1942 Philco Radio
 

Well Today i got the old Philco mentioned in my previous thread and its a model 42-380 and its got the notorious 6X5 Rectifier tube in it (which from what I read on here is the one that Zenith used on their radios from the same time period that were notorious for shorting out and taking out the power transformer) anyways its got 2 41 Output tubes (push-pull?) for its audio stage so I think this unit might of been a fairly high end unit when it was brand new (and probably still is a high end unit).

Any thoughts?

Also by the way I got for $25 instead of the original $30.

Pics to come later when I get a chance to look over the unit more carefully.

Also something i noticed in this radio is that the power is apparently turned on through one of the pushbuttons on the front instead of through the volume control because the volume control doesn't "click" when turned down all the way.

The Dial string going from the front of the tuning dial fly wheel to the tuning knob is broke so now I have to restring it, hopefully the tuning string on my Philco 46-1203 will work on this radio.

Don't worry about the 6X5 tube, as long as it's the newer issue 6X5GT. They were less prone to shorting like the earlier ones.
Some of the Philco models of the same era used a #84 tube, which is the same type tube as the 6X5G tube, but uses a 5 pin UX type socket.
The on-off switch is the first push button on the left and was trouble prone.
The 41 output stage is Philco's answer to a push-pull output stage, without a phase inverter. :boring:

I see. This thing does have a 6X5GT tube in it, I was also looking around in my tube substitution manuals and it showed an 0Z4G/GT tube was a compatible substitute for the 6X5GT tube, would there be any reason not to use an 0Z4 tube in this circuit?

Also I noticed that the Rider's Manual's tuning string diagram is kind of hard to read, is there anyway I can see how this dial cord is supposed to look so I can restring the dial string going from the tuning knob to the flywheel?

Also I noticed that the presets on this radio are electronic as opposed to being mechanical like on most radios, is there anything I need to look out for with these?

Another thing I noticed is that this radio had what appeared to be a rats nest on the bottom of it (but not sure how the rat could of gotten under there because there wasn't much room for one to get underneath, and the wires from the output transformer to the 41 tube sockets appear to be chewed on (the insulation was chewed through but the wire itself is still intact.) So how would one go about repairing the chewed wires?

So as far as the power button goes, was it supposed to turn on and off the radio by pushing the same button? Or was it supposed to be shut off by pushing two buttons together thus deactivating the power switch?

It's probably a mouse. They claim, if the head can go through a hole, the rest of the body will.
Secondly, most radios of the era, the push button was always electronic. Very few had a mechanical arrangement, except the AA5 types and they always had to be fine tuned.
The power button is a push-push type. The same button, is supposed to turn it on and off. Very trouble prone.
Don't use an 0Z4. They're short-lived. There's nothing wrong with the newer 6X5's.

well actually I have two 1940s vintage Silvertone Radios of which both have a mechanically operated preset pushbutton system (the push buttons actually physically push down on the tuner shaft which physically moves the dial by the force of your finger pushing the preset button) and these radios aren't AA5 designs they have power transformers in them.

Anyways how would I go about repairing the damaged wires that were chewed up by the mice? Like I said the only wires that appear to have any significant damage to them are the wires from the output transformer to the output tube sockets.
Could I just cut the wire off at where the damage ends on the wire and strip it back and reattach the wire to the respective terminals on the tube sockets? There is at least a half a foot of excess wire coming out of the transformer that is still undamaged that I could reroute and then reattach to their respective terminals on said tube sockets.

Also the chassis is absolutely filthy it is caked in a layer of dust about an inch thick and I would like to know how to go about cleaning it off without damaging anything.

Also the dial string going from the tuning knob shaft to the smaller pulley in the fron of the main tuner drive pulley was broken and I was looking through the Rider's Service manual for this radio and the restringing diagram is very hard to read (I can't tell what they're saying as far as how many time I need to go around the tuning knob shaft, or which way I need to go around the pulley when initially stringing the dial cord.) Do you have anyway I can restring the dial cord without having to use the the poorly drawn Rider's diagram?

