This is driving me nuts. The knobs on this set are insanely tight. They won't come off. Tried everything from gently prying to brute force. I need to remove the chassis so I can work on caps and such but these knobs are preventing me from pulling it. Are there repro knobs available? If so I may cut these off as they are not in great shape anyways. I just don't like resorting to destruction as a solution.

Is this an AC/DC radio? If so, I have come across a couple of these and there is a retaining clip of some type as I recall on the knob or shaft that prevents a user from taking off the knob and subsequently grabbing a "hot" shaft. I don't recall how I got the chassis out but it seems in my muddled memory that one had to loosen the chassis and pull from the rear. Needless to say, I goes back in easily but none the less, I left those little devils off. I could be totally wrong.

Jerry

Its odd because the one I got to come off a little wont slide back on either. It came off about 1/8" and thats it. Its like they are glued in place. This is a four tube battery set.

As you know those Knobs are very fragile.

What I have done with Good success is

Set the Radio down on the Knob tops. Spray shafts under skirt with WD-40, Liquid wrench or OIL what ever you have.

Let it set 5 minutes or so , allowing the lube to work down the shaft into the knob.

Repeat a couple times wiping off excess each time.

Then Set Cabinet on its back , take a plastic screwdriver Handle (Nut Driver Handle , and tap on the TOP of each knob GENTLY, shocking the knob on the rusted shaft.

Then you must take 2 pieces of wood shims that will fit under the Knob between skirt and the Radio cabinet face. Doing one Knob at a time.

Tap them in until both are SNUG

Then put a strip of hard wood across the end of the 2 wood shims and tap on it so both Shims receive the same amount of force.

Do this slow and gentle as the skirts are easy to break.

If you applied enough WD-40 or the such they should pop loose.

Just take your time.

I have used this many time with success every time.

Hope it works for you

Let us know

Regards,
Bob T

Set screws??

Ed

Nope.. no set screws. I have worked on over 50 radios and never came across anything like this.

Stick it in the freezer for a coiple hours.Then use the wedge method.

Its a very common issue with this style of knob on those Zeniths as well as the 5-R-312

There is no one out there making these knobs as a reproduction. A few guys make similar ones but these, as you know, have the long shafts that go into the bakelite and no one that I know of make the correct ones.

after breaking about 6 of these trying to get them off I had a fellow ARF member (KENG) tell me how to do it. You reach through with a soldering iron and heat up the metal shaft. Let is set on there as long as you possibly can without melting the knob. Then she just slides right off. I tried it and it works slick. I have taken off 4 sets since then and I have yet to damage any of them.

Good Luck

~jeff~

If they are the small diameter shaft knobs, I make them. Just haven't put them on my web site yet.
Ed

well hell Ed,
If thats the case, I'll take three pair!

I didn't set out to mislead anyone.
I am glad you posted that

~jeff~

Jeff.. I can just barely see the end of the shaft for the tuning knob but the volume is inaccessable. Ed.. can you post a pic of the knob you have?

The broken knob I used for a model looked like the hole was a stepped affair. Not sure if that is correct or it was worn that way. I filled the back and drilled a 1/8" hole for the shaft. Is that the correct size?

I don't have a picture yet, I still have to mix the color and pour the first few knobs, but I should be able to get them made by Saturday.

You probably already tried it but I've also found the old zenith knobs to be really tight. I slip some twine behind them, one on bottom, one on top, so I can pull evenly from both sides. Seems to work. Good luck.

Ed, these knobs look like little hard hats and have a shaft attached to them. The shaft is about 7/16" in diameter and at least 3/4" long from what I can see. Quite resilient as well.

Doesn't sound like what I'm making. These are flat on the bottom with just a hole in the center. No part of the knob extends into the radio cabinet.