Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

The Illustrators that worked on the 52-Set Parts Lists did an amazing job, both in the accuracy/detail of their work but also in getting the background scale for each drawing correct. A good example of this is in the attached drawing of the ¼-pound tin of Kesters Radio Solder that was part of the kit in the Spare Tools Box.

Based on that drawing a few weeks ago, I started monitoring eBay for possible matches to that drawing. Some very similar ones popped up almost immediately, but the wording in the little ribbon was wrong. I started to doubt the accuracy of that particular feature of the drawing until 10 days ago when these items turned up. Spot on to the drawing, and it was even more interesting to find Kesters had a plant in Brantford, Ontario, which was noted on the back of the tin. Seems Kesters colour coded the tins of their solder line to make it easier to recognize the correct solder for a particular job, and that policy continued well into the 1970’s, long after they had switched to small cardboard boxes for their solder products.

David

[David Dunlop]

Well, the plan had been to start the switch and socket contact cleaning next, for both the Remote Receiver and Main Set Receiver, but when I sat down and reviewed my project notes, I remembered a more important task needed to be done first. The big bakelite Socket, 7-Point on the back of the Remote Receiver had to be replaced. I had forgotten that earlier in the project I had discovered it had some sort of interior shorting issue and the Terminal Leaf Assembly for the ‘R’ circuit on the socket had been snapped off, which meant potential loose hardware rattling around inside the assembly. I had also noted that one lead on the S5A Relay Switch, mounted on the back of the Socket had broken free and another on the No. 7 terminal of the socket was close to coming off.

As shown in the first three photos of this Post, the Socket 7-Point on my backup receiver was minty and still sporting the original Terminal Identification label on the back of it. For comparison, the 4th photo is the sad looking Socket, 7-Point on the Remote Receiver. So the first phase of this task was to figure out how to carefully uninstall this Socket, undamaged, without making use of wire cutters at the very least, and hopefully not having to do any unsoldering either. It was going to be good practise sorting this all out on the backup receiver, as it was vitally important not to screw up any aspect of this work on the Remote Receiver.

The easy part was the first step: removal of the three countersunk slotted screws that secure the socket backing plate to the receiver chassis. Two are located at the top corners of the plate, attaching it to the upper chassis cross frame. The third is located in the bottom right corner of the backing plate, attaching it to a long support post. Once these screws are removed, the socket assembly will drop away from the chassis slightly, along its top edge.

At this point, it is important to remember one is dealing with 75 year old wiring that for the most part was stuffed into a particular position and has stayed that way largely undisturbed. Soldered connections can develop a degree of corrosion and the small bits of exposed wire at these soldered connections have grown comfortable sitting still. They may, or may not, react well to suddenly being tugged and twisted (as I eventually discovered). In order to create a little more manovering room to do further work behind the socket backing plate, you can carefully pull away part of the wiring shown in Photo 5, which has been tucked back between the large three capacitor mounting panel on the side of the chassis below the socket, and the chassis corner. That section of harness has only been laced up to the bottom of the cap panel. The wires you need to release are easy to identify and as they come free, the socket assembly will relax downward to allow you a good view behind it.

To be concluded.

David

[David Dunlop]

With the wiring loom released from the left side of the chassis, the Connector Socket Assembly should relax enough to sag down and you can carefully rotate the top edge towards you to expose the rear portion of the socket and the attached S5A Relay Assembly. You will see the thick, brown, phenolic resin backing plate for the connector, sandwiched under the base of the relay and the four spacer posts for the relay. First photo.

The two spacer post assemblies on the right hand side can be easily removed with a slot head screw driver and a ¼” very thin spanner. There will be a lock washer under the forward post hex nut and none under the rear one as there is a wiring connection there with a locking ring terminal. Once that hardware is removed, you can access the ¼” hex screw holding the connector in place to remove it with the same spanner. Second photo.

On the left side, things are a little bit trickier. These two post screws are spot welded in place on the connector mounting plate. The front hex nut has a lock washer under it. The rear one does not as it also has a wiring terminal located under it. Because the two screws are fixed on this side, the hex nuts will ride up the screws as you undo them. You need to apply some tension to the backing plate to keep it directly behind the hex nuts as you unscrew them. If you don’t, the nuts will ride up and jamb against the two round head slotted screws on either side of the relay return spring. Photo three.