The term AA5, doesn't necessarily mean a transformerless design. It can mean any five tube superhet, using the same basic circuitry and tube functions.
WA2ISE's website has a well-written explanation of the term. :banana:
RE: The dial cord, the Rider's diagram is pretty clear, on the stringing arrangement. It shows, two turns around the tuning shaft. I found, a lot of times, you have to string it up and experiment to see how smooth it works.
The page on the 42-395 might be easier to read. :scratch2:

Actually I could barely tell if it was a 3 or a 2 or a 1 that was written in on that description for how to restring the tuning knob, and actually I tried restringing the pulley and tuning knob like the diagram said (I even used 2 turns around the tuning knob) and the tuning knob would just turn freely in between the string that was wrapped around it and it didn't even try to engage the tuning mechanism, also what I meant by the diagram for restrining the tuner on the rider's wasn't very clear about how it should be done is that they didn't indicate very clearly which way the string was supposed to go out of the pulley during the initial restringing process (getting the string out of the pulley and towards the smaller pulleys and then towards the tuning knob) I had it going out of the right side of the pulley and then towards the tuning knob and back but that must of not been right because that's where I had the issue with the tuning knob not wanting to move the tuning mechanism and just spinning freely between the string.

Also you didn't really answer my question concerning how I should approach going about repairing the chewed up wires from the output transformer.

UPDATE: I finally got the tuner restrung but the thing nearly kicked my butt in the process! :sigh: :yes:

My butt has been seriously kicked by the same problem.
I meant to address the chewed up wire issue, but was in a hurry to get going this morning. If the leads are long enough, just cut off the damaged part and reconnect it to the socket terminal. If the lead is too short, use shrink sleeving or any kind of sleeving and reconnect the damaged lead. I've even used electrical tape. :yes:

Well thankfully when Philco chose the output Transformer for this radio they chose one with extra long leads and so I was able to easily cut off the damaged part until there was just enough exposed wire from where the wire had been chewed up to solder the wire back onto the tube sockets. :-) I even had to repair one of the wires going into the chassis from the speaker plug but thankfully there was enough wire lead to work with and it was close enough in proximity to where it needed to connect at that I just snipped out the bad spot just enough to leave me some exposed wire to solder to the connection point and resoldered it and voila! its fixed. Now I just have to repair one of the antenna terminal wires which also got chewed up (which I might just use electrical tape on it because its a small enough section that was damaged that it would be really not worth replacing the wire), and then to replace the electrolytic capacitors and paper caps and reinstall the dial and I should be set to go with this radio. :yes: :thmbsp:

So when I got this radio home I noticed that the bakelite dial bezel on the cabinet was cracked in several spots and was warped and also the brass strip for telling what each knob did was damaged (it somehow got a large kink in the middle of it) anyways is there anywhere I could source a new bezel for this radio for cheap?

The plastic bezel on those Philco's always shrunk, cracked, crumbled and distorted as a result of an experiment of using, possibly a soy-based product.
Even todays plastics shrink a bit. I bought a higher-end AA6 Silvertone clock radio that has a metal trim piece that bellied out in the center. It's obvious that the cabinet shrunk. It won't lay flat anymore. :sigh:

OK. Well I saw that Radio Daze had some reproduction Bezel pieces like what my radio takes but they want like $31 for it. :yikes:

Also where would I get some call letter tabs for my Philco? Its missing all of its call letter tabs including the ones that labeled the buttons that turned the radio on and off and that switched the bands.

Ok couple of questions, 1). I had the tuner dial string restrung and functioning perfectly (the pointer went back and forth smootly across the dial with the knob) but then I accidently knocked the radio chassis onto the floor (none of the tubes were damaged thankfully as they were out of the chassis at the time) and after I picked the chassis up off the floor and put it back up onto my work bench I went to check everything out to make sure nothing was damaged and sure enough the tuning indicator doesn't want to move with the knob anymore (and the string is still intact and at the same tension it was when it worked prior to the chassis falling to the floor.) My question is what could of changed since the radio fell that would of made the tuning indicator quit moving with the tuning knob even though the tuning strings (including the newly installed drive string) were still intact?

