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  #1  
Old 09-09-2009, 10:40 PM
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Philco 46-420 restoration

I was wandering around my neighborhood today and went into a new vintage resale shop. They have lots of cool stuff - furniture, albums, jewelry, and nick-nacks. A few early Polaroids too. Way up on top of a bookshelf I spied this Philco 46-420 "hippo". The price was right so I picked it up.

The cabinet is in fantastic shape. No cracks - just needs a good cleaning. The inside look pretty clean too. The back is missing, but I think someone out there makes reproduction backs

I hope to get it working real soon

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Old 09-09-2009, 10:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Roper View Post
I picked up a 48-460 in Lansing in July. Same cabinet, different chassis. Did they originally have backs? Mine didn't and I can't recall seeing one that did on any net searches. I take it the tube compliment was rather fluid through the production run. Yours is the second 46-420 I've seen posted about that had a miniature output tube (50B5?) whereas the nostalgia air schematic shows a 50L6 octal.
Retro-Tronics has a back for this model. I don't see any screw holes. Maybe friction keeps it in place?

Yep, 50B5.
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Old 09-09-2009, 10:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Bavis View Post
Philco service bulletins for both hippo versions are on my page: http://www.audiophool.cjb.net/Philco.html
Awesome! You have the service bulletins for almost all my other Philcos too 15DX, 37-60, 38-10 and 39-30.

Now I just need to find one for a 37-10 & 643.
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Old 09-09-2009, 10:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandy G View Post
Man, the marbling is GORGEOUS on yr set ! I can't wait to see it after you've cleaned/polished it up...It'll be a Honey, that's fer shure !! (grin)
Thanks! Here ya go - enjoy

I found a nice label on the bottom.


I used a little windex followed by Novus #2 to clean it.
There's still a little gunk on the knobs. I've been using a toothpick to clean out all those grooves, but my hands are pooped.


There's a little crazing in the clear plastic, but I don't think it's worth messing with.


Next up - the chassis. The audio transformer has broken off the speaker but looks intact. Other than that it looks pretty easy.
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Old 09-09-2009, 10:47 PM
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Octal, loktal and miniature tubes in the same radio. Weird!

I have a similar one with two octal tubes (rectifier and audio output) and three
loktals, but I have never seen one like this.
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Old 09-09-2009, 10:48 PM
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Interesting indeed. Philco's TVs have a weird lineup too including loktals.
Here's what Reece had to say before my thread was "purged":

Quote:
On various tube lineups: right after The War consumer demand was high and manufacturers couldn't make radios fast enough. Sometimes in mid-stream they subbed equivalent tubes according to what was available and what they could buy. Sometimes you'll see a mix of three or more types of tubes, octal, loctal, large pin, or miniature.

Reece
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Old 10-25-2009, 11:55 PM
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I started working on the electronics last night and ran into a few issues. First, someone has replaced the original field coil speaker with a PM one.
Now instead of a 500 ohm coil, there's a 220 ohm resistor feeding the audio output tube and output transformer and a 1.2 K resistor feeding the other tubes.

Wouldn't a single 500 ohm resistor be more appropriate? Were they trying to boost the output power?



The other issue is with what is labeled C14 and L1 on the schematic connecting the chassis ground to earth.
The existing parts are a 0.02 uF cap with a few turns of plastic insulated wire. Does anyone know the purpose of this? Maybe a noise filter ?

My modern 0.022 uF caps are a lot smaller and a rewound coil won't have the same inductance.
Any thoughts on how to replace it?
Here's the old one behind that big yellow cap.

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Old 10-26-2009, 04:18 AM
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I had the same cap wrapped in wire in my Philco Bing Crosby phono radio, and I just inserted the much smaller modern cap through it, and just left it that way. My radio doesn't seem any more prone to interference than any of the others in my house. Perhaps this was to cut down on noise from car generators?
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Old 10-26-2009, 05:35 PM
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Thanks, I'll give that a try.
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Old 10-26-2009, 06:08 PM
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Must be my lucky day.
I have a friend in Boulder, CO who's picking up this Philco 46-420 for me tonight. It's exactly the same even - has the little audio output tube and a good back! It has a cracked case, but I should have no problem making one complete working radio now
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Old 10-26-2009, 07:14 PM
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Backs are available from Radiobacks.com. Also, I have a couple spare cases for these.

I have several of the late 1940s Philco radios that use this case. Some have all loctal tubes, some have a mixture of octal and loctal, and some have a mixture of all three types-lockal, octal and minature. The have a nice sound and have good reception when restored. All of mine came with orignal PM speakers.

Last edited by peverett; 10-26-2009 at 07:17 PM.
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Old 10-26-2009, 08:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peverett View Post
Backs are available from Radiobacks.com. Also, I have a couple spare cases for these.

I have several of the late 1940s Philco radios that use this case. Some have all loctal tubes, some have a mixture of octal and loctal, and some have a mixture of all three types-lockal, octal and minature. The have a nice sound and have good reception when restored. All of mine came with orignal PM speakers.
That's odd - the schematic shows a speaker field coil that doubles as a filter choke. How is the power supply wired in yours that have a PM speaker?
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Old 10-26-2009, 09:08 PM
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I will need to find a schematic, but have the following information. I do have a 46-420 and it does have a speaker with a field coil winding-not PM. Philco made radios using this case until 1949(49-XXXX) at least. I looked at one of my 1949 models and it has a PM speaker. Once I look at a schematic, I will re-post.
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Old 10-27-2009, 05:11 PM
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Banderson-I the case of postwar Philcos, I have never found two chassis that were exactly alike, different tube lineups, pm and electrodynamic speakers, "anything goes" values for noncritical caps and resistors, etc. These guys were almost built on a case by case basis. I'm sure it drove everyone at the factory nuts.

In the case of my Philco, the Rider's consists of two pages of info, and I have the Philco memo that consists of about fifteen pages of design changes!
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Old 10-27-2009, 08:02 PM
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Ugh - no wonder I'm a little confused .
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