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Old 1st Feb 2018, 6:28 am   #1
Don Henschel
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Default Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

I just received my Philco 444 People's set alive and well with no broken pieces laying on the bottom of the shipping carton with the exception of the power cord grapple grommet that decided to fall apart.

I removed the chassis, speaker, and wooden speaker mount to prepare a total cleaning of the cabinet which was necessary due to a buildup of a film of dirt and staining from liquids splashed against over the years which sounds worse than it is. I sprayed the cabinet with a mild water based general purpose cleaner (Spray Nine Multi-Purpose cleaner) safe for fabrics and most surfaces and the result was a purple/brown juice started to wash off of the once mostly gloss black cabinet leading me to suspect there was some sort of a lacquer finish applied to the cabinet?

As the cabinet dried after rinsing off the cleaner with warm water, the cabinet now has a satin appearance with traces of the previous grunge and stains. I suspect the original finish deteriorated from exposure to sun and the elements over the course of it's 82 year lifespan. What did these sets originally have on the cabinet over the bakelite? Surely they could not have been this delicate from new, after all how would wiping off the cabinet with a damp cloth be possible?

Otherwise this radio appears to be unmolested or modified and still has the original capacitors that can be re-stuffed with modern replacements. Moisture damage such as rust is almost nonexistent with no white corrosion! Also other than the mystery juice and satin appearance this set has zero scratches, gouges, or cracks with a reasonably good dial cover still fairly clear with slight yellow appearance and a perfect dial not damaged from sun, water, or an incorrect dial light burning through. It even has a very fine "holy grail" back cover not damaged with original paper labels! Oh yes all of the paper labels including the tube layout paper are still there. The tube layout paper is brittle from the heat of the valves and wetting it allowed removal.

What can be used to rejuvenate the original gloss finish? An extra fine automotive clear coat finishing polish, a very thin gloss black or clear coat applied after additional cleaning to remove the slight stain traces?
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Old 1st Feb 2018, 10:18 am   #2
Boater Sam
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

Bake-o-bryte from www.Radiophile.co.uk web site.
Other polishes are available, for example Solvol autosol car chrome cleaner.
Avoid coarse polishes, Sif/Jif, T cut, Brasso etc, they are too rough and leave a difficult to remove film.
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Old 1st Feb 2018, 10:18 am   #3
slidertogrid
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

Hi I don't think the original Bakelite was lacquered or coated. Is yours black or brown? I understand that brown sets are much less common than black ones.
I have a black set in my collection the Bakelite does have quite a deep shine.
I clean it and polish it with a good quality wax furniture polish, the beeswax stuff in a jar rather than aerosol.
I restored a very chalky flat brown Bakelite case from a Bush radio by polishing with "T cut" car paint renovator followed by wax polishing but Bakelite does seem to vary between manufactures so I would test on a unseen part of the case first.
What is the finish like on the underside of the case? this would have been protected from the sunlight and may give you an idea as to what the case would have looked like in it's younger days...
regards
Rich.
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Old 1st Feb 2018, 10:19 am   #4
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

Most Bakelite cabinets of this era tend to have endured years of simple wax polish + possibly residues from coal fired appliances and tobacco. The 444 cabinets tend to be pretty robust and well-cast.

Sooooo - the first job is simply that of removing years of contaminated bees wax. The best approach being the use of an non-invasive detergent e.g. a solution of warm water containing pure soap flakes.

The result of this initial operation should reveal the extent of the filth [AKA 'polish'] vis-à-vis the 'user and sunlight/UV un-touched' interior.

Once you have concluded that no more filth is present - let the surfaces thoroughly dry out and give them a gentle cut with basso or automotive T Cut. Then ..... carefully apply a good quality soft bees wax paste to a small area [very thinly] - let this dry and then polish it. Try to avoid any silicone-based polishing product ..... because this can be tricky to fully remove if you don't like the results.

Where you may have some slight discolouration - try carefully applying some tint with a black fibre pen [be prepared to quickly smear and blend this in with your thumb too ....]. I'd avoid applying any surface gloss coating and/or paint .... unless your cabinet proves to be truly dire!

Finally - you will find that all the celluloid scale protector screens will harden/crack/yellow with age. The only solution being: grind off the heads of the perimeter locating pins with a dremmel [or similar]; remove the existing; copy the latter using a sheet of thin optical-quality Perspex [obtainable from most model shops]; fit the new/replacement onto the perimeter locating pin stubs; seal the new screen to each perimeter pin stub with a little blob of hot glue.

