[GarySP]

Hello all.  Went to an estate sale in my neighborhood this morning.  Sitting in a bedroom crying out to me was a 41-280x!  You could tell the estate salespeople didn't know what it was since the tag on it said " Old Stereo  $90.00."  The cabinet is in great condition with a couple of exceptions... a few watermarks on top from vases no doubt and a small piece of veneer broken off one of the sides.  Inside looks intact and factory original.  Thanks to all the insight I've gained from everyone on this phorum I approached the sales person and began picking it apart to him.  After explaining that it needed a new face plate and push buttons, capacitors, resistors, line cord, veneer work, etc I offered him $30.00 dollars for it.  He refused.  "No problem, I said, lots of these around to choose from." (OK, blatant exaggeration!)  As I turned to walk out, he said "40.00 dollars."  Two twenties came out of my wallet and away we went.  Hope any of you that have one of these or have worked on one can enlighten me with your opinions of this radio.  The cabinet was really the selling feature for me... love that art-deco look.  Hopefully will post some photos in the near future.  Take care, Gary

[morzh]

Well, you paid about right price though on the low end, these depending on where they are can go between what you paid and 90.

[OldRestorer]

great find!

I dont do consoles but it is definitely a nice looking radio.

Me

[TA Forbes]

They are a pretty good set! Well done!

You can find nice repop knobs, push buttons, and even the escutcheon for your set. If yours has all of these items in good shape, it will be a first, for me, anyway. 

Oh yes, AND you get to have the great experience of watching the rubber insulation on the wires under the chassis vaporize when you nudge or even look at them too hard.    

[GarySP]

Took the first step towards returning this radio to its' glory... ordered a service package from Chuck!  The knobs are all there, dirty, but still usable.  The escutcheon, and push buttons, as you eluded Tom, are toast.  Hard to tell from what's left on the radio.  Did this set use brown or wine colored push buttons?  Speaker is full of dust bunnies, but no tears in it.  The lead wires to it look pretty feeble, though.  The rubber mounting blocks on the chassis corners are past their prime as well.  Time to start making a restoration parts list!  Take care, Gary

[Arran]

Took the first step towards returning this radio to its' glory... ordered a service package from Chuck!  The knobs are all there, dirty, but still usable.  The escutcheon, and push buttons, as you eluded Tom, are toast.  Hard to tell from what's left on the radio.  Did this set use brown or wine colored push buttons?  Speaker is full of dust bunnies, but no tears in it.  The lead wires to it look pretty feeble, though.  The rubber mounting blocks on the chassis corners are past their prime as well.  Time to start making a restoration parts list!  Take care, Gary

 Since it's a 1941 model then it would have brown plastic pushbuttons, the 1940 sets had clear wine coloured ones, but those also have a metal escutcheon. But don't get the 41-280 mixed up with the 42-380, whilst both had brown plastic pushbuttons and an escutcheon, they are not interchangeable, the 1941 models had 8 pushbuttons, the 1942 models had 9.
 One common problem that most of the 1939-42 Philco models have are bad power output transformers, so either go to AES and order a generic P-P output transformer, or go to Edcor and order one for P-P 41s or 6K6s, go by plate impedence in Ohms in teh tube manual. If you are really cheap you might be able to find a replacement in a junker radio-phono combo unit or chassis that uses either 6K6s or 6AQ5s as they both have the same plate impedance as a #41 tube.
Regards
Arran

[GarySP]

After taking a closer look it appears the cabinet has been at least partially refinished in the past. I repaired the small missing piece of veneer on the side. Have to decide if I'm going to do a total refinish, or just spruce it up. It's presentable as it sits, but not quite original in finish. Thankfully, I'm not an anal purist when it comes right down to it. Functional and pleasing to the eye works for me. Take care, Gary

[GarySP]

OK guys, time to start picking your brains.  In anticipation of having to replace all the wiring in the chassis for it's crumbling insulation I need to get a supply of new wire.  Any suggestions of what gauge wire I should buy?  Also, should I go with solid wire or multi-strand?  A question also about the tubes in the chassis.  Are the XXL tubes interchangeable with 7A4 tubes?  Remember, I'm not the electronic wizards you folks are.  Learning as I go.  Thanks for all the help. Take care, Gary

[morzh]

Either 18 or 20 gauge is fine, the currents in tube radios are very small and any of these have 10-fold ampacity.
I would use 18 only for tube filaments wiring, and even this only for the rectifier tube filament, unless you have many tubes in parallel (in radios with lots of tubes more than one winding is used so the current is split).
In your case all tubes are in parallel, so maybe 18 gauge for the filaments. Though it is for the peace of mind, 20 will do just fine.

Either solid or stranded are fine but stranded is forgiving when you bend it back and forth many times whereas solid might break.

[GarySP]

Thanks for the information Arran and Mike.  Took the speaker out of the cabinet and blew out all the dust with my compressor this morning.  It did have one tiny hole in it, and it was repaired some time ago.  Other than that looks to be in decent shape.  A question arises about the cabinet that makes me think it was refinished.  In the photo in the gallery the trim on each side of the speaker stiles looks like tiger maple, or maybe some sort of photo finish.  Mine are just a continuation of the mahagony finish on the sides.  Not unattractive, but doesn't seem factory either.  Will make the best of the situation regardless. Grill cloth is intact, but looks to be nothing more than brown cheesecloth.  You barely see it through all the wood anyway.  Take care, Gary

[Ron Ramirez]

The original rubber-covered wire used under the chassis of 1939-42 Philcos was at least 22 gauge. One of these days I really should measure a piece of that old wire with a micrometer. A majority of the under-chassis wire is solid, with stranded used chiefly for wiring to the pushbutton assembly and on IF transformers.

The plastic wire sold by Radio Daze in several different colors is 22 gauge, and is perfect for 1939-42 Philcos.

I'm not saying Mike is wrong, because 18 gauge would be better for the filament string, and 20 gauge would be better for the rest. But what Philco originally used was at least 22 gauge.

I used all 22 gauge in that 41-616 I used to own, which Joe (w4rtc) now owns. It has lots of tubes...I don't even remember how many right now without looking...15? Anyway, I experienced no issues with 22 gauge wire in that radio.

[morzh]

22 is just fine for general hookup, it's just when buying cloth covered from Daze I only see 18 and 20.

http://www.radiodaze.com/cloth-covered/

[Ron Ramirez]

Right you are...but the Radio Daze plastic insulated (not cloth covered) wire is 22 gauge.

[morzh]

Yep. I just kinda prefer cloth covered.
That said, I would prefer it even more if it came with that beige grayish hue Philco used, not those bright parrot ones they sell, but it is what it is....I am tempted to try that relic factory in MA who still make original cloth covered wire, just don't remember if they sell retail quantities.

PS. Just thought...for 40s radios cloth covered is not needed as they used colored rubber one. So, yep, you are absolutely right, for these AWG22 with pastic jacketing is just fine.

[Ron Ramirez]

Just thought...for 40s radios cloth covered is not needed...

...unless you are working on a 1939-1942 Canadian-made Philco, which has mostly cloth-covered wires even though their U.S. counterparts have all rubber.