The PHILCO Phorum

I am faced with re-assembling a Philco 630 from several years ago. Back then I didn’t take adequate notes and although there were a few digital photos, they were only so helpful. But the radio is pretty much together and plays quite well. My problem lies in the vernier tuning control. I know of the three large ball bearings and where they go and I have the spring and I know where it goes. But the smaller bearings, (wherever they are), are another story. I am working with an assortment of metric bearings to replace the missing little ones. I have seen the procedure for putting this thing together on a couple of videos, but exactly how many of the little bearings go in is another story. It seems no matter what combination I try, I am unable to get the spring compressed and snap the outer assembly over the inner shaft. I have tried different combinations of small bearings on one side of the spring, on both sides, with no luck. The inner shaft on this radio looks shorter than on other models. That makes it a bit more difficult. So I’m open to any suggestions folks may offer.

Thanks in advance

Tim Zmudzinski

Hi Tim and welcome,

The diameter of the ball bearings going to be fairly critical to make it fit and work. I had a situation where I lost one of the bearing and bought an assortment on epay, I think it was 3 pounds of them. Someone here may be able to tell you the size but doubt it's metric.
This may help:  https://philcoradio.com/library/index.ph...uilding-2/  Scroll down to #6

Terry:

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I'll probably get some other size bearings. I still need to find out the arrangement of the spring and small bearings.

Tim