Once you have the hardware removed, you have full, but careful access to the terminal strips inside the connector, for whatever maintenance you need to perform. In my case, in Photo four, you can see the broken screw and nut assembly roughly in the centre from the terminal the leaf connector had been broken away from. I also found a fine coating of dirt and oil inside the connector. I am almost certain the oil came from copious amounts of it being sprayed on the back of the Remote Receiver case when somebody drilled a series of holes under the Connector Socket to add a modern aerial coax cable socket. I found oil and metal shavings everywhere inside the case and lower parts of the chassis when first cleaning it up. The crud inside the connector was actually acting as a high resistance conductor and is likely the cause of the weird shorting out I was experiencing. Once everything was cleaned and replaced. The problems went away. Photo five,

When it comes to reassembly of the connector and relay assembly, get the backing plate portion done first with the two ¼” hex screws. Then replace the two right hand relay post assemblies, but only tighten the hex nuts a few turns onto their screws, leaving lots of wiggle room for the time being.

Then go to the left side of the relay, lever the bottom of the relay up enough that there is just enough screw thread for the front screw to catch the hex nut and run it down a couple of turns only. You still need the wiggle room.

Next, carefully slide the top spring loop off its stud at the top of the relay contact plate and let the spring drop to the right, over the hex nut you just installed. Then remove the round head slotted screw on the lower left side of the spring location. This will give you more access to get the rear hex nut started on its screw. Once it has been started, keep tension on the base plate of the relay to keep both hex nuts snug and alternate running them home, carefully to tighten them down, replace the round head screw and reconnect the spring carefully. You can then tighten the two hex nuts down on the right side of the relay.

Final step is to rotate the complete assembly back up to the rear of the chassis and replace the three mounting screws and tuck the wiring back in the left side chassis frame.

David

[David Dunlop]

This large gem was a surprise addition to the project a week ago when I got a call from Reg Hodgson, in Edmonton, that he had found a pair locally.

Only two coats of paint on the entire case. The first is the factory original flat or semi flat OD Green and a shadow of some of the stencil markings are still visible. Photo one. Hopefully more markings will be revealed when I get to restoring this case. This has all been done over in a gloss battleship grey overall with a funny green band on the right side of the lid. Photo two.

Several ‘cracks’ are visible in the wood, as a result of this case being stored in a damp environment at some point. Also, the putty filler used to cover the perimeter screw holes has fallen out of several of them. One of the really interesting bits about this case, however, is on the lid. The handle assembly is original. All factory rivets are still there as originally installed. But take a close look at the left side handle bracket. It is incorrect. It is a right hand bracket installed there. The correct bracket should be a mirror image of the right side bracket. Interesting mystery as to why that might have happened. Whoever installed it realized the bracket had to be flipped around for the handle to still function correctly.

The third photo shows the bottom of the case where a lot of putty plugs have fallen out and a large ‘crack’ runs full length across the bottom of the case. The wood is slightly humped at that point and I was rather concerned about that until I had a closer look at the left side of the case in Photo four. This photo shows the excellent finger jointing work done on this case. It also revealed another feature I had not expected, but upon discovering it, it made a lot of sense. What I though were cracks, are in fact the tongue and groove joints used to connect various strips of pine together to get the board sizes they needed to craft these cases. Animal glues would have been used in these joints and the damp conditions this box experienced were enough to dissolve the glue and allow the boards to separate a bit from one another and from the bottom edge of the case, resulting in the slight hump.

The last photo is of the interior of the case. The KimPak lining on the right side has some serious damage. My suspicion is the damp caused the padding to swell and it was subsequently pushed down a bit. Again, likely caused by dissolving glue. There would have been a newsprint paper label on the inside lid listing the case contents, this has fallen off and been lost. In the left side compartment, the wrap of KimPak around the sides has fallen off but the pad at the bottom is still in place.

My current thought for both cases so far, is to restore the exteriors and leave the interiors as original as possible, thereby saving a bit of their history.

As for the items inside the case? Reg tells me both cases he found had the same contents. More on those later.

David

[David Dunlop]

I was absolutely amazed to find a set of these connectors came with the Spares Box Reg had found. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if and when I ever found the Supply Unit for a 52-Set in complete condition, how to safely connect it to a suitable DC Supply for testing. Even more important, how to do it safely to operate the set?

