Philco 90 Coil 7 Repair

[gbowne1]

you should show us how you do coil winding! Pretty much a lost art.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks gbowne1

[toltec13]

How did you know how many turns in rewinding the coil?

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

@toltec13

Count the turns of the original bad coil.

[toltec13]

@AllAmericanFiveRadio What kind if wire do you use to rebuild the coil? What size or gauge? Do you rewind them by hand? My Zenith toaster radio has a bad resistor on the inside if the coil. In removing the coil from the radio and replacing the resistor, I accidently snapped off a wire from a lug. I tried just about everything to resolder the fine wire but no luck. Two things I noticed: Wax on the coil and fine thin insulation on the wire. What advice can you give me?

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

@toltec13

I don't remember what the gauge or turns were. I try to match the wire and the number of turns per coil.

I clean the ends of the wire using a fingernail file. But I would check the continuate first. I Googled "antique radio coil repair" a few place advertise coil repair. I would email RadiolaGuy.

[ZmajSnoshaj]

I wonder if this method would work on my Westinghouse WR-5 Radiola 80's tuner coil....

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

It depends on if it is a tuned circuit or not. If it is tuned then you must reproduce the coil as exactly as possible. If it is not tuned then something reasonable close will work.

[radioripster]

I have an orginal finish Philco 46-1209 that I got about 15 years ago. It's been gone through and is a very good performing radio. It will be well worth the effort to get your's going. Incredible bass from these radios. The phonograph probably just needs to be cleaned of the old lubricant and re-lubed. Does your 1209 still have it's back? I love my 1209 and it would probably take a really nice Zenith for it to lose it's place in the living room. But it wouldn't leave the house! Enjoy..

[umajunkcollector]

I just got a Philco 46-1209 today. The cabinet is nice. Changer is slow, but it works too. It has a slight hum, but there is audio and radio. John, folks like you on YT sparked interest in old time radios for me, I now have a few that need some TLC. I've been an inactive ham for years. But I like to tinker, and miss that aspect of the hobby most. I also have a 37-630 and Grundig to work on. I also need to work on making better vids, to put more effort into them. Thanks for your inspiration!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Hey Don,

Hope you have good luck this new acquisition, the Philco 46-1206. Just looked it up, 8 tubes 6V6 PP output, neat, should sound great. That will be a terrific when you complete working on it. The Grundig sound interesting also. I don't see many console radios anymore at antique stores or at the flea market. I use to see them all the time, but no more. Good luck and thanks.

Rick

[sunshinedaydream77]

how did you know how many turns to put on it? it seems like it would be nearly impossible to count them, as the wire is so small...

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

The primary is not a tuned circuit so the rewinding is not super critical. I wound the coil to fill the space using the closest gauge wire to the original I had.

[joernone]

Rick,

Great vid. Can't wait for the next one.

Question: Did you leave the tape on the coil or remove it before reinstalling?

Regards,

John

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Hey John,

Thanks. I did leave the tape on. It is the newer Scotch tape that does not discolor.

Rick

[ess1898]

great work. You is one of my favorite subscriptions. I love to see new life being breathed into old equipment.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks. I am counting capacitors now.

[Froggy19510]

Weird stuff happens when I come to this site...I learn something new. Thanks for the post.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

LOL thanks. The weird stuff is politics.

[kmi187]

Did you see radioam232's video where he made a coil from a toilet paper roll? In it he fixed the wires by covering them with glue. It made me wonder, would this work for a coil like this one as well?

Great repair job. Learned a few cool things from this video, your bag of tricks seems to have no bottom.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Yes I did, toilet roll centers work very well for AM coils forms. It would be possible to use them in some radios. Thanks.

[denshisan]

I can be snapped with an old coil

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

This one is not to bad to repair.

[Barnekkid]

Now that's what I call a repair.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks.

[Maxxarcade]

Excellent repair info! I'll remember that aluminum foil trick next time I solder in tight places. Never thought of doing that before.

Do you use a machine to wind the coils? It looks very straight and uniform for a hand wind.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I this case I could have unsolder the wire at one end, but sometimes that is not so easy, aluminum foil works good. It even makes noise, a good reminder. Yes I did the coil by hand. Thanks.

[jenko701]

Dont forget the caps inside the bakalite blocks. I have done a couple of the model 60s ,they have a lot of caps in the bakalite blocks .I have the book to look up the numbers on the sides of the blocks if you need them .

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks, I may need it.

[coolbluelights]

Back when I was working on my 89 I didn't have a good camera that focused in, so I had to make detailed drawings of every part as I removed it. what do you use to rewind the coil? if you do it by hand I admire your patience! also I see some bakelite capacitors in there... those are fun to do :P

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

The coil is by hand. I don't plan on refilling the bakelite, I think I'm just by pass them if I can. Maybe?

[ControlledExplosions]

Well what I did was use a heat gun and a straightened out paper clip and that melts the tar a little so you can push the "Guts" out. then I got new caps and fit them inside. some of the Bakelite caps have resistors built in so if you go on the Philco repair website (Forgot the exact name) you can look up the numbers. if you have trouble finding that website, message me and i'kll try and find it for you :)

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I plan on looking at all the caps, or most of them, today. No matter how you replace them it is a pain. I'll look for the site. Thanks.

[subtler1]

how did you know the amount of turns to put on the coil? did you count them as you took off the old wire? this one of the things I really want to try. I gave up on a lot of radios that had bad coils because I was too intimidated to repair them.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Looking at the circuit, the primary is not tuned. I did not count the turns this time and the gauge of wire I used was a little larger. Because the primary is not tuned the coil is not super critical. But it is still best to replace with the coil with the right gauge wire and the same number of turns and in the same direction. I did wind the new coil in the same direction.

[subtler1]

cool, did you remove the wires from the coil before you tested them to see it was open? and if you know the width of the coil and how many layers of windings, will that get you a close enough approximation to how many windings a coil has? I hope that last question made sense.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I tested all the coils first and found this one open. I did remove the old wire then wound on the new wire filling in the area. It is just a single layer. And again this will work because the primary side is not tuned.