Ouch! I've taken loads of photos and taken notes so I should be able to get it back together properly.

I finally got all the rust off the chassis then applied some Rustoleum "Rusty Metal Primer". I'll go a few rounds of sanding and primer to fill in the pits.
The cadmium plating was fine in the unpainted areas.

I also popped out the two rivets holding on the IF coil shields so I can replace the rotting grid cap lead. It makes it easier to paint around too.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5126/...281aa6b7_z.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5006/...650ef734_z.jpg

The original electrolytics are rated 8uF @ 475 VDC. I'm using 10uF @ 500 VDC. I think that will be close enough.

I cut the ends open using a hacksaw and found this inside.
I wonder what compound those crystals are ? Nothing horribly toxic I hope :eek:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5213/...1f0fb49d_b.jpg

What is electrolyte usually made out of? I'd imagine it's not too dangerous as long as it's dry and you don't eat it :)

-J

It's borax. Not bad at all.

Ah, good to know.

I pretty much rebuilt these the same way as Phil Nelson. I did drill a small hole for the negative lead though.
After feeding the lead through, I wrapped it around the old terminal and soldered it. Originally, it made contact with the can just by pressure.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5097/...90d4143f_z.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5180/...cbbdf2be_z.jpg

The decals were already worn off one can so I didn't mind polishing them up. While doing so, I noticed that one can is stamped 61115 and has a flat top while the other is 61116 and has a rounded top.
The 61116 can also had some liquid remaining inside so maybe it's a really old replacement ?
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/...3ab13fc7_z.jpg

Anyone ever try filling those wet lytics with borax solution again?

Not that I know of. Sounds like an interesting experiment.

I think people have done that and then reformed the plates and all but...nice experiment, but I don't think I'd leave one in a radio.

When I restored my 1937 Philco 610 the original electrolytics still had liquid in them. I drained it out, sealed the ends and installed replacement caps under the chassis. It amazes me how some of this stuff worked when new.

I've finished rebuilding the tone control. There are two capacitors mounted inside a little box. They're connected together at one end that goes to the output tube. The other end of one is grounded. The other cap can be switch in parallel or left disconnected. I potted it with black hot glue and polished it all up with Simichrome.

Kinda complicated for a two position tone control if you ask me!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5015/...e3640bae_z.jpg http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5011/...bcc11c74_z.jpg

Wow! That is just beauteousful.
Paul

Thanks! I also spent a looooong time masking off the chassis and gave it a couple coats of Rustoleum Specialty metallic Chrome.
I followed that up with a couple coats of clear semi-gloss enamel. It's a pretty good match to cadmium plating I think.

I'll let it cure for a couple days then i can finally start putting this all back together!
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5211/...890a321c_b.jpg

Well, at least your tone control will work-mine is shorted out to the chassis, so it only works on the one setting. I'm guessing there should a be a fiber spacer or something on the control shaft that failed on mine. The set certainly lacks that 1930s "booming bass" that I'm used to.

The shaft should be ground it's the little contact pad that needs to be insulated. I think if that's shorted to the chassis (ground), you'll have a larger capacitance on the output which will filter out the lower frequencies.

I suppose you could just snip the wire to that switch contact.

The painted chassis has cured up real nice so it's finally time to put it all back together.
Good thing I took loads of reference photos ;)
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/...6c57826b_b.jpg

I removed the speaker from the cabinet for closer inspection.
It looks fine from the back - not so much from the front.
I measure 432 on the output transformer which is close to the 400 on the schematic. The voice coil is dead on at 1.14 K.
Unfortunately, the VC seems to be open :tears: I'm not sure if it would be more practical to hunt for a new speaker or get this one repaired :scratch2:
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It took me longer than it should have to realize that this speaker has been reconed - or at least someone attempted to recone it.

The new cone is off center, the surround is just scraps of cone material, and the spider and VC are missing :rolleyes:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5220/...394de122_z.jpg

I figure it should look just like this speaker from a Philco 38-10.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5296/...487f0c3f_z.jpg

I'm all for trying to recone it myself, but have never done it before.

I found Weber Speakers sells all sorts of reconing parts but am not sure what to order. Does anyone even sell spiders that screw on like these old Philcos ?

Or maybe I'm in over my head and should just send it out for repairs. Any suggestions ?

You're lucky in that this speaker was used in many Philco cathedral models. A few months ago, I fixed three Philco cathedrals for someone else, and they all used that speaker. And for all the changes the model 60 went through, the speaker seems to have stayed the same.

This article about the restoration of an Atwater Kent 206 describes (among other things!) a method for making a new voice coil/cone (look about half way down):

http://ludens.cl/Radiohis/ak206/ak206.html

(It seems implied to me that he fashioned a new spider out of card stock)

While his restoration wouldn't bear up to scrutiny of a concourse-type inspection, you certainly can't fault this guy's ingenuity. The lengths that he goes to to revive this old set are nothing short of inspirational! :yes:

Since you have all the other bits and pieces of the speaker, perhaps a similar method could be improvised...? He had access to a lathe, but maybe a somewhat less precise "former" could be attempted with a vertical fixed dowel rod and a concentric circle marked on the work table as a guide for the outer edge of the cone?

The quickest "fix" (term used generously) is to find a smaller PM speaker that will fit in the steel "basket" and secure it there. You can retain the field coil and output transformer and won't have to make any modifications to the radio's circuitry, plus the radio will appear more or less original from the back.

Of course, the sound won't be quite as nice--but acceptable. A working radio runs circles around a silent one!

