I uh....
Well I went down to the coast for other reasons but this followed me home.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_2805.jpg

It takes 1" tape, it uses a helical scan head and it weighs a TON. Serial 001689 and while all the youtube videos have someone speaking a pretty heavy European accent this machine is wired for 117v 60hz.
Unfortunately while it was cheap (less than $40) it's a REAL mess with signs of high humidity, liquified belts, random parts rolling about inside, a broken front bezel, missing knobs, missing back, power cable.....

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_2809.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_2813.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_2820.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_2829.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_2806.jpg

....and while someone took the time to install the head in backwards to protect it the plating on the drum has serious corrosion problems and has bubbled up in places. I think it's a bit too far gone. :thumbsdn:

Frankly though I got it only because it was somewhat complete AND it's a hybrid. I've seen TV's radios and amps that were hybrid but I've never seen a VTR with tubes in it. :scratch2:

I don't blame you. I'd buy one like that for that price any day of the week.

Heck if you come to hate it I'd probably be willing to buy it off you.

Yeah, the guy I bought it from wanted to keep it because it was totally something that must be worth a few pennies in good condition. That corrosion though.......
I gotta figure out a way to clean up that drum. The capstans are filthy but otherwise they all seem to be okay.
In the computer field the DECtape and LINCtape people if their head block was damaged beyond the point where a simple polish would save it they would put packing tape over it which was thin enough to permit reading and writing and smooth enough that it didn't cause friction issues. A split drum however is a little different, this one in particular with those wire guides.

I don't even have sams for it. I don't even know where the heck you would even find those.

I doubt Sam's put out anything on that unit (their VTR data seemed to start in the Betamax era). For service info I'd look for a big old Philips dealer that would have sold/serviced those when new and see if they have service lit, and maybe check with the company to see if they keep any older legacy documentation on file, and ask some vintage VTR collectors/techs.

That packing tape trick is interesting. Are those DEC/LINC tape machines Stationary head or rotating drum head machines (I don't collect vintage computer gear, so IDK)? Packing tape may work on the drum as long as it does not touch, block the spinning heads (don't cover the head slot), or gum up the heads.....I'd probably talk to an electroplater and a machinist about the heads, but then again disassembly may disturb mechanical alignments that are better left untouched. The wire guides are there for the thin edge of the tape to brush against and prevent the tape from riding on parts of the drum it's not supposed to so tape the parts of the drum that those posts don't block.

If it was mine and I got it working, I'd see if I could make it 100% tube....It would be cool to run a 100% empty-state video source and monitor rig, with the added benefit that if nuclear and or solar EMP's take out all PN junctions in the hemisphere you may be the only person left that can still watch actual video.

What the heck does Philips even do these days besides make lamps, shavers and medical equipment?

DEC/LINC used stationary heads. They're uncovered and face upwards so in the wrong environment they and the tape guides would corrode.

http://www.philipsradios.nl/forum/images/uploaded/2015021417511354df7d0192a0b.jpg

If it was mine and I got it working, I'd see if I could make it 100% tube....It would be cool to run a 100% empty-state video source and monitor rig, with the added benefit that if nuclear and or solar EMP's take out all PN junctions in the hemisphere you may be the only person left that can still watch actual video.
I bet you good money something like that was on the market before even this came along.

After some time searching and looking at other machines mentioned about online I'm starting to notice something:

-The videos all play content with european languages
-The names of the owners sound rather european
-Most if not all the photos floating about are of rather low quality
-Many of said photos go back to websites and forums that do not speak english
-Many of the english speaking sites speak of it as a 405 line system or operating at 220 volts which isn't native to North America.

While it's always possible this machine was imported a long time ago this machine IS wired for 117v 60hz and shows no signs of modification for this so it is probably a machine designed for North American markets. That being said I'm sure as hell not finding anyone else mentioning they have something similar. :scratch2:

The Rewind Museum apparently has a few copies of the service manual. I've yet to contact them about if they've since scanned any of them.
Anyways with all the photos online being absolute crap and I have to clean and better inspect my machine what the hell, lets photograph the crap outta this!

