[Kekoa]

Hello,

I picked up a 53-960 last week, and the first thing I noticed, was that the four bolts that secure the chassis to the cabinet are missing. I'm wondering if anyone knows the correct size of these bolts.  A #10 is too small, and 1/4" is too big.  A #12 seems about right, but  24TPI is wrong.  I guess I could always drill and tap it, but I'd prefer to find the proper fasteners.

Thanks.

[sam]

kekoa
welcome to the phorum
sam

[Ron Ramirez]

I have a 53-960 but I do not know what size the bolts are.

[radiohenry]

Kekoa,
    Try going to a metric size screw. Go to the local hardware store . Most have a selection that you could look at. Bring the chassis to check the size.
                                    Henry

[Kekoa]

Thanks guys.  I think I'll go ahead an tap it.  That will give me something to do today since I'm waiting for the capacitors to arrive.

Here she is.
[Image: http://www.pbase.com/david_3/image/15804...iginal.jpg]

[Image: http://www.pbase.com/david_3/image/15804...iginal.jpg]

It looks pretty good, overall.  It appears that one of the  capacitors has been replaced, but everything else seems to be original. The cabinet cleaned up nicely (the pictures are "before" shots), so other than a little touch up here and there, I'll probably leave it as is. Not sure what to do about the grill cloth....I took it off and washed it, but it is still too grungy for me. Can't seem to find that same pattern, though.  We'll see....

[OZ4]

Kekoa
On your grille cloth if it's still in good condition you can try giving  it a light coat of spray paint to brighten it up. I would test out the color on some similar cloth first. There is also fabric spray if you can find some in the right color. Try Amazon
Chris

[Kekoa]

I thought about the metric possibility, but I didn't think that Philco would be using metric hardware back in the 1950's.  Then again, I'm so new at this (this is my first radio restoration) that I really don't know what I'm talking about.  

The grill cloth looks like it has some glue stuck to the back side, and it has been discolored by the stained backer board. I think it would be quite difficult to even out the color, and I have my doubts that it is salvageable. I probably won't end up with an "all original" radio, but that's OK, as long as the end result looks nice and can be a functional piece of furniture in the house.

[Ron Ramirez]

In the photo, your grille cloth looks better than the cloth on my 53-960. But mine only has turned dark where the openings for the speaker are at. It would probably be OK if I removed the cloth and carefully cleaned it...that is, as long as it didn't shrink so much that it became unusable.

[Kekoa]

Yeah, the cloth did shrink...a lot.  It's pretty stretchable, though, so I think it might be reusable, if necessary.  Right now, I'm leaning towards replacing it.  On a positive note, the brass "Philco" badge above the dial, polished up very nicely.

[Kekoa]

Gratuitous chassis porn
[Image: http://www.pbase.com/david_3/image/15812...iginal.jpg]

Sure are a mess of wires in there. I've said it before and I'll say it again....whoever invented the circuit board deserves a pay raise.  




Edit: Oh, I drilled and tapped the chassis, today.  It now takes 1/4"-20 stainless steel bolts to secure it to the cabinet.  

[morzh]

I created schs for 16-layer PCBs and myself routed up to 8.
Am I glad I did not have to wire those. Or even wire-wrap...

[Arran]

 You would not want to work on a 1950s era printed circuit board, especially one from around 1953, you look at one crosseyed and the foil will want to come off. Lets just say there was a reason why Brand Z preferred the hand wired chassis concept right into the 1970s in their TV sets, they had a go at it in the early 1950s, and had so many warranty claims that they decided to drop the idea and were skittish about it for a long time after that. Other then the "bumble bees" that set would be a decent candidate for capacitor re-stuffing, it does not look like any repair work was done under the chassis.
  With regard to the grille cloth I have had some luck using gojo for cleaning those, whilst still mounted to the board, then rinsed under the tap with hot water, and patted dry. I have also heard that brake cleaner may work on those too, but have not tried it, it did work on a flocked dial backing plate I had to clean up though, sprayed it on, then dabbed it with a paper towel, then repeated. If the brake cleaner was going to discolour anything it would have shown in my case, the flocking was black. 
Also, on the chassis bolts, it's unfortunate that they are all missing, maybe someone could take one out and check it with a thread gauge, maybe they were #12s with 32 TPI or 12/32, I doubt whether Philco would have used metric or BSW threads.
Regards
Arran

[Kekoa]

Yeah, I imagine some of those old original PCBs could be a real mess.  I guess I'm a little spoiled because I just built an Elecraft K2, and it is a beautiful little radio to work on. A fantastic kit!

Anyway, the chassis bolt problem is now fixed, and I ordered a piece of grill cloth to try out.  Sort of trial and error....if I don't like it, I'll try something else.    

[Kekoa]

It's alive!!!  

I had Frank Sinatra playing on the old girl for about 45 minutes.  

I finished up replacing the capacitors today, and managed to get it up and running. Still have quite a ways to go, though.  I want to put a fuse in the power cord, and the band switch seems a little stiff, to me.  Not too bad, but I'm not sure how it is supposed to feel, since I don't have anything to compare it to. I cleaned the contacts the best I could, but they are almost impossible to reach. Had one near disaster when performing the recapping.  One of the solder tabs on the on/off/tone potentiometer broke off. It must have been hanging by a thread, because all I did was touch it with the soldering iron.  But I managed to solder the lead from the capacitor to the remnants of the tab, and all is well now.  There is still a little more touch up work to do on the cabinet.  The grill cloth arrived, and it's OK, but I'm still undecided. We'll see.

Not much of a picture, but here it is playing away on the work bench.
[Image: http://www.pbase.com/david_3/image/15808...iginal.jpg]


Oh, I rearranged some stuff on my Pbase account, which is why the other pictures disappeared.  I'll try to add a shot of the recapped chassis, tomorrow.

[morzh]

I handle plenty of the old (phenolic paper, the brown ones) PCBs in mybyounger years.
The last one was when I fixed that Philco portable transistor record player.
Yep, very bad.

Beleve itbor not but much of consumer electronics in the SU used that material well into 80s.
My stereo for one used it. Made in 1979.