[Collins] Dial Restringing 75A-4

[Dallas Lankford]

Hi Tony,

It is normal for a spline wrench to flex some.  But unless I tried your set
screw myself, I could not tell you if it is normal or not.

Get yourself a complete set of Xcelite 99-Series multiple spline wrenches,
Jensen Cat. 3-110.  www.jensentools.com

The L-wrenches are good for some jobs, but the 99-Series set is mandatory if
you do much work on receivers with spline set screws.

Also, if I recall correctly, some Collins dial set screws have green LokTite
applied to them.  It seems that I had to use a hot soldering iron (not gun)
tip inserted into the set screw to soften the LokTite.  And I used a wood
tongue depressor between the iron and the plastic dial to keep from damaging
the plastic dial.  The tongue depressor smoked a bit, but the dial was
unharmed.

Good luck,

Dallas


----- Original Message -----
From: <Barockteer@aol.com>
To: <collins@listserve.com>; <collins@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2002 7:04 AM
Subject: [Collins] Dial Restringing 75A-4


> On Dial restrining on a 75A-4:
>
> I bought the bristol wrenches from the guy who sells them on eBay. So far,
good quality, no problems. I couldn't get the dial off for a number of
reasons. However, when it came to removing the kilocycle dial, I gave up.
First, the wrenchs are just L shaped, like allen wrenches, and the right
size one was shorter than the diameter of the dial, and the set screws are
behind the dial. I used a pair of pliers to insert and turn the wrench, but
it started to flex and I was afraid it would break off. Then I'd have a
broken piece of wrench stuck in the set screw and no way to remove it. The
setscrews are secured with some green paint (old fashioned Loctite?). Maybe
I'd have better luck with a screwdriver type bristol wrench, but I didn't
have one, so I 'made do', by restringing with the dial in place, but it was
a pain.
>
>  Any advice on this one?
>
> 73,
>
> Tony, K1KP
>
> Sponsored by the Collins Radio Association
> http://www.collinsra.com
>