[herromc]

I'm new to this phorum & new to owning an old radio.  To be honest, I'm dumb as a rock when it comes to this matter, but anyway, I'm wondering where I might pick up parts for my model?  Right now all I need is a 76-1134 antenna coupler.  Also, on the rear of the chassis there is a toggle switch.  Can someone tell me what it's for?

[Radioroslyn]

Hi and welcome to the Phorum,
Good luck on finding the ant coupler, they don't turn up very often. However you may be able to construct one using the info from   http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=2599
As for the switch I don't believe it's original to the set so if you can tell me where it's wires go I can probably tell you it's function.

[klondike98]

Welcome to the Phorum!

[herromc]

The toggle switch sure looks original, but I'll check where the 5 wires go to.  I do have one other question to ask.  Can I safely use compressed air on the chassis to clear out all the built up dust?

[sam]

herromc
air is fine but go lightly

sam

[herromc]

Thanks!

[herromc]

Ok, I checked out the rear toggle switch, so I'll try to tell you where the wires go.  Next to the toggle switch is a, what looks like an external audio jack (not sure if that 's what it is), and one wire goes there.  Another wire goes to the volume dial.  A third wire goes to one of the 7B7 tubes.  Another wire goes to what I think is a capacitor (30-4572).  The last wire goes to, what I'll call, a terminal (at that point, there are 2 small, non-insulated wires - one wire goes to the 7C6 tube and the other goes to one of the #41 tubes.  Hope you can tell me what the toggle is for.  Thanks in advance!

[David]

       
Beitman info is on 2 pages

[Radioroslyn]

So has the set been serviced?? Does it play? If it does play if you flip the switch the the of way does the sound disappear? If so sounds like it's an external input to the audio amplifier. Might be handy if you could snap a pic of the underside. Philco never use phono input on their prewar sets. They believed that it was better to sell you a record play with a small transmitter in to send a radio signal for your set to pick up hence the RP-1,2,3,4. Look Ma no wires!!!!!!

[herromc]

I just picked this up a few days ago, so I have no idea if it has been serviced.  Just tried to start it up today, but all I get is humming coming from the speaker.  I tried it on all the bands, but nothing.  I noticed that whoever had it before had an on/off button hooked up.  I disconnected it, and the original on/ off has a short in it.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not.  Any idea why I might be getting the humming when I turn on the radio?

[klondike98]

Radios of this vintage that have not been serviced recently will always need the electrolytic and paper/wax capacitors replaced. Humming is good in that it indicates your speaker is probably good. If you read through some of the restoration stories on this site you will get a feel for what it would take to get your radio playing. A nice introduction is offered on Phil's Old Radio site. Now that you've gotten hum, I would not power it up any more until you do the recapping. While under the chassis you should also check the resistors as many often drift off spec and will need replacing.

Unfortunately the 1941 radios fall into the rubber coated wire era and many of the wires need to be serviced. You can read about that in Ron's Technical section on this Phorum.

If you decide to tackle the restoration, take lots...repeat...lots of photos as you go. You never know which photo you will need to reattach something that your forgot where it belongs, especially if this is your first time.

[jcassity]

welcome to the board.
step 1- make double sure you clearly understand what code" number your set is.

step 2- verify the prints here match your layout exactly, if not obtain prints from "the philco work bench".

step 3- spend several hours randomly checking your radio wiring to the prints & perform a visual inspection.

step 4- some component values may start to not match your prints, if yes double check your Code number.
---- within each code number there may be several different versions called "run numbers."
----example i am a 46-1226 code 121. , however within oode 121 there are three models called Run1, Run2, Run3.
----my radio is wired to Run3.
----think of this like car, an 87 thunderbird looks just like an 88 thunderbird. 83-87 Tbirds wired just about identical yet the 88 was different. the 88 is also the very last year of the fox body design making this a one year only deal.

-step 5- using painters tape, make tiny tags on each part and lable the part as C1,, R22, L1, T1 etc.
-make a list of parts you need, assume all resistors , capacitors & Tubes need replaced.
-as a rule to a minimum, assume all capacitors & tubes need replaced
-step 6- build out your parts list and get things on order.,, should be less than 100$ to get tubes, caps and misc stuff.
---- radial capacitors are two wires exiting one end of the can
---- axial capacitors are an "axle", one wire out each end of the can
------determine your capacitor application needs for axial or radial.
------ "target" using all 600v application capacitors
------ "custom" target voltage rating for your filter capacitors
------ dont replace any caps that look like a domino , or any other mica style cap.

-step 7- plan in a polarized 2 prong or retrofit in a 3 prong power chord

-step 8- plan in a retrofit surface mounted inline fuse to the primary side of the input transformer if equiped.

-step 9- start one wire at a time , one part at a time and start replacing / checking stuff. remove all tubes and power up chassis, verify you have voltage on your transformer secondary and take notes on what the values are, then see if this matches your diagram. once you get past this it is just as important to jump directly to the speaker section and determine if you have a bad speaker field coil or ouptput transformer, this will require specail attention and help from others to determine a replacement option.

-step 10- when complete add a tiny dot of white paint to each cap and resistor. in the future when a part fails, the white dot will turn brown giving you a visual aid later was to what area had a fault.

An aticulating desk lamp with magnefying glass built in will become most important many times during repairs so get one in position.
Plan on the radio chassis sitting in one spot for several weeks and stick with the plan to get it running. You will need an area you can control and manage without random pets showing up making a muck of things ,, such as Cats.

Pay attention to some of the purist style restores done here. some people actually restuff the old capacitor cardboard tubes wtih a modern capacitor hidden inside, if this is something you would like to do, plan this in ahead of time by way of what style capacitor you have chosen.
you can use most any higher voltage rated capacitor you want,, the higher the voltage generally the more small the physical size of the capacitor becomes. If you go with modern capacitors, your replacements will generally be 75% smaller than your originals. You will end up with a lot of exra space when you are done.

dont "think" you can clean up the way the interior wiriing looks. If you replace a wire, then make sure the replacement is as close to the same length as the old. The radios were tuned at the end of the assembly line,, an so the tiny difference in the wire length you may introduce could affect your dial scale and where stations appear.

One last thing,, just because it "looks" like a resistor doesnt mean it is. it could be a capacitor. Color coding has not changed for resistors *but* the way in which we determine the value has. In some cases the "body" color of a resistor denotes the first significant digit, then the first stripe is the second significant digit.
In nearly all cases, antique capacitors used the resistor color code as well. There are round resistor looking items in your set that are actually called bumble bee capacitors..... toss those out asap in trade for replacements.