06-24-2018, 11:32 AM
Виктор, our cat, decided I needed to wake up at 7:45 this morning.
After breakfast, I went to the workbench and pulled out all of the parts for the ball bearing tuning assembly.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_056.jpg]
White lithium grease is what I will use as the new lubricant for the tuning assembly.
It does not take long to reassemble, but you must be extremely careful and pay attention to what you are doing.
Here's how I did it:
First, I shot some grease through one of the ball bearing holes in the side of the outer tuning shaft. Not a lot, just enough to work down into the end of the shaft where the two small ball bearings and the spring will go.
I cleared out the ball bearing holes in the sides of the shaft enough to see what was going on in the middle.
I then carefully dropped the first small ball bearing into the shaft. I worked it down into the space in the very back of the shaft with the help of two small screwdrivers - one pushing in from the front of the shaft, and other used through one of the ball bearing holes to guide the little bearing into its "cave" deep within the shaft.
Next, I applied some more grease to the tiny spring and put it into the shaft, once again using two screwdrivers to ensure it went in properly. It must go in longways.
Then the other small ball bearing goes in. The procedure is the same as the first two parts.
Having grease in there already will do two things: it will hold the tiny parts in place, and it will provide much needed lubrication once everything is all together.
Next, I applied more grease into each of the three ball bearing holes as well as into the end of the shaft, and placed two of the three large ball bearings into two of the three holes in the side of the outer tuning shaft.
The inner tuning shaft is put in next. The rounded end goes in, the flatted end goes out. The inner tuning knob will attach to the flatted end.
While holding the two ball bearings you put into the outer shaft, carefully push the inner shaft into the outer shaft. Excess grease will flow out of the hole which does not yet have a ball bearing; this is what you want to happen. Leaving one hole empty allows excess grease to escape and prevents your losing one (or more) ball bearings.
Once the inner shaft is in the outer shaft, place the third and final large ball bearing in its hole in the outer shaft.
Now you must push the entire assembly into the "keeper". I find that it helps to hold the assembly upside down at this point with the inner shaft pressing against your workbench. Press down on the "keeper" and the whole thing will just go together, allowing you to reinstall the C clip on the end.
When finished, it looks like this:
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_057.jpg]
Wipe away excess grease, and apply some grease to the geared end. Now reinstall on the tuning condenser.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_058.jpg]
That's it. The tuning is now very smooth with both inner and outer shafts, and the inner shaft will provide reliable fine tuning at any point on the dial as it should.
Since I am basically finished with my work under the chassis, I reattached the cross braces under the chassis.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_061.jpg]
Yes, I still need to come up with a solution for reattaching the antenna Fahnestock clip to the chassis. I need to think about that some more. It works OK as is for now.
About that pointer...
The photo below will illustrate why the dial scale had to be removed before I could ever have any hope of removing the pointer. I partially reinstalled the pointer to help explain my point (no pun intended).
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_062.jpg]
There is a large cylindrical metal piece to which the pointer itself is fastened; this is a press fit into the tuning shaft. This piece is slotted. Since it probably has not been removed since 1935-36, and since this set was exposed to a lot of moisture at some point, the slotted piece had more or less welded itself to the tuning shaft with the help of rust.
Not knowing how the pointer was fastened to the tuning shaft while the dial scale was in place, I was applying PB Blaster to the center point (where the green arrow is pointing). That never would have done any good. The PB Blaster needed to be applied to the point where the red arrow is pointing. Once I removed the dial scale and began applying PB Blaster there, between that, some time, and the help of a powerful pair of needle-nose pliers applied to the slotted cylindrical piece (NOT the pointer itself!), the pointer assembly slowly loosened. Once I managed to get it partway out, prying in the gap with small flat-blade screwdrivers allowed me to remove it completely.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_063.jpg]
After breakfast, I went to the workbench and pulled out all of the parts for the ball bearing tuning assembly.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_056.jpg]
White lithium grease is what I will use as the new lubricant for the tuning assembly.
It does not take long to reassemble, but you must be extremely careful and pay attention to what you are doing.
Here's how I did it:
First, I shot some grease through one of the ball bearing holes in the side of the outer tuning shaft. Not a lot, just enough to work down into the end of the shaft where the two small ball bearings and the spring will go.
I cleared out the ball bearing holes in the sides of the shaft enough to see what was going on in the middle.
I then carefully dropped the first small ball bearing into the shaft. I worked it down into the space in the very back of the shaft with the help of two small screwdrivers - one pushing in from the front of the shaft, and other used through one of the ball bearing holes to guide the little bearing into its "cave" deep within the shaft.
Next, I applied some more grease to the tiny spring and put it into the shaft, once again using two screwdrivers to ensure it went in properly. It must go in longways.
Then the other small ball bearing goes in. The procedure is the same as the first two parts.
Having grease in there already will do two things: it will hold the tiny parts in place, and it will provide much needed lubrication once everything is all together.
Next, I applied more grease into each of the three ball bearing holes as well as into the end of the shaft, and placed two of the three large ball bearings into two of the three holes in the side of the outer tuning shaft.
The inner tuning shaft is put in next. The rounded end goes in, the flatted end goes out. The inner tuning knob will attach to the flatted end.
While holding the two ball bearings you put into the outer shaft, carefully push the inner shaft into the outer shaft. Excess grease will flow out of the hole which does not yet have a ball bearing; this is what you want to happen. Leaving one hole empty allows excess grease to escape and prevents your losing one (or more) ball bearings.
Once the inner shaft is in the outer shaft, place the third and final large ball bearing in its hole in the outer shaft.
Now you must push the entire assembly into the "keeper". I find that it helps to hold the assembly upside down at this point with the inner shaft pressing against your workbench. Press down on the "keeper" and the whole thing will just go together, allowing you to reinstall the C clip on the end.
When finished, it looks like this:
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_057.jpg]
Wipe away excess grease, and apply some grease to the geared end. Now reinstall on the tuning condenser.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_058.jpg]
That's it. The tuning is now very smooth with both inner and outer shafts, and the inner shaft will provide reliable fine tuning at any point on the dial as it should.
Since I am basically finished with my work under the chassis, I reattached the cross braces under the chassis.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_061.jpg]
Yes, I still need to come up with a solution for reattaching the antenna Fahnestock clip to the chassis. I need to think about that some more. It works OK as is for now.
About that pointer...
The photo below will illustrate why the dial scale had to be removed before I could ever have any hope of removing the pointer. I partially reinstalled the pointer to help explain my point (no pun intended).
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_062.jpg]
There is a large cylindrical metal piece to which the pointer itself is fastened; this is a press fit into the tuning shaft. This piece is slotted. Since it probably has not been removed since 1935-36, and since this set was exposed to a lot of moisture at some point, the slotted piece had more or less welded itself to the tuning shaft with the help of rust.
Not knowing how the pointer was fastened to the tuning shaft while the dial scale was in place, I was applying PB Blaster to the center point (where the green arrow is pointing). That never would have done any good. The PB Blaster needed to be applied to the point where the red arrow is pointing. Once I removed the dial scale and began applying PB Blaster there, between that, some time, and the help of a powerful pair of needle-nose pliers applied to the slotted cylindrical piece (NOT the pointer itself!), the pointer assembly slowly loosened. Once I managed to get it partway out, prying in the gap with small flat-blade screwdrivers allowed me to remove it completely.
[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...-5_063.jpg]
--
Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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