While restoring a 37-610T I was cleaning and lubricating the vernier shaft assembly; the one with the three ball bearings. In the process of cleaning out the old gunked up grease I lost the compression spring that is inside the brass shaft and was wondering if anyone knows a source to get a replacement or perhaps the specifications for the spring? It looks like the spring is about 1/8" OD and 3/8"-1/2" long uncompressed. There is a smaller ball bearing that fits into the end of the spring as well.
Thanks,
Steve D
Hi Steve
Looks like you may have to find a junker set to acquire the parts you need. Any 37-610, 37-611, 37-620, 37-623, 37-623, 37-630 or 37-640 should have that same dial drive. (The 37-61 and 37-89 drive might also work but I am not sure about those.) Also equivalent 1938 models. Or, if you carefully disassemble the drive from one of the above models, you could find out what type of spring and ball bearing you need.
I do not currently own any 1937 models or junkers, sorry.
Thanks Ron, I measured a spring from a model 37-630 that a friend had here at work and got the dimensions off that one. Located a spring from a spring kit that was almost exactly the same and it works great.
Steve D
Great! Were you able to replace the ball bearing also, or did you have that already?
Yes I had the smaller ball bearing as it had remained stuck into the congealed old grease. I also had the three larger bearings as they remained "glued" to the shaft holes by the same old grease. After a thorough cleaning I re-assembled the shaft with new white lithium grease. There was very little wear on the fine vernier shaft ball end.
I was amazed at how well this vernier system works without gears. The ball bearing system is actually smoother than any gear set and gives about a 4:1 reduction. Clever engineers working for Philco back then!
The radio I restored just prior to this 37-610 was a 38-89 which although it has 6 tubes I like the tuning system of the 610 much better.
Steve D
I have a Philco 623 and decided to take apart and clean the vernier dial drive. After it exploded on me and I managed to find the parts that flew, I couldn't figure out what held the inner shaft in place till I read this post and found another page that showed how it works. Anyway, it appears that the ball on the end of my inner shaft came off. If I look under a magnifing glass I can see a line around the ball where it matches up to the end of the shaft. So my question is, is the ball glued to the inner shaft ? can it be reglued with super glue or ?
Thanks !
Tim
Tim, I may have one you can have. I think I have one in my parts bin, and if not I know I should have one on a junker 1936 model 660 chassis. My email address is
Ksictransitgloria@hotmail.com .
By the way, I also have a 623 shouldered tombstone and a 623 console. If you can find a power adapter the battery sets are a good investment, as they (in my experience, anyway) are usually in better shape and were put away when the owner of the radio got power hooked up to their home and could "upgrade" to an ac set. P.S. in my opinion the Philco 5 tube and 6 tube sets from the 1936-1937 models recieve and play as well as many more expensive sets from that era!