1939/40 Philco model# 40-125

[Sandy G]

You did 2 good things-1) Rebuilding a radio for a friend, & 2) Saving said Old Radio from the landfill. Kudos to you, sir.

[Chad Hauris]

That's great you got that old Philco working. We did a 1939 model and almost everything had to be removed from the chassis and and replaced including repairing the power transformer wiring with heat shrink tubing and replacing the wiring inside the IF cans. The good thing was that there was plenty of room inside the chassis to work with.

[Mike Stehr]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

That's great you got that old Philco working. We did a 1939 model and almost everything had to be removed from the chassis and and replaced including repairing the power transformer wiring with heat shrink tubing and replacing the wiring inside the IF cans. The good thing was that there was plenty of room inside the chassis to work with.

Was that 1939 Philco a console unit, Chad? I didn't have much room with this tabletop. Some of those wax caps were 4 layers down at the bottom.

It seem I would replace one rotted wire, and then there was another one!
I replaced everything I could, and heat-shrinked over the rest.

This thing was serious fire hazard the way it was. Unbeleivable it still worked.

Johnny would have kept the radio even if it didn't work, it's a heirloom from his grandparents.

I just couldn't see him setting his apartment ablaze with the little Philco tabletop, especially when his insurance carrier laughs at him when they find out what started the fire. Old out of code radio? Sorry pal!!

I didn't have much interest in old tube console and tabletop radios, but the Philco kinda changed that.
Somebody may have listened to the Pearl Harbor attacks on the thing.....

I'm pretty certain Johnny's Philco console is a 1936 model, and it should have cloth covered wiring insulation. It's a good sized chassis as well.
I may volunteer to get the console going, I did check the tubes already.
It had a wanked 6J5 and a 5Y4 rectifier.
I have a 6J5, but I don't have 5Y4. Can a guy sub a 5Y3 for 5Y4? They seem pretty close......

My favorite old radio is audio buddy Dan Marshall's 1929 Edison. Restored and cool looking, old 45 output tubes with 27's.

Thanks for the kudos guys...