The PHILCO Phorum

Hi all,

I have a Philco 710 radio, made in New Zealand. It belonged to my mother's family and I restored most of the cabinet about 30 years ago. My uncle, who knew everything about old radios and HAM radio, fixed the internals. Since then the dial string has broken. I would like to replace it but need help with two things:
- what string to use? The current string just looks like normal old twine, although a little hardened.
- where to route the string? I can see how to attach it to the tuning capacitor but there are a couple of pulleys - one behind the tuning knob and another next to it - and I don't know how to route it around those.

Can anybody help? I'm totally knew to this but wanting to learn. Let me know if I can provide more information, photos etc.

Regards,
Derek

I'm not sure of the way to string it on the radio, but if you look up "vintage radio dial cord" on eBay you will find quite a selection. I think one of the thicker cords would serve your purpose, either 0.040" diameter, or 0.050" diameter. You can buy it in 12 foot lengths quite reasonably. As for the stringing diagram for your particular model, unless someone on here has the exact information, you might search through the diagrams you can find in the PDF file you can download from this site, http://www.nucow.com/alldial.htm ,and look through it until you find one that matches the shaft and pulley layout of your model.

Hi Derek and welcome.

May I make a suggestion? Please, carefully remove the dial pointer, then remove the two bolts holding the dial in place and remove the dial. You will need to remove these anyway in order to do the restringing. Then, take a clear frontal photo of the chassis and post here. I can then take that and make a rough diagram for you.

I think I can envision how it should go, but seeing that extra pulley (which the photo will reveal) will help me out.

Thanks - and do be careful with that dial pointer. Barring any corrosion/rust, it should just pull off.

Hi Ron,

Thank you for the advice. I have removed the dial plate but there are still parts in front of the pulleys. I have tried to remove part of the chassis but I don't have the correct (imperial size) spanner to fit. I have tried to take a few photos to make it clearer and I've also drawn a rough diagram to show the pulley layout. The bottom right pulley in the diagram is the one attached to the tuning knob. I have also drawn in my guess of how to string it. Do you also recommend "vintage radio dial cord"?

Thanks,
Derek