1934 Philco Model 32 Farm Radio
It has taken almost 4 years to complete this great and rare 1934 Philco model 32.
It now has a complete set of NOS Philco tubes back in her and she's ready for testing.
I purchased a very nice 0-40VDC 2A bench power supply to run it up with. It is
rather funny that you have to convert 117VAC to 32VDC at 1.8A just so the radio can
turn it back into AC!.......
This Philco was rescued from the cellar of the farm that it served on. When it was purchased new
the entire farm and farmhouse were running on DC as were many of the farms in this area. This farm
is located in Durhamville, NY. To this day the Wincharger convertor is still in the barn. The family
living there did not go to AC until around 1950. At some point after that this Philco was moved to
the cellar and remained there untouched for nearly 50 years.
From my reasearch i've found that only 500 or so of these 32 volt Philco's were ever made. If true
This is a truly rare Philco radio. This Large Philco cathedral radio is 19" high, 16" wide, and 11"
deep. It weighs in at a whopping 36Lbs. thanks in most part to the very heavy power convertor on
the upper shelf. Chassis Number is 121, Serial Number is 59681
It was love at first sight and was purchased on the spot for $25.00
All together with the NOS tubes, new capacitors, resistors, wire, and all the
refinishing supplies I have around $400.00 in it and it was worth every penny.
This first section covers the restoration of the 1934 Philco Model 32 cathedral radio.
Rescued from a cellar where it had rusted and rotted for the last 50 years. I did have to evict
a squirrel that was living in it. When purchased it was full of chewed up newspaper and
pine cones. I currently have around 1300+ man hours into this restoration.
Over 1000 pictures have been taken of just the philco to help me in it's long term restoration.
All of the pictures are 12MP @ 1024 X 768 in size, taken with a Fuji Finepix 7000.
Due to water and mold damage on the front there were some pieces that had to be replaced.
The three epilates at the top of the radio had to be chiseled off as did some of the lower trim.
These areas where replaced with 1/8" black walnut veneer. The inside has been pretty much left
untouched. Just cleaned and refinished on the outside edges. All of the original chalk markings
in the cabinet are in really good shape as are the original labels. The back cover will need some
attention, but it is in good condition. Some of the pictures have a small comentary on them to
explain there place in the restoration. The first section is "before".
The Philco as it arrived
The Philco cabinet restoration
Below are some pictures of the cabinet during its restorartion
The Cabinet Restoration
The Vibrator Assembly
The photo set below covers the DC power convertor which mounts above the radio chassis on a
very thick piece of steel.The vibrator itself was rebuilt and the all the points were polished back
to new. The capacitors were all rebuilt in thier original containersnew wiring where needed. The steel
case was repainted, and all components were cleaned. The foam blocks the hold the vibrator in place
are badly worn but we are going to try to use them. All new correct foam washers were used on the
assembly. Every nut, bolt, washer, and rivet looks like new. This vibrator unit takes the 32VDC
@ 1.8A and converts it to 300VAC @ .5A
The Vibrator Assembly
The Philco Chassis and Speaker
Some 700+ hours were spent on this chassis and speaker. It was so rusted I would get depressed from
looking at it. The speaker overall was in good condition. The cone was nearly mint, the metal parts on
the other hand were badly corroded. Lots of masking was used to prevent damage to the speaker cone.
After a long detail polishing, the speaker looks like new and functions perfect. At this point I also
replaced the grille cloth with the correct reproduction cloth obtained through Radio Daze. It was
mounted onto the original sound board. I now moved on to the main chassis for some serious fun.
The tunning capacitor got the treatment first. It was completely dissasembled and polished as was the
brass dial light holder. The drum style tunning dial was replaced with a very nice correct reproduction
from the good people of radio daze. All new correct isolation washers were used when the tunning
capacitor was reattached. The chassis did recieve a very through cleaning inside and out, the large
transformer sized choke on the chassis top was stripped, primed and then painted black again. All of
the 3 tube shields were also polished back to new. Most of the work was undernieth the chassis, besides
all the endless detail cleaning was rebuilding all those capacitors. more on the capacitor rebuilds was
given its own page (click here). Most of the original wires were ok, but many that were questionable
were replaced with correct color and size reproduction wire. The primary power line has been replaced
for safety with a reproduction set that is identical to the original. The original bakelite power plug is in
place and i've made a little box with an AC outlet in it so it can be plugged in normally. The chassis
label is a correct recreation. The following slide show shows the final results of the finished chassis.
The finished Philco Radio
Its been a great project for many years and the waiting was worth it. Below are the finished pictures
of this nice old radio. I hope its around for a long time to come, it was an important part of day to day
life on the farm. I'm certain that many famous broadcasts were listened to on this radio and with a
little luck it will soon sing again..........
The Finished Philco