Great Safety Rules
 

Thanks for all of those safety tips. Especially good to know for someone who is not an experienced tv repair person. I am going to print that page so that I can look it over before I remove the back cover.

'52 Philco L Model?
 

The '52 Philco I am attempting to fix is model #52-T2151. I found a service/repair guide for sale but it is for a 52-T2151-L. Could iI still use this service guide? I don't know what the L is for.

I think that Philco used "L" for the light oak cabinets... I would guess that the chassis is the same.
jr
1952 brochure:
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1952-Philco-Brochure1.jpg

Update...I dug out an old Sams Photofact listing and they show 2 listings for the model:
52-T2151 (ch 41,D1,A) .... set 171, folder #9
52-T2151 (ch 71,G1)....set 179, folder #9
No mention of "L" (light oak blond), "M" (mahogany) or "W" (walnut) however, in the index.
Do you see a chassis # on the label or stamped on the chassis?
jr

Wow! Great basic stuff Nasadowsk, thank you for posting it. I too printed it out and taped it to the wall in front of me at my work station. Sometimes I get into what I am doing, so much, that I can forget basic safety. A couple of thousand volt jolt can instantly refresh my memory, but I'd really like to avoid that whole death thing for now...

I have a feeling that that Philco may turn out pretty nice for you based on what I'm seeing so far. At least you've got something bright coming up on the screen, unlike the sea of dim grey lines I've gotten on my Zenith. We're also in the same boat far as the audio department goes... I wonder if there's a trend or pattern to the way that television sets age, and what components stop working along the way? Undeniably, the thing I hear the most often is those old capacitors. I guess it's sort of universal, be it radio, television or anything over 50 years old with a hand-wired chassis.

The Operation Begins
 

Here are some pictures of the split chassis. Looks like I will be dealing with a lot of capacitors. Maybe it wont be as difficult as it looks.Attachment 167161

Attachment 167162

Attachment 167163

Attachment 167164

I like that split chassis. Much nicer than lugging around one huge chassis. I think you'll find that once you start replacing those big old caps with modern, smaller ones, it will become less cramped and easier to work on.

Good luck.
Bob

If those diodes are intended to replace the big green selenium rectifiers, I'd make sure that the old rectifiers are taken completely out of the circuit. (Don't leave them wired in parallel with new diodes, in other words.) Hard to see exactly what's going on in that third photo.

Phil Nelson

Most people also install some resistors in series with the diodes, so that the B+ voltage ends up being the same as it was when the seleniums were used.
Now people might throw rocks at me for this... but what about mounting the new diodes and proper dropping resistors on a terminal strip under the chassis, next to the fuse and eliminating the "tacked on" selenium housing/exposed wiring?

jr

I use 1N4007 rectifiers as a replacement for the Seleniums.
Much smaller than the diode I see in the last picture.

I would not parallel the Selenium because the Selenium might short out.

These 1N4007's are so cheap, I install two in series just in case one shorts out.

Looks like that Philco is going to be a great project. Have you ordered your Capacitors yet?

Carl

Tubes and Capacitors
 

I haven't ordered any capacitors yet but a radio guy I know said that he saw old vintage paper caps on ebay for about $4.00 apiece. Apparently they like to use them in old high end audio equipment. By the way, he checked all of my tv tubes and found 6 tubes either weak or shorted. He suggested replacing the old caps too but said I should try turning the tv on after I replace the bad tubes just to see if I get a picture. You never know.