This would be a tough one to recone ["don't try this at home"] since the voice coil is gone. You could buy a new cone and adapt it to an existing v.c. and spider but too much is gone here and it has the old style spider. This looks like one for Hank Brazeal. You don't need all that money you have, anyway. :yes:

I have a pacific radio tombstone that i parted out. the cabinet was too far gone. Would that speaker work? id have to go see it again. but if it would work you can have it + shipping.

Wow, that is really cool!

I think you're right about it being too tough for me right now. I've read lots of high praise for Hank, perhaps I'll give him a try if nothing else works out.

Thanks for the offer. The original is 6" in diameter with a field coil about 1,140 ohms. The output transformer has a DC resistance of 420 on the primary and less than 1 ohm on the secondary.

Ill check things out on mine. and ill let you know. if it dont match up, then it dont match up. but hey it was worth a shot. i know its a field coil speaker. just cant remember the type or anything as of now.

ya, this speaker field is 1850 ohms. so that probably wont work for you then. I tried. hehe

That's OK, thanks for checking.

I wonder if the speaker from this beat up 37-60 would work ? I do plan on restoring it too someday, but it's way down on my list.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/...328ca45a70.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2534/...7d9b1ce636.jpg

At least superficially, that is the same speaker. Looking at the 37-60 schematic is also pretty encouraging According to Nostalgia Air, the field coil is 1140 ohms, and the primary on the audio output transformer is 400 ohms, so it looks like you'd have a good one to use to set up your 60.

Cool - you saved me some time :D

The somewhat similar speaker for my Philco 70 is in the same condition - no VC or spider, but the FC and output tranny is good. So I'll either send them both out for repairs or try to roll my own voice coils. Money and time are both a little tight though so I hope the 37-60 speaker will do for now.

Whenver you can, it would be good for you to consider sending the speaker assembly out for restoration. You are doing such a fine job on this set, it would deserve a refurbished speaker as well. You can do that much later though since you have the speaker from the 37-60 to work with for now. Hope your dial scale does straighten out. I bet it will. I have also found that they don't have to be perfect. If they are slightly warped, they will work fine. Great job on that tone control! Looks like it just came out of the Philco factory!

Gilbert

The 37-60 speaker is in great shape and tests fine.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5214/...8f86911f_z.jpg

Some reproduction rubber parts just arrived today from renovatedradios.com. I got chassis and tuner cap mounts for this radio. I also got mounts for a couple other Philcos I'm working on.
Good stuff :thmbsp:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5171/...ebd68e2c_z.jpg

I'd say go ahead and try to do a DIY resto on that speaker. Your solutions are always so elegant that I'm sure you'll have a working speaker...it just may take a while. You can always just rip out your work and send it to Harry anyway.

Thanks for the kind words. I really would like to give it a try someday. I'm a bit behind in my projects so it may take a while.

I've been reading a lot about open coils in old Philcos so I've been dreading getting out the ohmmeter. Well tonight's the night.

I was pleasantly surprised that all but two of them are very close.
One that's way off is the secondary on the last 2nd IF can. The schematic calls for 85 and I get 47.
I'm going to leave it alone for now and see how it sounds. I figure it could be a mistake in the schematic.
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/Ph...0/2nd%20if.jpg

The other problem is an open section in the antenna coil :(
The 10 ohm section is fine, but the lower 0.7 is open.
There's some coating (wax?) around the lower section of the coil so it's a bit hard to inspect.
I believe this is where the ground connection is made. So somewhere between here and an inch or so above is the break.
I'll try to clean off the crud with alcohol and find it.
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/Ph...ant%20coil.jpg

http://www.bobandersen.com/images/Ph...pen%20coil.jpg

I asked around and several other also measure about 45 ohms instead of 85 on the 2nd IF coil. So I'll assume that's OK. It's also pretty common for that 0.7 ohm SW coil to be open.

Those coils look pretty far gone. Given the work you have already put into the set, maybe you should replace the celluloid/coil with a new one. You'd be impressed with how easy it is to do, certainly well within your ability.

You certainly don't want to put this console all back together, only to have a coil open up on you once voltage has been applied for a few hours. I've been told that can happen.

After a little hiatus, I'm back on this project. First up, repairing the open SW antenna coil.

A helpful ARF member sent me a nice diagram showing how the coils are wound.
The main coil is the tapped secondary. The coil floating inside is the BC primary and the open coil on the outside bottom is the SW primary.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5269/...111ed843_z.jpg

I carefully unwound it and found two breaks.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5264/...7b22fee4_z.jpg

I cleaned off the debris with rubbing alcohol and gave it a coat of shellac.
I've had this big spool of wire for years. The gauge is unmarked but it looks identical to the old wire. That's good enough for me.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5310/...05305dc2_z.jpg

Glad to see you're back onto this one. Tolerances are pretty loose on the coil you have to wind, so just having continuity should give you some semblance of SW reception.

That's just what I was thinking. I wrapped a strip of thin plastic around the coil and used a little shellac to hold it in place. Then wound about 7 turns and sealed that in more shellac. I think it turned out well.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5145/...98b41ef9_z.jpg

Good news! A fellow restorer just emailed me that he's found a Philco 3/4 inch voice coil with original spider with wires attached! He's also offered to recone my speaker :)

Lucky
 

Wow, Bob, You's a lucky ol' dog!

Parts plus a re-cone. I wonder how they make those cones? Some kind of form and press?

Buzz:thmbsp:

Some clearly have a lap joint where the paper was rolled and glued. Others do seem to be pressed into shape somehow.

I cleaned off all the old cone remains and lots of dust & dirt. Also used some naval jelly to remove rust and shipped it off for reconing.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5268/...ae415682ef.jpg