1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

howard · 27th Oct 2010, 9:17 pm

Hello again,

I restored this Philips 341A for another collector which suited me as I got all the satisfaction of getting this old radio working and looking nice again and it didn't then clutter up my house afterwards. It arrived complete but in very poor condition (see last pic below) with a dirty faded case and loads of chips in its gold paint around the front and it didn't work. However, it had no chips, cracks or nasty scratches in its bakelite case, its grille cloth was in unusually good condition and it wasn't rusty inside so I went ahead and completely restored it. The 341A chassis is identical to the one in the Stella ST106A (apart from having just one dial bulb) and is also similar to several other Philips models including the 310A but this later model has 4 rimlock valves, EAF42, EBC41, EL41 and EZ40 but then an ECH81 B9A valve rather than an ECH42 rimlock.

I first checked its mains transformer for leakage with my megger and it was fine so I then replaced its audio coupling capacitor, fitted a used EBC41 to replace a non equivalent Mazda 6LD20 fitted, cleaned all its valve pins/sockets, waveband switch, volume and tone potentiometers with Servisol 10, fitted a new 6.5v 0.3a dial bulb, powered up and away she went working reasonably well on all bands. I ensured that the smoothing capacitor wasn't getting hot, and that the LT/HT voltages were OK and they were good. So I replaced all its original black pitch capacitors and there are some unusual values in this set so I had to make up three original values using two capacitors apiece. I checked the valves by swapping in new ones and all were working OK but there was quite high leakage on the grid of the EL41 so that was replaced with a NOS CV3889 equivalent. I replaced the original 2 core cable with a new 3 core cable connecting the earth wire to a tag next to the switch. I checked that its IF frequency was OK and it was and then performed RF alignment. I had a problem with the LW aerial trimmer, the thread on its adjuster rod appeared to have expired as once the locking paint was picked off it dropped into the can, but it still peaked up OK simply by lifting the rod which was then secured in place with wax.

I washed down the case with white spirit, removed the loudspeaker baffle, stripped the paint off the front of the case with Nitromors, masked up the front using Tamiya flexible masking tape and repainted the front with Plasti-kote antique gold enamel paint which is a good match. I then polished the case first with Brasso and then with beeswax polish.

It took me 4 days to restore this old Philips 341A radio and it looks very nice now with a good shiny case and it now works, its internal plate aerial isn't brilliant but it works very well with a long wire aerial picking up more or less everything on all bands (SW is remarkably good) and it sounds very good.too.

Howard

Sideband · 27th Oct 2010, 9:46 pm

Hi Howard. Excellent job and quite a reasonable looking radio. It's very similar in style to the 353A AM/FM set and I think the 341 is better looking with the gold trim. I presume this set also has a removable scale? Looks in showroom condition!

SB

howard · 27th Oct 2010, 10:10 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sideband

Hi Howard. Excellent job and quite a reasonable looking radio. It's very similar in style to the 353A AM/FM set and I think the 341 is better looking with the gold trim. I presume this set also has a removable scale? Looks in showroom condition! SB

Hello Richard,

It's a good looking set and indeed it does have the same case as the 353A and its scale just lifts off. I have a working example of the 353A but its case is awful .... if this had been my set I might just have pinched its case for it.

Howard

phil3153 · 28th Oct 2010, 8:33 am

Hi Howard ,you certainly have the magic touch when it comes to getting these radios looking there best .
I also have the FM version of this set that i bought from Josh a while back FM wasn't working ,it just needed a good dose of Servisol 10 to sort that and the eviction of those pitch jobby's inside ,i am amazed just how good these smallish radio's sound Phil.

vinrads · 28th Oct 2010, 9:40 am

Wow what a difference four days makes ! splendid job now those are the capacitors you can't re stuff , looks like the EL41 has had a hard life .

Aerodyne · 28th Oct 2010, 10:00 am

Impressive standard of work, Howard. Concisely stated, too. I take it that all resistors were OK, as you haven't mentioned replacing any. The finished appearance is a revelation when compared to the sad-looking original!
Excellent.
-Tony

howard · 28th Oct 2010, 10:48 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerodyne

Impressive standard of work, Howard. Concisely stated, too. I take it that all resistors were OK, as you haven't mentioned replacing any. The finished appearance is a revelation when compared to the sad-looking original! Excellent. -Tony

Hello Tony,

Yes I did check resistors and none were found to be out of spec. I left out some detail from the above, for instance all the black felt pieces around the dial were replaced including the two little discs under the front ends, the dial was scratched so was polished with Brasso, the chassis was cleaned with white spirit, the grille cloth was just brushed clean (don't get this type of cloth damp), all rust on the spring pieces in the knobs, on the spindles and on the rear cover screws was cleaned off, even the tiny brass pins which secure the badge were polished and varnished etc etc.

