Philco 84B Restoration.

[Retired]

Hi,

At the end of November 2007; I was browsing eBay and was immediately attracted to this very sad looking Cathedral Philco 84B. The auction still had over two days to run and had two bids on it at $1.25. (62p). I was thinking what a wonderful restoration project this would make for the lucky winner. The set looked as though it had been shot as you could see right through the cabinet? The grille cloth was torn, the speaker cone was badly holed and this set was supplied originally without back cover. At the time it was the worst looking radio condition wise on eBay it obviously being a basket case requiring a complete restoration.

I wasn’t going to bid on it as the set was in Oklahoma with a shipping cost of $69 to the UK. At this point my wife Bronwyn kindly asked of me what I would like for Christmas. Suddenly this set became a must have as I had fallen in love with it. The auction ended at 4am our time so a very large maximum bid was placed at 11pm allowing eBay to bid on my behalf and I retired for the night with fingers crossed. 6am the following morning full of anticipation I was logged on again to find the set had topped out at $61 with eleven bids, it was mine. I was absolutely delighted and paid for it immediately via PayPal.

[attachment=229]
What an ugly duckling; as bought.

A large cardboard box was delivered quite quickly and I felt like a five year old child once again as I opened it. Sue Wolf, the seller had packed it very well so it arrived safely. With the packing materials out of the way the set was placed on the bench and given a visual inspection. Our neighbour, David, popped in to see us and as he looked at this wreck declared that it ought to be thrown in the dustbin which cheered me up immensely. David couldn’t believe good money had been paid to ship this junk here all the way from America and that I was even more silly to want such a thing as a present.

[attachment=230][attachment=231]
Now it is really broken. Major de-lamination.

The chassis came out without problem, only one knob was fitted and this was not original. The cabinet was much worse than expected, it was falling apart with masses of de-lamination to the front and curved panels, only the base had survived. The curved panel was just a standard piece of 3 ply, only the centre ply was holding it together as it was pinned to the base. Using a hammer and block of wood the cabinet was soon in bits and looking like firewood? This set was bought with a full restoration in mind and at this point it could only get better. I did wonder if I could actually put it back together again.

[attachment=232]
Will it go back together again.

Two full weeks followed with the hot hide glue pot on the hob every day as work was carried out re-gluing the veneers, hot hide glue was to be used throughout making this job so much harder, hide glue was chosen as it is perfect for this kind of cabinet work and hopefully in another seventy years someone will thank me for using it. Most of the time was taken allowing the glue to harden as the repairs could only be carried out in small sections at one time. Finally to my relief the cabinet was ready for putting back together which threw up the biggest problem of all, how to glue up a curved panel with a joint of almost three feet in length without the glue gelling? Initially the intention was to glue and pin both ends of the curved panel to the base as this appeared the obvious way to go. This was rejected after much thought, if the curved panel could be positioned to the front panel and glued quickly; there would be a better chance of getting the glue right into the housing, the two layers of veneer which originally formed most of the joint outer housing had long since gone and would be replaced later. Assembly was carried out in the kitchen, the sink was filled with water and an old towel was placed ready, the work surfaces were covered, everything was placed to hand and a number of dummy assembly runs were tried, two battens had been prepared together with 10mm threaded rods to be used for clamping, the rods were fitted with a hex nut at one end and a wing nut at the other end for speed. The glue pot was ready so there was no backing out now. Masking tape was applied around the joint to stop the veneer absorbing glue where it wasn’t wanted. Working just the right side of panic, glue was very quickly brushed into the housing totally filling it, the joint was closed and the job clamped up, excess glue was removed with the wet towel and the job was left for a full day for the glue to set.

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Gluing in progress. Glued and clamped.

The following day, all the worry and stress had been worth it, total success, it was then easy to secure the curved panel ends to the base with glue and longer panel pins using the original holes for alignment. Next job was to cut strips of 1/8” thick plywood to replace the missing two layers of veneer which formed the housing and glue them into place. The cabinet still looked very rough but at least it was now one piece. To add additional strength; glue blocks were added internally together with a new non standard arch to the rear. Hide glue is brilliant for adding wooden blocks; just apply a generous coat of hot hide glue to two sides of the wooden block offer it into position rub it a couple of times until the glue grabs and leave well alone to let the glue set.; no clamps are needed. A back panel was designed and made for safety as the set would be converted to 240V volts. As work progressed I ordered new grille cloth and two new valves. A bit of luck was to be winning bidder on four genuine Philco rosette type knobs off eBay.

