I am continuing to work on the Philco 39-30 and next part of the project is cleaning up the dial escutchen. This one contains 8 original radio tabs that I plan to remove and reuse after the cleanup is done. They seem to be stuck in place.
My question is how to safely remove the radio tabs without damaging them? Has anyone ever done this?
G. By "tab" I'm assuming you mean the push buttons used for station selection. Those should be crumbling and about ready to fall out. I did a 39-25 and it didn't take much to wiggle them out. If they need encouragement just crush 'em a bit with some pliers. I'd think you want to replace them rather than save them. Here's a photo of mine with some out and some still in place:
[Image: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5462...utton2.jpg]
The brass/copper tab embedded in the button is worth $1 each if you send it to Renovated Radios (and you can get the replacement repro buttons there; scroll down on the page to his 1939 Philco Push Buttons).
If you really want to try to save them, you'll have to wiggle them as best you can to get past the frame and if they are as fragile as the ones I had they won't take much pressure on before it crumbles.
ah...those tabs. That was a bit of a challenge but I was able to use a combination of a needle and tweezers to work them out of the slot. It just took some time. I reused mine too.
