As a kid in the 1980s, I had a couple of early 1960s Philco 19" portables, "briefcase" style TV sets, with the tuner mounted over the 19DUP4 CRT, 17JZ8 vertical, etc. 1K3 HV tube, which I have never seen anywhere else. Series filaments. Same thing, wire-wrapped connections to the potentiometers and other interconnects, crappy tube sockets, serious pain in the butt to get the circuit boards out, and bumblebee capacitors everywhere. With both of them, I could use the vertical hold control to get the vertical oscillator down to what I guess was about 10Hz or so - the vertical output transformer was rattling not buzzing. One of them had the "Instant On" diode to keep the filaments lit - and an accompanying "Vacation Mode" switch, a few other syling cues led me to believe it was the newer set of the two. Neither set survived into the 1990s - a kid with a soldering iron is a dangerous thing. I do wish I still had them, as poorly built as they were.
"For a restore job, they've used the most original components I think I've ever seen". That was PRICELESS!! I was JUST thinking the same thing..."Damn, thats like...all original" then you said exactly what I was saying to myself. That was a good one, thanks! By the way, I RESTORE, not customize, classic and antique automobiles....and you are exactly right...stare at stuff!! Get to know it.
As ever, your ability to analyse the seemingly hopeless, bring knowledge to problem solving and apply some modest elbow grease, have created an inspiring video of the Art of the Possible. Thank you for sharing and encouraging others by leading by example.
This was fascinating to watch. This Predicta Shango066, he reveals no restoration was done, so buyer beware, the seller exaggerated the fact that this was not restored.
its nice to see someone still fixing CRTs, i had a job in about 2005 making new LG philips tubes at one of the last factories that ever made them. my job was onthe line putting the phosphor onto the inside of the screens (flowcoat) and setting the pixels using the shadowmask and a lightbox
In a way of sorts, this particular line of TV set did predict the current form factor of TVs: a screen, surrounded by a minimum of bulk, furniture, cabinetry, whatever, sitting on feet or a mono-pedastal. It could not have predicted screens flatter that one inch, or the miniaturization of vital electronics behind the screen as with current flat screen TVS, but, it did nail the basic form factor of 21st century sets.
Muy acertada percepción de su parte señor. Se ve a las clara que es usted un conocedor sensible al tema. La moda es transgresora en todos los espacios y la ciencia no escapa a ella.
I sold a Sony 29" XBR TV (weird size) in the 90s. It was on a pedestal that you could turn by the remote. It was around $1700. I sold a couple. It looked cool, like this Philco, that's why I remember it out of the blue!
I love seeing these vintage televisions....I actually remember seeing many of these models in Salvation Army as a kid during the 60's as people started upgrading to color sets, and owned a few as we could never afford newer sets..
The best Philco product I've ever seen was an early-1950s hi-fidelity console record player which is owned by a friend of mine. I powered it up a couple of years ago and it almost works; it plays but it will barely amplify...I didn't even expect anything to come out of the speaker, but it did. Maybe one of these days I'll restore it and use it to play some old jazz records.
"Fully restored".. I always stay away from "restored" and even "working" stuff. Usually that means overpriced and botched up. Really nice job again, thanks for your videos.
Francisco Suarez C. I usually do as well, unless I know who did the work. In my area of the world there is an old German guy that likes to buy up old radios and Philco Predictas for resale, almost always for bottom dollar. He is an absolute hack, he cuts and pigtails in capacitors that looks like they came out of a junk drawer. For years he has been trying to pedal his stuff on craigslist for outrageous prices as a pseudo antique dealer, I really pitty whoever buys his wares.
Watching your videos and the effort involved in repairing tube sets, I realize that we simply can't afford to own technology such as this considering the scarcity of highly trained technicians such as yourself.