2). The dial glass has two pieces of rubber for holding the dial glass in between the retention end caps and the one rubber piece is still pliable and in good shape wheraeas the other piece essentially turned to a piece of brittle plastic and anyways the rubber piece that turned to brittle plastic broke into several pieces and now I don't have anyway to hold the dial glass into place. Where might I find new pieces of rubber for holding the dial glass into place?

I would hate to of bought this radio and not even of been able to of gotten it going because of a piece of rubber for the dial glass is NLA and because of that the dial glass can't be reinstalled onto the radio and then the tuner can't be used anymore because of it being broken for some reason, that would of been a waste of $25 if this radio can't be repaired anymore... :sigh: :no:

They DO find they way--don't they? Same thing happeed to ME...on a 39-55 MYSTERY DIAL radio. chassis WAS secure too. Between that...and the cabinet getting TOTALLY ruined by water...I had to scrap it.. But...I saved pretty much everything.

Yikes and those Mystery Remote Philcos are actually quite scarce compared to the unit I have... :sigh:

The only problem with mine now is that I'm afraid that my $25 may have been wasted on this unit because after I had restrung the tuner dial string I ended up accidentally knocking the radio on the floor and now the radio dial pointer doesn't want to move anymore with the tuning knob and the dial strings are still in tact and everything, and on top of that one of the rubber supports for the dial glass had turned to brittle plastic and broke into several pieces and I don't know if I can find another one of those rubber dial glass supports anywhere in order to remount the dial glass to the chassis again, so now I'm afraid I may have to scrap this unit out which like I said would be a waste because I never even got to see if I could get it up and running or not... :sigh: :no:

This sort of thing happens as often as not.
When I found the dial glass loose, I just used a couple layers of electrical tape to hold it tightly in the mounting clamps. When working on radios or anything this old, you have to improvise. Look at the people restoring old cars. That's even a bigger PITA than these radios and a lot more costly.
Regarding the dial pointer not moving smoothly, check to see if the frame, where the pointer rides on hasn't been bent, after the fall.
If you read the other entries on this forum, regarding the restorations of the sets, you'll find that a lot of patience has been taken to get the results that they expected!

I actually did check that and the frame for the pointer isn't the problem (its as straight as an arrow yet) its just that the tuning knob for some reason or another isn't wanting to turn the string and the tuning capacitor to move the pointer and what not, because before the chassis took a fall it was working fine but then when it fell it for some reason stopped wanting to move with the knob it will move fine if you rotate the large pulley by hand (when you rotate the large pulley by hand then the knob turns with it but if you try to turn the tuning itself then the pointer won't budge except if its all the way at the top of the dial then it will move it down but only part of the way down before it gets stuck and won't move anymore.)
any other ideas as to what could of happened to the tuner when it fell besides the tuner assembly getting bent?

Try moving the tuning condenser by the pulley and see where it's binding. You should feel where it requires more effort to turn it. That's the only way you can do it. Try removing the dial cord that goes to the tuning shaft.
Going by what I stated before, dial cords were always a PITA and many times, they had to be restrung more than once. :no:

well when I turn the pulley/tuning capacitor by hand all the way up and down the dial it doesn't seem to give any resistance, and like I said when I do that the tuning knob turns with it, but when I go to turn the tuning knob it wont engage with the rest of the tuning mechanism, it just "spins freely" between the string even though the string still has two turns around the tuning knob and has plenty enough tension to cause it to turn the knob when rotating the large pulley by hand but the knob itself just doesn't want to engage the tuning mechanism itself... :sigh:

EDIT: I completely took apart and restrung the dial string for the tuning knob assembly and it still isn't wanting to engage the tuning mechanism with the tuning knob, but yet the tuning knob will turn with the tuning mechanism if I turn the large pulley by hand with my finger so I'm still stumped as to what could of happened with this radio's tuning mechanism when it fell to cause it to do this. :sigh:

By turning the big pulley, you're dealing with something like a 20:1 ratio. The tuning shaft doesn't present much of a resistance. Two turns sounds alright. A few times, I had to rough up the tuning shaft with a file. The area where the cord wraps around gets smooth, after a while.
It takes a lot of picky-picky experimenting to get if right once in a while.
Why it changed after the drop, is anyones guess. :scratch2:

I'd consider adding a turn or two to the tuning knob shaft and or tightening the string if the filing fails.

