[Ron Ramirez]

Tuesday, October 19.

I realized that the only way to repair the front panel was to remove it from the cabinet. Philco not only used several screws to hold the panel inside the cabinet, but they also glued it in, so it was rather difficult to remove and some veneer pieces were left inside the cabinet once the panel broke loose. I reglued those veneer pieces where they show, left off the pieces that will not show.

I had bought an old iron at a yard sale the previous weekend for 50 cents. I intended to use it to assist me in regluing the veneer to the front panel and the front arch. I learned about this trick from watching a video made by "Hagstar" John H.:

http://hagstar.phanfare.com/slideshow.as...id=3128328

Using the iron turned out the be extremely helpful to me in repairing this cabinet. I am sure that without it, I would still be gluing veneer to the front panel and/or the front arch. The heat of the iron made the glue (I used Titebond II wood glue) set up very quickly, so I could get more done faster.

Here's how the 44B cabinet body looked after veneer repairs were complete on the front arch:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...44_001.jpg]

I had to replace a piece of veneer on one of the grille bars, and some substrate in the grillework. It was a lot of work gluing all of the pieces together, sort of like putting together a puzzle and having to make some missing pieces of the puzzle as I went along.

A picture of the front panel after veneer repair:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...44_012.jpg]

With some trepidation, after doing extensive veneer repairs to the grillework on the front panel and to the front arch, I applied the new veneer to the top and sides. It turned out pretty well. I was left with a few small bubbles, which I was not happy about. I discovered that use of a hot iron made the bubbles press out. (Unfortunately, I found out the next day that a couple small bubbles remained which did not show until I sealed the cabinet with shellac.)

Here's a couple photos of the top and sides of the cabinet body with the new veneer:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...44_003.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...44_004.jpg]