I never liked Philco sets. When I was in the business we called them pill-co. Good point about studying it before tackling the repair. I'm glad you mention about the flyback being possibly still functional. My flyback in my Zenith Giant Circle set looks bad. Your knowledge on these old sets is impressive.The one capacitor that is end mounted might have the PC trace going to a resistor where you could tack the other end to. Getting it cut off the board? I don't know. Thanks for the great video. Gary
Those capacitors were pretty cutting-edge for the day. I wouldn't call them cheap. The plastic housings were supposed to solve everything, but it has been found that the paper soaked in oil breaks down and becomes leaky all on its own. Power transformers of the substation kind are changed out at 50 years because the paper insulation inside breaks down, and failure escalates at that point, and there's nothing that can be done to prevent it
Years ago I worked for a Mom 'n' Pop TV shop...the owner collected vintage TVs and radios and stuff..we did lots of customer Predictas back in those days...mid '80's...and lots of times those fly-back's wax coating was all cracked and falling apart like that..coils still good though..we'd just strip off the rest of the residue and re-coat them with silicon goop.
Good video, helps a lot in preparation for restoration of mine. Funny, how a restored set ends up better than when they were new. I'm already planning on all new Caps, Resistors, Couplates, Tubes & Sockets. Such an aesthetically nice design with such subpar components & poorly constructed.
Sure, the Predicta is a few years older than the Zenith you worked on but it's amazing to see the difference in quality between the two, especially with those cheap paper caps compared to Zenith's ceramics. In all, it seems like the Philco can't even withstand someone sneezing on it without it crapping out.
One of your best vids to date.....great job. A few random thoughts here. First of all, I can't believe the audacity of the seller who claimed the set was restored.....wow, really? Secondly, I'm amazed that the 21" picture tube was still good. They were notorious for burning out early, due to poor design....many of them never made it past a year, and Philco replaced quite a few under warranty. I'm thinking definitely a low use set. Those tube sockets were crap, but since you'll have the board out anyways, I'd also check for cold solder joints---another problem with those sets. I've read multiple accounts of people servicing them, only to find a loose connection that was never soldered from the factory.
Its amazing what they can do these days with all these "New Old Stock" parts. I looked for NOS Dust on Ebay and nobody is selling it so you should keep hold of that rare find as its sure to tripple in value any day now.
It's unfortunate to see Shango hamfistedly disturbing very rare, hard to replace OEM dust. I hope this doesn't end up with some new, functional parts botched in. The period correct, failed components are hard to get, you can see the restorer really knew what he was doing.
Philco TVs were the worst nightmare for me when I was in the TV repair business over 50 years ago, I can feel your frustration accessing parts specially the picture tube or CRT, I don't know what was in the minds of engineers and designers at the time to create this thing, I'm familiar with countless B&W and color tube type TVs, American like RCA, Zenith, Magnavox and many other European made from UK, Germany. Holland, French, Even eastern Germany and Russian or USSR. believe me this Philco was the worst designed I ever saw and tried to fix.
$30/hr doesn't equate to much but near-poverty on the West Coast these days. It's like that in my birth/home state of WA (the greater Seattle-Tacoma/Pugetopolis region, in particular). The new-era Tech-Bronies and incompetent Socialist regimes alike have seen to that.
Love this set. Tried to buy a table top model for $50. almost worked but cabinet parts were missing. It was promised to some one and I don't think they bought it. I'm trying to restore 2 old RCA"s right now. KCS 45 and 56. need knobs for the 56. Changed the tube in the 45. Had an ion trap. wish I would have kept it for musium value. anyway. So goes the hobbies of an old TV tech. Todays tv's ain't worth fixing. and you almost can't troubleshoot them to component level. and if you do you can't get the parts. I had to retire after Katrina because I got really sick from going into moldy houses. so the industry lasted as long as I needed it. Sad to see it go.
bandersentv So goes the story about Predicta's eating flybacks, which was something that early Zenith TVs were notorious for, particularly the kind with dual horizontal output tubes. The one constant point of failure seems to be the 2.35 volt 110 degree, short neck picture tubes, but problems with early 110 degree crts are not unique to Philco, but I think that everyone had the bugs worked out of those by about 1962 or so.
