The Philco Keezer Project: Antique Radio

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davepeds

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Feb 16, 2012
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Location
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Sages,
I'm excited to start this project. I've been enjoying many of the Keezer threads and have tried to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Now, I'm ready to embark on my own build project. I'll be expanding an antique radio to become a cabinet style keezer. I begin this thread, however, with a few regrets.

  • I'm starting with a 1941 Philco Radio, model 41-290 (see attached pics). I bought it for $50. The guy was getting divorced and needed cash. That's sad. What's sadder, though, is that the damn thing works! I plugged it in and listened to some Oklahoma local religious show about how homebrewing was what was really wrong with America - so I turned it off. I'm going to have to destroy this radio, and would do so with a better conscience if it were pre-fried. You'll all love this - but a robust community of nerds like us (NLU) run forums on restoring antique radios. Needless to say, to get this beast in working (not going to burn down my house) order, it would cost me time, money, and I'd have to learn a new craft. Eff that. So, for shame!, but I'm breaking down this radio.
  • Regretfully, I am posting this from an airport as I start a vacation in Wyoming for 10 days. I hate to post the initial thoughts and then not begin work. That's fine - I need the brilliant architects of yonder keezers to weigh in where they see fit.

I'll get back to gutting and building next weekend. Until then, let me show you the basics and my limited progress.
DOB
 
The starting cast: a 14.8 chest freezer from CL for $125. It's friend, Johnson A19, is wired in back. Currently, my keg armada consists of 4 pin locks and two ball locks, a 5# tank, a 25# tank (free from a neighbor that works in the gas biz!), and a regulator.

The Philco 41-290, like I mentioned, actually works. It draws a lot of heat, has corroded terminals, dust, some tubes are burned out, the wires were insulated with rubber and are bare, but it's cool that it works. The back side shows the chassis (that's vintage radio talk for "all the tubes and metal stuff that weighs 20lbs." The front panel is super cool - tune into India, Havana, London, Berlin, Aircraft, the Police (there's a whole band dedicated to Sting and Company). There's no FM of course, as FM wasn't commercially broadcast until 1939. There's some cool stickers on the inside - one advertises the Philco "wireless" FM converter. I wonder how that worked.

Right now, the rear view and faceplate are struggling to upload. I'll get to it later - the faceplate will be important later.
Edit: STILL not uploading. Anybody know what's wrong here?

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So, even though I continue struggling against the picture uploading Billy Goat Gruff, I want to keep on keeping on with this thread. Above, you [should] see 3 pictures of the original Philco and one of the phreezer (that's right). Here I go, breaking it down.
The first thing anyone will learn, when unbuilding an antique radio, is that IKEA furniture's engineering is remarkably sh-tty. In 1940, they apparently couldn't afford those little metal screw-in brackets. Instead, coming out of the dust bowl, the manufacturers of the day used something called "carpentry," dove-tailing, and this awful crap called "wood glue." It makes for a miserable deconstruction.
I plan (see below - eventually) on using the sides of the Philco as the sides of the keezer. I am going to use the center piece & faceplate in the center with the speaker box below - but not quite as a coffin. To the sides of center piece I will have the tap towers coming out or some kind of TBD arrangement.
1) Taking the chassis off was no major event. There were screws underneath anchoring all the metal to the wood. Loosen those, and then gently wiggle the chassis backwards. Beforehand, I loosened the old veneer around the faceplate and carefully stored the old knobs, buttons, and veneer - I hope to use them again.
2) Now, taking down the wooden frame is another animal. From the back, you might be able to see that the two sides and the front were not designed to assemble at home. The sides are each made out of about 20 pieces of glued and screwed wood. First, I thought I'd determine which pieces of wood were critical to the sides vs the front. Then, I removed the specific screws (all flatheads, blegh) that were holding the side pieces to the front. Then, I learned that glue, more screws, and 70 years of proximity brought these pieces of wood intimately close. So, after removing what I thought were the ideal screws, nothing happened. I then took a short and wide flathead screwdriver and tapped it in between the wood pieces. I was able to separate a few more pieces of supporting wood with no major effect. Then, I said, "screw it," and removed all the screws. I separated a few more pieces of wood and was able to pry apart one side, then the next. The veneer on the faceplate was glued to the sides, so part of it tore off. This doesn't limit my overall available wood by much.
In the end, I'll say that I was able to take it apart without ruining any major pieces. Keeping it together like this was critical, so I can go ahead with my plans. Other than taking your time, I didn't learn a better way to get this thing apart.
(edit: I've tried 3 times to upload pictures, what is the problem?!)

