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Where To Get Sets and Parts For discussions about swapmeets, rallies, NVCF and BVWS, car boot sales, antique and charity shops, dealers, newspaper adverts, the local tip and just about any other source of equipment (other than eBay).

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Old 2nd Jul 2021, 11:40 am   #1
Aubade65
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Oxfordshire, UK.
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Default Dial Cord

Fishing line is often recommended as a replacement for dial cord.

While wandering around Lidl I found that they were selling different sizes of fishing line for less than £3 for 2 300m reels. The one that caight my eye was 2 reels suitable for pike and zander (no idea what is); the strengths are 8.4kg and 11.0kg and the diameters are 0.35mm and 0.4mm respectively.

There are monofilament lines and I have no idea how well they will work but at this price its worth a punt.

BTW. It also includes a line cutter that looks a bit like nail trimmers

Please note - I have no connection at all with Lidl - just happen to notice it as I was doing the shopping and thought I would pass the info on

Regards
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Old 2nd Jul 2021, 12:29 pm   #2
vidjoman
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Default Re: Dial Cord

Best thing I found in Lidl was tiling cord. It’s multi strand woven and .7mm dia. Usually appears when they have various thin ropes for sale. When I last bought some it was about £1.99 a reel. Should be enough for at least 100 radios.
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Old 2nd Jul 2021, 1:23 pm   #3
paulsherwin
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Default Re: Dial Cord

Monofilament fishing line does work well in many cases, though it can can sometimes result in backlash.
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Old 2nd Jul 2021, 2:00 pm   #4
Boulevardier
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Default Re: Dial Cord

You can have problems with, eg, 1960s and 1970s portables. These often rely on sufficient friction between cord and tuning knob to shift the cord and tuning mechanism. But they may also have moulded guide grooves in the plastic chassis instead of rotating pulleys, which need low friction for the cord to slide over them. Waxed cords will get the wax stripped off them to clog these grooves and jam up the mechanism completely. Plastic/nylon monofilaments are fine for the grooves, but often too shiny to grip the tuning knob spindle.
The two conflicting friction requirements have to be finely balanced in these cases. My experience is that using fishing monofilament but roughing up appropriate surfaces with fine abrasive paper to improve grip will normally sort things. But that Lidl cord sounds promising.

Mike
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