Probably the pressure of that spring pulling on it caused even more wear. Can you find a brass bushing to put in the hole. You can maybe drill the bracket hole a little bigger and find a bushing to put in with an inner diameter the same as the shaft. Also, either braze or weld up the shaft where it is worn and file it smooth to the same dimensions. Unless your lucky enough to find another assymbly from another radio.
That bushing, as you call it, actually acts like a thrust bearing between the dial drive and the bracket. The spring is there to maintain pressure between the thrust bearing, the edge of the dial, and that T shaped sleeve on the other side, the pressure it applies is horizontal so I don't think it caused the shaft to wear as it did. I don't know what to suggest as a means of dealing with the worn shaft, welding it and then machining it down in a lathe would be the best method, unless you could fit a sleeve over it. If these were designed properly they would have used a bronze or brass bushing for the shaft to rotate inside of rather then a thin edge of a sheet metal bracket, this was normal construction with tuning shafts in later sets.
Regards
Arran
(This post was last modified: 05-16-2014, 12:20 AM by Arran.)
That silly setup they put on there with the washer and the spring likely caused the shaft to have more of a groove worn into it then usual. But in any event if you can get that bush pressed in there in just the right position it should solve the slop problem, just grease the inside of it well.
Regards
Arran