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OK - I've been working on Google Sketchup pretty steady to get the plan down. Basically, I'm going to use the sides of the radio as part of the sides of the keezer. I'll have to expand with different wood going back to the end, since the radio isn't as deep as the freezer. I'll take the top portion off (radio faceplate, knobs, etc and the side that go up top) and put it center. The ribbed section over the speaker hole will be directly below this, in the center of the freezer - but no longer attached to the top.

I need some input here from you guys! The top part is going to be similar in shape, but shorter, than a coffin. If taps came off the top of it, they would be very high - plus, despite having the drip tray on top, you'd still be having beer run down the radio face. I'm planning on doing something to make the faceplate light up (at least), so no beer running down it. I could raise the whole top thing a little and have taps coming out of the sides of it - that might look a little odd. The plan that I've sketched has the center piece essentially without function. To either side will be a keg tower with taps (probably 2-3 each).

A third idea, that I have no idea whether I could pull it off or if it would look good, would be to build a coffin in the back like others have done before me. Then, the radio could fit into the center of that - but sit right in the middle. There wouldn't be much room for taps along the back, that I can think of, since the radio width is 27 inches.

Anyway, here's the plan that I've come up with so far. The wood tones are not accurate for the final plan. I don't think I can exactly match, but rather will complement, the Philco wood tones. The redder looking tones are the original wood and the lighter wood will be added.

Screen Shot 2012-08-05 at 2.05.01 PM.jpg
 
It might be worth hundreds if not thousands AS IS!

Nope - I checked. Some guy bought a mint condition one for $50 - and mine wasn't mint. You'd be surprised, really. There's a relatively 'flooded' market, as the folks who really one an old radio have plenty of old people ready to get one out of their home. Mine was possibly worth less than $50.
 
Great Idea. Funny I hauled one similar to it (does yours have the built in 78 turntable?)for over 15 years through a half dozen moves, always with the intention that I would restore it "one of these days." Which never freaking happened. I finally let go of it around 2000 knowing that I was going to be leaving the state for seminary and not knowing if I'd ever come back to Michigan....

I can't wait to see what you make of it.
 
Dude! That's an awesome idea!

I just took a look at CL and there is a zillion old and very cheap things that can be easily turned into a keezer or fermentation chambers!

SWMBO loves that stuff and no longer has an excuse for not having one in the house!

thank you :mug: thank you :ban: thank you :rockin: thank you :D thank you :mug: thank you :ban: thank you :rockin: thank you :D thank you :mug: thank you :ban: thank you :rockin: thank you :D thank you :mug: thank you :ban: thank you :rockin: thank you :D thank you :mug:
 
How about getting on one of those radio forums and selling the guts? Make a few bucks and offset some of the build costs.

Or you could do what I did, and trade an old amp (Macintosh 50) for a 12 pack. Beer to drink while you build!

Looks awesome, could be one of the best kegerators ever.

B
 
This is an awesome project! If at all possible, you should make it so that it still works when done, just in a bit different manner. Replace the speakers, get a new amp, and have an auxiliary input or iPod dock (if that's your thing) on it somewhere so it can still fulfil its original goal in life.
 
This is an awesome project! If at all possible, you should make it so that it still works when done, just in a bit different manner. Replace the speakers, get a new amp, and have an auxiliary input or iPod dock (if that's your thing) on it somewhere so it can still fulfil its original goal in life.

But as he said in his first post, as a radio it STILL works. But it has bad JuJu, the first thing that came out of it was an anti homebrewing religious show. He really does need to wipe that evil scourge off the land, and what better way to make a cool keezer with it

I don't know why so many people want to dissuade him. This is homebrewtalk, not homeradiotalk

Maybe because it's unique to you, but these things are a dime a dozen these days. They're not rare, you can find them in salvation army shops for 20 bucks sometimes.And sometimes getting parts for them is more expensive than it's worth. Especially if someone is trying to do a restoration with original parts- Tubes just aren't as ubiquitous and cheap as you might think...

Everyone who owned one thought it would be cool to fix one of these, and most of the folks who thought that, never seemed to get around to it.

The only folks who actually seem to be doing a lot with them are artists and musicians who mess around and re-purpose them. I know an avant guard composer who wires them up in series and circuit bends them. I've seen them turned into folding bars as well.

The only ones it seems who are enthused about them are the folks re-purposing them to really creative ends like the OP.
 