There is an art to tensioning the string and tying it, sometimes using a stiff enough spring to achieve the tension helps (later sets made tension springs a nearly standard part).

That's the problem I don't have a rat tail file to use on this, otherwise I would be trying to rough up the tuning knob to see if that works or not.
but yeah it is kind of weird that it decided to poop out on me following it falling on the floor. :scratch2:

I was thinking the exact same thing adding another turn to it or two but I don't have a whole lot of dial string to work with to begin with, I had just enough to make it work with the original restringing instructions and that's it.

Look for a junk 70's-90's stereo receiver, and steal it's string, order some online, or look for decent material locally. IIRC fly fishing line tends to be normal line wrapped in cloth.....Perhaps a bait shop could fix you up with some suitable dial string.

I could see what I could do.

Way back, when I first started in this, I used to raid my father's fishing tackle box, for the old style line. Not sure if they still use it for that purpose.
The on-line and mail order old radio part suppliers still sell it.
I bought my dial cord from Bob's antique radios in Illinous. :thmbsp:

I was kind of curious about your username (I know this is kind of off topic) but I'm guessing you have an actual Diesel powered Jeep?

Also I do have an old Silvertone AM/FM/Phono Console from 1948 that needed its tuning dial restrung but wasn't able to figure out how to restring it as the illustration in the Sam's Photofact that I have for it was very poorly drawn and also because of how tough it is to get to the tuner pulley to attach the string and tension spring, as it has the pushbutton presets and those are directly linked to the tuning capacitor which makes it even harder to access the pulley.

When I signed up for this forum, I was driving my Diesel Jeep Liberty.
They only built two model years of them for the US market, 2005 and 2006.
The Diesel emissions ruling changed for the 2007 model year. They still continued to build the Jeep Diesel, but only for sale to the export market. They felt the demand in the US wasn't great enough to meet the new emissions standards.
IIRC, they're building a Diesel Jeep Grand Cherokee now for the US market.
My beloved Dieseljeep was totaled in a freak accident on December 10, 2009.
I felt no need to change my user name. :sigh:

Ah, that's a cryin' shame! you would of thought that with as many Diesel Mercedes-Benz's and Volkwagens that sold here over the past 40 years you would of thought that Daimler (who owned Chrysler at the time and is the parent company of Mercedes-Benz) would of made and sold more diesels under the Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge badges... :scratch2:

Anyways back on topic, the radio is still going to be kind of tricky to try and get going as I have to still patch some wire yet that was chewed up by mice, and the tuning string issue as well, I also have to try and figure out how to replace the bakelite bezel on the front of the radio cabinet as its warped and cracked in several places, I had seen one like what I needed on the Radio Daze Website but they wanted $30 for it which is way more than I can afford to spend on this radio to get up and running again...

Also I have an issue with my mom thinking that I have too many radios in my place (she thinks I'm being a hoarder even though I'm not) and she is trying to get me to get rid of my radios even the ones I'm currently working on restoring so I can resell them once I get my own shop space from a friend of mine who runs a flea market near me, she also wants me to get rid of the radios I have that I had already gotten working and I'm just waiting to get my shop going so I can sell them.

And the way my mom is when she says something needs to go she means it needs to go into the trash, not be sold, which is quite annoying because I put lots of hard work into some of my radios to get them working agains so I could actually sell them for profit, bu she doesn't seem to understand that part of the deal and still is going to insist that I throw the radios in the garbage.

How would I go about trying to explain to my mom that the radios are more than just garbage and that there is an actual collectors market for these radios and that I should be allowed to keep these radios that are going or that are almost up and running except for a couple of parts that are needed to finalize the working order of the radios so I can try and sell them to get my moneys worth out of them without trying to upset her (as she can get very upset very easily if I'm not on the same page as she is on something like this). Also my mom seems to think that my house (actually my little section of the house as I live in a smaller house with a house mate) stinks because of the radios and other antiques I have and she thinks that me getting rid of ALL of my old radios will get rid of the stink (which I don't even notice a smell of any sort in the house) and she even thinks that the smell has crept into my clothing (which that's not the case, what's she smells on my clothes is the smell of old growth walnut wood that has a distinct smell which is what my 1940s vintage dresser is made out of not the "old electronics" smell she thinks she's smelling.) Anyways like I said I really want to try and talk my mother out of her crazy idea of making me throw out my radios that I had put lots of money and hard work into getting running so that I could turn around and resell them later on but like i said I don't know how to approach my mom about this without upsetting her and making her think that I'm trying to hoard radios (when that's just not the case, I'm just trying to use my talents for electronics repair/restoration to try and make some extra money on the side since I currently do not have a steady job at the moment.

The American motoring public was soured on Diesel powered cars, because of the poor excuse of a Diesel, that GM sold in the 70's. It was a re-designed Oldsmobile 350 V-8, that had an extremely high failure rate. :sigh:

Yeah I know a couple of people who had some of those old GM Diesels but they said when they did work they got really good fuel economy somewhere around 35 MPG compared to the 10 MPG that the old 350 V8s at the time got, I believe that the diesel engines that GM was trying to develop in the '70's was GM's attempt/answer to the fuel/oil crisis of the 1970s.

25 to 30 would be a more realistic MPG figure.
One of my buddies and fellow electrician had one.
The high cost of repairs on that pig, far exceeded the savings on fuel.
I always used to jokingly say that I never had to spend $1000 at the pump.:D

Regarding your post #28, all radio and vintage collectors that start as early as you have the same problem, including myself.
Right now, before you have to go back to school, locate a storage place or another workplace for your hobby. Don't ask me how I know.
Regarding the Philco: That model series, seems to be as common as dirt. All the 41,42- series. I have about five sets of those model years. I wouldn't spend money on any of them. :thumbsdn:

So the Philco I just picked up and that is the source of this thread, you're saying isn't actually worth restoring? That's interesting, I paid $25 and so far haven't put any money into it yet (most of the work I've put into the unit so far was just manual labor and parts I had laying around like the dial string which right now isn't working because its not grabbing with the tuning knob to turn the tuner assembly) and it still needs new capacitors which I know not what value they are as I can't see their value very easily and I do have some capacitors laying around but not sure if they're the right values that I need, as for the filter caps they look like they are fairly recent replacements (within the past 35 years I'd say as they are still the large cardboard tubular electrolytics but aren't the originals and they are pretty common values 8/8 @ 450 and 16 @ 450.) Anyways the cabinet is still in pretty good shape yet (no gouges or scratches or water damage) the only thing that's really "bad" on the cabinet is like I said the bezel is cracked and warped but I'm not sure if it would be worth getting a replacement for it or not seeing as the replicas that Radio Daze has are $30 a pop. So how much would be too much to sink into this Philco?

Also I have been working out a deal with a local flea market owner who wants me to work in his shop as his in-house repair man because he sells records and record players and he wants me to be able to service any record players or radios he might acquire for his shop/booth and in return I would be able to also work on anything I'm working on and sell them in his booth and make some money from that. So I do have a plan in the works for something like that but its kind of slow because the gentleman I'm referring to has been working on fixing up the building he's in himself (as the building had originally before he got it had a caved in ceiling from a bursted water line that had froze during the winter and the owner of the building was letting him fix it up how ever he wanted in exchange for real cheap rent) and he's not been able to get to the area I would be occupying yet because he's been busy trying to help some booth-renters get moved in and set up and what not, and my mom isn't a very patient person and thinks that just because I haven't been able to do anything with getting my radios sold yet that it means that they need to just be thrown out because she thinks they're "cluttering my place up" even though you can walk in myt place just fine (most true hoarders you can't walk in their houses and my place you can walk in it just fine.)
Anyways I think I'm going to take some of my radios that I had gotten going already and take them to my buddy down at the flea market and see if he would be interested in trying to sell them for me.