Front of machine (tagged because 15 image limit) (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2975.jpg)
Front with top open and plastic panels removed (tagged because 15 image limit) (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2978.jpg)
Back of machine. No back cover. (tagged because 15 image limit) (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2982.jpg)


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2905.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2906.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2909.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2916.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2910.jpg
While I don't see signs this was powered on recently I do see that something's up with the rubber caps on some of the larger capacitors. There's also a wound resistor that looks suspiciously like a section was either overheated or damaged. Seems to read fine though.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2921.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2923.jpg
The loose cable I had noticed before was actually the line for the tape counter. No belts here! It just pops back into a keyed rod and advances fine.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2928.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2929.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2941.jpg
All the belts on this were gone. Where they were not fragments scattered about with a fungus or white material leeching out of it it had liquefied and got EVERYWHERE, then hardened up again. At some point someone had added a replacement belt but it was now equally as nasty and not useable. Not sure how to clean this mess up.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2930.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2932.jpg
Like mentioned someone had taken care to flip the video head around before storing the unit. This probably saved it from any damage but for now I've removed it and put it in an old stylus container. :D

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2933.jpg
Here's a good idea of what's all over the machine. What seem to look like more modern carbon resistors, small axial lytics, metal can transistors with a red/yellow/blue color coding scheme, relatively large glass diodes and those yellow capacitors. They are not wax dipped. It's some other hard material that isn't plastic. Anyone seen this before?


(to be continued...)

(continued form previous post)

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2943.jpg
There is a very strange electromechanical switching system on the back frame where the tubes reside. A motor with a series of cams push or pull metal rods which in turn change the positions of various switches.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2948.jpg
The markings inside the machine.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2949.jpg
A better look at the drum. Until I can figure out how to properly remove the drum I'm at a loss on how to rectify the corrosion issue. You don't wanna put a tape over that AS-IS. :tears:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2951.jpg
The two missing plastic brackets for the front bezel and two random bolts that were flying around inside the machine.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2953.jpg
The SOUND and MIC 1/4" jacks were missing their locknuts and fell inside the front. No idea if the PHONO RCA plug is original.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2952.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2964.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2954.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2958.jpg
Some nice front and back shots of the electrical chassis. I'll work on making a tube identification chart as I pull them and test them.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2960.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2967.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2971.jpg
I did do a random check of two or three tubes and they went well over the 100 mark on the Sencore. How much life did this see?? Anyways I've only come across one fatality so far and it's one of the two EM87's that are used on the front of the machine. I could understand the base cracking if someone had pushed the tube inwards hard enough but the split is perpendicular to the base should that of happened....

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2972.jpg
The components I removed while I was going at the machine with the air compressor and a brush. The plastics will need a careful wash and repair but stuff like the head and screws live in that bag. Never did find that one knob though.

Those large lytics look like they failed and vented...I'd change them or test for value and leakage at rated voltage before considering applying power...

Liquid belt syndrome...A scourge among 8-Track, RTR decks and things like this. 'Goof Off' does a good job of dissolving the rubber scum, but it also can dissolve plastic so if important plastic surfaces are covered use rubbing alcohol to dissolve the gunk (less effective, but plastic safe).

A 405 deck can probably handle 525 with perhaps a bit of modification. If this was sold in North America then it was probably built to NTSC specs....IIRC Phillips built a NTSC roundy with european parts for Canada...Perhaps this is another one of their rare Canadian offerings.

Yeahhh, this is one of things I would totally only bring up with the Variac and the ammeter attached to anyways. I'll have to lookup the values and hope I can get some substitutes. I typically don't question caps that show physical signs of problems.

In the meantime I finished making a tube chart and testing them all. None of them had any issues testing very good. :banana:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/EL-3400_Tubes.png

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2990.jpg

Yeahhh, this is one of things I would totally only bring up with the Variac and the ammeter attached to anyways. I'll have to lookup the values and hope I can get some substitutes. I typically don't question caps that show physical signs of problems.

In the meantime I finished making a tube chart and testing them all. None of them had any issues testing very good. :banana:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/EL-3400_Tubes.png

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2990.jpg

I have a question for you, How on earth where you able to test a magic tuning eye tube on your Sencore Mighty Might VII Tube Tester? I'm asking because I have the exact same tube tester you have but in the tube setup guide book that came with mine it doesn't have any tuning eye tubes listed in the setup book. So do you care to share how you were able to test a magic tuning eye tube in your tube tester?

