[Jimmiek]

I am working on a Philco model 80 and am looking for a non metallic nut driver to align the four adjustments on the rear of the chassis and the two on the tuning capacitor.  Any idea where one can be obtained?

[Stall-U-Rated]

Steve Davis on this forum makes some EXCELLENT tools for what you need.
Give him a shout..

Steve

[Nathan Slingerland]

+1 on that!

More info on Steve’s products here:

https://philcoradio.com/davis/index.html

[klondike98]

Steve has one listed on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philco-Alignmen...SwC8Zb6Y9j

[Jimmiek]

Thanks for the heads up.  I went to Ebay and bought it.   Thank You!  Thank You!  Thank You!

[klondike98]

[captainclock1988]

I just use a wooded handled 1/4" drive nut-driver like the one pictured below to adjust any RF, Oscillator and Antenna Adjustment nuts, and I don't have any issues with arcing or shorting of the adjustments, actually I had heard elsewhere (Mr. Carlson's Lab) that as long as the adjustments for the radio (e. g. RF, Oscillator, Antenna, etc.) aren't hot (don't have the B+ connected across them) then you really don't need to use a non-metallic screw driver or nut driver to make adjustments to a radio's RF, Oscillator, Antenna, or IF adjustments, as long as the screw driver or nut driver in question has an insultated handle. 

So really any metallic screw or nut driver with an insulated handle will suffice in this situaton as long as the adjustments in question aren't hot (which in this case all of your adjustments shouldn't be hot, one exception that I know of is the 116 Series of Philco radios where the 2nd and 3rd IF primary and secondary Coil Adjustments are hot but the 1st IF primary and secondary coil adjustments are not hot and neither is the 2nd IF tertiary adjustment).

I hope this helps.

[morzh]

Well,

Sooner or later you will have a hot trimmer. Philcos have a few. So it is better to have one tool rather than two.
Also, however small that could be, there is a capacitance between the shaft and the chassis and it is connected in parallel to your trimmer/padder. It might affect it little or more than that. Considering trimmers are small in the first place, even an extra pF or two can throw the alignment off.

One single wish I have is to have the tool with thin walls so it could fit through smaller openings. I had more than one case where either of two tools (one from Steve, one I bought on eBay from another vendor before) didn't fit through. My hot-formed ball pen tube did, so using a good material of the same thickness it is possible to make an actual slim tool.

[captainclock1988]

Well,

Sooner or later you will have a hot trimmer. Philcos have a few. So it is better to have one tool rather than two.
Also, however small that could be, there is a capacitance between the shaft and the chassis and it is connected in parallel to your trimmer/padder. It might affect it little or more than that. Considering trimmers are small in the first place, even an extra pF or two can throw the alignment off.

One single wish I have is to have the tool with thin walls so it could fit through smaller openings. I had more than one case where either of two tools (one from Steve, one I bought on eBay from another vendor before) didn't fit through. My hot-formed ball pen tube did, so using a good material of the same thickness it is possible to make an actual slim tool.

And I did address the issue with the hot trimmers that were on my 116B, which was to just wrap the screwdriver shaft with electrical tape up to the screwdriver tip, so that was the screw driver didn't have a chance of arcing against the IF Transformer's metal housing.

The nut driver I posted a picture of is just small enough to fit into the holes for the RF, Oscillatorm and Antenna adjustment openings and not touch the sides of the openings when turning the adjustment nuts, even the Wave Trap Filter adjustment and 2nd IF tertiary transformer adjustment, and the 1st IF primary and secondary transformer adjustment openings are a perfect fit for the nut driver I pictured.

I can definitely appreciate the concerns though and I definitely thought about trying to get a set of diddle sticks online but they cost way more than I'm willing to or am able to spend on something like that.

[rfeenstra]

I love to use Steve's tool but there have been a couple of instances where it just would not fit.  I had to resort to my old, ground down metal nut driver with tape to insulate it.  If it affected the tuning, which it has in a couple of instances, I adjust, remove, check, adjust again. remove and check until I get it right.  it takes a bit of extra effort but it works.

[morzh]

I did the same many times: wrapped my socket wrench with 1 layer of tape and then did "adjust-check" iterations several times.
I use my ball pen tool but sometimes when the nurt is especially tight it skips, plus ut has no handle and this affects precision.