ve3... wrote:
I had several old sw radios that worked fine except that the dial cord
was slipping. Very annoying. But replacement cord is hard to find and
can be tricky to replace. The problem is that the cord and tuning shaft
became highly polished over the years and there wasn't much friction
left. I got a can of "Gunk" Belt Dressing, sprayed some into a glass,
and applied it to the cord and the tuning shaft with a camel's hair
brush. That was three months ago and the tuning has been fine ever
since with no slippage. The belt dressing is the type used to spray on
automotive v-belts.



One of the tricks Grundig and Telefunken used to employ, rather than
the usual dial cord (which brings to the project it's own unique set of
obstacles), was steel wire. It doesn't fray, has limited stretch, and if
the wheels are clean, doesn't slip, either. It needs to be tensioned
with a hefty spring, but in the absence of dial cord, which is getting
difficult to find these days, steel wire is a good alternative.

I've restrung the dial on my S 53A using steel wire instead of dial
cord, with exceptional results.