But as he said in his first post, as a radio it STILL works. But it has bad JuJu, the first thing that came out of it was an anti homebrewing religious show. He really does need to wipe that evil scourge off the land, and what better way to make a cool keezer with it

I don't know why so many people want to dissuade him. This is homebrewtalk, not homeradiotalk


I didn't mean that at all. I do think its a very cool project even without a radio but it would be even cooler if it "still worked" for playing music. Who doesn't want to listen to music while drinking beer? Don't get me wrong, I'd gut the old electronics, AM radio, and everything else. You can fit some really nice speakers and a decent amp in a VERY small package though.
 
Can't wait to see the progress on this. I've got an old philco like that in the basement. I was about to just throw it in the trash as it's non functional and pretty worthless. But this has me inspired. I'm gonna need lots of pics and details as you go. Brew on.
 
If at all possible, you should make it so that it still works when done, just in a bit different manner. Replace the speakers, get a new amp, and have an auxiliary input or iPod dock (if that's your thing) on it somewhere so it can still fulfil its original goal in life.

What I'm planning - when I can get the pics to upload - is to do a little of what you mentioned. I'm thinking about getting one of those little homemade radio projects from a toystore and seeing if I can wire it in. When I removed the chassis, there was a TON of empty space. A little speaker set is pretty small, probably small enough. It also doesn't generate as much heat as the tubes. I'm definitely going to rig and light the faceplate. I'll try and get the pictures uploaded of some of the parts. I'm still struggling through google Sketchup to figure it out.:confused:
 
Moving on. I did some background reading on cutting old wooden veneer - there a couple good ehow videos. So I cut off the sides and now I have the top center piece basically figured out. I also talked to a friend that's an electrical engineer. I'm going to try and keep the faceplate, keep the knobs in order, but remove the chassis and install a simpler (yet profoundly more technological - with...wait for it...circuits) radio behind it. Here's the unassembled center piece for the top -probably going to go center right about where it is in the picture.

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Coming up next - probably tonight - is the stripping of the wood. I've been running up and down the antique radio forums for the best way to do this. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether or not my radio has a lacquer or shellac finish - but I suspect lacquer. If anyone out there is interested in stripping old furniture down to bare wood, I found this forum useful. Basically, you take a 50/50 mix of acetone and lacquer thinner and apply liberally with a steel wool pad - comes right off. From that point going forward, I'll be trying to find some wood to match my grain to get after the rest of it.

http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=195670
 
I dunno if it's too late, but I just had this idea for your radio.

You could strip the main components out and mount, say, a Nexus 7 or iPad tablet into the face of the top, and have you an MP3 jukebox, with web, wifi, streaming music, brew stats/progress/schedules, etc. Due to the very clean and minimalistic design of either of those 2 tablets, it'd look great if you mounted it into the front face, and hooked some speakers up.

That'd be a badass keezer
 
I thought about doing something a little more modern and functional like that. The keezer will be hanging out pretty close to my stereo, so any sound from that thing will probably just be distraction from License to Ill turned up to 11 in the room next door. A friend suggested that I hinge the faceplate, so it can be tipped down and I could put an iPod dock or something in there. I think, though, that having the faceplate light up is the most important thing. The functionality of the radio is pretty low on my list.

On the article about stripping the wood - you can skip it, anybody out there looking to remove stain. That doesn't work so well. If anybody knows a good way to do it, please share it with me.
 
A sander is about the only way to strip stain. You essentially have to take off all the stained wood to get to bare wood. If it's a solid piece, you can go slow and it works. If it's veneer, you're pretty much SOL. Either find a stain that's close enough, or just go darker.

HTH,
B
 
Well, I feel obligated to do a little updating. I sat with sand paper a few days ago and put in some serious work. I have many of the main parts down to bare wood. I'm not doing well with selecting large bits of wood to fill in the gaps. My plan was to find used, stressed wood. FAIL. That is more work than just buying new wood. So, I'm probably going to buy new wood. Sorry for taking forever. I've been busy (brewing).
 
If you can get new wood that matches, you can put it out in the sun for a few weeks and it will fade out. Easier to match to the old wood.

B
 
Dude! You still have the "guts" from that radio? I have a Philco 41-290 that I've been meaning to get working for years. Having a second chassis on hand would be very useful. I would cheerfully buy just the chassis, for another $50, or even more.
 
Yea man, I still got it. I wanted to keep the face plate, though. Is that too much for you to not have? Also, it's a heavy sucker - would cost a bunch to ship.
 
Thanks davepeds. I was about to throw the radio away when I saw your thread. I owe you one for inspiring me. Where does your Philco keezer stand at the moment?
 
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