Howard

Colin · 28th Oct 2010, 12:10 pm

Wonderful transformation Howard, really lovely! The fresh paint sets it off beautifully, did you prepare the bakelite in any way prior to applying the paint?

howard · 28th Oct 2010, 12:46 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin

Wonderful transformation Howard, really lovely! The fresh paint sets it off beautifully, did you prepare the bakelite in any way prior to applying the paint?

Hello Colin,

The bakelite around the front was cleaned with white spirit to remove any Nitromors and greasy finger marks and then wiped dry with a paper towel. Plasti-kote adheres to bakelite very well, indeed it's quite hard work getting any overspray off. It's essential to use Tamiya masking tape which is not paper based and it's flexible so will go around curved edges without wrinkling and afterwards comes off clean leaving no sticky residue. The tricky bits are the rounded corners, there I use several short pieces of tape. It is very expensive though and is only available from model shops.

Howard

JoshWard · 28th Oct 2010, 1:06 pm

Very nice!

Strangely enough I have taken delivery of one of these sets this morning! It was DOA but hopefully by the clean look of the chassis won't be too hard to get going. It arrived with it's sister, the Stella ST106A which is covered in grime and is working!

I used to have a 353A (now living with a collector about 6 miles up the road) and also have a B3G74A (similar to 353A but with a white case). Attractive radios

howard · 28th Oct 2010, 1:31 pm

Hello Josh,

Philips radios usually survive well so you should be able to get your 341A working without too many problems. It can be difficult to get at some components in them though and their aerial trimmers are a bit fragile so be careful with them.

Howard

johnn · 28th Oct 2010, 5:26 pm

Well done on another good job!
I like both the Philips & the Stella one. This one is very good to listen to.
John.

Aerodyne · 29th Oct 2010, 12:23 pm

With good restorations, it's the detail that counts - as you clearly well appreciate, Howard. A lot of work and effort, but so worthwhile when you see the finished result. Congrats!
-Tony

Colin · 29th Oct 2010, 1:23 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard

Hello Colin,

The bakelite around the front was cleaned with white spirit to remove any Nitromors and greasy finger marks and then wiped dry with a paper towel. Plasti-kote adheres to bakelite very well, indeed it's quite hard work getting any overspray off. It's essential to use Tamiya masking tape which is not paper based and it's flexible so will go around curved edges without wrinkling and afterwards comes off clean leaving no sticky residue. The tricky bits are the rounded corners, there I use several short pieces of tape. It is very expensive though and is only available from model shops.

Howard

Hi Howard, thanks, I did wonder if you'd used a primer but it seems not. I like the tip about the flexible Tamiya masking tape. I must get myself some!

tedzed1 · 2nd Nov 2010, 6:29 pm

Well done Howard, yet another one of your superb jobs
It has come up a treat

Tim · 2nd Nov 2010, 10:34 pm

Spendid job Howard.
I used to have a white one of these when I was a lad, but it used to hum for England.
Can't remember what happened to it though.

27th Oct 2010, 9:17 pm	#1
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Hello again, I restored this Philips 341A for another collector which suited me as I got all the satisfaction of getting this old radio working and looking nice again and it didn't then clutter up my house afterwards. It arrived complete but in very poor condition (see last pic below) with a dirty faded case and loads of chips in its gold paint around the front and it didn't work. However, it had no chips, cracks or nasty scratches in its bakelite case, its grille cloth was in unusually good condition and it wasn't rusty inside so I went ahead and completely restored it. The 341A chassis is identical to the one in the Stella ST106A (apart from having just one dial bulb) and is also similar to several other Philips models including the 310A but this later model has 4 rimlock valves, EAF42, EBC41, EL41 and EZ40 but then an ECH81 B9A valve rather than an ECH42 rimlock. I first checked its mains transformer for leakage with my megger and it was fine so I then replaced its audio coupling capacitor, fitted a used EBC41 to replace a non equivalent Mazda 6LD20 fitted, cleaned all its valve pins/sockets, waveband switch, volume and tone potentiometers with Servisol 10, fitted a new 6.5v 0.3a dial bulb, powered up and away she went working reasonably well on all bands. I ensured that the smoothing capacitor wasn't getting hot, and that the LT/HT voltages were OK and they were good. So I replaced all its original black pitch capacitors and there are some unusual values in this set so I had to make up three original values using two capacitors apiece. I checked the valves by swapping in new ones and all were working OK but there was quite high leakage on the grid of the EL41 so that was replaced with a NOS CV3889 equivalent. I replaced the original 2 core cable with a new 3 core cable connecting the earth wire to a tag next to the switch. I checked that its IF frequency was OK and it was and then performed RF alignment. I had a problem with the LW aerial trimmer, the thread on its adjuster rod appeared to have expired as once the locking paint was picked off it dropped into the can, but it still peaked up OK simply by lifting the rod which was then secured in place with wax. I washed down the case with white spirit, removed the loudspeaker baffle, stripped the paint off the front of the case with Nitromors, masked up the front using Tamiya flexible masking tape and repainted the front with Plasti-kote antique gold enamel paint which is a good match. I then polished the case first with Brasso and then with beeswax polish. It took me 4 days to restore this old Philips 341A radio and it looks very nice now with a good shiny case and it now works, its internal plate aerial isn't brilliant but it works very well with a long wire aerial picking up more or less everything on all bands (SW is remarkably good) and it sounds very good.too. Howard Attached Thumbnails

