Philco 15M91 is alive

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Mal Fuller

Believe it or not, you can do a great job of cleaning a switch type (non-turret) type tuners by chucking an electric drill to the shaft and letting 'er rip after spraying.

Wow... THAT'S hardcore, dude!!

[Ralph S]

For those of you who are not aware of the type of tuner involved here, please be aware that it is not the classic "turret" style seen on many early black and white sets. The switching elements are Centralab-style round phenolic wafer switches and are considerablly more delicate than turret types. I suspect that those who evidenced horror at the idea of chucking the tuner shaft into a drill motor and letting her rip (after cleaner spraying) are on the right side of caution!

[old_coot88]

Yeah, the holes in those phenolic wafers have flatted sides keyed to mating flats in the shaft. It don't take much for the holes to get reamed so the wafer loses its position on the shaft or does not turn with the shaft.