Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

I was a little concerned about these two KNOBS on the 52-Set Sender.

On the Receiver, these two KNOBS are mounted to the lower front panel assembly by means of lock washers and hex nuts and when the upper front panel is removed, the hardware is easily accessible for removing the KNOBS. Things did not look so promising for the KNOBS on the Sender.

First and foremost, any hex nuts behind the front panel would be totally inaccessible on the Sender. I did reason, however that if the front panel assembly was the last big item to be fitted to the Sender Chassis on the Production Line, when I removed the front panel, I should then be able to the elusive hex nuts to restore the two KNOBS and then remount them. For whatever reason, it looked like when this particular 52-Set was in for major service in 202 Workshop in 1966, somebody did not bother removing the KNOBS and merely over sprayed them, chipped paint, dirt and all, with a new coat of varnish.

Out of shear boredom for the most part, but rationalizing the trip to buy another bag of bird feed, I dropped into the local Peavey Mart on Saturday, and while there discovered a small, 1-1/8 inch diameter flexible inspection mirror. Turned out to be the perfect size to slide into the right side of the chassis to look between the two Flick Mechanisms at the right hand KNOBS hardware with a small flashlight.

Happy Dance! Instead of using hex nuts and lock washers to mount the two KNOBS on the Sender (as per the Receiver), CMC must have realized how difficult they would be to access for any required replacement. Their work around was to spot weld a small rectangle of heavy gauge steel behind the front panel where the KNOBS were to mount, and tap this small bit of metal with a hole to accept the threads on the KNOBS.

A gentle counter clockwise turn of the two KNOBS loosened them and off they unwound. In the photo, you can see the drip ring of varnish that accumulated on the front panel around the base of each KNOB.

One more pair of items off the Disassemble List!

David