Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Today’s Mail delivery was the Sender, Serial Number 6498, photos attached. This was a nice arrival for several reasons.

The arrival of this Sender completes the electronic parts of the main set of the 52-Set. This brings me up to 80% of the main set items with just the delivery of the Carrier No. 4 remaining to sort out. Even without the carrier, the parts will now look like a complete set.

In addition to all of the above, this particular Sender is nice to have for another reason. It still has its original panel decals, and they are the first version of these decals in that the three tuning decals all have the red ‘A’ and blue ‘B’ Flick identifiers on a white rectangular background. That this version of decal was still in use at serial number 6498 is also a helpful bit of production information. Now, with my main set receiver and remote receiver I have all three versions of this decal.

As you can see, this Sender has a lot of grime and dirt on it, but should clean up OK. Also interesting to note how the grime infiltrated the top of the chassis while it was inside the carrier; heavier towards the front of the chassis and tapering off towards the rear. In addition, it seems the grime did not make it down to the lower sections of the chassis where the usual dust accumulations are far more noticeable.

I would be remiss in not thanking Jacques Fortin in Montreal for taking the time to rebuild the slow motion drive bearings for the Frequency Dial and replacing the missing clear, Lucite dial pointer on the right side of this dial, while this set was in his custody and care following its purchase.

David

[Bob Carriere]

Can you describe the process you follow to carefully clean all the yellowing from the front face..... are you using solvents?..... or tell us WHAT not to use....and the inside low pressure blow gun or vacuum cleaner with small computer keyboard attachment. What about the whitish oxidation of the inside surfaces.

Not sure I will ever be able to dig in and replace parts but would appreciate making the radio more presentable.

Always enjoy reading your trials and tribulations.

.........spark on!!!!!

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

For what it's worth, the yellow for the most part is tobacco. Not sure what solvent works best on that. Giving up smoking perhaps?? I cleaned up a yellowed R107 (thanks Ben!!) with soapy water, a touch of varsol and a very soft cloth so to dissolve without soring the shiny original paint.

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Can you describe the process you follow to carefully clean all the yellowing from the front face..... are you using solvents?..... or tell us WHAT not to use....and the inside low pressure blow gun or vacuum cleaner with small computer keyboard attachment. What about the whitish oxidation of the inside surfaces.

Not sure I will ever be able to dig in and replace parts but would appreciate making the radio more presentable.

Always enjoy reading your trials and tribulations.

.........spark on!!!!!

[David Dunlop]

Good Evening, Bob and Bruce.

Funny that you should ask about this phase of the restoration work right now. I have been sorting out the details regarding the original factory panel finishes, thought I had it all figured out, and then had a stunning revelation last weekend while looking for some wireless parts squirrelled away years ago. I will definitely be covering that here in the near future.

In the interim, over the years I have found some distinct differences in how one cleans a panel and the inner chassis assembly.

On the panels, I usually start with a soap and water wash with a damp cloth, rinsing the cloth frequently. As Bruce mentioned, it is not uncommon to find a layer of nicotine on the panel surface. I am lucky that I part time at a local automotive detail shop so I have access to commercial cleaners and have a good idea of ones that are safe on these 75 year old finishes. One I currently use is called ‘Orange Crush’, followed by a solvent called ‘RemoveAll’. In most cases, those two products get you back to the original varnished paint surface from the factory. Then you have to decide how much hand polishing with a very fine jewellers rouge you want to do. And I will stop there at the moment.

On the inside, I start with three different tooth brushes: a soft, medium and firm and an air gun pushing usually 25 pounds of air. I will do 40 pounds if no exposed lacquered wiring of any gauge is in the area. Too much risk of cracked coatings getting blown away and destroying the part in question. I end up moving the chassis around a lot because I like to have the shortest distance possible for the dirt to exit the chassis. No point blowing it off/out of A and onto/into B. Never use soap and water on the inner chassis unless its deionized water. More on that later.

David

[Bob Carriere]

....old fashion water and Dawn soap(safe enough for oil covered ducks) and lots of elbow grease.........

Never heard of Orange Crush, except as a soda drink when I was young, or Remove All. I am always afraid that the lettering/numbers are just decals!!!!

