Magnavox Console Stereo &volume pot nut removal

You most likely used them a lot more and harder than this hobby guy, which could explain that.

I graduated from vocational school in 1968 and one of the first tools I bought was a Craftsman 3/8 variable speed drill that was on sale. Two weeks after I bought it, a rat chewed through the cord, so I had to replace it. Two more weeks later, the variable speed went out, so all I had left was high speed.

When I brought it back for warranty, I was told that they wouldn't honor it since it didn't have the original cord. The only thing that would still be honored would be the motor itself. I understood that and took it home with the intention of seeing what I could do to the motor. We had the perfect chance at work that week too. I had a ton of drilling to do in some cast steel shafts. I worked that hard enough that the aluminum case of the drill got hot enough that it was getting hard to hold it without wearing a glove. It finally died about 10 years ago.  I never regretted that purchase. It was a workhorse!

They were fairly good, but I sure went through the phillips [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] screw drivers a lot. My local dealer stopped exchanging them, which is why I found another source- Home Depot Husky brand drivers. Under 3 bux and fit the ISO screws! Lifetime warranty and lasted literally 5X longer than Xcelite.
 Xcelite would last me maybe 3 months before it wore out, even the hardened tip  (Black tip) ones.
Note: Unless they changed, Snap On [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] phillips drivers do not fit ISO screws.

 I sure wore out many pair of Craftsman side cutters and needle nose pliers. Finally bit the bullet & got Snap-On ones. Those last. The Sears Craftsman ones kept getting poorer & poorer quality, plus the needle nose tips kept getting thicker & thicker & the machining to match the tips got worse & worse.

 Then they discontinued so many tools I used, so I went to Harbor Freight for sockets, wrenches & such, IMHO, they were of better quality & no problems replacing them if they failed, unlike Sears

And, you can be sure that if it was an Xcelite tool, it was not gonna be cheap! Though, the ones I have used were dam good quality. 

Just to be different, back in the 70's, Magnavox used an inverted stamped retaining nut for the volume pot.
 Now this was the exact nut dozens of other mfgr's. used to hold pots to the chassis, EXCEPT Magnavox inverted the nut.
 They were horrible to get off with a pair of needle nose pliers and often the nut was ruined. While working for an ASC I found out that they made a kit of tools specifically for their product. I verified it was made by Xcelite, as it had their part numbers on some of the bits, and their plastic case.
 Now this tool was a hollow hex wrench with the hex on the outside and the hollow would fit over the shaft.
 It was awesome when I got my hands on one kit , then when I put the stereo back in the case, I put the nut on so it could easily be removed by a nut driver or deep socket.

Now on some of their TV sets from that era they also used a "tee" shaped threaded collar nut to hold on a front panel control, and it had 2 dimples in it. Unless you had a pair of very sharp  & small tipped needle nose to get in the holes, it was a real PITA to get out. 
  You guessed it- Another special Magnavox tool was needed to remove it.
 The tool looked like a "U" on the end of a shaft and had to "tits" on the end to fit the dimples in the nut. Typically, they were mounted too deep to use a pair of "C" clip pliers to get to. And yes, another special tool made for them by Xcelite.

Now as near as I can tell, this kit was proprietary one made for Magnavox only. I have only seen 2 of them since the 70's.(They apparently were fairly rare, and I have only found 1 tech that even knew about the kit of tools, as he had one.) Many of the bits also bore the Xcelite part number on them.

 They contained a handle that the tool bits snapped into, Phillips # 1 &2 bits, flat blade bits 3/16 and 1/4" (I think),
 the "U" shaped tool, the inverted hex tool, and a few nut driver bits to specifically fit the screws Magnavox used on their consumer stuff.