are so tight, so I can only describe it in words. This is what it looks like to me, without disassembling everything to look.

There is a pulley on the band switch shaft in the front of the chassis. There is a wire cord guide riveted to the chassis to the right of the tuning knob shaft. The cord goes around the pulley and through the hooks on the cord guide. The cord coming off the upper side of the pulley goes through the upper hook and so on.

The cord coming through the lower hook goes up and around the inner of the two races on the pulley at the top right behind the dial glass. (The dial pointer cord goes around the outer of the two.) The cord then goes down through a hook bent into the sheet metal on the right side of the lamp assembly and then ties onto the tensioning spring just below the hook.

The cord coming through the upper hook goes up and ties directly to the lower side of the tensioning spring. On mine, the bottom of the spring is about 1.75 inch above the wire hook and the top of the spring is just below the sheet metal hook on the side of the lamp assembly.

My guess is the you can do this by taking out the near XXL tube and rotating the lamp assembly backward to expose the sheet metal hook on the side. Tie the cord to the spring and pull it tight through the sheet metal hook just above the spring, up around the pulley at the top of the dial, down to the lower wire hook, left around the bottom of the band switch pulley, right to the upper wire hook and finally up to the bottom of the spring. Pull it tight, stretch the spring a little bit, tie it, and you're done.

I know this is long and hard to follow, but I hope it helps. Write questions if you need to.

Oddly, my 41-280 doesn't have this pivoting assembly but has 3 lamps that are switched by the band switch to illuminate the band identification, plus one more to light the push button station IDs. My 41-250 and 41-255 both have the pivoting lamp assembly.

The schematics for all three models show the 4 switched bulbs.

[Guest]

Thank you John for the info - You went out of your way to answer my question indeed! Everything you described is doable except for the springs. Mine came minus the springs. If anyone knows the dimensions or source on the aftermarket, it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks again John!!!
Rick

[Raleigh]

I doubt that the dimensions of the springs are very critical. You could probably find something that would do the trick in your local hardware store. I made a few measurements and estimates on the ones in my radio.

The spring on the tuning dial cord that attaches to the big pulley on the tuning condenser is about 3/16 inch diameter. It is the type of spring that is normally fully compressed. Fully compressed it is about 1.3 inch or 1.4 inch long, including the loops bent at each end. Without the loops (just the coiled part) it is about 7/8 inch long. The wire itself is about .025 inch diameter. I forgot to measure how long it is extended, but you can measure on your pulley how far it has to stretch to install as the diagram shows.

The lamp assembly spring is smaller. I couldn't get really good measurements, but it is somewhere close to this: 1/8 inch diameter (it is definitely smaller than the other one, and looked to be about equal to a 1/8 inch screwdriver shaft I held next to it.) The length is about 7/8 including the bent loops. I couldn't get a measurement of just the coiled part. There is a lot of room to make it longer if need be. The wire diameter looks about the same as the other.

On my 41-255, neither spring is extended much at all. They both look almost completely compressed, so they don't need to develop much spring force at all to do their job. The spring on the tuning condenser is installed differently than the diagram shows. It is attached to the little hook on the pulley and is barely stretched at all, yet the cord doesn't slip. I would imagine that almost any spring with these general dimensions that doesn't interfere with any other pieces would work fine.