I noticed you do not use anything abrasive. What about the famous "brake cleaner" readily available or the old fashion Carbon tet of the 50s (I still have some)..... or Naphta although quite flammable..... or chloroform which is a fantastic de greaser for the waffle switch contacts........ but not to be used inside your basement workshop...... same for acetone......

Looking forward to your next postings...

Bob C

[David Dunlop]

Bob.

You likely would not run across these products outside of the commercial auto detailing sector. The Orange Crush (and another product called HD Clean) are sold in 45 gallon plastic barrels. The Remove All and an equivalent called Safe Solve are sold in chubby ten-gallon white plastic jerry cans equipped with a bung that you pop out and screw a plastic spigot into.

The Orange Crush and HD Clean can be sprayed onto a flat surface and a toothbrush used to loosen up grime quite easily. A quick wipe off is recommended, however, only because one is dealing with 75-year-old paints and varnishes. The Remove All and Safe Solve are a bit more aggressive if you are not careful. For those I spray onto a cloth and then gently rub the more resistant marks to remove them. Great for tars, grease and reasonably fresh paint overspray, but again, I would not trust them to sit on old varnish and enamel paint. They both will lift the surface of the paint if you are not careful.

For polishing, I found a product years ago at Princess Auto called ‘Dursol’ It was a pale pinkish cream in a tube and I applied it with my finger tip as you can really tell when it dries and needs wiping off that way. This product is still made but now called ‘Autosol’ and Canadian Tire carries it. Photo attached. I found it polishes down yellowed varnish nicely. You have to be patient, however. I usually work in two-inch square areas at a time, slowly lightening the varnish until I get the shade I am looking for. Then I start an adjacent area and match the result to the first part done. It is a slow process, but worth it in the end I think. One word of advise. Good lighting is mandatory for this work. Shadow free if possible and always the same lighting each time you are working on the project.

I played with the upper left hand corner of the Sender panel last night, photo attached. Basically the area down to the bottom of the fan door and to the right, just covering the ‘Canada Decal’. Not really an attempt at obtaining a desired end product. More to just get rid of the ugly, hand painted, red ‘R22’ visible in the first Photo of Post 201. It was bugging my gizzard! This was done with the two previously mentioned liquid cleaners, with just a bit of Autosol brought into play at the very bottom of the fan door where a couple of runs of red paint had accumulated. You will see the grime along the top left corer of the frame cleaned up rather well. Note the untouched upper right corner to compare. Also, I was surprised how well the angle bracket on the left edge of the panel by the door cleaned up. See its grime covered partner on the right side for comparison.

One interesting discovery. Take a look at the Power Selector Switch directly above the High Power Lock at the lower right. It is the same switch as was used on the Canadian Wireless Set No. 19 Supply Unit Mk II.

David

[David Dunlop]

I decided to continue through with the basic cleaning of the front panel this afternoon and also did the various knobs and bakelite fittings. A full clean of the panel will happen when I am finally able to schedule the Sender into the project later on.

To give you a better idea of how the various cleaners work that I was discussing earlier, I did some sample work on the top chassis area shown in the second photo.

I cleaned the top chassis frame all sides with just the Orange Crush and a medium toothbrush, wiping down with a cloth afterwards, Roughly front centre, there is a square steel plate with its plating in good condition. I cleaned that with the Orange Crush and toothbrush, followed by sone Remove All and the toothbrush and then wiped it down with a cloth. I then took a small amount of the Autosol on my fingertip and rubbed it on the the left half of the square plate and wiped it off with a cloth. Kind of makes the factory plating pop again after 70 or so years.

To the left of that plate, at the front chassis, you can just see an orange electrical sheath arcing over a bar. I initially thought that was a black wire until the grime started to wash off with the Orange Crush. I then discovered the bar this wire was looping over was actually a very robust brown, phenolic terminal strip running the full depth of the Sender, about 3/4-inch wide and 1/4-inch thick. I thought it was supporting four long, heavy duty caps at first, but as the second one in from the front started to clean up, realized it was four big resisters. Looks a lot different with the grime gone.

Finally, to the right side top sits the Band Selector Switch, its long shaft running full to the rear of the chassis. The shaft supports two massive ceramic terminal discs. A little Orange Crush and the toothbrush again, produced the comparison to the untouched ceramic terminal disc at the rear end of the shaft.

David