09-29-2005, 02:23 PM
I'm hoping this will be a fun discussion group. Hello to everyone!
My latest "save" is a 42-122, a table battery radio I found at a flea market in southern Minnesota for the sum of $5. It was in fair to poor condition, with the top finish completely gone from sitting in the sun and rain (thankfully not warped), a piece of the veneer band around the top was missing, the escutcheon was slighly shrunk but still useable, and the cabinet was scratched up. It was also missing a tube, but for $5, why not?
Besides the missing tube, the RF coil and the IF coil both had opens in their respective primaries. I happened to have an RF coil that worked, but I had to unwind the IF primary far enough to find the open, repair it, and rewind the coil. Thankfully it wasn't too bad a chore. After the alignment, it plays great. A note of thanks to Chuck at the Philco Repair Bench for his sage advise.
I put a new band of veneer on the top, painted it brown, painted the other veneer band and the bottom to match it. I dipped a rag in some walnut stain and wiped it over the main cabinet body to hide the majority of the scratches (worked pretty good!), then cleaned the top with lacquer thinner. A couple of coats of spray lacquer and it's done - not museum quality, but very much presentable.
I brought it to the most recent meeting of the Northland Antique Radio Club as one of my "summer finds", and it was very well received. I got the most questions regarding the battery pack I built for it, which consisited of 10 9V batteries in series inside of a Radio Shack project box for the "B" battery, and a double D cell battery holder I rewired for a parallel 1.5V "A" battery. I was asked how long it ran with those batteries, and I honestly don't know yet - I haven't run it for more than an hour at a time yet. I'll have to just let it cook sometime to find out.
When I have an opportunity, I'll post before and after pictures of it.
That's my latest Philco Phind!
Bill Hutchinson
Cottage Grove, MN
My latest "save" is a 42-122, a table battery radio I found at a flea market in southern Minnesota for the sum of $5. It was in fair to poor condition, with the top finish completely gone from sitting in the sun and rain (thankfully not warped), a piece of the veneer band around the top was missing, the escutcheon was slighly shrunk but still useable, and the cabinet was scratched up. It was also missing a tube, but for $5, why not?
Besides the missing tube, the RF coil and the IF coil both had opens in their respective primaries. I happened to have an RF coil that worked, but I had to unwind the IF primary far enough to find the open, repair it, and rewind the coil. Thankfully it wasn't too bad a chore. After the alignment, it plays great. A note of thanks to Chuck at the Philco Repair Bench for his sage advise.
I put a new band of veneer on the top, painted it brown, painted the other veneer band and the bottom to match it. I dipped a rag in some walnut stain and wiped it over the main cabinet body to hide the majority of the scratches (worked pretty good!), then cleaned the top with lacquer thinner. A couple of coats of spray lacquer and it's done - not museum quality, but very much presentable.
I brought it to the most recent meeting of the Northland Antique Radio Club as one of my "summer finds", and it was very well received. I got the most questions regarding the battery pack I built for it, which consisited of 10 9V batteries in series inside of a Radio Shack project box for the "B" battery, and a double D cell battery holder I rewired for a parallel 1.5V "A" battery. I was asked how long it ran with those batteries, and I honestly don't know yet - I haven't run it for more than an hour at a time yet. I'll have to just let it cook sometime to find out.
When I have an opportunity, I'll post before and after pictures of it.
That's my latest Philco Phind!
Bill Hutchinson
Cottage Grove, MN
Sent from my Pentium II on the AT&T Dial Network