Ce ca !!!
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Old 1st Feb 2018, 10:27 am   #5
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

For example:
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Old 1st Feb 2018, 10:52 am   #6
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

I believe excessive sunlight can cause damage to the original high gloss finish of Bakelite, making it go dull and have an almost porous look to it. Bakelite polishing paste should restore the finish and remove any remaining grime. But be careful, if you rub too much of the surface away it can become even more porous looking.

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Old 1st Feb 2018, 8:09 pm   #7
Don Henschel
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

It was definitely purple turning to brown, and I noticed the speaker mount was even died black as I attempted to wash the cloth with spray nine as well to get an accurate match of the cloth. After posting this message I pushed my thumb hard against the cabinet in a pinching fashion, to exert pressure without damaging the cabinet, and rubbed my thumb back and forth causing a gloss to appear.

I used an ultra or extra fine clear coat polish for cars on an Aladdin Model 11 nickel plated lamp that had very fine scratches and a severe buildup of stale kerosene residue. Also around the fill plug it had a dull appearance after removing the residue due to many years of finger tips removing and tightening the plug. The polish brought it back to a mirror finish but before I used carburator cleaner and spray nine one collector looked at the residue and said you have brass exposed from rub through. After I cleaned and polished I sent a picture back of the after and he said you had me fooled on the brass. I said you have to know how to rub Aladdin's lamp and when the Genie pops out the lamp will be restored!

I will give the 444 another zap of spray nine and let it soak and rinse once more. It isn't porous at all, just dull and satin looking, and I suspect this is also residue that weeped out over the years. A good example of this is a van I have with those rubbish plastic headlights. They were cloudy and yellow and I used a similar but more aggressive cleaner called Fantastic. This cleaner cuts grease, stains and grime very well but must be used with extreme caution as it tends to bleach paint and fabric dye. I sprayed it on and OMG, a brown thick juice slowly oozed down making me think the Fantastic attacked the plastic! Well if it is ruined I have nothing to lose so I kept spraying and wiping to eventually reveal a crystal clear colorless lens!

I suspect this could be a repeat on my 444. It is black or should I say satin black, so this will need some special rubbing as well. This polish as extra fine grit that is meant to get automotive clear coat to a glass like appearance. Yes this is a 444 that is black and I will probably look for an A527 as well, which is brown.

Oh and BTW a bit off topic here, but before it arrived I watched like a hawk for a PEN DD61 and snapped one up for 37 quid! I suspected I was going to be sniped at the last minute but got it for the starting bid! Next I got an AC2/DD with a 4 volt heater from Germany for a just in case, but this one was 9€ OBO and I threw in a stink bid of €5 and grabbed it for €7.5 and €5 for shipping. From what I read a 1 ohm resistor in series of the heater solves the 4 volt problem but like said is a just in case! And the quids keep piling up on this black toe, as it kind of looks with the shape it is, and being black with an off white speaker cloth.
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Old 5th Feb 2018, 1:54 am   #8
Don Henschel
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

Tractionist David my cabinet is slowly coming around to resembling yours. A number of applications of the clearcoat polish and it is almost as shiny! Each time the cloth is always turning chocolate brown but is getting better and better with less residue coming off with more of a shine appearing. It was unbelievable on how much dark chocolate brown juice poured off while washing obviously cigarette tar. The speaker cloth is a bit more usable for matching a replacement and the only proper color is where it is clamped against the speaker mount and cabinet. Sort of a silky looking cloth and a far cry of what it used to be but I'm hoping I can find a proper match.
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Old 5th Feb 2018, 3:17 pm   #9
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

A good antique furniture beeswax polish will put a shine on anything. Don't use a silicone based polish as you will never be able to remove it.
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Old 5th Feb 2018, 6:18 pm   #10
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Default Re: Philco 444 Cabinet Finish

I'm glad that it's coming up O.K. - but it's worthwhile being very careful around Bakelite. This material is a thermosetting phenolic resin to which various 'fillers' were added ..... some of which were - sawdust!

The material always forms hard polished surfaces whereat it was in contact with the hard hot polished dies .... but the core/interior is invariably porous [unlike Catalin or Plaskon etc.]

For these reasons I always experiment on a small invisible/concealed section.

The 444 cabinets are believed to have been manufactured by EK Cole - but nobody seems too sure .........
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