Everone has their likes and dislikes. I personally don't like push buttons and other gimmicks. Most of my radio collector buddies feel the same way.
We were discussing that issue at the last radio meet.
Don't mind me! "One man's meat is another man's poison." :scratch2:

I don't know your exact circumstances, but if your over 18 and your Mom does not own your home I'd tell her to mind her own business and change my locks (I might drop the least liked 1/5 to 1/3 of my collection to try and get her off my case first).
At some point you have to stop letting your folks call the shots in your life....advise is one thing, demands/pestering is another.

As to the smell issue, old women can develop sensitive and picky noses. Some friend's grand parents lived next door to me when I was a teen. The whole place reeked of stinky potpourri. We would play video games in a room and their grandma started complaining that it stunk in there. I never noticed a stink of any kind (the lousy potpourii reek decreased, but that was it). My friends did not stink, and my parents and friends would have told me if I stunk, so the only conclusion I can think of is that their grandma just did not like the natural smell of clean teenagers....
If the dresser reeks then stop storing your clothes in it.


If you are younger the following may better apply.

I'd probably in your shoes rank sets based on how much I like them, and sell off a fifth to a third of them physical volume wise (if things are moving too slow for your mom come up with a practical time table/detailed plan and tell them about it to get them off your back), and stand my ground. Don't get more until you have paired down to that, and focus on what you have (that will help build good faith). Also try to keep the space they consume and number fairly constant after pairing down (I try to sell about as much as I buy and constantly reevaluate which are keepers).
I'd explain to her that most of my sets sell for 40$ or more a piece (point out the higher valued sets more) unrestored and say that you would no sooner throw out your sets than she would throw away 50$ bills....There are antique radio collecting price guides in print, GET one beforehand to prove your argument (if she doubts you pull it out and look stuff up). Antique radios go up in value with time and are an investment. Also explain to her that this collection is a hobby that is a corner stone of who you are, and is of similar happiness value to a pet or a good girlfriend, and is something that you could never completely part with without great emotional pain that if she truly loves you she will not put you through that. If she has a collection (glass ware, dolls, figurines, etc.) say you won't listen until she throws her collection out, if I can't have a collection then you can't either, etc. If you may be going to college soon explain that working on these radios are teaching you fundamentals that will aid you in pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering and her messing with this could mess up your future.

Sometimes you can come up with good logical persuasive arguments that can allow you to calmly reason your folks into agreement with you (think it over carefully beforehand, and be ready for all expected responses, and quick/well witted in response to crazy unexpected ones). If no amount of calm logical debate results in a fair compromise sometimes you just have to get into a shouting match, and not back down from your position.....Sometimes parents get crazy stuck on a idea that they should not impose on their kids, and the only way to stop them is to stand your ground and or threaten to leave them or become destructive or a problem if they keep going after what you care about (would they rather have an addict, thug, daredevil, someone who permanently hates them, pervert, etc. or someone nice who stays out of trouble and collects antique radios?)....

I'll see if that would work. I am actually currently in college and going for a computer information technology degree (or computer repair degree for short) and I think that repairing these old radios helps me to understand electronics (and computers) and how they work overall
as for the smell I have never smelled any sort of smell in the house that one might describe as "offensive", I live in an old house with a housemate and the part of the house I live in used to be an old garage years ago and garages have a distinctive musty smell that doesn't go away even if you build it in as part of the house so my mom shouldn't expect the house to smell like roses (which apparently she does expect it to smell like roses), anyways I did already get rid of almost 6 junk radios that couldn't be fixed anymore by taking them to an electronics recycler, and then I took 3 radios that I had gotten going and two record players that I fixed up, I took them to a local flea market and the guy there is going to sell them for me I set the price on the radios for $50 a piece as a starting price and the columbia Stereophonic record player I put a price of $40 dollars on and then I put a price of $25 on an old Voice of Music Institutional (School) record player.

So I'm definitely down quite a bit from where I once was radio and record player wise.