BTW: this question is referencing your earlier post where you showed all of the photos of this VTR unit taken apart and you had a picture of the two EM87 tuning eye tubes with the one good one on the tester.

The luminous surface itself obviously doesn't get tested but the setup for the EM87 is listed on page 136.


A - 2, 6, 8
B - 6
C - G
D - 1
Socket - 3
I really don't trust the emissions or grid leak tests on this tube because its so simple but if the heater comes on it's a pretty good sign the tube is fine.

The luminous surface itself obviously doesn't get tested but the setup for the EM87 is listed on page 136.


A - 2, 6, 8
B - 6
C - G
D - 1
Socket - 3
I really don't trust the emissions or grid leak tests on this tube because its so simple but if the heater comes on it's a pretty good sign the tube is fine.

Interesting because I've had several tuning eye tubes that I really wanted to test but couldn't find the setup info for the tubes, like for instance I have an old Silvertone stereo that uses an EM84 tuning eye tube which its working fine currently but I was kind of curious as to how much life the tube had left in it, I also have an old Grundig Console Radio that uses the European equivalent to the 6E5/6U5 tube (which obviously the Sencore isn't going to be able to test 4,5 and 6 pin tubes because it doesn't have provisions for those sockets, although I'm guessing they had adaptors available for it that made it so you could test 4, 5 and 6 pin tubes using the octal socket I'm assuming.)
It certainly would be cool to see this old VTR up and running again but seeing how badly beaten up it is and how many parts and pieces are missing you may just have to use it as a display piece.

I was thinking that with the head removed the drum surface is just metal....I'd venture a guess that you might be able to sand the rough lumps down with progressively finer grits of sand paper and eventually polish it shiny with Brasso or some such. Maybe cut the paper into long, thin, strips the dimensions of the tape, thread the sand paper and let it evenly polish the tape playing surface of the drum smooth...the way hundreds of hours of tape play would.

The easiest method I can think of is make a mounting jig for the drill press and first clean the drum using progressively finer pieces of emery paper as the drum spins in the drill followed by a polish. Alternately I could do the same if I had a lathe buuuut my workshop is only so large. ;) It's going to depend on how the upper and lower halves of the drum dismantle and what precision points I find along the way. What I'm really hoping is I end up with two pieces and nothing hanging off it so I can polish it like I did with a copper cigar canister I made in highschool. (Remember when copper was cheap? I do because this baby could pay me through university if sold for scrap!)

Also, I'd attach the PDF of my checker's setup manual because apparently mine is updated with extra tubes but it's almost three times the size of what the forum will allow me to upload. :thumbsdn:

but seeing how badly beaten up it is and how many parts and pieces are missing you may just have to use it as a display piece.
So long as the drum can be salvaged there's high hopes it can be made useable again. Stuff like the back cover and knobs can be substituted. Belts and belt guides can be cleaned and replaced. Internally aside from age related damage the guts are in fantastic condition.

Scratching my head here... how do you thread the machine? It obviously requires a full alpha wrap, since it only has one head, but must one painstaking thread the tape under those headcover support posts, or do they somehow get moved out of the way for threading? :scratch2:

jr

The easiest method I can think of is make a mounting jig for the drill press and first clean the drum using progressively finer pieces of emery paper as the drum spins in the drill followed by a polish. Alternately I could do the same if I had a lathe buuuut my workshop is only so large. ;) It's going to depend on how the upper and lower halves of the drum dismantle and what precision points I find along the way. What I'm really hoping is I end up with two pieces and nothing hanging off it so I can polish it like I did with a copper cigar canister I made in highschool. (Remember when copper was cheap? I do because this baby could pay me through university if sold for scrap!)

I'd refrain from trying to un-mount the drum unless you can keep the entire drum, the head rotor, and it's motor as one assembly and in one piece through the removal, polishing and reassembly process....The alignment between these parts is critical to operation and tape compatibility with other decks that use the same tape format...If you disturb that alignment there may be no way to return it to factory correct calibration (often special factory jigs, alignment tapes etc are needed).

