Philco 39-30

 


Home Up Antenna Rotating Antenna Philco 20 Model 45 90 37-61 Philco 39-30 40-150 40-150 #2 40-150 #3 40-180 40-190 41-221 41-290 42-350 46-421 48-1256 Service Bulletins

 

 

 

The Philco 39-30 looks similar to the 40-150 table top.  The complete schematic is found here at Nostalgia Air.   This is snippet from the web site: 

Lets see:

Six tubes, Push button broadcast band tuning, and a broad short wave band. 

Nice veneer pattern. Replication speaker grill, knobs and push buttons readily available.

I am looking forward to restoring this unit in the spring.

 

 

IM000095.JPG (197017 bytes) This 39-30 (pre August 1939) looks similar to the 40-150 with an art decoish grill. IM000097.JPG (203410 bytes) Not too bad on this side.  IM000099.JPG (201590 bytes) Ouch.  A bit of moisture damage.  The side piece of veneer will be replace and color matched.  The frame glued and clamped. 
IM000100.JPG (217519 bytes)A wire brush on the drill and a Dremel tool will make short work of the rust.  Add a nice coat of clear lacquer spray to protect the shine. IM000101.JPG (201829 bytes)  The under chassis will be inspected and evaluated soon.  IM000102.JPG (206127 bytes)  A new set of knobs, buttons, new grill cloth and dial plastic will make this a thing of beauty. 

 

Push Buttons  .

I should have mentioned this sooner. If you contact Larry at (click pic for www.antiqueradioknobs.com/partlistings.html) you can order a set of new, long buttons for this radio.  Click on the picture for his web site.  I have a set and they look great!

These push buttons are not like the 40-xxx series of chassis.   They are longer and the switch shafts are shorter.  These buttons slip over the push button rectangular rods but are too recessed to be used.  I wonder if the push button switches have been changed out or there was some additional hardware to make up the distance between the push buttons and the switch rods. A note on the news group and radio forums should yield some information.  

 

IM000129.JPG (36889 bytes) This is a little over an inch.  IM000130.JPG (33386 bytes) I bet this was originally a full half inch.  This plastic shrinks over time. IM000122.JPG (7474 bytes)This looks and acts like a retainer clip so the button does not fall into the chassis.  IM000123.JPG (6943 bytes)
IM000124.JPG (7412 bytes)  Original

 

Click on this picture to get to Larry's web site and order some of these longer buttons. 

Series 40-xxx replicas have the switch shaft extend past the bezel and into the button. 

 IM000125.JPG (10983 bytes)

IM000126.JPG (6161 bytes)  Bottom view.  See the center slot where the switch rod/shaft slips into. 

 IM000131.JPG (92598 bytes)  This is how the buttons where installed in the bezel. There is a metal box frame that holds the buttons in place. 

 

The chassis...

.... has potential.  I have restored worse.  All the chokes, coils and transformers ohm out good.  The power transformer produces the expected voltages when 10 volts AC is applied to the primary.  The speaker voice coil is good but the field coil reads in the meg ohms.  It is burned open.  The rectifier tube 84 has a burned socket between the two high voltage AC pins.  That socket will need replaced.  And all the wire has brittle insulation and will need replaced or covered with spaghetti (power transformer) or heat shrink.  

IM000118.JPG (34645 bytes) What is this bit of fiber glass insulation doing here? IM000119.JPG (37393 bytes)  Burned socket.  Indicative of long term arching.  Not a problem. I have replacement sockets.   All the wires on this socket need replacing anyhow.   IM000121.JPG (300829 bytes) Rather clean underside.  Some one has bridged new capacitors across the dried out can caps.  A common practice.  But not in my shop!
IM000120.JPG (161130 bytes) A power wire brush will make short work of this rust.  IM000117.JPG (202371 bytes)Evidence of squatters.  

 

This is a 39-25 cabinet.  Similar styling but a different speaker grill.  This cabinet structurally strong and is in better shape regarding the veneer.  It will receive a total stripping, chip repairs and re-finishing.  As always, I would prefer to keep the original finish but this one has many chipped off sections of lacquer.

IM000169.JPG (1018382 bytes) The bottom front has a shaped piece of trim.  The 39-30 has inlayed veneer.

Easy to reproduce dial scale cover. 

 IM000170.JPG (1017906 bytes) Water stain. IM000171.JPG (971833 bytes)The missing veneer chip should be easy to fix.

I will look forward to fixing this cabinet.  

This radio is going to take some TLC.  But this is the type of challenge that keeps coming back to this hobby.  More on this radio later this year. 

 

 Contact me including your thoughts and comments. 

Please see the LINKS page.  I have collected many resources over the years.

135,912 unique web site visitors (14,499,000 hits) from October 2004 through August 2011.

Copyright © 2004 - 2012. All rights reserved.