OlegKostoglatov "needs a new flyback, very expensive, prob better to get a new set" I suspect was the origin of all the bad flyback statements so often made. I would bet that if a set did not work, and was old, and the tech did not want to work on it for what ever reason (may be valid) it was simply easier to say needs a new flyback, better still if it looked cracked or had wax dripping, just point to it and the customer is all in for a new set. Now on a RCA CTC 12 I got of craigslist I could honestly say it needed a new flyback, when I opened the cage, it was not there....
Dave WM No, the flyback eating story does not seem to go back as far as when the Predictas were originally sold and in regular service, it seems to have come about since they became "collectables". I've known a few retired servicemen who worked in that era and they never mentioned anything about these sets having bad flybacks, though overheating issues and short lived picture tubes were a well known problem that even Philco knew about a few years later. I think that because of the unique styling the Predicta sets tended to attract many people who were not really technicians, perhaps they would dabble a bit and try swapping tubes but would never go about pulling the P.C board and recapping it. If a set would not produce a raster, or had a dim picture they would conclude that the flyback was bad because someone told them, rather then it being bad caps and drifted resistors in the horizontal oscillator section. So as a result the stock of NOS Predicta flybacks dried up in short order, even if their set did not need one, hey, pick one up as a spare, just in case.
OlegKostoglatov I had friend give me a tv, not that old (2006) was told by a local repair shop "bad flyback" not sure what the repair est was but he declined. The symptom was it would just blink a light and not turn on. He did say that it would sometimes come on if he jiggled the plug, and once on it was fine (I presume this was told to the shop he took it to). Anyway once on it was fine, he left in on for 3 months straight since getting it back on was such a problem. I assumed it was a heat related deal, prob a failing cap electro cap. Not have a schematic I just used a hair dryer and heated various caps on the board until it finally found a section that when heated would allow the set to start. replaced the caps in that area (found a 2uf that was bad) and that was it. Told him later to find a different shop.
Noticed you mention "in for repair" occasionally. Can you be reached for info on repairs? Love your videos (and attitude) and am so glad your back on youTube!
Your right about staring and observing any new restore or repair including studying the schematics for hours sometimes when trying to figure out a workaround for parts you can't buy anymore.
Soy cubano de Cuba y pese a las dificultades y carencias de toda índole en mi querido país, tuve la dicha de darle una exquisita restauración y reparación a tres bellos ejemplare de TV cual de los tres, más deteriorados. En los mismos tuve que fabricar componentes dado la imposibilidad de comprar o importarlos y en el mejor de los caso hube de reemplazarlos por otros extraídos de equipos electrónicos modernos ya inservibles. Poseo el test tube EICO model 625, un signal frecuency Simson y un multimeter Fluke.
I had a rare electronic device shipped to me that was sold as "working"... and it didn't. Due to the rarity, I agreed with the seller to split the repair.
I always liked the "Jetsons" look of this set and wanted one to watch, but know from experience about Philco quality. Why not gut the chassis and replace it with a Zenith? Then it would work forever.
I personally don't understand why anyone would pay money for these types of things, other than for props. I have my 42" smart tv, I can't see going back to CRT or black and white, but I love the videos.
What a miracle that thing even works,and the previous owner said it worked before sending it?Yeah right!!! Nobody's touched that thing in 49 years.Can't wait to see it fixed
Great to see this set has potential and the primary innards are healthy. Hate the buyer ran across this seller. Hope the restoration moves forward. Best, Don
That's righteous bucks for something that was clearly never restored. Hate to say this, but the guy who bought that set got took. I hope he was able to get at least some of his money back. I certainly would have disputed the transaction.
50:42 In retrospect, I believe there's reasonable chance it "Worked" in the seller's possession. The problem you fought to get a display was a broken tube socket and a dead damper. It is very possible that during shipping, the tube socket broke, and that the buyer operating the set trying to make it work himself is what burned up the damper with the oscillator not running. That said - It was DEFINITELY not restored, and even when it was with the seller it was DEFINITELY not working correctly. At least he could have had a raster, though.
This is an interesting vid on this one! I hope you can continue on in series. Yes I know it's a horrible set! Lol lol you can just tell by looking at its insides. But it would be fun to see it resurrected.
Do you have any need for old picture tubes, or old test equipment? My grandfather was a TV repair man in the 40's thru 70s and I have a lot of his stuff left over..