[attachment=235]
Additional strength added. Non original.

A cabinet scraper removed the old finish and brought all the repairs down level with ease. The light coloured section of the front panel was then masked off and the remainder was given a coat of water based Vandyke brown stain blending in the repaired veneers. The cabinet was left overnight to dry. The following morning started very badly indeed. The water stain had opened up not one split in the veneer on the curved panel but six splits; this was a low point and came very near to the cabinet being placed on the ground and me cheerfully jumping up and down on it. Fortunately the point passed by and a solution was called for, to play around now and mess up the new stain would have been disaster. In the end the stain was given two coats of button shellac to seal it then the splits were glued and clamped taking care to wipe away all excess glue. Once the glue had set two more brush coats of shellac were applied then the cabinet was flatted using 240 grit wet or dry abrasive paper used dry. Another four coats of shellac were applied and also two coats of shellac were applied to the inside of the cabinet. A lot of time was spent flatting then the job was completed using a traditional French polishing rubber. The black trim was then painted using artists Mars black acrylic with the intention of giving it a couple of coats of shellac, this failed miserably, and the shellac turned the matt black brown? I then bought some special black paint off eBay at £8.50 for a spray can. This paint sets porcelain hard and looked very good as I applied it with a brush after first spraying a quantity into the plastic lid. Once it dried it looked a bit thin? As the second coat was applied it lifted the first coat making a mess of the job. Not to be beaten I drove to Hobbycraft in Sheffield, a 50 mile round trip to purchase some Humbrol enamel. I also wanted some paraffin wax. Humbrol black was sold out and paraffin wax was discontinued. Eventually I bought two small tins of Humbrol black from a local hobby shop and finally was able to complete this cabinet restoration. The cabinet had one last go at upsetting me as it took four attempts to fit the grille cloth due to the shape of the backing board.

[attachment=236]
Stripping with cabinet scraper.

During the restoration, I bought a new sheet of plywood and had been searching eBay for burr veneers just in case I messed up; a new cabinet was plan B. I have two compressors and two spray guns but living in England makes owning them a waste of time due to the climate. French polishing is inexpensive regarding materials and equipment, the smell and fumes are not overbearing and disperse quickly, the brush comes clean with a dip in methylated spirit and the polishing rubber can be stored in an air tight jam jar for months. French polishing can’t be rushed; it involves 80% patience and 20% skill and can be carried out by anyone with the desire to give it a go. Due to severe asthma as a child I didn’t really start schooling until I grew out of it at the age of eleven. I left school with the distinction of being bottom of the class in woodwork and as I was in the top class this meant I was also bottom of the school. I now love woodworking and am very sincere when I say that if I can restore a wireless cabinet then anyone can.

[attachment=237]
New back panel designed; made and fitted.

As a bonus, Bronwyn also paid for a second Christmas present for me, this time it was a Tombstone Philco 282, from North Somerset, UK. Another full restoration project; life is brilliant.

[attachment=238]
Fully restored cabinet.

This restoration is shown elsewhere but worth adding for members who have not seen it; I also restored the chassis which I will add under the appropriate heading. Restoring a set in such poor condition is a wonderful challenge and it now has pride of place in our front room where it gets switched on occasionally; I still enjoy looking at it making all the effort well worth while.

Kind regards, Col.

[Bushbaby]

Hi Col,
What a truly wonderful restoration - who said that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear?

Regards

Rob

[Jamie-Skinner]

Nice restoration!

[Mark R]

That is better than nice Col.........amazing finish!

cheers Mark

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks for the kind comments Rob; Jamie and Mark they are much appreciated. I improve a bit more with each French polish job I do and at first found French polishing to be a right pain but with practice I've settled down and now find the process to be therapeutic; I try to make each cabinet restoration better than the last and the harder the restoration the bigger the buzz and satisfaction once it is completed.