When I can't fix something tube I never toss it out, I sell it with not working written on the price tag...If the cosmetics are shot, then sometimes thoroughly I strip it for parts.

Sounds like things will workout for you...Good luck.

Well what would be the purpose of selling a non working piece of tube equipment, just wondering.
Anyways I do intend to try and stand my ground with the other radios, especially the old Magnavox console I have in the basement (which isn't musty or moldy smelling) it is functioning perfectly it just needs a multiplexer adaptor for FM Stereo audio, and a new pickup and idler tire for the turntable and it will be up and running properly. I was able to find some Old Stock RCA Grey Plate 6BQ5s for the amplifier on the old Magnavox Console of mine so it sings like new again the RCA 6BQ5s had very low hours on them as they seem to be like new yet (I had actually found 3 of the RCA Grey Plate 6BQ5s in an old coffee can of tubes that someone gave me) I also found a couple of GE made Thomas Labeled 6V6GT tubes that were like new (they came out of an old Thomas Organ amplifier.)

I've actually got an old Grundig Console that I can't figure out why there's still a loud hum to it even though I replaced the old filter caps with new ones and the correct wiring of the capacitors were observed and everything, I just can't figure out for the life of me why it still wants to hum like mad even after it was recapped, and currently its kind of taking up space in the basement (its actually one of the consoles my mom is complaining about because she thinks its taking up too much room in my basement) anyways I wish I could get the hum to go away because then I would basically have the radio fixed and could then re-sell it (I'm not going to bother with replacing the coupling caps in the radio because they are way too tricky to replace in those old German radios as its really easy to mess something up in them electronically because of how complicated they are.)

After reading through this thread, I was reminded of what I scrapped out in the early years:sigh: for the benefit of keeping in good standing with my folks. Tom is right on about this. I confirmed it only yesterday after picking up three antique radios CL from a 19 year-old with a misunderstanding mom. http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=264894

Matter Of Fact - I see two Philco 42-380 radios on local CL right now that have been there for weeks. I agree that recapping, then buying a repro-bezel, restoring finish etc only to sell it for $150 as a working-but-common set is generally a waste of time for any of us. The speaker and knobs alone are worth $40 if in good shape, since these were used on much rarer, even TOTL Philcos. Most restorers know this and will buy it non-working just for parts.

While most any 30s-40s Philco radio is a decent receiver and sounds great when re-capped, a similar Zenith console:thmbsp: (assuming a 6X5 or 7Y4 rectifier tube has not smoked the power trans) would be a better use of much less restoration effort. These often bring more money than Philco radios.

Your Magnavox consoles will generate interest if you get them recapped and spinning again since record players seem to be regaining popularity and Magnavox still commands respect in the vinyl community. The fact it has tubes versus an Astrosonic adds value for sure. The EV26 cartridge just needs a $9 stylus and good cleaning. If you can get a good idler, that will save $$$ like you say. A fairly new site, http://vintagehifi.net/ bears this out.

Lastly, the Grundig may have a partially open selenium rectifier in the full-wave bridge. It seems very odd to have a hum after all caps are changed but a bad rectifier is overlooked, as is excessive current draw, reducing the electrolytic's smoothing action.

I definitely will see about getting that Magnavox up and running for sure because it will probably like you said get more attention because of it being a tube powered unit and having an original Collaro made Micromatic changer (which from what I was told were built like tanks and have a very good changer mechanism) I actually have a parts record player coming in from dieseljeep on here so I should be able to use parts from that to get the turntable on my Magnavox up and running.
I was going to try replacing the old Selenium Rectifier in that old Grundig but wasn't sure what to use in place of it (it has four wire leads going to 4 terminals which are marked +,-,~,~) and its kind of a complicated radio to work on as they don't give you much wire lead to work with when replacing things like the power supply caps and the Selenium rectifier.
As for the old philco radio I wish someone would of told me sooner before I would of went ahead and bought the unit (I did have a thread posted about it here previously before this one) but no one spoke up about the radio not being worth my time, otherwise I wouldn't of bought it and just fixed the guy's record player and just passed on the radio.