Thorn 1500 push button tuner repair

[1100 man]

The tuner in my 1500 has suffered the usual crumbling plastic bits which causes the springs to get tangled up with the latching mechanism.
I read everything I could find on the Forum about ways of repairing the problem and proceeded to dismantle the tuner.

I didn't have any cup washers or anything else that could be used to effect a repair. So my solution was to simply relocate the springs to just behind the plastic push buttons. They locate nicely on the shoulder at the base of the button and there is enough space to allow the button to be fully pressed to engage the latch.

The buttons are a tight fit on the shaft and the springs are not that strong so there is little chance of the buttons being forced off.

Where the other end of the spring sits against the metal plate, I put a couple of dabs of glue just to keep the spring central with the shaft. This is not really necessary as it still works perfectly well with the springs not centred.
It's all back together and back in service and it works very well.
I hadn't seen this particular approach mentioned so thought I would post it here.

I had expected to find the same tuner in my 1400 but its totally different! Much more robust with no plastic bits!

All the best
Nick

[Focus Diode]

Excellent work.

The push button tuners in some of the earlier 1400s do indeed differ. You'll probably find them having 1/8" rather than 1/4" spindles as well.

Later 1400 tuners are similar to 1500 ones but have the usual black three pin plug that fits the VHF tuner. They're interchangeable but 1/4" knobs will be needed and vice versa.

Brian.

[Welsh Anorak]

I did something similar with mine, but used some washers with the centres drilled out to spread the load of the spring. Your method is probably quite sufficient as they won't be subject to the continuous thumping they were designed for!