Philco Predicta restoration

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Boy, that looks familiar. I just did the same thing a couple months ago. Got my set back together, and, well, let's just say that it needs further diagnosis.....

What you gents are experiencing with these recapped sets having problems has got me to wondering , , Are you checking the value of each new component before installation ? Back when I was first starting out , I used to take "Brand new" to mean "Perfectly working" and MAN was I let down ! Time and again I'd do a recap and run into the same thing , "Damn ! This set ain't any better than when I started with it !" .... I would invariably end up going back and checking the new components one by each and the failure rate was appalling ! Since then , I test each new part before installation and my restorations have gone much more smoothly . Nothing too involved , just take an ohm meter to the new resistors and a good old capacitor checker* to the new caps , and weed out the factory defects before they end up in the set . Even parts of supposedly "tight tolerance" like those resistors with the pretty gold bands on em aren't immune to the occasional factory derp , so a working check of all replacement parts really is time well spent . Tell me , you DO test each tube you put into a set , even a brand new tube , right ? So why not check all other replacement components as well , especially since we know an ohm meter's reading of a resistor is a far better indicator of it's quality than a "good" reading of a tube in a tube tester is

* "Good old capacitor checker" meaning any unit that tests the new cap at it's actual working voltage , which leaves most if not all new digital style meters sorely lacking . Gotta get one of the kinds with the eye tube and adjustable voltage up to 450V for the "breakdown" test .

Good Luck and happy restoring ...