Let's give Philco some credit - they were way ahead of their time. They were an American made product, yet they really had that Chinese quality of manufacture down pretty good!
Almost as good as a German post-war radio. 6 separate pieces between the power button on the front panel and the power switch on the chassis - I guess they had to keep the mechanical engineers and the workers in the stamping plants employed. If this Philco were more a pain in the ass to work on, it would be a Nordmende or a Grundig!
Thanks Shango for the Predicta vid. I'm glad the owner is letting you go on with the repair. I'm a big fan of those Predicta's. I watched all of bandersontv's Predicta vid's.
I think that Antique Electronic Supply carries some seven and nine pin sockets that will fit as well, some are similar to the originals but have better made pins. If you can't find North American made surplus sockets you could probably use Soviet/Russian made ones, if you want to avoid the China crap, though like the ones you ordered you have to get them through a fleabay seller.
Jeez bandersentv! You are the predicta master! Maybe we can get the two of you together, meet in Kansas, to do some joint videos? Ok, right. No. Y'all have great vids. Been subbed for years! Steven
After viewing this video, and most of Bob's "Predicta adventures", it's become quite apparent why Philco took that nosedive in 1960/61. I often wonder what percentage of these were the "Holiday Inn" models?
senorverde09 Amen to that. I had a lot of vintage Romanian and Russian made stuff were the traces and the pcb looked quite good quality but on the moment you touch the traces, it's gone. That's why a solder extractor gun is worth the money. I hope that I will get one someday. Cheers :)
senorverde09 ciprianwiner Should you intend to do a great deal of PCB work in the future, seriously think about acquiring a used MetCal rework station, including a very well designed MetCal desoldering gun. They're the best soldering/desoldering and rework systems available, and used by many high-end manufacturers.
senorverde09 The Philco boards are pretty middle of the road for the period, Sylvania boards are the worst. The safe way is to clip the old component out and then pull the leads through as you head the joint, but even so Bob Andersen didn't seem to have too much trouble getting the caps and resistors out just by heating each joint and plucking them out, except for removing the sockets where he did break them up first. What you need to watch is the tube socket replacement, some of the new sockets have barbs on the pins which will lift the trace off the bottom if you are not careful.
***** Hi. Ironic enough. I already have a Metcal MX-500 series soldering station but the tips that came with it are 400-500 degrees C rated tips, which will melt your traces in a second. And I couldn't find a source for them here in Romania. What a waste of money. So this is a word of warning for everyone, be very careful when you find something so that you can get accesories or spare parts for it. Anyway, enough rambling. Cheers :)
It's a darn shame that you haven't been able to fully utilize your Metcal, mine is my favorite too, ever! I imagine that this company ships internationally, www.techni-tool.com/ The airframe manufacturer for whom I worked purchased heavily from them, and I remember having items pre-shipped to the UK on several occasions. I always ordered "eutectic range tips", because we used 63/37 Kester eitectic rosin core, or solid core, with rosin liquid. All the best, Tim
These were expensive sets. It was rather surprising to me they used a series string heater setup with a capacitor voltage doubler power supply instead of using a quality transformer supply and parallel tube heater setup.
Great work on calling out the values of those caps by the color bands, you get used to reading them after a while. That .0015 1000v vertical feedback cap is not critical. Some chassis use a .001 1000v part instead. Haven't figured out the rhyme or reason to this- probably what they could get the best deal on in bulk. That 4 component couplate in the vertical section is almost always a source of vertical instability on these. Easy to reproduce and I always change it. Maybe it's just been my luck, but I've never had to replace any of the other couplates on 30+ Predictas.
Justin Rubsam The actual value may not matter because you can adjust around it, but if there is any drift its going to effect picture size or osc speed. I found the right cap yesterday and may do some testing.
I would be tempted to try to repair those tube sockets with a soldered in tab if you think those two pins are the only problem (besides caps) I understand it would not be a completely proper repair, but given the circumstances it might give just as good of a result.
Find a wire wrap tool to get those twisted on wires off without risking tearing the post out of the board. You should be able to just untwist the wires a little and solder them back on.
Oldbmwr100rs I was thinking the same. I've never worked on electronics this old but I know I've seen wire wrap tools for just this purpose. And you don't run the risk of damaging stuff.
great radio repaire. i have a cutter, that i had someone repaire.. named atalantic systems in avon.. mass.. They replaced one old cap with a new one. and when it was finished i was charged $150 for repaires.. Then i went to change a resister that was dry rotted.. So much trouble with repaires i don't have the equipment.. to fix this stuff with.. I'm kind of poor.. but i love this old radio stuff..Great video good tips.. papers alone were $50.00, but there was no schematic..
Those are some pretty crappy tube sockets. I heard that at about the time of the introduction of the Philco Predicta series sets, Philco was starting to run into financial problems. That might have been a factor behind why they were beginning to use cut-rate parts.
Yep..those chassis are light in weight..and that CRT!..that thing is very light and thin glassed..I was always very careful with that tube..friggin' glass-shrapnel-bomb-city if that thing ever broke..
