Philco 42-345 Restoration (Part 1)

I have had this old Philco 42-345 radio sitting on my shelf for many years as a decoration. My interest in electronics and radio technology has led me to believe that I may actually be able to restore this old radio and get it into working condition once again. The model number, 42-345 represents the year that the radio was manufactured as well as the model number – so, in my case, the “42” represents 1942. Which is in it’s own way fascinating due the fact that WW II was already in progress and most materials were allocated for the war effort. The Philco story is indeed fascinating.

Philco was once one of the most innovative and successful technology companies during the twentieth century.

After doing a lot of careful research and analysis on this project, I decided to cut loose. I know I have spent at least two months of intense study; watching YouTube restores, reading old radio books, learning schematics and joining groups. I think I am ready to try this.

The first order of business is to remove the chassis from the case. I admit that I was a little bit nervous of what I would find under the chassis. So many of the people on YouTube discovered small critters living inside their old equipment. When I opened the chassis, the bottom was very clean. It appeared that no one had ever been inside working on this at all. All of the capacitors were original wax caps, One was leaking, which may be the reason that the radio was put out of commission in the first place. Most of the wiring was still pliable. The power cord was in awful condition. I actually ended up cutting it off so that no one would try to plug it in. The chassis was very clean for a 76 yr old radio. Just imagine; if the original factory tech was 30yrs old when he/she soldered these parts into the chassis were alive today, they would be 106 yrs old!  In this particular case, the parts were soldered on very well. So, it is my duty to restore this radio the best that I can.