Here is the story of the chassis restoration of this Philco 84B and it was a nightmare!!

Having successfully restored the cabinet I started the restoration of this Philco 84B chassis on 5 January 2008. Being only a four valver it should have been an easy project to complete. The chassis whilst looking rough was very original apart from two electrolytics which had been soldered directly to the original can. This was going to be a strip to the bare chassis but before doing so I decided to get it working first. It was a simple matter to replace the capacitors which were encased in Bakelite blocks. Each block was removed in turn, heated with a hair drier and the originals pulled free having snipped the leads at the tags. The tags were then cleaned and new modern capacitors were installed and soldered in place checking connections against the circuit diagram which had been a free download from Nostalgia Air. The original electrolytic can was removed and polished then it was cut near its base allowing the innards to be removed allowing new modern electrolytics to be inserted. Most of the resistors were well out of specification so were replaced with modern components. A new mains lead and plug fused at 3A was fitted ensuring the live was broken by the on/off switch. The speaker needed a recone so couldn’t be used and as it contained the field winding a heavy duty 960 ohms resistor was installed to replace the winding allowing the chassis to be connected to the workshop permanent magnet speaker.

[attachment=259]
Rough but original.

The mains transformer was wired for 115 volt use only so to put some power into it a Variac was used winding the voltage up slowly. At 80 volts nothing was happening, this was due to an open circuit wire wound resistor, No.30 on the diagram. The resistor was replaced then again power was applied but now there was signs of life, as the set wasn’t showing any stress voltage was increased to the full 115 volts. Stations could be tuned in but on low volume only with a loud hum. The low volume was traced to No17 compensator (trimmer), its fibre adjusting nut had worked loose in transit. One of the Philco websites gave the answer to the hum. One of the eyelets used to secure the screening can’s base and No.2 valve holder to chassis also has a ring connector attached to it. This ring connector is prone to coming loose as it had in this case; touching it with a screwdriver totally cleared the hum. It’s always wonderful to hear a set burst into life for the first time in many years and this Philco sounded well. Power was left on for a couple of hours to let it warm up before switching off.

[attachment=260]
Chassis fully stripped.

I had done one full chassis strip previously which took many hours to accomplish. To make life easier this time, the components above chassis were marked and noted with sketches before removing but leaving the three tuning coils still connected as they could be pulled through from below chassis with care. The eyelet securing the first tuning can was drilled and an attempt was made to remove the can but it refused to lift clear? Tipping the chassis over there were no other obvious means of it being secured which was a bit of a puzzle. The eyelets were then drilled from the other two cans and all three cans could then be lifted clear, they were spot welded together. The aerial and oscillator transformers looked in good clean condition but I was amazed at the condition of the IF transformer, it looked like something out of a horror movie, it was covered with a coating of what looked like crystallized ginger and spiders webs. The rest of the components were released and removed as one complete assembly taking a lot of care not to damage the tuning coils as they were withdrawn, paper had been wrapped around these coils securing it with rubber bands to be on the safe side. This assembly was placed out of harms way then a start was made at rubbing down the chassis with abrasive paper, 60 grit paper was used for speed to remove the deep rust patches leaving a bright metal chassis ready for painting. The weather was terrible as usual, torrential rain, high winds with much flooding leaving many people homeless. The chassis was placed in a plastic bag to keep it dry then carried into the garage where it was sprayed with grey undercoat using a spray can. Whilst the undercoat was drying a trip was made to our local car accessory shop to purchase suitable paint for the top coat. Looking at the racks of spray cans the silvers didn’t look right. Undecided which colour to choose I was looking out of the window at the rain lashing down which made my mind up. I colour matched the sky and chose Rover Stratos; a dark grey. With the grey gloss applied the chassis was left alone for a few days in a warm place to let the paint harden.

