Lubricating Brass gear wheels and pinions

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

I'm restoring an old radio, the tuning mechanism is a gear reduction drive made of large gear wheels (anti-backlash types) and small pinions. Probably more tham you would find in a typicalclock!

Shpuld these be "dry" which they are, or what should I use as a lubricant?

TIA

Steve

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

Steve If it where a clock they would be definately Dry

Roy

[Jens Eirik Skogstad 1Participant @jenseirikskogstad1]

Keep dry in the gearwheel due dust will collect where the parts is lubricated. The shaft/bore is lubricated very little with non drying grease to make tuning smooth.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Steve

As Roy says don't lubricate your clock wheels – just the "bearings". I guess the same goes for your old radio. The rationale is that if you lubricate the wheel (gear) it will, in time, pick up fluff. grit etc. and gradually this will grind away the brass which, in any case, works fine without lubrication. Even worse don't spray it with WD40 – if you do this will, in time, form a sticky residue which is an ideal carrier for any abrasive particles!

Cheers

Norman

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Steve, the gearing will incorporate an anti backlash set up, make sure that is freely working. Normally I leave them dry. Wear will only occur over a very long period of time.

Clive

[Jens Eirik Skogstad 1Participant @jenseirikskogstad1]

With other word, the gear wheel in the radio is not rotating in whole time, wear is not problem in the radio.

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

Advice given to run gears dry is probably correct for this application but you need to find out what is already there and remove it first . After many years all sorts of old lubricant and dust together with biolological , atmospheric and static attracted materials can accumulate on mechanical radio parts . Good clean in a mild solvent using clock cleaning methods may be advisable .

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Don't bother TPTB will probably ban non-digital radio in 2013

Seriously though, aren't the finer parts of those old radions wonderfully made?

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The best I can find is, clean out the gunk in between the gears, and leave dry, use a non hardening grease on the teeth of the gear/pinion. Ian S C

[john fletcher 1Participant @johnfletcher1]

If you join Vintage Radio forum some one there will tell you for certain.Also they will give you information on how to fix the radio if you need any help in that area and to where you might obtain components. Ted

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Steve, I agree with leaving them dry and only use a suitable grease on the spindle/bearings.

I used to repair a lot of old radios back in the 70's for work colleagues and I've never seen any of the type you describe with any lubrication on the wheels. As Norman says, they will pick up fluff/dust. In all those that I have seen there's always been a ring of muck around the spindle clinging to any excess grease that oozes out of the bearing.

Yes Neil some of them tuning mechanisms were quite elaborate and very well made and would out last the radios by many a year.

Regards Nick.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

In a clock the wheel drives the pinion. In a reduction gear like yours the pinion drives the wheel so friction should be less of a problem. However the anti-backlash mechanism, if I remember rightly, consists of two wheels with a spring so that the teeth are staggered under spring pressure. This will create rubbing where a normal gear only has rolling motion between the teeth.

When I worked in a radio shop in around 1960 we used to put a thin smear of light grease on the teeth to reduce the friction created by the anti-backlash gear. Yes dust is a problem and needs to be kept out. I remember one set that a customer who had recently returned from Kenya brought in – it was full of giant spiders, beetles, and other nasties which had produced an HT short!

Russell.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

It's normal to tension the gears by compressing against the springs by two teeth on assembly, a little clamp on the gears helps hold the setting while assembling the bits and pieces. A clamp may be just a little bolt, and two washers, and clamp between the washers. Ian S C

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