What a shame the acid did so much damage.

It sure is... But I saw the "evidence" on lower external edge of chrome on underside of radio & inside battery compartment when checking out the radio for the first time---but after deciding against and passing by the unsold radio several times during almost a year & finally having the owner make that "unrefusable" offer, I "broke"... Wonder how many here could have left this "poor" thing to gather dust & possibly be trashed ?

John

Hello Vimal---almost missed your post as thread turned to page 2, sorry !

Plan to thoroughly clean bearing area with Acetone over the weekend & repack---the original grease still seemed soft & okay as well as the bearings appearing "shiny" before I added a drop of synthetic oil, but something still has to be causing the slight "drag"...

John

What a day...

Spent hours on tuning cap bearings... After rolling a paper napkin & wrapping it around shaft, used a short length of 18 ga. teflon sleeving as a pipette, "dribbled" acetone on old bearing grease from cap. inside to remove it & clean bearings of residue. Worked cap. through range several times after each application. After grease & residue completely gone, continued process many more times using air nozzle to blow dry... Shaft rotation slowly became easier & smoother---when no more improvement noticed, poured small quantity of acetone through bearings & blow dried thoroughly once again. Then packed bearings from outside with Valvoline hi-performance wheel bearing grease using Q-tip shaft to work in thoroughly... Shaft now rotates very smoothly & easily...

Then carefully cleaned cap body & pulley with Q-tips & acetone to remove any grease residue before installation...

Carefully cleaned tuning knob hub and all dialcord pulleys with acetone. Since the original dialcord had already been contaminated with grease, thought I'd see if it would withstand the acetone without damage---it did & cleaned up great... Put it all together & no good !!! The dialcord still slipped on knob hub ! Tried an extra turn & more spring tension, same thing. So cut a length of new dial cord & same result ! You could rotate cap. pulley and spin knob, but knob just won't move cord ! All pulleys move freely, cord is routed correctly, but will not work ! Really frustrated & angry about this after all the work---any ideas ??? It did work somewhat originally, even with tight cap & "sticky" pulleys !

John

I hear your frustration John. - Put it aside for a few days and sleep on it.

~ Mitch ~

John,
Relax,take a deep breath & recheck if,"cord is routed correctly''?All the patience you have shown should bear fruits:)

Thanks guys...

Patience gone for now on this---hopefully it'll go better tomorrow...

John

What I did with one of these is steal my wife's 3M spray adhesive, squirt some on a piece of scrap, and take a cut Q-tip and use that to apply a little of it to the slipping shaft. A small amount-please! Worked the tuning back and forth and all was fine. YMMV, usual disclaimer applies-it is sticky stuff and makes a mess. Some will transfer to the cord but so what?

If this is uncomfortable, try it on a junker first to get the technique.

Had a Royal 1000 doing the same thing-took care of it also.

Rich

Thanks Rich... Read below for a permanent fix which should work with many dialcord equipped radios...

All is fine now---A long, but productive day !

Realized while half-asleep that I wasn't pulling cord tight enough to maintain tension---so tried that "angle" today... No good with new dialcord which is thicker, so reinstalled the old & got tuning back to it's previously "intermittent" & "springy motion"...

It had to be that brass tuning shaft hub ! So pulled the subassembly from tuning dial housing & removed it---then rolled small piece of 600 grit sandpaper into a very small cylinder & "sanded" with an "up & down" sweeping motion all around the concave hub surface repeatedly & carefully until entire circumference was evenly "refinished"... Then thoroughly cleaned with acetone again & blew off... Restrung original dialcord & it now works perfectly & precisely !!! When you get to end of dial, the tuning knob simply stops---no slip whatsoever ! The hub surface feels smooth to the touch after "sanding" with that very fine grit, so shouldn't cause any damage to cord...

Then "attacked" the electronics... One lead of the RF amp transistor 1.5K emitter resistor was almost corroded away by the leakage "drippage", so removed it, thoroughly cleaned residue all around it, and installed new one... Then recapped & reassembled radio. Made replacement loopstick lead strap from a small strip of scrap black flexible thermoplastic from junk box...

Not enough time to align & tweak which radio now needs, but works very well anyway---just not quite as sensitive as it should be...

Listening now to the "Bluegrass Connection" on Purdue's AM college station some 60+ miles away---Bluegrass sure sounds great on these radios !

Radio turned out far better in appearance than I originally thought & plastic case looks almost new after rigorous cleaning...

If anyone would like more detailed explanation of the tuning knob shaft hub "refinishing". don't hesitate to ask---simple but a little tedious...

Here's some "complete" pics---these radios don't photograph too well with flash because of all the chrome, so these are taken in ambient light...

Looks Bitchen John!

~ Mitch ~

That's something!

I have one in bad shape I should try but I'd have to get medicated to get the courage! With mine I was happy to just get it clean in and out and have it work. Some I didn't even recap-the originals and the recapped radios sound equally as good anyway.

Rich

Great job John. All it needs now is its hangtag!

Colin

Thanks guys !

Rich, all 3 of mine worked fine with original caps & two I couldn't tell difference with new---just would hate to disassemble again !

Colin---didn't even think of that ! Had already put tag away in envelope... But thanks to your suggestion, got it out and took another pic---tag itself didn't photograph too well, but it's there... Thanks for the mention ! ( the '58 red WE 500 wanted in the shot, too ) And you're the only one who's asked for the hi-res scans of the hang-tag ! viewtopic.php?f=4&t=199802

Looking great, John! Thanks for investigating into a permanent fix for the slipping cord. You bet I'll be performing the same treatment to the shaft on mine. If I run into troubles I'll simply call you on the hot line

Bruce Webster

Thanks much Bruce !

The "fix" still doing great---imagine that "hub" was glazed/polished before "refinishing" from years of use...

Don't think you'll have any trouble, but below is a "before" close up pic of subassembly...
After removing the two hex-head screws & lifting out, the shaft/hub assy. is easily removed by two 9/16" deep well sockets... Should have taken after pics of "hub", but just wanted to "get 'er together" after all the work !

Here's the AM/FM version for cheap!($30) - Thought you'd be interested John:
** Link Deleted **

~ Mitch ~

Thanks Mitch---wish you'd PM'd me as it will probably be gone... Did send e-mail anyway
as I have family & know others in PA...

John

You're right... I kinda goofed on that.
Hopefully it will still be available.

~ Mitch ~

Nice work. Take it back to the shop and explain that it only took ~70 hours of work to make it a good investment. If only people knew how much work these can be, the price of a rough one might be a bit more reasonable. I notice that the dial light button is white. I have one with white and one with black.

Hey Jeremy---thanks much & good to hear from you ! Was wondering if you were doing okay...

It was a lot of work, but worth it---turned out much better than I thought... And learned a few things in the process !

Plan to head south again this coming weekend & hope to show this thread to shop proprietor if able ( they have internet behind counter )... And maybe find another "treasure" I don't need !

Is it your "F" model that has black button ? Think that's the only version I've seen pics of that used it...

And where are those pics you promised long ago of your P-780 projects---do you still have them ? Just revisited that old thread last night...

John