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Old 12-01-2010, 08:01 PM   #41
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Wow! That's quite a collection. My oldest audio stuff is a turntable from 1957 and a receiver from 1963 (both Voice of Music made in Benton Harbor, Mich.)
Back when stuff was made here...
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Old 12-01-2010, 08:25 PM   #42
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OH boy....... this is a good thread!

Wish I had more digital pics ready to post. These pics were taken of stuff I'm selling or have sold:

Collins S Line - 75S3-C 32S-3 312b-4 516F-2

Collins 51S-1

Drake C Line - R4-C T4X-C

Drake 2-B

Hallicrafters SX-100

Misc mountain of other "stuff" qualifying me as a guy who needs to thin the collection!

This is primarily ham radio related, not quite as vintage as the example above, but vintage just the same.

Hi youbet,

Sure remember and am familiar with those radios (WA7GWX),
Always wanted an "S" line or Drake line when I was a novice in
1967. Love to see it! Hope all is well. Nice to be back on this board again.
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Old 12-01-2010, 09:10 PM   #43
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Back when stuff was made here...
I have been making every effort to buy only stuff made in the US, but it is incredibly difficult. Recently, I wanted a swivel fan for my workbench in the garage, but I could not find a new one that was not made in China. So I ended up buying a 1947 vintage GE Vortalex fan on ebay.
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Old 12-01-2010, 11:27 PM   #44
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I still have
a) a portable (it has a handle!) vacuum tube Tektronix oscilloscope, and
b) a Sol-20 microcomputer (sorry, post-transistor).
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Old 12-02-2010, 05:14 AM   #45
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To follow up on a theme started by bruce1, I have been pleased to use the following vendors:

Cloth covered wire from Sundial Wire cloth-covered wire of all types.

Allied Electronics capacitors. resistors and most other components

Welcome to TubeDepot.com! amazing stock of new and NOS vacuum tubes

TubeSound sells a variety of tube-related stuff, but the free information is the most important part of the site. He knows everything there is to know about tube testers.

I also recommend this site for information on a wide range of electronic topics

DIY Audio Articles
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Old 12-02-2010, 05:44 AM   #46
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Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy View Post
I still have
a) a portable (it has a handle!) vacuum tube Tektronix oscilloscope, and
b) a Sol-20 microcomputer (sorry, post-transistor).
I remember a Tektronix spectrum analyzer from my early career, about 1975, that almost took two people to move it. It actually had two handles.

More old radios

First is a 1926 Victor that uses peanut tubes and was made by Northern Electric in Montreal on Oct 26 1926. The inspection tag is still intact.

The second is a Pontiac made in Walkerville Ontario. (now part of Windsor)

Last is an intact but very dead battery I found in the Victor
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Old 12-13-2010, 03:10 PM   #47
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Ran across this very rough Philco radio phonograph and don't know if it's worth trying to fix.
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Old 12-13-2010, 03:33 PM   #48
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The electronics look straightforward, if you have a tube tester and a DVM.

But that case looks challenging. Especially the warped veneer.

Does the phonograph come out, like a drawer?
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Old 12-13-2010, 03:35 PM   #49
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If your woodworking skills are great, go for it. The guts seem fairly good.

I would not even attempt the woodwork.

Add: On second look, the turntable is likely beyond fix. The idler wheel under the turntable is likely shot. Does not look like a direct drive.
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Old 12-13-2010, 03:59 PM   #50
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The phonograph does not slide out like a drawer. The whole thing is very unusual and I don't think I have anywhere near the skills to fix it. There is a weird linkage that lowers the spindle when the front is opened. It looks like the intention was to slide a record in, close the front which would raise the spindle and from there I don't know how it worked. The more I look at it the more I think it is only good for parts.
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Old 12-13-2010, 06:52 PM   #51
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I have never seen anything like that. The cabinet is rougher than I would want to tackle but I know some who would if the piece was sufficiently rare or they just wanted to. I may have tubes if you have a dead one. I scrapped a Philco some years ago and I think I still have the tubes.

I found this site with much info re Philco radios

PHILCORADIO.COM - The Philco Radio Gallery - 1948 (June 1947)

This model is similar if not the same
The Model 48-1201 "Bing Crosby Special" was the 1948 version of the extremely popular 1946-47 Model 46-1201. 5 tubes, AM only.
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Old 12-13-2010, 06:57 PM   #52
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This site has a diagram and more pictures

48-1201 (48 1201) * Radio Philco, Philadelphia
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Old 12-13-2010, 07:04 PM   #53
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If you are going to tackle it, I would scrap the veneer and replace it with new. here is a site for veneer
Walnut Veneer
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Old 12-13-2010, 07:05 PM   #54
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I have never seen anything like that. The cabinet is rougher than I would want to tackle but I know some who would if the piece was sufficiently rare or they just wanted to. I may have tubes if you have a dead one. I scrapped a Philco some years ago and I think I still have the tubes.

I found this site with much info re Philco radios

PHILCORADIO.COM - The Philco Radio Gallery - 1948 (June 1947)

This model is similar if not the same
The Model 48-1201 "Bing Crosby Special" was the 1948 version of the extremely popular 1946-47 Model 46-1201. 5 tubes, AM only.
I am a member of the Philco Phorum and looked for info there. I have the tubes the unit uses but I think it's just beyond fixing.
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Old 12-13-2010, 08:35 PM   #55
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I am a member of the Philco Phorum and looked for info there. I have the tubes the unit uses but I think it's just beyond fixing.
But that format is so unique (at least to me), that maybe it is worth just 'fixing up', even if not totally restored? I'll guess it isn't worth any great value restored, so is there much to lose if some of the repairs are not totally authentic? I think it would be neat just to get the case looking nice, and being able to open and close it to show off how it worked, even if it wasn't functional. It's not like you are really going to play a 78 on there very often. heh - I was recently thinking about the FM radios that went low enough in the band to pick up some TV audio (this feature was mentioned in a few modern portable players), but then I realized those audio channels are gone, it's all digital now. Not that's obsolescence!