Scratching my head here... how do you thread the machine? It obviously requires a full alpha wrap, since it only has one head, but must one painstaking thread the tape under those headcover support posts, or do they somehow get moved out of the way for threading?
That's exactly what you do. The tape must be manually threaded through the gap between the posts and drum.

I'd refrain from trying to un-mount the drum unless you can keep the entire drum, the head rotor, and it's motor as one assembly and in one piece through the removal, polishing and reassembly process....The alignment between these parts is critical to operation and tape compatibility with other decks that use the same tape format...If you disturb that alignment there may be no way to return it to factory correct calibration (often special factory jigs, alignment tapes etc are needed).
I had the same concern hence my hopes this could be done with minimal disturbing of any adjustments however we are in luck because the drum, head rotor and motors are all one modular piece.

I had to remove the rest of the plastic frame to get at all the bolts which meant the capstan rollers had to be pulled. They had some brownish material on them that got all over my hands but cleaned off easily. Did someone put a tape through and all the oxide shedded off before he could stop it? :scratch2: the rubber is still in excellent condition so after a clean they're probably good as new.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3000.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_2996.jpg

Anyways yes, the entire assembly is a module. It's held in by four hex bolts. Two of them were present and since I have two identical size bolts which I found rattling around inside the machine earlier I can now account for all the loose components. With the four bolts out you unplug the head and desolder lines for a lamp, lamp sensor, motors and a coil and the whole thing pulls out so you can work on it from a bench. In the process though I found a random clipped lead. Heck do I know where that went.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3012.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3010.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3018.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3019.jpghttp://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3025.jpg


Now to give the drum a much closer inspection.

The easiest method I can think of is make a mounting jig for the drill press and first clean the drum using progressively finer pieces of emery paper as the drum spins in the drill followed by a polish. Alternately I could do the same if I had a lathe buuuut my workshop is only so large. ;) It's going to depend on how the upper and lower halves of the drum dismantle and what precision points I find along the way. What I'm really hoping is I end up with two pieces and nothing hanging off it so I can polish it like I did with a copper cigar canister I made in highschool. (Remember when copper was cheap? I do because this baby could pay me through university if sold for scrap!)

Also, I'd attach the PDF of my checker's setup manual because apparently mine is updated with extra tubes but it's almost three times the size of what the forum will allow me to upload. :thumbsdn:


So long as the drum can be salvaged there's high hopes it can be made useable again. Stuff like the back cover and knobs can be substituted. Belts and belt guides can be cleaned and replaced. Internally aside from age related damage the guts are in fantastic condition.

OK, well yeah I guess if you put it that way, but then you would have to locate some tape for it but from what I've heard the 1" tape is getting harder and harder to find. :sigh:

If this is a pre-late 60's unit (likely) it probably used one of the older orange-brown ferric oxide tape formulas that looks orange and leaves orange in the mech....If you work on older RTR (reel to reel) audio decks and or have a working one and play a lot of older tapes you'll discover the stuff likes to accumulate on transport surfaces from use...

As for that wire: What terminals could it naturally reach? If any terminals were in reach you will probably find a wire stub (with or without insulation) on one. If not then look for another cut piece of that wire that could make it there. Worst case scenario you'll need a service manual to trace the wire.


It is interesting that one drum lead unplugs and the others are soldered.

OK, well yeah I guess if you put it that way, but then you would have to locate some tape for it but from what I've heard the 1" tape is getting harder and harder to find. :sigh:

1" video tape is probably hard to find, but 1" audio tape had more extensive use, and ought to be easier to find (albeit not cheap).

I wish I could keep this level of progress for the rest of the restoration but expect things to slow down after this.


You can get reels of 2" tape for not too much if you shop around. I should have a reel of 456 at my door tomorrow in fact that cost $50 shipped albeit it will need a bake.

The red wiring of that guage seems to be related to the drum motors. As I was desoldering the cabling and not clipping them I can only assume this is some relic of some form of conversion or something. Indeed I'll need the manual to know for certain.

Anyways, I was able to strip the drum down almost completely after I pulled out the calipers and micrometer. Having learned a lot from the DVK-2400 restoration I measured and marked down everything before it was removed. The result is below.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3026.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3038.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3033.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3036.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3030.jpg

The two halves of the drum are press fit and pinned so you won't be able to split it in half or otherwise spin it to clean it up that way. The other problem is that each of the tape guides have small up/down adjustments. Without a proper jig there's no way in all hell I'm going to touch any of them so here we are now. HMMMMMMM....

