[AI2V]

After four hours of recapping 13 blocks and re-resistoring my "new" 16B, I gave it power- and it worked, almost; Philco had added a resistor that wasn't on the schematic into one of those blocks and they didn't they give the block a new part number. Putting in a resistor and spending a minute to tweak the IF and the 16B was blasting the BC and SW.

What surprised me was that it worked even though I had forgotten to recap the huge capacitor "brick" that holds the .5 to 2mFd caps. I will let it burn in for a few days and if any of those caps fail, I'll just mount new caps outside of the can.

The only nuisance was the tone switch- early updates were made and described in the notes, but there's no schematic. Just to get it going I simply used three different value caps and a series 30K resistor.

On to the cabinet. All of the 16B's I've seen had a near-black cabinet; this one is a dark wood tone (fair condition, not really presentable). This is one of the Code 121's- does anyone know if this lighter color is merely aging or were these early ones actually dark wood tone?

[49Stude63]

The big brick cap can isn't all that hard to redo, I take it off the chassis, drill out the two rivets and then put it on a scrap pie pan and bake it in the oven at about 350 for about 45 mins but you could also do a heat gun and then get a long wood screw then take the bottom off and screw the wood screw in and get some gloves and pull the goo caps out. You could use electrolytics but I just use drops and put them in the cap can and then rivet the unit back together. I also usually paint it with "metallic paint" to get the original look back and then bolt it back and hook up the leads again.

[Terry Burns]

Hi Pete,

Here is a thread by Ron on the 16b. I could not get the pictures to come up though. http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=125
I think he used VanDyke brown.

Terry

[Ron Ramirez]

I've never had to drill out any rivets when rebuilding the large multi-section filter caps on any Philco, whether it be a 16, 17, 20 or any of the large older 1928-1931 chassis. The bottom cover usually pulls right off; it is a metal frame that has a terminal board riveted to it.

Sorry about the missing pictures. I will try to correct that this weekend.

[49Stude63]

Ron I drill the rivets out so I can paint the base along with the can itself that makes it a bit easier than taping off the bakelite material. Then after installing the new caps I pop in two rivets and install the upper portion back on the lower portion and bolt it back to the chassis. If you use "chrome paint" it looks close to the original plating.

[Ron Ramirez]

Ah...that makes sense.

EDIT: Guess I've been pretty lucky...none that I have rebuilt so far were terribly rusty. I have had to repaint the large can at times, but the bottom end that has the terminal board has always been in pretty good shape.

Stude, what type of rivets do you use and how do you install them (i.e. what type of tool is required)? I've tried pop rivets for attaching tube sockets to chassis, but I'm not very happy with the results.

[AI2V]

Allow me to jump back in for a quick note....

I found the original finish (Van Dyke brown) under the escutcheon; clearly the finish on my 16B had degraded very seriously. In a few minutes the toner lacquer will be ordered.

The 16B has been heat-running fine for 36 hours with the large cap can intact. It's original tin-nickel plating is in excellent shape and I won't be doing anything to it.

This is a NICE sounding radio!! Very sensitive on the SW bands. There's always lots of electrical interference in my area on the BC band below 900KC but the two IF stages seem to block most of that noise.

Thanks all for tips and advice.

[49Stude63]

Ron I went to ACE and picked up some metallic not aluminum types, they have an andonized finish on them and they seem to look fairly well when you put a washer on back to better secure the rivet. The bottom is not always as rusty as the can portion but I found when I painted the can area the bottom seemed to be mis-matched so I figured might as well paint them at the same time to get a better match. I found the chrome paint seems to look much better than any of the aluminum spray can colors. Here are some shots of my Silvertone 4586 chassis (before) [Image: http://inlinethumb14.webshots.com/40589/...425Q85.jpg] And here is a shot of the chassis after cleaning and painting the goat shields [Image: http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/40157/...425Q85.jpg] By the way the only parts that were painted were the goat shields the rest of the chassis just cleaned so nicely using some "gunk off" stuff that I purchased.

[Texasrocker]

Stude, "you missed a spot" on that chassis repaint job! Hee Heee,.... just kidding You!! It Looks GREAT!!! Speaking of repainting, my wife just got home with 2-gals of interior house paint for me to use on the bedroom we sleep in. She said she will help me paint the trim boards! I have never seen a paint-brush in her hands before! That should be interesting to see! I'll believe it when I see it!! Sure wish I was repainting a vintage-radio chassis this weekend instead!! Keep saving all vintage radio-americana!! That chassis-repaint photo looks awesome!!

[49Stude63]

I have had two or three chassis turn out this clean after getting the tooth brush and cleaning solution out. This one just shines and painting the goat shields matches them up the the chassis well. I also picked up a Philco 38-1 from the Chicago area and it cleaned up nicely and the tube shields look close to new so I didn't paint them. On my picture site there is a 38-2 that I restored and the chassis looked like someone poured oil all over it and it looked worse that "poo-poo" but after cleaning all the gunk off the chassis was nearly rust free (all the oil must have protected it). I like the 8 or greater tube set and the one posted is a 10 tuber.