Philco 16/16b

[ZenithDude88]

Originally Posted by WISCOJIM

I agree Dave, that was a very dim evaluation of a high quality set that may need relatively easy work as the cabinet appears as though it may be in good condition which is often the hardest thing to fix. Done several 16's myself, with a little patience and good work habits, they are not that difficult to do. And seeing how the owner already has the set, there is no reason not to use this set with the Bakelite blocks as a great learning experience.

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I didn't say he couldn't I was just saying if it were me (and since I don't have much experience with pre-war radios mostly post war radios) I would of passed on it because from what I saw in the picture the speaker was trashed to the point that there was nothing left of it say for 2 pieces hanging on by a thread so to speak (and repairing that speaker or sourcing a "new" one can be quite difficult especially trying to source another speaker like it had in there originally.
I know for a fact that my 1932 vintage Cathedral radio I have had a damaged speaker that thankfully was still fully intact enough for a simple unbleached coffee filter paper repair but if I wouldn't of been able to of been repaired, I looked to see if another speaker like it could of been sourced just in case, and sure enough it couldn't, because of it being a 1930s Utah speaker and those are rarer than hen's teeth.

The Grille Cloth is also missing which if you don't know what it had in there orginally then it can be hard to get the right grille cloth for the unit.

The cabinet from what I could see while no veneer is peeling off, the original finish appears to be shot which trying to refinish these old Cathedral radio cabinets can be tricky especially the fancier ones because you have to try and get the finish to go on evenly within all of those little crevices in the moulding without it dripping and even stripping those cabinets can be a pain because of those various crevices in the fancy moulding.
Anyways I was just saying that if it were me I would of passed on something that were in that kind of condition because with my expertise level (which is pretty much non-existent when it comes to working on pre-war radios) I wouldn't of bothered with it unless it was known to be an extremely easy radio to service.

That's all I was saying, I wasn't implying that it was a bad radio or that the radio wasn't a high end radio or whatever, I was just saying that in my position if I saw a radio like that that had a severely damaged speaker and no grille cloth and unknown condition guts, I wouldn't personally bother with it.

Referring back to my experience with seeing a late 1920s RCA Table Radio (Tombstone style) at an antique mall for an extremely good price but then it was because the cabinet was trashed (severe water damage and severe veneer peeling issues with the cabinet alone).

Then it looked like the guts had mice living in it several times in its life as the chassis was severely corroded by mice pee and wires were chewed clear through in critical areas including in the IF Cans, and the original cloth cord was pretty much gone and the dial string was broken and the tuning capacitor was seized up (you couldn't turn the tuning capacitor with your hands) which is why I had to pass up on the radio even though it may very well have been an extremely valuable unit once fixed up.
But to even restore that unit one would of had to sink more money into the unit than it might of been worth.

And the OP was asking for people's opinions on the unit, and so I gave my opinion on it.

[Electronic M]

IIRC Philco repair bench had a good table of block cap part numbers with an explanation of their contents (my go-to resource), but I just checked and I can't find it, along with a good portion of their site...What happened to them?

Originally Posted by ZenithDude88

I didn't say he couldn't I was just saying if it were me (and since I don't have much experience with pre-war radios mostly post war radios) I would of passed on it because from what I saw in the picture the speaker was trashed to the point that there was nothing left of it say for 2 pieces hanging on by a thread so to speak (and repairing that speaker or sourcing a "new" one can be quite difficult especially trying to source another speaker like it had in there originally.

There are many places that specialize in re-coning speakers. If the voice and field (if not PM type) coils have continuity, that is a good option.

If the speaker is beyond professional help there is always a way to spec a new one (of any vintage including brand new). The most important thing is geometry and diameter. If it is the same mounting size you don't have to modify the cabinet, and there are ways to make it work electrically. Getting the same voice coil impedance is important to reusing the same audio output transformer, but there are ways around that. Speaker impedance matching transformers exist, and one can spec new audio output transformers by knowing/finding the plate impedance of the original and getting one that matches that to the impedance of the new speaker. If the original had a field coil you can use a PM type speaker and substitute the field coil in the power supply circuit with a power resistor or preferably a choke of similar impedance....Sure it is part of the power supply filter circuit, but there is a lot of fudge factor in those designs, and if you've got some spare parts to play with it can be arrived at easily with experimentation. Knowing theory of operation, and associated maths helps the process greatly and helps ensure it will work best the first try.

