Removing Bush Circular Plastic Tuning Dials.

[GJR 11L]

I would have to admit that the only one of these I've broken was the one I tried to lift by the plunger method, the dial cover came away, its hub was left on the spindle!

I have always, since then, used a sheet of thin card of the sort that supermarkets print those glossy weekly leaflets on (the ones that keep coming through your door from Morrisons, Somerfield et al). This is every bit as effective as using flat strips of leathercloth or the hanky, but has the advantage that the card will split if there's any danger of breakage, yet provide a sufficiently large contact area to pull that cover off there unless it's totally seized, in which case a rubber plunger won't help.

When these are stuck fast, I remove the centre trim and carefully drill a 1mm hole down the clamping ring in order to split the spring clip which, once drilled through, falls off and allows the dial cover to lift easily.

There's little point in dosing the spindle of the tuning gang with grease as the seizure will always be between the clip and the hub of the dial cover. Those little clips are the same as used on countless more commonly found knobs, I lubricate them before fitting to the plastic but leave the spindle dry apart from a quick wipe with nylon grease.

Works for me but then I'm only just on my 12th such job and have encountered 2 seized ones, both responded to that technique.

[howard]

Hello Phil,

I've dismantled at least 40 of these and haven't yet broken a dial BUT I guess eventually it will happen ......

Howard

[Trev757]

Hi Howard

Yes, I did trim the plunger to fit and made sure it was a good fit, but I must have been going wrong somewhere! What is clear from this thread is that people have devised ways of getting dials off without wrecking them and that's the main thing. It's not as if you can go to RS and buy a replacement off the shelf!

Trev

[ppppenguin]

Originally Posted by howard

Here's a demonstration of how I use a plunger to remove large Bush dials

Or just ask any friendly Dalek to help

[howard]

Originally Posted by ppppenguin

Or just ask any friendly Dalek to help

Laughing out Loud

Howard

[pmmunro]

This is probably a silly suggestion but, do the dials from the modern reproduction Bush radios fit the older types?

PMM

[stephanie]

Originally Posted by ppppenguin

Or just ask any friendly Dalek to help

That's a plan.

As far as the new Bushies are concerned, the components in those are not useable for proper radios - at least that's the impression I got from Paul Stenning's review of one of those sad boxes a few years back.

[wireful3]

Originally Posted by pmmunro

This is probably a silly suggestion but, do the dials from the modern reproduction Bush radios fit the older types?

I just checked on mine and the answer is No!

The knob is fixed by a screw from the rear screwed into the bright central boss. It certainly comes off easier than the old one but does not fit onto the drive shaft.
Regards,

[GJR 11L]

Originally Posted by pmmunro

This is probably a silly suggestion but, do the dials from the modern reproduction Bush radios fit the older types?

PMM

They can be made to fit if you simply take a holesaw to the hub of the one from the mutant, er sorry replica, then cut the same diameter from the very cloudy one that you wish to replace, take the fixing hub cut from the real radio and lay it in the hole left in the dial cover from the fake. There will be a gap the thickness of the blade from your holesaw, so making sure that the dial cover is on a flat surface and the hub is central, put a ring of solvent based glue (ideally polystyrene cement in gel form) around the join, leave for at least a day. Then the job should be solid enough to move.

At this point take the central metal trim from your "real" set and fill it with decent epoxy resin, placing this over the repaired area will hide the join and once the epoxy has set (I used the slow-setting type on the one that I did) you may (carefully as she goes) place the repaired cover on the real radio.

Assuming that the hub and the outer rim were both on the same flat surface during the setting of the cement and that they are concentric, the tuning control shouldn't wobble!

If you're really keen, you can stick the felt strip from the original cover around the inside of the replacement, though there isn't a groove for it to sit in as per the original.

In case you're looking at a TR82 now and wondering what strip of felt I'm on about, I did the job to an MB60 which should have a continuous strip in there, looking at the TR82s etc. I seem to recall that they all have three or four separate little felt pads instead.

Was it worth doing? Don't be daft, the job was a complete pain and I won't be doing that again any time soon!

[batterymaker1]

Originally Posted by howard

Hello,

Here's a demonstration of how I use a plunger to remove large Bush dials. This TR82B has not yet been restored or cleaned so its dial has probably been on there for 40 odd years.

Heh--I think that's exactly what Bush recommended in their service literature....

[Superhet Si]

I found the easy way that puts least strain on the tuning wheel is to remove the chassis screws and full the chassis from the case evenly. This puts even load on the plastic.