[attachment=261]
Problem cans

The newly painted chassis looked superb and not wanting to scratch it a tea towel was placed under it on the bench. The IF transformer was sprayed with WD 40 and wiped dry with a paper towel, then it was very gently scraped with a sharp craft knife to remove most of the rough surface which turned out to be wax? The rest of the components were sprayed with WD 40 and wiped dry improving their appearance a great deal then the whole assembly was re-fitted to the chassis, this part of the job went very quickly taking care once again not to damage the coils. New brass eyelets had been purchased from DPT in Rochdale at a very reasonable cost of £14inc. for 1,000. (Minimum order £10). The eyelets were 1/8” x ¼”. I also purchased 200 4BA brass round head screws ½” long together with brass nuts, £18 locally, and for good measure purchased 500 1/8” x 5/16” copper dome head semi tubular rivets, £41inc. This selection will last a lifetime. Setting the eyelets wasn’t as easy as expected; the depth of the chassis, the screening can holder and the fragile coils compounded the problem. After a great deal of thought a pair of ¼” dia. x 6”long silver steel punches were turned in the engineering lathe. The punches were then mounted in the drill press ensuring perfect alignment, each eyelet was fitted from above the chassis then the chassis was tipped over locating the eyelet on the bottom punch and the top punch was used to set the eyelet. This worked extremely well and made a very neat job. The mains transformer and screening can were painted and the tuning gang was cleaned using wire wool. The tuning gang was blown off with an air line and its bearings lubricated before fitting. New extended leads were fitted to connect the output transformer which was sitting on the bench and also to the workshop speaker.

[attachment=262]
Sum of parts.

By now I was very pleased, the cabinet and chassis had come up exceedingly well; all that was now needed was to switch on then put the chassis back into the cabinet adding yet another beautiful set to my collection, life couldn’t be better. The chassis burst my bubble big style by declaring a full twelve day war on me. At switch on it refused to talk to me. Thinking the fault would be something simple three days were spent checking connections and components without any luck whatsoever. I contacted Gerry at www.crowthornetubes.com to purchase a spare No.77 valve and explained the problem. Gerry was very kind and replied with a number of suggestions then followed up with a list of very useful websites that contain masses of Philco information. Much time was spent surfing these sites for problems with the 84B. The ring terminal previously mentioned turned up a few times as did a common problem with the tuning coils going open circuit in particular the oscillator coil. A mod was suggested to exchange the No.6 4meg resistor for a 2meg. All three coil units were removed and the aerial tuning primary coil had gone open circuit. Fortunately the primary winding is on the outside and only a few turns of wire are involved making rewinding very easy. Armed with the new information I knew the insulation between the windings was prone to failure causing all sorts of problems so replaced this at the same time. Following the information to the letter I then immersed the entire coil in hot paraffin wax for half a minute, withdrew it and let it dry. Now with the pan of wax cooling the coil was dipped a second time to seal the primary winding with a heavy coat of wax which completed the job. This looked so good and was so easy to do that I decided to rewind the oscillator primary whilst it was on the bench. The oscillator primary has 15 turns and the aerial primary has 21 turns of enameled copper wire. 0.006” thick, (6 thou.). Measured over the enamel. The solder tags were cleaned of wax and the coils were soon refitted to the chassis. At switch on all the stations came in very clear but on low volume? I drilled out the new eyelet on No.2 valve and replaced it with a 4BA brass screw and nut checking for continuity to chassis. The set remained obstinate.

[attachment=263]
Horror movie item.

I then e-mailed my friend Martin Scobie www.marie34.freeserve.co.uk for advice. Martin spent a lot of time e-mailing suggestions and information on how to use the signal generator and oscilloscope to to try to isolate the problem. I spent ages but couldn’t get any sense out of the chassis using the generator and scope and by now was getting a bit fed up with the multitude of leads strewn across the bench so decided to have a go at powering the set from the 240V mains supply direct, at least this would get the Variac off the bench. During all this work I had purchased 26 2.2uF 275VAC Class X2 capacitors from eBay at a very good price of £1 for two. I didn’t want to rewind the mains transformer as it was highly likely the new windings would not fit the laminations but wanted to retain it if possible to offer transformer isolation to the chassis? I had used capacitor droppers before to replace resistive line cords and wondered if it was possible to add a dropper in series between the on/off switch and the transformer using the Variac to determine the required capacitance. I’d never seen this done before but knew the dropper would only work into a resistive load and as the primary of the transformer was resistive decided there was nothing to lose. I tried a single 2.2uF class X2 starting at zero volts on the Variac and was pleased to get low voltage readings on the chassis with the Variac at maximum so added another 2.2uF in parallel this brought the voltage up much higher and with a pair of 0.47uF class X2 added was absolutely delighted to read 6V on the heaters with 112V on the transformer. This proved a very simple, cheap but effective way to convert this chassis to 240V supply retaining the original transformer. The dropper was encased in heat shrink sleeving and installed below chassis in the bottom right hand corner securing it with a spring clip. This cheered me up a lot and got the Variac off the bench. What now followed was a nightmare, days were spent checking and double checking components, the valves were pulled and tested, all the resistors and capacitors were ok as was the wiring? I pulled the oscillator coil off, swapped the primary leads making a mess of the good work to no effect. This was by now testing my patience to the limit; it’s a simple set so why was it giving me so much grief? I was awake at nights thinking about it and couldn’t settle as it was on my mind all the time. The weather was lousy, whilst I was trying to listen for signals the wind was howling so much that I had to connected the earphones up, it was very dark with hail, snow and a lot of frost, this was supposed to be enjoyable.

