Philo 15" Retro 1950s HDTV Recreation of the Philco Predicta

Iv'e always wanted a Philco Predicta TV set. this is the first full size version I have made.

This is my original 7" version https://www.instructables.com/id/Philo-the-7-3D-printed-retro-TV/

ALL 3D PRINTED PARTS HERE http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1041673

Iv'e always wanted a Philco Predicta TV set. I looked at pictures online and drew a version on tinkercad.com to look similar, i used the components from a proscan pled1526a HDTV i got on sale for $65.

I measured the lcd panel and made a copy of it in the computer so that i could fit the cabinet to the lcd and main board. once i had the look i wanted, i had to cut the digital model into 12 pieces so that i could fit them on my 3d printer which has a volume of around 200mm wide x200mm deep x 200mm high.

I printed a few at a time when they fit side by side.

once i had a few pieces printed,
(5 to 15 hours print time), i butted them together and used a soldering iron to melt the edges of the pieces together. in the end it will all be one solid piece, and won't require any glue or screws.

the only fasteners were 4 tiny screws to attach the lcd to the front bezel and 2x 1/4 20 bolts to later attach the arms.

i aqlso drilled a hole in the back large enough for the HDMI cable as well as the keypad controls and 12v power cord from the bottom half.

i made a cable bundle for the HDMI, controls, power, and speaker cables. once that was done i hooked it to cable.

i used 3/4" copper tubing for the arms. I bent them freehand to fit around the tube section. I painted it chrome, but the paint was easily scratched. it clear coated over it which made it more grey than chrome. the tv is controlled by 7 keys, power channel up, down. volume up, down. menu, and source. i wanted it to feel like the real tv. i printed a jig to add knobs that will turn 1/32 of a turn and also push in. the top one is turn for channels, push for menu. the bottom is turn for volumes, push for power. there is a source button for the tv and another for the HDMI switcher on the right side where horiz, and vert hold should be. i made the wooden parts but didnt get any pictures, im not a good carpenter so it took a lot of concentration to get it right. i made the speaker grill from thin plywood, and covered it with cotton remnants, and used thumbtacks to stretch it.

after the cabinet was done, a lot of the wiring was improvised,

for this project I had 3 separate remotes that i wanted in one case. it also had to look more retro. i designed a case to fit all the remotes inside and a pc board to hold all the keys. there is a tv remote from proscan, an hdmi 4 input switcher and a bluetooth remote for the nexus player, which is the smart section of the tv.

https://youtu.be/NImDK2nia6o

I probed the keys i needed on each remote. most remotes are set up with keys in a matrix diagram

connecting pin 4 - 3 is the power key, 4 - 5 will be mute and so forth. it takes a while to find all the commands.