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Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - Printable Version

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RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - Paul Philco322 - 09-26-2025

Sure making progress, I hope it rains moreIcon_smile. Paul

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - Paul Philco322 - 09-26-2025

I hope it rains some moreIcon_smile. You are sure making headway.

Paul

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - KCMike - 09-26-2025

Lurking  Looking good.

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - tbone - 09-29-2025

Just a quick progress report.

I have stuffed all the filter caps between Sunday and today. I had to externally mount the 2 uF film cap as I couldn’t fit all 4 in the can, but it looks fine and is physically connected to the same time points.

I’m going to look for a 13K chassis mount resistor to put in place of the 10 watt sand units I used. They don’t look right in my opinion.

Now I’m waiting for the rubber grommets for the tuner to come. Since I have the tone control out already, all I’ll have to do is remove the volume control to gain access to the front screws. Unsoldering the braided straps requires space so I don’t damage other components in the area. Once the tuner is out, I can give it a good cleaning. Plus it’ll be easier to clean the chassis.

I’m still coming up with ideas for making a winding jig for the shadow coil rewind. The Dremel tool is definitely what I’ll use. Since it has an 1/8” chuck, I should be able to get a threaded rod to make a shaft and mount for the bobbin. More to come on this.

The last big project I had was the GE E-95 this past winter, so the 16B is a treat for me, something I look forward to work on. Icon_biggrin

I’ll let you guys know when I get the rest of the parts and the jig made.

Tony

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - MrFixr55 - 09-30-2025

Right now, one of my holy grails is an RCA 143 of this vintage with the rounded top that reminds me so much of the Art Deco of Rockefeller Center (Funny, the sculpture of Prometheus Stealing Fire on the center named for the founder of Standard Oil). However, the Model 16B may be a worthy substitute, and I don't have enough Philcos.

Kudos to you and Paul on the restoration of this fine set.

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - tbone - 10-08-2025

I have made more progress on the big 16B!

The shadow meter coil is rewound! It took me a while as I went slow, weighing the wire spool till I got close to the predicted weight that should remain. I calculated for 1,400 ohms and ended up with 1,539 ohms. A little over but close enough. My food scale works good for this.

The method I used was not my idea, but member Processhead on ARF. He did this with a field coil and I’ve used it ever since. Here is a link to the wire manufacturer that has all the information needed to make this work. Cooner Wire

I replaced the lamps and looked at the shadow meter just to see if it at least looks OK. I might have to fiddle with the lamp a bit to get a nice thin line.

The tuner is next. Then maybe a power up? Well shall see.

I included pictures of my rewinding setup. It’s nothing special, but it got the job done. I’m not going into business fixing coils. You’ll also see the updated schematic, and there is a lot of green on it!

               

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - Paul Philco322 - 10-08-2025

Nice rig, wire on scale looks like a chunk of my hairIcon_smile. Great news, great job. Paul

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - MrFixr55 - 10-08-2025

I still have my hair, it's the brain that has me worried.

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - morzh - 10-09-2025

When I was 18, mom took me to her hospital to take an X-ray picture of my nasal sinuses, and told me the brain was not detected as the sinuses were so large, there was no place left for the brain.
Two days ago I underwent an MRI for unrelated reasons. I am very interested in the results, mostly to find out if the brain has since developed. Otherwise I will be the human example of Mike the Chicken, living of the intelligence of my spinal cord.

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - tbone - 10-09-2025

Reminds me of the Start Trek episode where they stole Spock’s brain.

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - Paul Philco322 - 10-09-2025

Mike the chicken yes, don't blow your nose or your brain may shoot out yer noseIcon_smile! Paul

462ron - 462ron - 10-10-2025

This reminds me of the time my son took me to see the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia….muttermuseum.org  They have all kinds of human anomalies there including different brains in jars! It’s a rather gruesome museum but oh so cool! Icon_lol

Ron

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - tbone - 10-15-2025

I’ve made more progress this week!

I removed the tuner and installed new grommets. The ones sent from Renovated Radios were not quite thick enough. I used some other grommets I had with the recently purchased ones to make everything right. I slid the chassis in the cabinet to make sure we were centered in the tuner hole. I’ll know more when I put the dial back on.

The volume control was opened up and cleaned and the rebuilt tone control was re-installed as well.

Now I’m removing the covers from the coils and IF transformers so I can clean the chassis and remove the years of dirt inside and on the trimmers. I’ll add new grid wires before I put them back.

I’m waiting for a 6,000 PF mica capacitor (two 3,000 PF caps) to replace C18 which broke during removal. It looks like there was corrosion on the lead where it enters the cap. I was able to measure the value and it was off anyway.

Definitely getting closer to first power up!                

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - tbone - 10-15-2025

It’s Alive!

I sat down after lunch today and dug in deep. I got to the point of first power up and it works on all bands! I sent Paul a video so he could see it first hand.

I have to fix an intermittent volume control ground connection. I had the control open to clean it, and I could not find anything amiss. I think it’s where the control meets the chassis. It’s kind of a poor way to ground it. I may just solder a wire to the unused terminal and be done.

I also saw the shadow meter working briefly before it developed a short on the B+ feed side. I saw the error of my ways which was how I routed the leads out of the coil form. I have a plan to resolve this.

I did a quick tweak of the IF cans which were way off. Afterwards, I heard a broadcast band signal with the generator set between .5 and 1 uv applied to the antenna connections. Impressive!

Important note:

There is B+ on the IF trimmer tuning screws! I checked before I adjusted anything. The directions said use the Philco fiber tool, and that’s why. I remembered working on a Midwest radio years ago, and that was the case there too.

More to follow. Don’t change that channel!

RE: Philco 16B Code 125 Electronic Restore Project - morzh - 10-16-2025

Great job, Tbone.

As for trimmers being live, yes, many Philco radios are this way.
Usually they have removable covers on those trimmers, so they cannot be accessed without first removing the cover, whereas the trimmers under GND potential are just open.