One idea is that because emery paper is available with a 1" width I can thread it like a piece of tape and clean up the path like that and do the same to polish it. Outside of the path however and around the guides I'm not entirely sure how to do it without possibly marring the surface pretty bad but it needs to be cleaned up or else the corrosion might creep right back into the tape path. We cannot use solvent batch because of both the potted head coil and all my reference marks.

Perhaps you could hit the areas outside of the tape path with rust converter and lacquer to stop corrosion and prevent bits of metal from flaking and falling into the tape path...

Removing all the flaking and corrosion has revealed that the drum is in WAY worse shape than it looked.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3055.jpg

Believe me, part of me DID die as I was doing this. It's bad, mind you it's not like we are any worse off.
The only thing that ca save it now is a good resurfacing of the tape path. Emery paper and the polishing tools I need are on order. While a lot of that nastyness is the thickness of the old plating I'll be keeping an eye on how much material we remove in case we run into a head clearance problem later. There is an adjustment for that but I'm not gonna touch that right now.

OUCH! How are the plated pieces attached to the upper and lower castings? Im guessing that the whole assembly will have to come apart and be re-plated... I hope I am wrong. :sigh:

jr

As mentioned before the upper and lower are connected by three rods which seem to be press fit (possibly even an interference fit) and pinned to make sure they don't shift. It's almost impossible to separate the two, otherwise I'd resurface both sides with a lathe and replate them. The best I can do is seal it, clean up the path and hope where I live is arid enough that the corrosion won't start up again. but it will never be anywhere near as perfect as it was.

Ebay has revealed I can get ten foot rolls of emery tape in 240, 320 and 400 grit for $25 a roll. The tool shop in town can order it in up to 600 grit in a $22 50' roll but I'm waiting for a response back on if they can order them by the box or if they have to come in a case of ten rolls (hell no).

Any last words before I tape up the parts of the drum I don't want touched and clear coat the thing?

So after a final cleaning the drum was taped up and a light clear coat layer was put on. We shouldn't have to worry about corrosion again.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3153.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3155.jpg

I then took a sharp blade and scored the edge of the tape I had put around the drum. There wasn't a need to coat that as well because it still needs to be sanded but now we wait for the emery tape to come in.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/Philips%20EL-3400/IMG_3168.jpg

Took two goddamn months to get in three boxes of emery tape.....

So today I started with the resurfacing with the 240 grit. By the looks of it once the old electroplating is removed the surface is clean enough I can proceed forwards.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_3758.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_3760.jpg

I noticed that the sanding was really scouring out some of the alignment pins but since I last reported in I got a nice digital caliper so I measured the positioning of the eight which were being hit the most and removed them. The process is currently extremely labout intensive and while it's doing a great job on one side the other isn't really sanding down. I'll see if I can form a bow and try again, or the plating is uneven.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/IMG_3764.jpg

I screwed up.
While by all means the tension around the surface of the drum should be even as the tape is pulled back and fourth it was not. This has left portions where too much aluminum has been sanded off and there is nowan uneven surface. Dammit. I also discovered that there were more guides that were slowly being sanded away so the hell with it, I measured the position of the remaining 20 guides and removed them for safekeeping. NOW would be an awesome time to separate the two halves and just lathe the damn thing but again, the two halves are press fit together.

There is a guy in Holland who collects old Ducth electronics and I think you shoul write to him.
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/photoalbum0.html
http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/folders/Folder%20Philips%20EL3400.pdf

Here's a good idea of what's all over the machine. What seem to look like more modern carbon resistors, small axial lytics, metal can transistors with a red/yellow/blue color coding scheme, relatively large glass diodes and those yellow capacitors. They are not wax dipped. It's some other hard material that isn't plastic. Anyone seen this before?

These caps are very reliable and sell for good money on Ebay. Keep them in every case!

http://www.ebay.de/itm/2x-MULLARD-MUSTARD-Kondensator-0-022-F-400-Volt-axial-/361477685678?hash=item5429bfc1ae:g:DAUAAMXQMTlRZ8C b

Greetings Josef