[attachment=264] [attachment=265]
Chassis repainted. Rewound coils.

During all this I was gaining a lot of much needed experience, I was surfing the web, Gerry and Martin were both wonderful and I was reading. In one of the books, the section on oscillators gave profound advice insomuch that if the two coils were considered to be connected as one; the start of the primary would connect to the anode with the finish of the secondary connected to the following grid. With this information the aerial and oscillator coils were once again removed making me wish that they were secured with zips by now. I stripped both primaries ignoring all my previous notes and rewound both. Full of hope I switched on but now had a totally mute set so at least I had now really upset it!! Studying the circuit diagram in bed for the umpteenth time I found my mistake with the coils. I had taken the start of the primaries in each case as connected per the circuit diagram, what I should have done was to use the chassis tag in each case as the start with the other end being the anode and aerial connections. By now I knew the connections off by heart so removed the coils in the knowledge that this would be the last time and rewound the primaries. This time I took a lot of time and with the primary windings and insulation removed both the aerial and oscillator coils were given a good soak in hot wax sealing the secondary windings. With the new primaries wound the coils were dipped in wax as before and then fitted to the chassis. I found a rubber band to be a great help in holding the insulation in place whilst winding. The set still refused to work. At this point it’s a good job that a sledge hammer wasn’t to hand or I would have surely destroyed this chassis and taken up knitting as a hobby.

[attachment=266] [attachment=267]
Eyelet punch. On test.

Staring in disbelief at this chassis smirking at me on the bench I concluded that I had gone as far as possible and all the components on the chassis were tested ok and connected correctly. In desperation I then swapped the output transformer primary connections and was filled with deep emotion as the set almost blew me off the chair with output. What a total idiot I felt. Whilst installing the three new output transformer leads; I had soldered the ends below chassis and as the leads were all the same colour used the multimeter to check each for continuity before connecting to the output transformer, regarding this repair the most important word that will forever live with me is “feedback”. I was so certain that the output side of the set was correct that I didn’t consider it to be at fault, after all the set was running on low volume so I wrongly assumed everything was connected ok. I can now use Martin’s excellent advice and have a go at alignment for the first time, it’s aligned by ear as I write and is a good performer. It was worth it in the end.
Suppliers and websites used as follows.

[attachment=268]
Worth the effort.

Eyelets; http://www.dtpsupplies.com
Rivets; http://www.sapphireproducts.co.uk
BA screws and nuts; Tele; 01484 518798. (Danlett; Huddersfield).
Websites;
http://www.philcoradio.com
http://www.philcorepairbench.com
http://nostalgiaair.org


These basket cases are so rewarding to restore; they are full of problems and drive me mad at times; I prefer cabinetwork to chassis work and I’m learning all the time; this is such a wonderful hobby and costs very little money wise considering the personal enjoyment and interest they afford me. This Philco is a welcome addition to my growing collection.

Kind regards, Col.

[tiv48]

that is fantastic would not of belived it possible im in awe

[Shaman]

What a brilliant and well written account, of a high quality restoration Col, brilliant reading, enjoy your hard works results....Alan.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Rob and Alan for the kind comments; it was a difficult restoration but highly enjoyable; the set is now in our front room and lovely to look at and switch on occasionally.