It is good to know your skill level, but challenging yourself, learning new techniques, and approaching things by not assuming things are impossible/impractical will help you grow...Thirst for knowledge helps too.

...That said if you told me you were captinclock back under a new user name, I'd believe you...Your writing style/personality feels rather similar.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

IIRC Philco repair bench had a good table of block cap part numbers with an explanation of their contents (my go-to resource), but I just checked and I can't find it, along with a good portion of their site...What happened to them?

Is this what you are looking for?
http://www.walkingitaly.com/radio/cr...004/philco.pdf

Originally Posted by Electronic M

...That said if you told me you were captinclock back under a new user name, I'd believe you...Your writing style/personality feels rather similar.

Hmmm...

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[ZenithDude88]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

...That said if you told me you were captinclock back under a new user name, I'd believe you...Your writing style/personality feels rather similar.

And what if I was? Would you try to have me banned again?

CaptainClock mentioned many times that he has Autism, ADD, and ADHD, which with that said it makes it hard for people like that to communicate what they want to say without sounding a little standoffish because that's just the way they are its an issue that he was trying to work on every day and its tough to try and say something (especially on the internet) when you can't see the person's facial expressions to go with what they're saying.

So of course if someone said something about an old radio that they thought looked like it was going to be a little tricky to work on but then someone else came along and read what was being said and took that comment as being a mean nasty comment when the comment wasn't meant to be originally because the person couldn't see the facial expression of the person when the comment was initially posted, then of course there's going to be some problems.

That being said Levi (aka formerly CaptainClock on here) has had lots of trouble with cyber bullying and trolls on just about every single online forum he's ever been on.
The worst one was when he was a part of an art forum called deviantArt for a while and that website which was supposedly supposed to be a "friendly place for aspiring artists to hang out and share their artwork with others", was actually quite the opposite of what they claimed their website was, and he ended up in the end having a young woman and some of her friends on that website try and set him up to look like a pedophile (even though he isn't one) by hacking into his facebook page and computer and posting inappropriate pictures on his facebook page and what not just because he was attenpting to make friends with other fellow forum members so that he could have some people he could ask about his artwork.

Now that being said you can kind of understand why he takes offense to comments that people make that sound threatening to him.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by ZenithDude88

And what if I was? Would you try to have me banned again?

So, are you saying that you are not he who was once named "Captain Clock"?

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[ZenithDude88]

Originally Posted by WISCOJIM

So, are you saying that you are not he who was once named "Captain Clock"?

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Read into it what you will, but I'm going leave it at that, and nothing else. I'll let you guys figure out who I am from my message.

[sean]

For the grille cloth I used the Whiskey Rayon pattern sold by Richmond Designs. I thought he used to sell a smaller size than 18x24 but maybe that is what I had bought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/182622096389

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by ZenithDude88

And what if I was? Would you try to have me banned again?

Personal opinions aside (I was not the one who banned clock and did not mind him when he was not stirring up sh!t) it is against the forum rules to create multiple user accounts, and IIRC against the rules to return under a new user name when permanently banned...This transgression which you seem to be admitting to will likely result in you getting permanently banned again.

A certain well known/liked Michigan member was nearly banned over creating a second comedy account (sanjarali) once.

Rules are rules.

That said I'm issuing you a one day ban while I discuss whether or not to allow this return with the fellow moderators. If the others don't say "make it permanent" consider yourself lucky and be careful how you post. A certain conduct of discourse is expected here, and regardless of your circumstances if you make too much of a nuisance of yourself anywhere you will eventually get the boot...It is just how life works.

EDIT: Caribou Gone! https://youtu.be/M3-51DhOzHE?t=2m5s