[ARC5] BC-348 Backlash/Play

[David Stinson]

Thank you all for the good ideas and suggestions- yet
another example of the excellence of our community.

There's a famous quote from a Clint Eastwood movie:
 
  "A man's got to know his limitations."

I'm no machinist.  I'm lucky I don't drill holes through 
my own thumbnail.  I am certain that if I attempt to remove
any of these pins, I'm going to do irrepairable damage to
the mechanism; I'd rather put-up with the "wibble wobbles"
on the high bands forever.
Moreover- this isn't my radio, so I'm unwilling to take that risk.
I got all the electronics working well; 
I'll let my friend decide if he wants to take a chance with his radio.  
Besides- IMHO, trying to use a BC-348 to work DX on 
20 meter CW or SSB is not the best idea.  Still a lovely 
sounding shortwave broadcast listener up there.

All that being said, the "wibble-wobbles" are improved.
The backlash/play issue is like a tree-  it has many roots.

The first thing to do is to clean-up the heavy grease with which
people inevitably contaminate these gears.  And I'm biting my
own tail, since when I was young and dumb (vs. now- old and dumb),
 I did it, too.  Never use grease on these gears.  See below.
The "in and out" play in the tuning shaft I fixed with 
a snap-ring washer under the worm gear.

The play in the tuning capacitor I fixed as I posted last time.
Important- When re-meshing the tuning cap split gear
with the pinion, mesh them fully but do not compress
them together.  Pressure against the cap bearings 
causes "stuttering" as well as wear.

Lubricate the capacitor rotor contact sliders and bearings
with De-Ox-It or similar.  To my surprise, some of the 
"stuttering" was caused by slight binding at these points.

There's supposed to be a brace between the tuning capacitor
frame/shield and one of the bandswitch boxes.  
Make sure it's tight.  

Under the tuning knob, there is a felt washer which helps
to damp tuning knob "stuttering."  If it's rotten or compressed, 
replace it.  Mine was compressed, but was able to "fluff it up"
and back it with a washer over the shaft.  Do not push the 
knob on so hard you re-compress the felt.  
Snug but not compressed.  

All of this helped, but the big "bad actor" in this set is 
the worm gear wheel split gear- the one I can't get out, of course.
Someone put heavy grease in this gear chain, which is always a 
mistake.  The grease gets between the gear halves and 
becomes a sticky mess, defeating the purpose of the split gear.
I've been able to wash-out most of it and, after applying heat to 
flow some of the glop away and a liberal use of penetrating oil, 
the "wibble wobbles" appear randomly across the dial and
and at random intensity as the goo between the halves slithers 
and slinks around.  They seem to fade as the rig warms-up.
Doubtless the heavy grease carried dust and dirt in there as well
and it contributes to the problem.

I'm not removing the gear.  Thank you, but that's absolutely 
not happening.  So if I'm going to clear any more of the gloop 
from between these halves of the split gear, 
it will need to be done with more chemical washing.  
I've been using Mineral Spirits and it has helped, 
but is there anything better I might try?

TNX ES 73 DE Dave AB5S