Hi All

Its been awhile since I did a full restore and have found a radio that needs some special care and attention.

My plan (Note it is a PLAN) is to do a full restore of this radio from the cabinet down to all Chassis items.

This radio is nothing special at all. In fact it showed up at a few Canberra HRSA auctions a couple of years back. It got passed in a few of them but I felt sorry for it and brought it because it had 4 original knobs in good condition. These proved to be the only parts in good condition and for the price of $5.00 you cant argue!

Why am I doing this? I don't know but I like taking on a challenge. I will keep all updates onto this site so anyone who wants can follow my progress and put in their 2c worth.

Here are the starting photos...

Diagrams and updated Photos on page 2!

10/5/15 Finished radio is shown on Page 2!

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Valve radios, They just don't make them like they used to

Update

I have started testing and have found all coils and transformers have the correct or near enough to the values listed in the AORSM files for this set.

So looking up so far, If one of the Transformers or IFs were open then I would have to think again about the restore!

Dan

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Valve radios, They just don't make them like they used to

Virtually the same cabinet as my Philips 132L. Likely the same circuit. 6" speaker.

Watch the power transformer, there is a whole series of them where the windings exit at the sides. This is easily sorted, with the right blunt, non metallic devices. Mine had done this.

Not a difficult overhaul electrically. Monkey had been in mine & stuffed the speaker & could not work out the phasing of the feedback from the secondary of the audio transformer. You will now if its wrong, they oscillate.

I have the Philips data on mine & that includes the restring you will need to do.

Marc

Hi Marc

Thanks for the tip with the transformer. Mine looks good and tests well it just has a bit of surface rust that I intend to clean up.

You cant tell from the photos but the dial string is actually in one piece and works. I will re string it to fix up the mounting of the gang as it is very sloppy.

I am still undecided on what to do with the chassis to get rid of the rust.

Dan

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Valve radios, They just don't make them like they used to

Just on the subject of these two radios, a year or two ago Silicon Chip ran several articles on Australian and Dutch versions of a few Philips radios - basically, same cabinet but vastly different innards.

Does anyone know if the Mullard badge ever appeared on any overseas-made Philips radios or did Mullard make their own radios in other markets?

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

John, who was the one with those radio's, and could have told us, passed away in Oct last year. I did send a eulogy to HRSA.

Rust: The hardest option may be the best & least palatable: That would be to strip the chassis. Then it is a choice of your poison. E.g Phosphoric Acid; Potassium Permanganate; Cane sugar Molasses.

Marc

Dan,
I have the Philips version stripped and on the bench. I do not intend to restore it. If you get stuck for any bits let me know. Cabinet is Ok, power transformer Ok, and it was working when I pulled it down.

Baz

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Baz

VK6MU

Hi

I have always wondered why Philips made both radios and sold them under the 3 different brand names in aust (Philips, Mullard, Fleetwood)

Was it a case of Mullard was for last years model?

As for the rust I will see what is at the local hardware tomorrow. My plan is to remove IF Cans, Gang, Caps and any other supports.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Valve radios, They just don't make them like they used to

It's something I can't work out either.

Mullard was an independent company when it was launched but in 1923 they entered a partnership with Philips to make valves. Philips bought Mullard out in 1927, yet whilst Philips made radios here from fairly early in the peace, Mullard-badged radios were made by EMMCO and were essentially badge-engineered Airzones. At the same time, Philips was making Mullard-badged valves both here and in England.

The Mullard name didn't appear on any of Philips' Australian radios until after World War II that I know of. I think it was the same old story with badge-engineering overall, Philips would have been a premium brand and Mullard more likely a budget one, given that some of their sets looked a little less detailed than their Philips equivalents. One exception is the 1950s Philips 100 and Mullard Meteor - in this case the Mullard version is more highly sought by collectors.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I would be encouraging you to fully restore this no matter the cost. Because the difficulty represents a challenge and the end goal would be something to be proud of. You have the basics and the cost can be born over time . I am doing the same with my Reliance Skyraider which was given to me at the January ACT HRSA club meeting auction. I could see its potential and I have a tech that used to work for Reliance as their service technician. I can see the whole thing costing me over a grand to do but over 12 Months its worth it and it will be pride of place in my family room. I need to recreate a dial glass for it and get the cabinet french polished.

I would be encouraging you to fully restore this no matter the cost.

I agree with this - if the cabinet is fine then it should be pretty much a goer to restore, especially a common model like this one.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Despite the look of it, with all of the electrolytics replaced and the bad wire sorted, it would probably run. I doubt it to be a problem set and some of us appear to know the set: That helps.

Mine as I have said was hacked. The speaker had a hole drilled in it from changing the OP transformer and that stuffed the cone. 6" speakers are not easy to find but I scored a NOS one that goes in the door of some early Mitsubishi Magna's.

Easiest way to initially test the OP transformer & speaker, is to crack a 9V battery across the primary. I loved the power cable. I have some of that in the bin. The US Army Freq Gen on the bench came with some of that and I had set where caps just started to fail on B+ also with some of it, a while back. Don't know how the guy lived unplugging it.

Love it when they're still in service working, albeit badly, no need to test valves etc. just change & fix the bad bits & recalibrate it. Nice easy, stress free, wet day project.

Marc

Hi All

The cabinet is cracked but intend to try and glue it together again.

Baz Might take you up on parts of the cabinet if you are scrapping it. The dial glass had been cleaned? by someone before me and now some of the stations have been cleaned off. I will let you know if I do go that way.

The speaker and OP are intact and meter well. there is a hole in the cone of the speaker from something like a pencil or screwdriver. I will use the rubber glue on it as I have done before and had great success.

I dont expect the restore to cost too much. It is not a big task when you break it down to smaller tasks.

Dan
VK5DF

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Valve radios, They just don't make them like they used to

Non woven substance like coffee filter & Micropore medical tape, makes a good reinforcement that can be coated with a bit of Acrylic adhesive: It remains flexible.

Marc

All the best with it Flakes! It will be so great to see the end product.

Not sure if you will go down the path of spray painting the chassis but I've had a lot of success spraying Hammertone paint over what were rusty or heavily scratched chassis. Gives it a lovely finish and hides imperfections on the metal. I've also used it on power transformers also as there are paints available which will withstand heat.

Good luck!