So far this connector seems to be in dirty but near complete condition. The only missing item I can currently identify is one of the four corner screws holding the main body together is missing. Hopefully that will be an easy fix. There is a bit of sulphate deposit on the two banana sockets on the back of the plug assembly and the large mounting screw has some surface oxidation that should also clean off easily. All the raised letter identifications cast into the bakelite are intact and still have their white paint highlights.

The Parts List states the two leads should be black and red. The ‘red’ one on this item looks more tan/brown, but that just might be decades of dirt accumulation. I took a look in the manuals to see where this item was normally stored and it took me a few moments to realize it was an active part of the 52-Set and would always be fitted to the front of the Supply Unit. Doh!


David

[David Dunlop]

This was the other item found in the bottom of the Spares Box. It is in rather rough shape, but is the first one I have ever seen up close. Not sure at this point, just how important it is, since the same chart is printed in the Instruction Manual for the 52-Set.

There is a paint line around the edge of the front of this plate, so it was clearly mounted and in use somewhere in its working career. The paint is either white, cream or that funny pale hospital green one used to see a lot of, decades ago.

Still also a mystery how somebody came into possession of two differently painted Spares Boxes decades ago, and both still had the Plates and Connectors still tucked away inside.

David

[David Dunlop]

I stumbled across this item locally over the weekend while looking for something completely different. Since it was actually the Satchels, Signals listed in the Master Parts Listing for the 52-Set, I figured I might as well pick it up.

It has some dust marks on it, but the overall condition of it suggests it was never issued/used. It does seem to be a much lighter weight strap, and although the strap is adjustable, it is a much plainer design with no extra shoulder reinforcing. The canvas used for the bag also seems to be a lighter weight than other satchels I have on hand.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

I was absolutely amazed to find a set of these connectors came with the Spares Box Reg had found. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if and when I ever found the Supply Unit for a 52-Set in complete condition, how to safely connect it to a suitable DC Supply for testing. Even more important, how to do it safely to operate the set?

So far this connector seems to be in dirty but near complete condition. The only missing item I can currently identify is one of the four corner screws holding the main body together is missing. Hopefully that will be an easy fix. There is a bit of sulphate deposit on the two banana sockets on the back of the plug assembly and the large mounting screw has some surface oxidation that should also clean off easily. All the raised letter identifications cast into the bakelite are intact and still have their white paint highlights.

The Parts List states the two leads should be black and red. The ‘red’ one on this item looks more tan/brown, but that just might be decades of dirt accumulation. I took a look in the manuals to see where this item was normally stored and it took me a few moments to realize it was an active part of the 52-Set and would always be fitted to the front of the Supply Unit. Doh!


David

I've cast up some bodies for the Connector, Twin No.17 and am sourcing out the guts and cables (any idea where I can get the proper fabric covered cable?). One had your name on it but I think you're OK now. Good find!!!


A couple of details I've noticed. The face plate on yours has rounded corners and my original is square. Your screws may have washers but aren't the star washers on mine. This connector was used for the 52 set but also the No.9 Mk.1 and No.9. Both those manuals have pics that show one cable darker than the other so I expect 'red/black' cable colours were from the beginning. The British No.9 set must have had a similar plug and I wonder what it looked like.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Bruce.

Just came up from trying to tune the 19-Set to 3.615Mc. Thunderstorms in the area. Not very productive. Was hoping to natter a bit on the air tomorrow.

The Connector No. 17 cables are No.3 B&S stranded copper cable, rated at 125 Amps and rubber covered. Up to that point in their description, they would appear to be standard automotive battery cables of the day. From what I can see at the lug ends of mine, the rubber on both is black. Red and black cotton cloth loom was then slipped over the rubber cables and the ends on mine were then bound with a heavy cotton cording and lacquered to hold them in place. The loom at one lug end has started to unravel a bit due to moisture, but should be an easy repair when I get to it. The loom binding just peeks out from under the Bakelite head about 1/8 inch on mine.

My thought process leads me to wonder if red and black cloth looming might have been a common item on automotive battery cables at some point in the 1930’s and 40’s. If so, it might be replicated today by some of the antique auto electrical suppliers.

David