Nobody that I know uses soldering guns anymore! Buy a temperature controlled iron and you will have a lot less damaged traces. A solder sucker would be a help too...
It is a good thing you took up tvs, a surgeon you are not. "You have to be careful and go easy", and then you show you have neither capability. Still interesting stuff though.
...This is a really good looking SET a shame they used such cheap parts... on Philco but even more a shame ZENITH & many OTHERS have sold out to CHINA, UGH.. :p
This tv look's very similar to the Fallout 4 Televisions, the real one just has a larger pedestal. :) I would say they did a pretty remarkable job considering your repairing it in 2015 so what that's between 40 and 60 years old? What equipment made today can claim 40 years of use without servicing and still work enough to be serviced instead of recycled and changed? You don't mark where the wires go when removing them? I always marked the wires just in case I got distracted or something of that nature.
Could it be I've found "the man", that highly elusive go to guy that "is" the standard and therefore by the very nature of his collective experience and renowned has the all inclusive "right" to judge others and unleash scorn that leaves an indelible mark of everlasting shame when he finds someone who does not measure up to the standards set by his royal weights and measures self, forgive my sentence that runs the marathon or did I just stumble across a dick.
Let's give Philco some credit - they were way ahead of their time. They were an American made product, yet they really had that Chinese quality of manufacture down pretty good!
Almost as good as a German post-war radio. 6 separate pieces between the power button on the front panel and the power switch on the chassis - I guess they had to keep the mechanical engineers and the workers in the stamping plants employed. If this Philco were more a pain in the ass to work on, it would be a Nordmende or a Grundig!
Excellent video. Better then watching TV. Keep up the great work. Interesting TV set.
Thanks Shango for the Predicta vid. I'm glad the owner is letting you go on with the repair. I'm a big fan of those Predicta's. I watched all of bandersontv's Predicta vid's.
Seems like a fairly low hours set, lived its life in a dry enviroment, not to hot.
Great Job.
Shango's the best T.V. Repair man.
What about ANDERSON TV ? Go watch his predicta repairs
Your camera work is excellent!
Belvedere SRI Sai Slimer
i havent seen any videos lately but after seeing part one o
n my phone you really inspired me too watch your videos very cool job i give you credit
Shango great to see a cool video! Your new camera has EXCELLENT sound and video. We need to send RTVPHN one like that now. :)
Very good 👍 I restored a Philco awhile back and I noticed this predicta has the same dark band going across images sometimes I think that's normal
I think that Antique Electronic Supply carries some seven and nine pin sockets that will fit as well, some are similar to the originals but have better made pins. If you can't find North American made surplus sockets you could probably use Soviet/Russian made ones, if you want to avoid the China crap, though like the ones you ordered you have to get them through a fleabay seller.
Aqui no meu bairro a vizinhança tinham Philco Predicta de mesa e claro elas não existem mais, bons tempos os anos 60.
Abraço! Rio de Janeiro Brazil
that diode by that tube socket is EOL'd for sure
Great vid, looking forward to part II
Careful - there is a 1,000 volt 0.0015 cap on that board
bandersentv I ran into that one yesterday, it ended up a .0018 2kv disk for now. Seems to work fine although I know that is a critical cap
Jeez bandersentv! You are the predicta master! Maybe we can get the two of you together, meet in Kansas, to do some joint videos? Ok, right. No.
Y'all have great vids. Been subbed for years! Steven
After viewing this video, and most of Bob's "Predicta adventures", it's become quite apparent why Philco took that nosedive in 1960/61. I often wonder what percentage of these were the "Holiday Inn" models?
Category: Comedy
I agree, the quality of this thing is really funny.
Great work !
It looks like a city, a little model of a city..
I hate working on early PCB stuff. It seems like you can't even sneeze on the thing without the traces coming off!
senorverde09 Amen to that. I had a lot of vintage Romanian and Russian made stuff were the traces and the pcb looked quite good quality but on the moment you touch the traces, it's gone. That's why a solder extractor gun is worth the money. I hope that I will get one someday. Cheers :)
senorverde09 ciprianwiner Should you intend to do a great deal of PCB work in the future, seriously think about acquiring a used MetCal rework station, including a very well designed MetCal desoldering gun. They're the best soldering/desoldering and rework systems available, and used by many high-end manufacturers.
senorverde09 The Philco boards are pretty middle of the road for the period, Sylvania boards are the worst. The safe way is to clip the old component out and then pull the leads through as you head the joint, but even so Bob Andersen didn't seem to have too much trouble getting the caps and resistors out just by heating each joint and plucking them out, except for removing the sockets where he did break them up first. What you need to watch is the tube socket replacement, some of the new sockets have barbs on the pins which will lift the trace off the bottom if you are not careful.
***** Hi. Ironic enough. I already have a Metcal MX-500 series soldering station but the tips that came with it are 400-500 degrees C rated tips, which will melt your traces in a second. And I couldn't find a source for them here in Romania. What a waste of money. So this is a word of warning for everyone, be very careful when you find something so that you can get accesories or spare parts for it. Anyway, enough rambling. Cheers :)
It's a darn shame that you haven't been able to fully utilize your Metcal, mine is my favorite too, ever!