Kind regards, Col.

[Yorkie]

I've seen the restored set at close quarters - it looks even more remakable - the French polish is perfection!

Although I've got several bakelite sets including an Ekco A22 - in my vew, the best of the round Ekcos, I'm very much a fan of woodies. Some of the late 1930s woodies are a delight to behold, but in their unrestored state put off many restorers who - unlke colin - haven't risen to the challenge of tackling a woody set, other than stripping one and giving it a couple of coats of Danish oil, irrevocably changing its appearance. Hopefully, Colin's comprehensive 'tutorials' on French polishing will encourage us all to follow that route, myself included, with a sad looking 'Barker 88'.

David

[Retired]

Hi,

David you really are so kind; thank you.

The hardest part of any cabinet restoration is making the start. Looking at a really rough basket case can put anyone off attempting its restoration but these sets are actually the best to practice and gain experience on as there is little to lose but a great deal to gain. I find lots of patience wins through in the end and have reached the point many times during a restoration where I could give up and jump up and down on a cabinet due to sheer frustration but every time I reach this stage suddenly things come right as if by magic.

The first "woody" I ever restored was sitting in a puddle of water waiting for a skip to arrive; I obtained this free of charge and brought it home to see if I could do anything with it; I dried it out and although there was some de-lamination and a number of frame joints had parted was surprised at how easy it was to put these faults in order with a drop of glue and a bit of applied pressure. Next I used a cabinet scraper to remove the original finish then attempted my first French polishing job. The restoration did take a lot of time but I found it most enjoyable just tinkering around and after each session working on it could see positive progress; I was absolutely over the moon when I finally completed the restoration and could stand back to have a good look at it; during such a restoration focus is on the job at hand and I don't notice the full picture until the restoration is completed; please believe me when I say what a wonderful feeling sweeps through me and fills me with joy to be able to look at a restored set that I have done on my own and the question I always ask myself is "how did I do that". The picture is my first ever restoration.

Tools and materials cost very little in fact I don't think I spend more than £10 per week on this hobby which is little money for the joy I get out of it and I have something to show for it. The more difficult the restoration is the higher becomes the frustration but the satisfaction at the end knowing I've done my best is immense.

There is no gain without pain and this is so true whilst attempting the first cabinet restoration as so many problems arise and many new skills and techniques need to be learnt; this not only covers the physical part of the restoration but involves many materials all having their own characteristics from plywood that curls up to a multitude of stains and finishes all just waiting to trip me up.

The trick if there is one is to ignore the bigger picture and break the restoration down into as many small parts as required; trying to do the restoration all at once in one go is sure to end up in failure. I find that if I can visualize what I'm trying to achieve I slowly work towards this; I'm not scared of failure because so far I've never failed and have now reached the happy position that I can not only restore a cabinet to near original but go much further and change the entire look of a cabinet to suit how want it to look and what pleases me; I like to experiment but I must always have the picture in my head of the finished cabinet before I start.

I've just completed my most difficult restoration to date it being a TV cabinet that was a basket case in dire need of much TLC; from the factory this cabinet must have looked like a bit of utility furniture having a dark brown treacle finish applied. As the set cost me very little and given it's condition I wanted to experiment with some of my new found skills and techniques and my dream was to completely restore this cabinet but to add very fancy veneering; if I failed nothing would be lost but I would still add more to my experience; I didn't fail though and the transformation of this cabinet is complete; it now has fancy veneers in the form of inlaid panels and cross banding together with home made stringing and has been given a full French polish; it is still work in progress but the cabinet is completed and I'm about to start work on the chassis.

This restoration has taken four months so far but I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

I would never ever criticize what the owner wishes to do with their own sets regarding work carried out; when I see restorations involving using Danish Oil as a finish I merely pass them by thinking at least the owner has had a go at restoration.

I never want to be an expert on cabinetwork as I love to learn all the time and if I could restore a cabinet without having to think about it or the cabinet driving me to tears of frustration I would quickly become bored. Every cabinet I've restored has been different and every restoration has given me a lot of pleasure.

Good luck with yours David and I'll be more than happy to watch your progress.

Kind regards, Col.