loewe-opta: 1701W (1701 W); Truxa

I need to correspond with any owner of the above model radio to help me re-string the upper dial cord. If you can help me with perhaps a pencil sketch or a picture of how the string is strung around the large drum I would be immensely greatful. The radio of course was manufactured by Loewe Opta. The dial cord is the only obstacle I have left to conquer. Not an easy obstacle to conquer however.
Radionut Lee

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Dear Mr. Noga

I have read about your problems with the Truxa Radio.
I have also such a radio and perhaps I can help you.
As you know, it is not very easy to get the chassis
out of the cabinet without damaging something....
Because I have not so much time this week, I hope
I can manage it next weekend to get the chassis out,
take off the dial glass and take detailed pictures
or make a pencil sketch.

Best regards
Ekkehard Pfau

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Dear Mr Noga,

I have uploaded drawings of the FM, AM and Tone-Control Dialcords.
You will find them in the schematics section.
I hope, this will provide the information you need.

Best regards
Ekkehard Pfau

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If the drum of the dialcord is hard to turn,
this may come from the old, sticky grease in the
bearings. Especially the bearing of the 6mm Axle, where the
drum is mounted.
Contact cleaner will not solve this problem for
a long time. It will dry out after several months
and the grease in the bearing is as sticky as before....
Better it would be, removing the tuning capacitor
from the cassis, remove drum and axle, clean it,
lubricate with new grease and put it all together again.
When doing that, pay attention, that the gears are
tensioned together with a spring, to avoid play.
(...hope this ist the right word...)
When disassembling, take pictures
- this is helpful for reassembling.
If the grease is very sticky, it might be difficult,
to get the axle out. In this case (the drum is removed before !)
warm up the axle with a soldering Iron. Then
the old grease gets soft and the axle can be removed easily.

Best Regards
Ekkehard Pfau

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Although much thanks have been given to Ekkehard personally, I wish to thank him again here for his graciousness. Without his help I would never have been able to repair this radio for a friend of mine. Just to recap some of the problems I had: The off-on switch was on all of the time. I found that the switch which was rivited on the side of the pushbutton assembly was impossible to replace. It was a double pole switch that also switched the B+ which did not have to be switched. I therefore purchased a 1 meg volume control & single pole switch assembly and replaced the original 1.2 meg volume control.  The strength indicator (a 6BR5 tube) was no longer working and I was still able to purchase a new one which with shipping only cost me about $12.00 dollars. Both dial cords and indicators were restrung. Both the bass and treble indicators were inoperable. The base knob was broken and a piece was missing. With considerable amount of work and time I did repair the knob with what is called Plas-T-Pair. This stuff is very usefull for making plastic repairs. I used it to repair a really badly broken up plastic dash panel over the radio speaker for a 1942 Packard and then painted it to the original plastic color and you cannot tell the difference between it and the other panel. Had trouble with the lower AM tuning section which turned quite hard and the dial cord assembly had trouble turning it. I sprayed some contact cleaner/lubricant in on both sides of the capactor assembly which is sealed which helped quite a bit. Still slipped a little so I tightened the dial cord a little more to provide more spring tension and this did the job.
I will be taking the radio back to my friend today and I am sure he will be tickled to receive it. Again hats off  to Ekkehard!

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