[fluxCapacitor]

Greetings all, I have a quick(?) question regarding a Philco G-826 All-American 5 I'm about to restore. While cleaning the chassis a bit I noticed that the 2 trimmer cans at the IF stage are sealed on the bottom. I'm sure this was by design from the factory but I'm puzzled why the alignment instructions call for lower adjustments (as you would think) when they were clearly intended not to be.

The question is, are these meant to only be adjusted at the tops? Also, I understand there are multiple schematics for this radio out there, so I'm not entirely sure I have the latest one which could possibly include updated alignment instructions that address this. Any feedback is appreciated.

I'm attaching a photo just for good measure.

   

[Radioroslyn]

Hi and welcome,
In the strictest sense it's not a trimmer but a slug. Trimmer infers that it's a capacitor. It's not uncommon on the secondary of the IF output transformer to be untuned. It turns up mostly in the later sets in the '50s. Probably cost cutting, not just Philco.
If it's got dual slugs the holes are hex so a plastic hex tool can be used to adjust both (one at a time). Your set has slotted slugs and the slots don't go all the way thru.

[fluxCapacitor]

Thanks for setting my terminology straight, I must have picked it up from someone using it interchangeably with slug elsewhere. The sealed ends threw me a little since I've only seen sets with both ends open and the alignment procedure I have was noting primary and secondary adjustments. Once it's recapped I'll just touch up the tops. Much appreciated -

[klondike98]

Welcome to the Phorum!

[fluxCapacitor]

Thanks! Looking forward to learning from this great resource. The G-826 is my first Philco restore. The person I got it from said it it only hums which we all know where that originates and hopefully didn't start a damage chain reaction, but the inside and outside is in terrific condition so it'll be a worthwhile effort to try and bring it back.

[John Bartley]

In the strictest sense it's not a trimmer but a slug. Trimmer infers that it's a capacitor

It's a trimmer. A trimmer is something that provides an adjustment to a tuned circuit and it's not restricted to capacitors. In the iF cans, the coils and mica caps are tuned to what ever the I.F. frequency is, but due to manufacturing tolerances, variances in parts manufacture causing inconsistent circuit loading etc, there needs to be some way to "trim" the I.F transformer. Some are trimmed with variable capacitors (usually mica compression) or with ferrite slugs, but either way they are trimmers.