[Steve D]

I have been restoring old radios for the past 30 years and have never had to take a tuning capacitor apart. My latest Philco, a model 118B, had fairly extensive rust areas on the chassis and also on the first section of the three gang tuning capacitor.

After removing the capacitor I began cleaning it up and realized that the mica insulators would need to be removed. The rusted section adjustment and hold down screws would not budge even after soaking in penetrating fluid. I did the wrong thing and used more force than I should have and broke the insulating phenolic plates on both the top and bottom of the supports of the stationary plate assembly. See the attached photos.

Does anyone know how to take the frame apart without damaging it and allowing it to be re-assembled? It is even possible? If not is it possible to repair the broken plates without removing the plate assembly using epoxy or JB weld? If it is not repairable are there any sources of NOS or used parts?

Thanks, for any help.

Steve D

http://galleries.shacknet.nu/steves/gall...7/Bot_view
http://galleries.shacknet.nu/steves/gall...7/Bot_view

[vinzer]

I would try to glue it you don't anything to loose.

here is a link for old radio parts http://www.oldradioparts.com/

[Mondial]

The cap frame really does not come apart so you will have to glue it in place. I would use clear epoxy, as JB weld contains metal particles which you don't want on an insulator.

You could insert sheets of thin card stock paper between the rotor and stator plates to align them and keep them in place while the glue sets.

If all else fails, here is a parts chassis for sale:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Philco-model-118...35cedf5e74

[Steve D]

I was afraid that the cap couldn't be taken apart. I'll try epoxy and if it doesn't work hopefully that parts chassis will still be available.

Mondial, thanks for the tip on the JB Weld.

Steve D

[Ron Ramirez]

Man, you should grab that 118 parts chassis now, while you can. At $39.99 BIN, I'm frankly surprised it's still available.

[morzh]

I was about to say the same. Buy it now option for this chassis and 20-25 bucks for delivery....you should grab it.

[Steve D]

OK thanks, guys I took your advice and just bought that chassis. The rest of my original tuning cap was rusty anyway and the dial pulleys and the tuning mechanism were bent and rusty as well. There are also lots of good spare parts there. Now I have a nice project for the holidays.

Steve D

[Steve D]

So I refurbished the tuning assembly of the parts chassis and ordered new mounting grommets. The assembly came out beautiful. I cleaned the dial with soft scrub on the outside (non lettered) side and then treated it with auto headlight UV protectant which made a nice sheen.

The original chassis is painted and I just changed one of the IF's with one from the parts chassis since someone in the past opened the IF and jammed the internal hardware and bent the can mountings. Next is restuffing the electrolytics and cap blocks.

http://galleries.shacknet.nu/family/album02/IMG_3565
http://galleries.shacknet.nu/family/album02/IMG_3567
http://galleries.shacknet.nu/family/album02/IMG_2773

Steve D

[Joeztech]

Steve;

Looks like you really and truly did the right thing by buying that extra chassis. You probably had no idea to begin with that you would run into a defective IF transformer.

That is a truly beautiful looking chassis now.

[Steve D]

Joe,

Thanks, it is really, really nice having two chassis to build one good one from. Makes it so much easier, plus I'll have extra spare parts left over for future projects.

Steve D