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SR-150 VFO Lubrication

 

I recently purchased a SR-150 in good condition and have been working through WD0GOF's wonderful guide in repair and restoration.? On page 92 there are notations on the lubrication of the VFO and Chassis Assemblies.? From the perspective of someone with limited experience in cleaning and lubricating a VFO assembly, are there practical suggestions on how to service the VFO assembly and what kind of grease to use.? (Obviously 3 in 1 oil is easy to obtain.)

The assembly is working but unevenly stiff.? In my restoration efforts I want to make sure I do no harm to the assembly.

Thank you for any guidance.

Steve N7AQ
 

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Do not use oil. Clean the drive system first. Where you have two gears meshing, use a toothpick and put a small amount of white grease at three points around the smaller of the gears. Then turn from stop to stop several times and let the gears spread the lub.?

As for the stiffness, some stiffness is desirable. This is to prevent mechanical drift or backlash when you release the tuning knob. Originally there was a felt disc between the tuning knob and the front panel. If your radio still has one check to see if the knob set screws were tightened with the knob pushed in too tight.

Walt Cates, WD0GOF
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A majority of acceptance is not proof of correctness.


From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Steve N7AQ <smoreen@...>
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 10:56 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [HallicraftersRadios] SR-150 VFO Lubrication
?
I recently purchased a SR-150 in good condition and have been working through WD0GOF's wonderful guide in repair and restoration.? On page 92 there are notations on the lubrication of the VFO and Chassis Assemblies.? From the perspective of someone with limited experience in cleaning and lubricating a VFO assembly, are there practical suggestions on how to service the VFO assembly and what kind of grease to use.? (Obviously 3 in 1 oil is easy to obtain.)

The assembly is working but unevenly stiff.? In my restoration efforts I want to make sure I do no harm to the assembly.

Thank you for any guidance.

Steve N7AQ
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I typically use a ?couple of drops of light oil (sewing machine oil) to lubricate the VFO. ?Like Walt said, lithium grease is another good option.

YMMV

73,
Jim N9WW

James Chaggaris
President?
PowerOne Corp./PowerOne Environmental
2325 Dean St. Suite 800J
St. Charles, IL 60175
Phone: (630)443-6500
Cell: (630)669-2241
www.pwrone.com
 

I recently went through my SR-500 Tornado to clean and lubricate gearing in an attempt to make the tuning smoother. ?I used alcohol on a paper towel to wipe the two "wheels" that go in-between the friction gear plates, holding the paper towel on the wheel before it goes into the friction plates, and turning the tuning knob many times. ?I wanted to make sure there would be no slipping or stiffer tuning due to old grease or oily buildup. ?Then I used a stiff brush and alcohol to scrub any old grease from the meshing gears on the frequency dial. ?Then I used a little bit of sewing machine oil on the gears. ?Yes, I know that grease is most often recommended but I felt the sewing machine oil would result in a tad smoother feel. ?
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The tuning did improve a bit. ?I think there is only so much one can do with friction gearing to make it smooth. ?Not sure I'd even use the word "smooth" when talking about friction gearing.. hi hi.
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My buddy Don N9OO has also been going through his SR-150 gearing as well, and he pointed out to me that there is a nut applying a spring tension the friction gear. ?Neither of us wanted to mess with that although I've read where that is an option to adjust tension if the gear is slipping.
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Now I just bought an SR-160 that I believe has never been restored. ?The frequency tuning was significantly stiffer, so now I had a comparison. ?My Tornado tuning almost felt "smooth" compared to the SR-160, so that just tells you how stiff the SR-160 tuning is. hi hi.?
73, Scott WA9WFA
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