Hey, you think it was easy finding all those original parts to restore that TV? The careful dusting to make it look like it had not been touched was priceless. You should have plugged it in before you made any judgements.
Something important i've discovered recently is that the voltage range required by TVs radios and phonographs from early on, is that it is about 10 to 30 volts lower than what you will find in your home outlet. I ended up almost burning up my RCA 245 amplifier unit by leaving it on 129vac (home power at my home) and melting some of the potting material out of the casing. I think that a 250 watt variac (variable transformer) should work to adjust the voltage down to the recommended 110vac, and once put in a shielding metal container (to stop interference with the am radio) i can mount it inside the cabinet and create a wiring harness for it. the other thing i would consider doing is putting 40-50 Celsius thermal regulators on the parts that get hottest and are susceptible to melt/burn/overheating.
Regarding bad tube sockets, we used to try two tricks: 1. Spray Radio Shack Color TV cleaner into the socket. 2. Insert the tube 1/8th of an inch into the socket and gingerly twist the tube about 6 degrees. This would put a slight lean onto the tube pins and then they had a better chance of pushing against the sides of the tube socket. Surely you know these tricks?
Hi there. I've run across a whole bunch of old, tube-powered radios, amps, tape decks, etc that still work great without being restored in any major way, but I've rarely seen a tube television that would even turn on, much less work perfectly. Is there something intrinsic to old tube TVs (I'm talking about valves, not the CRT) that makes them fail more frequently than other vintage electronics, or do I just have a lousy record going so far?
I have a philco h3410 that'd I'd like to get running for display. It powers up and the tubes glow but not picture of any kind to the screen. How much would you charge to go through it, clean it up, and replace old parts?
What a shame the money the owner got ripped for would help in a true restore. Publish the sellers name so a spotlight can illuminate the crook. Good work on the diagnosis Shango. Thanks Carl
I have one . It looks just like this one. Mine was made October 1958 or so I was told. It stopped working 19 years ago. What has concerned is the plastic case for the tube is cracking with age. Any suggestions.
What the reference book he’s looking at? Does it show all of the picture tubes in production at that time, along with the correct testing adapter to use?
It is possible to make tube pin extensions, that go right through the socket and get soldered on the other side. this way it can be done in place without changing the sockets. .
This is a case study in why some type of "ethics in electronics restoration" pact/association needs to be put in place. Nice job of breathing a little life back into this classic, by the way. I agree with those who think that the seller "should have a new one torn for him", legally, that is. At least this Predicta wound up in good hands, and did not become a victim to the "expert restorative efforts" of someone the likes of "Rick's Restoration". Remember, tubes cost between $30.00 and $300.00 each. (thankfully, that show is on "extended hiatus")
These "pedestal" TVs are nice until you realize - for them to work - you need converter boxes (either cable, satellite, digital over-air) stacked along side. Or, am I missing something?
ijust enjoy your videos very mutch! as for the perdicta set how did the original seller trasport the set too the 100 dollar fool! just too finnish I built a allied trasmitter when in jr high school. and keep up the videos SAM Ha Ha
Regarding Philco 'quality'. I had a Philco Century 100 radio which was not the most attractive set ever - but - it sounded absolutely awesome on a good FM programme. Not sure the size of the drive unit? Maybe 4 or 5 inch? and a single EL84(?) (my memory), holy shit it was amazing. Nobody believed the room filling, big live sound came from that little Philco. Only thing I had to do to get it going was tap the output tube with my finger, never bothered changing the socket. I may get a pair of them...
I picked up a vintage Grundig radio. Majestic model, it's worked well for me, but the front display only works when it wants to, or when I press a certain button for a different station. The light still goes out after that though. Does anyone know what I can do? I don't want to break anything, and I don't know how to access the bulb without causing damage.
I just bought one of these that works but everyone says I need to put new capacitors in it so it doesn’t damage itself somehow. What will happen if I use it without replacing the capacitors?
The first thing to do before delving too deep into the tv is to first check the power supply to see if all the voltages are in spec. That saves a lot of bother.