I imagine that this company ships internationally, www.techni-tool.com/ The airframe manufacturer for whom I worked purchased heavily from them, and I remember having items pre-shipped to the UK on several occasions. I always ordered "eutectic range tips", because we used 63/37 Kester eitectic rosin core, or solid core, with rosin liquid. All the best, Tim
These were expensive sets. It was rather surprising to me they used a series string heater setup with a capacitor voltage doubler power supply instead of using a quality transformer supply and parallel tube heater setup.
Great work on calling out the values of those caps by the color bands, you get used to reading them after a while. That .0015 1000v vertical feedback cap is not critical. Some chassis use a .001 1000v part instead. Haven't figured out the rhyme or reason to this- probably what they could get the best deal on in bulk. That 4 component couplate in the vertical section is almost always a source of vertical instability on these. Easy to reproduce and I always change it. Maybe it's just been my luck, but I've never had to replace any of the other couplates on 30+ Predictas.
Justin Rubsam The actual value may not matter because you can adjust around it, but if there is any drift its going to effect picture size or osc speed. I found the right cap yesterday and may do some testing.
guy spends 1000 to buy the tv. wont spend money for a complete restore. thats nuts. for 1000 i would want it to be reliable for many years
I would be tempted to try to repair those tube sockets with a soldered in tab if you think those two pins are the only problem (besides caps) I understand it would not be a completely proper repair, but given the circumstances it might give just as good of a result.
Have you ever used the ceramic tube socket for tube that run hot ,Ali express has them cheap
You are the legend, sir.
Find a wire wrap tool to get those twisted on wires off without risking tearing the post out of the board. You should be able to just untwist the wires a little and solder them back on.
Oldbmwr100rs I was thinking the same. I've never worked on electronics this old but I know I've seen wire wrap tools for just this purpose. And you don't run the risk of damaging stuff.
Sometimes those tube-socket insulators would have been so hot over the years, that they would eventually carbonize and leak internally like crazy...
great radio repaire. i have a cutter, that i had someone repaire.. named atalantic systems in avon.. mass.. They replaced one old cap with a new one. and when it was finished i was charged $150 for repaires.. Then i went to change a resister that was dry rotted.. So much trouble with repaires i don't have the equipment.. to fix this stuff with.. I'm kind of poor.. but i love this old radio stuff..Great video good tips.. papers alone were $50.00, but there was no schematic..
good old wire wrap terminals
Those are some pretty crappy tube sockets. I heard that at about the time of the introduction of the Philco Predicta series sets, Philco was starting to run into financial problems. That might have been a factor behind why they were beginning to use cut-rate parts.
You blow out orginal dust - restoration failed :-)
If you think in picofarads, nanofarads, microfarads, it will become easier. None of those zero point zero (zero?) something...
The silver banded resistors are 10% tolerance, not 20%...
Bob Weiss Yea I messed that up, gold is 5 silver is 10. Im not going to stress it, if it was a complete restore they would all get changed,
Yep..those chassis are light in weight..and that CRT!..that thing is very light and thin glassed..I was always very careful with that tube..friggin' glass-shrapnel-bomb-city if that thing ever broke..
i like how randomthose old pcbs are
You think those traces lifted because of the 5000 watt solder gun?
Nobody that I know uses soldering guns anymore! Buy a temperature controlled iron and you will have a lot less damaged traces. A solder sucker would be a help too...
Soldering guns have their place in areas where even the most powerful soldering irons won't do the trick.
So far, looks to be about 30$ of parts and a few hours work. ,
Pm me buddy. Have to ask a question...
Why couldn't Philco have used screws? Does it cost THAT much more?
I have a problem any my philico is sparking when spoweing on at the lock and dismantling area
It is a good thing you took up tvs, a surgeon you are not. "You have to be careful and go easy", and then you show you have neither capability. Still interesting stuff though.
Did the owner get his money back?
You can get a wire-wrap tool .. they’re cheap …
...This is a really good looking SET a shame they used such cheap parts... on Philco but even more a shame ZENITH & many OTHERS have sold out to CHINA, UGH.. :p
"hog wild" is that a technical term ? Lol
This tv look's very similar to the Fallout 4 Televisions, the real one just has a larger pedestal. :) I would say they did a pretty remarkable job considering your repairing it in 2015 so what that's between 40 and 60 years old? What equipment made today can claim 40 years of use without servicing and still work enough to be serviced instead of recycled and changed?
You don't mark where the wires go when removing them? I always marked the wires just in case I got distracted or something of that nature.
12'57" REAL pain to my eyes :(
A tech without a wire wrapper tool, unwrapping with a screwdriver. Seriously?
Could it be I've found "the man", that highly elusive go to guy that "is" the standard and therefore by the very nature of his collective experience and renowned has the all inclusive "right" to judge others and unleash scorn that leaves an indelible mark of everlasting shame when he finds someone who does not measure up to the standards set by his royal weights and measures self, forgive my sentence that runs the marathon or did I just stumble across a dick.
I'll help you dig up the guy that designed this thing so you can smack him.
Is it just me, or is this part 2 video actually labeled part PT1.