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After having attached the line cord, I checked the switch and the volume pot again. That is, I did check the switch before. Intermittent. But it's the pot that is bad. Even after restoring the wiper to rheostat contact with Fafer lube, the rheostat itself is over 3M at the nominal of 350K.
I think, a call to Mark Oppat is going to happen.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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Mike;
So if you check the resistance from end to end the volume pot reads 3 meg Ohm? I could see 1 meg maybe, if someone had changed the control, but something weird is going on, it would be more normal for the resistive element to wear out, which would men that the wiper would not make contact. If it were my set I would investigate, but then again I've had to clean out a lot of controls in farm battery radios so I'm not too concerned about breaking something.
Happy Christmas
Arran
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Arran
The control is original. The wiper is some sort of round brass plate, that probably just digs into the carbon every time it's turned. And, yes, end-to-end is between 2M and 3M. Right at the leads. I will have to check the wiper contact again after yesterday's F5 bath dries up  but this is not expected to change the rheostat's value.
I will see if I have a stash of suitable values parts; likelyh not; the values would be from 250K to 500K or so.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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After having ordered the pot from eBay (cheap enough, $10 or so and free shipping) I realized I have a small box in my organizer labelled "potentiometers" where I found 3 pots, two of which fit the application, and one of which was fully functional.
The "D" on the shaft is a bit deeper so will have to be padded when the knob is installed. The ground was provided separately (on 60s the lower lead is grounded to the case and the chassis).
I gave it a profilactic F5 injection.
Now I am almost ready to power up. After inspecting the coils.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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Remembered that I wanted to clean the tuning cap.
At the same time the rust spots are better accessible without the cap in.
Washed it in hot soapy water.
Before
After
When I blew some air at it, small mica flakes started coming out. Never had mica disintegrating before. Guess I buy some mica sheets and replace it, if needed.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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I was unaware that these air tuning capacitors contained any mica. Are the individual stator and rotor plates coated in mica?
Joseph
Philco 46-480
Philco 49-906
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No. The padders on the side, small caps in parallel to each section, contain mica.
Those two brass screw/nuts on the side.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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The trimmer caps, that’s right. Somehow I didn’t consider those.
Joseph
Philco 46-480
Philco 49-906
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Yep. I ordered some mica pieces for TO-type transistor heatsink mounts; should come tomorrow. Not expensive and will likely last me 'till my demise, whether it will take 20 years or 1 year.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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Let’s hope for 20. We need your expertise! Surely your family hopes for 20 as well.
Joseph
Philco 46-480
Philco 49-906
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I hope that they hope 
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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Reassembled the tuning cap, it works fine, the gear works fine, and the padders also work fine. No short, nice capacitance change, so I think I will use it the way it is now.
I received a volume pot, but will stash it for the future projects, and also the mica sheets will be reserved for those just in case situations.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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Today put the tuning cap back, this time not having forgotten to solder the GND lead to one of the bottom bolts.
Checked the transformer outputs; seem fine, 700V more or less.
Checked the rectifier output for shorts; OK.
Put the tubes back, checked the pilot lamp; no light. Popped out, Deoxited the holder; now it glows.
Put the rectifier back (speaker has been connected all this time), put the Variac to 70V, saw the DV rising, and quickly dropping after the turn-off: a good sign.
Then put the Variac to 110V, see about 430V DC, dropping to 280V or so, then the speaker came alive; put the tuning cap to about where the local station should be (no antenna, and all is being done in the basement), and the station came nice, loud and clear.
Put my finger to the Antenna clip, went through the BC band - nice reception across the dial. No hum either.
So, I will see about those mica sheets, but if it aligns well without the replacement, so be it.
Alignment tonight.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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The video link of thr first power-up is here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K0eRt6eUQw
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
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Nice work! Sounds very good even without antenna.
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