Like Gumby says, re-veneering isn't really that tough. I'm not that skilled with cabinetry, but I've done some veneer projects that turned out pretty well with nothing more than razor knives and contact cement (or even 'iron on' with some glues), fine sandpaper and shellac (or your dye/stain and finish of choice). They're about 15 YO with no bubbles or loose seams or anything.

Question for you guys - what's the life expectancy of big old, tabbed aluminium can electrolytic caps (3000uF 50V)? I'm working on a classic Fender Rhodes piano (circa 1975) for the school Jazz Band, the power supply in it is acting up. These caps appear to be OK (I've got to verify that a bit more), but I was thinking of maybe just replacing them anyhow. About 5 years ago, I rebuilt the 'stereo' tremolo circuit in it - one of the two light bulbs that drives the photocells was burnt out and replacements were high priced plus shipping. I'm no purist, there are LEDS in there now.

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Old 12-13-2010, 09:00 PM   #56
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As it happens a friend of mine is going to take the radio and see if he can do anything with the cabinet as I know nothing about wood working. Between the two of us we might get it working again; I even have some 78s to play on it.
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Old 12-13-2010, 10:13 PM   #57
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Ran across this very rough Philco radio phonograph and don't know if it's worth trying to fix.
Loktal tubes! I ran across few Philco's years ago. Those Loktal tubes were a Philco invention, supposedly less likely to vibrate loose in auto applications, I guess. You could do yourself some harm trying to unplug those suckers when they were old, it's like they welded themselves in.
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Old 12-13-2010, 10:32 PM   #58
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Question for you guys - what's the life expectancy of big old, tabbed aluminium can electrolytic caps (3000uF 50V)? I'm working on a classic Fender Rhodes piano (circa 1975) for the school Jazz Band, the power supply in it is acting up. These caps appear to be OK (I've got to verify that a bit more), but I was thinking of maybe just replacing them anyhow. About 5 years ago, I rebuilt the 'stereo' tremolo circuit in it - one of the two light bulbs that drives the photocells was burnt out and replacements were high priced plus shipping. I'm no purist, there are LEDS in there now.

-ERD50
Many years ago I learned that aluminum electrolytics that sat around unpowered for a long time could be salvaged, if done carefully. This assumes no leakage of electrolyte. When unpowered, the aluminum oxide film (the insulator between the plates) slowly breaks down. Would see this when firing up old shortwave radios, etc.

The leakage current would be high, power transformer would run hot after 15 mins or so, and a lot of 120 Hz. hum due to ripple current on B+ due to leaky caps. Would turn it off by 10 - 15 minutes, allow to cool, power up again later in the day. By running them just for intermittent periods, you could re-form the aluminum oxide layer. After that, would work great and transformer would not overheat. Took a bunch of cycles to do it, can run longer each time.

But in the industrial world, aluminum cap life in the 1970's was affected by the use of Freon, Freon TE was one of them, as a flux remover after wave soldering. The freon could make it past a lot of the rubber tire can end seals, and attack the electrolyte. Eventually, they made better sealing caps that could take freon tank immersion. I remember some early fixes, like cap vendors charging extra for "sealed" caps. On axial-leaded parts, they extended the mylar anti-short overwrap around the can outwards on the positive end, and poured in a layer of epoxy. This added roughly 1/4" onto the overall length.
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Old 12-14-2010, 08:30 AM   #59
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Loktal tubes! I ran across few Philco's years ago. Those Loktal tubes were a Philco invention, supposedly less likely to vibrate loose in auto applications, I guess. You could do yourself some harm trying to unplug those suckers when they were old, it's like they welded themselves in.
I am familiar with Loktal tubes, I put myself through computer school in the late 60s buying old radios from the Salvation Army, fixing them up and selling them. I cut myself a few times working on those old Loktals. It was a surprise to me at the time just how long tubes would last; 80% of the time an old radio could be brought back to good condition just by re-capping. Never had to replace that many tubes.
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Old 12-14-2010, 09:40 AM   #60
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The leakage current would be high, power transformer would run hot after 15 mins or so, and a lot of 120 Hz. hum due to ripple current on B+ due to leaky caps. Would turn it off by 10 - 15 minutes, allow to cool, power up again later in the day. By running them just for intermittent periods, you could re-form the aluminum oxide layer. After that, would work great and transformer would not overheat. Took a bunch of cycles to do it, can run longer each time.
Thanks Telly! That loosened up some brain cells from over 30 years ago. One early project I had was to pull some huge Telco power supplies out of inventory, and run through a cycle of 'reforming' the big, huge, honkin' electrolytic caps in them, and then tagging them with the date the process was performed. We bolted big, huge, honkin' acrylic shields to them before we powered them up from a safe(?) distance, as the leakage could be enough to cause them to blow (though the safety vents should make that a relatively unexciting event).

I don't have a scope handy, so haven't been able to check ripple, but no signs of overheating. Though the problem is the next stage regulator is way low, and it's possible that ripple could throw it off (back biasing things if the downstream caps are holding a charge and the B+ dips below that). My darn cheap digital multi-meters do not seem to be capable of measuring ripple - the DC on the AC throws them off - guess I can add a decoupling network, but I really need a scope. Might use an o'scope program and my laptop with a 100:1 divider on the mic input.

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