05-30-2021, 01:04 PM
Hi, Steve, and welcome to the wonderful world of crumbling insulation. It appears you have a 1940-42 five or six tube Philco, which feature cramped chassis and are loaded with wiring that was originally coated with a rubber-like substance that has since turned hard and brittle and will crumble and flake off just by moving the wire slightly, leaving you with a bare wire.
If you have your model number, you can look in the Philco Service Bulletins section ( https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...bulletins/ ) and print out a schematic.
Unfortunately, unlike RCA and GE, Philco did not have an actual underside of the chassis diagram showing exactly where each wire is placed. You will have to trace your way through the schematic line by line, using a highlighter marker as you locate and verify each connection. Before you do anything, take LOTS of pictures so you can reference how the wires were placed.
I wish I could say these early 40's pre-war sets are easy radios to restore, but they are not, as to make the radio safe to use, you pretty much have to start from scratch and re-wire the entire chassis. Even if the wires look good, if they are sitting on top of one another, it's entirely possible that the insulation between the two wires "melted" (for lack of a better term) together and you'll have two bare wires touching one another in just a tiny spot. I've witnessed this happening on a similar radio I restored once. You can't see the bare spot, but it's there. Same goes if a wire is sitting directly on the chassis. The coating on the underside can be gone leaving you with a bare wire that is shorted to the metal chassis.
Take your time, don't get frustrated or overwhelmed. Just take lots of notes, and ask a lot of questions. There are a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people here. Good luck!
If you have your model number, you can look in the Philco Service Bulletins section ( https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...bulletins/ ) and print out a schematic.
Unfortunately, unlike RCA and GE, Philco did not have an actual underside of the chassis diagram showing exactly where each wire is placed. You will have to trace your way through the schematic line by line, using a highlighter marker as you locate and verify each connection. Before you do anything, take LOTS of pictures so you can reference how the wires were placed.
I wish I could say these early 40's pre-war sets are easy radios to restore, but they are not, as to make the radio safe to use, you pretty much have to start from scratch and re-wire the entire chassis. Even if the wires look good, if they are sitting on top of one another, it's entirely possible that the insulation between the two wires "melted" (for lack of a better term) together and you'll have two bare wires touching one another in just a tiny spot. I've witnessed this happening on a similar radio I restored once. You can't see the bare spot, but it's there. Same goes if a wire is sitting directly on the chassis. The coating on the underside can be gone leaving you with a bare wire that is shorted to the metal chassis.
Take your time, don't get frustrated or overwhelmed. Just take lots of notes, and ask a lot of questions. There are a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people here. Good luck!
Greg V.
West Bend, WI
Member WARCI.org