27th Oct 2010, 9:46 pm	#2
Sideband Dekatron Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Croydon, Surrey, UK. Posts: 7,580	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Hi Howard. Excellent job and quite a reasonable looking radio. It's very similar in style to the 353A AM/FM set and I think the 341 is better looking with the gold trim. I presume this set also has a removable scale? Looks in showroom condition! SB __________________ There are lots of brilliant keyboard players and then there is Rick Wakeman.....

28th Oct 2010, 8:33 am	#4
phil3153 Triode Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Diss, Norfolk, UK. Posts: 31	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Hi Howard ,you certainly have the magic touch when it comes to getting these radios looking there best . I also have the FM version of this set that i bought from Josh a while back FM wasn't working ,it just needed a good dose of Servisol 10 to sort that and the eviction of those pitch jobby's inside ,i am amazed just how good these smallish radio's sound Phil.

28th Oct 2010, 9:40 am	#5
vinrads Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK. Posts: 3,767	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Wow what a difference four days makes ! splendid job now those are the capacitors you can't re stuff , looks like the EL41 has had a hard life .

28th Oct 2010, 10:00 am	#6
Aerodyne Octode Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Hampton Vale, Peterborough, UK. Posts: 1,698	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Impressive standard of work, Howard. Concisely stated, too. I take it that all resistors were OK, as you haven't mentioned replacing any. The finished appearance is a revelation when compared to the sad-looking original! Excellent. -Tony

28th Oct 2010, 12:10 pm	#8
Colin Heptode Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Ilkley, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 656	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Wonderful transformation Howard, really lovely! The fresh paint sets it off beautifully, did you prepare the bakelite in any way prior to applying the paint? __________________ Colin Armstrong

28th Oct 2010, 1:06 pm	#10
JoshWard Octode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Near Stowmarket, Suffolk, UK. Posts: 1,962	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Very nice! Strangely enough I have taken delivery of one of these sets this morning! It was DOA but hopefully by the clean look of the chassis won't be too hard to get going. It arrived with it's sister, the Stella ST106A which is covered in grime and is working! I used to have a 353A (now living with a collector about 6 miles up the road) and also have a B3G74A (similar to 353A but with a white case). Attractive radios

28th Oct 2010, 1:31 pm	#11
howard Nonode Join Date: May 2005 Location: Godalming, Surrey, UK. Posts: 2,593	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Hello Josh, Philips radios usually survive well so you should be able to get your 341A working without too many problems. It can be difficult to get at some components in them though and their aerial trimmers are a bit fragile so be careful with them. Howard

28th Oct 2010, 5:26 pm	#12
johnn Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Scunthorpe, UK Posts: 154	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Well done on another good job! I like both the Philips & the Stella one. This one is very good to listen to. John.

29th Oct 2010, 12:23 pm	#13
Aerodyne Octode Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Hampton Vale, Peterborough, UK. Posts: 1,698	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio With good restorations, it's the detail that counts - as you clearly well appreciate, Howard. A lot of work and effort, but so worthwhile when you see the finished result. Congrats! -Tony

2nd Nov 2010, 6:29 pm	#15
tedzed1 Hexode Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Tamworth, Staffordshire, UK. Posts: 320	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Well done Howard, yet another one of your superb jobs It has come up a treat __________________ Cheers Paul.

2nd Nov 2010, 10:34 pm	#16
Tim Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, UK. Posts: 3,310	Re: 1955 Philips 341A AC mains 5 valve MW/LW/SW table radio Spendid job Howard. I used to have a white one of these when I was a lad, but it used to hum for England. Can't remember what happened to it though. __________________ "Nothing is as dangerous as being too modern;one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly."