Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Woot! Woot! Success with this morning's quarter turn!

The grey Dial Knob popped free and I was able to complete the disassembly of the PA TUNE Assembly down to the front panel.

You can see the amount of dirt and whatever else that dripped down the panel behind the dial over the years and in the second photo, the amount of dark crud that accumulated between the grey knob and it's brass shaft fitting.

Next up will be the middle, I.P.A. 7 - 16 MC Dial Assembly. It will be interesting to see how that one goes.

David

[David Dunlop]

The Crud Saga continues.

Started work on disassembling the I.P.A. 7 - 16 MC Dial assembly last evening. The POINTERS and hardware were easily removed. The little grey FLICK Lever Knob, however, has a mind of its own. The top mounting screw and set screw both came out easily, but once again, the knob is stuck to its shaft.

Once more into the light oils we go.

David

[David Dunlop]

While waiting for the magic to happen once again with the stuck Flick Lever Knob on the I.P.A. (Why do I always want to have a beer when I type this?) 7 - 16 MC Dial Assembly, I decided to clean and polish out the varnish on the brass shaft fitting on the PA TUNE condenser shaft that gave me so much grief.

I started late last evening and finished this morning. It probably has not looked this bright and shiny since the day it was cast and machined somewhere in a long forgotten shop back in 1943/44.

The grey tuning knob now just moves up and down the fitting snugly, but has yet to have the visible oxides on its inner surfaces buffed out. It is interesting that the 52-Set documentation notes the Flick mechanism parts for the 19-Set are identical to those of the 52-Set and the 19-Set parts can be used in the 52-Set, but the practise should be avoided if at all possible because the 52-Set items were made to much finer tolerances, Seems right enough. I have noticed the tuning knobs on the 52-Set Receivers, and now this Sender fit much more snugly on their fittings than the 19-Set equivalents.

David

[David Dunlop]

I was looking at the current state of the Sender front panel this morning and noticed something odd about the layout of the PA TUNE Dial setup.

All other similar dials on the 52-Set, and indeed all similar 19-Set dials I have ever seen, make use of a pair of these PLATES, Stop, No. 1 with one being positioned either side of the dial. In this case, only the left hand side PLATES is installed.

If one looks closely, however, the set screw used to lock the PLATES in position is still present on the right hand side of where the dial would be, but the hole about ¾-inch below this set screw, where the slide rivet would be located, is missing completely.

That raises an interesting question as to why only the left side PLATES, Stop was ever fitted to the PA TUNE Dial on the 52-Set Sender. Seems an interesting exception.


David

[David Dunlop]

Today’s work on the Sender was one of those sessions that covers the full spectrum from great to depressing.

On the great side, the set screw in the grey Handles Knob on the IPA 7 – 16 MC Dial assembly only broke free about one half turn before locking up again, so I had no idea at all if it was free from the brass shaft fitting, or still biding against it. Even after a good light oil soak. So out came the puller once more. Much to my surprise, when it was set up and ready to go, it drew the Handle from the brass fitting smoothly in one continuous motion. The dial lifted off easily next and I then retrieved the small brass shims between the back of the dial and the brass fitting. Interestingly enough, there were only two of these shims on this dial assembly, as compared to the three in place on the PA TUNE Dial shaft.

When the Randle had been lifted free of the shaft, I expected to find the two small Clamping Screw Spring Retaining Pins sitting on top of the centre of the dial plate, as had been the case with the PA TUNE Handle. If you do not maintain outward tension on the spring ends protruding from the Handle when lifting it from the shaft, the pins simply drop out of their holes. When I turned the Handle over to have a closer look, I found dried grease stuffed into each pinhole to keep them in place the last time the dial assembly was overhauled. That was something I had considered once when working on the 19-Set Handles.

Even more dirt and grime was under this IPA 7 – 16 MC Dial than the PA TUNE when it was lifted free and the dial itself is going to need so heaps of TLC to bring it back to anything close to original appearance.

Now for the dark side.

You will notice in the attached photo, a rusty outline of the mounting end of the Slow Motion Drive Assembly. The spring portion has surface rust present but is otherwise in good shape. The pin on the right hand end of the drive assembly that drops into the slot on the end of the Lower Flick Drive Arm is another matter. It was corroded so badly, it was no longer round and was stuck in the slot in the arm. It took about one half hour of coaxing to work it free from the arm. I was pleased to see the arm itself was in very good shape as the pin came free. The corrosion was contained to the pin on the Slow Motion Drive. However, as the Slow Motion Drive came free and the Lower Flick Arm swing up towards the centre shaft, I heard a ‘Ping’ from the area of the Flick Lever Shaft Assembly and the Lower Flick Lever suddenly stopped swinging towards the centre shaft. Checking the Flick Lever Shaft, I found it was in a complete free wheeling mode, in control of nothing at all.

The top end of the Lower Flick Lever fits into the shaft of the Flick Lever. A second, Upper Lever comes off the Flick Lever Shaft and heads up to control the two Frequency Indicator Flags (Red and Blue) above the dial. A C-Shaped Wire Spring hooks into the bottom end of the Upper Flick Lever Arm, wraps around the Flick Lever Shaft and hooks into the top end of the Lower Flick Lever Arm. This spring provides all the necessary tension to keep the two Flick Lever Arms snugly in place against the Flick Lever Shaft and at the same time provides the necessary tension and resistance within the Flick System to make it all work. This simple little spring has either broken, or popped loose.

In the photo, you can see a portion of the Lower Flick Lever Arm just below the central brass fitting. That arm should be pointing directly at the Flick Lever Shaft, not above it as it now rests.

Welcome to the Dark Side of the day!

The only way to determine exactly what is going on with this Flick Drive now, and fix it, is to completely remove the front panel of the Sender to gain full access to the Flick Drive Assembly. There are some very logical advantages to being able to remove the front panel. It will make several repairs extremely easy. The problem is the complete lack of any documentation describing the correct way to free up the front panel and remove it. When you have absolutely no spare parts at all at your disposal for such an undertaking…

So endith my Sender work for the day.


David

[Chris Suslowicz]

David,

To possibly brighten your day: with the WS19 they supplied replacement tuning capacitors already fitted with the "Condenser Drive Unit" such that the complete assembly could be fitted and then connected up. (I have a PA tuning assembly for the WS19 which has the two mica capacitors for the PA fitted to the rear and everything except the tuning scale fitted to the front. I also have the complete WS62 tuning capacitor and drive unit as a single repair part.)

It may be a whole lot easier to remove the tuning capacitor from the set (probably just a matter of disconnecting a couple of wires and undoing some fasteners) and fixing it on the bench) than taking the front panel off the set - even if you were planning to do that eventually.

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Chris.

Would that it could be so easy with this 52-Set Sender. It had to be the middle assembly of the three that now needs bits reconnected. It is completely blocked on either side by the other two assemblies. I have no idea how the left side of the Sender Chassis was assembled at the factory to even guess at a disassembly process. On the right side, the Condenser Assembly is indeed mounted by just four shock mounted screws. However, once it was installed in the chassis, T3A was installed and wired in which blocks access to the two forward screws mounting the Condenser. The rear screws are now also blocked, once a circuit board holding 4 caps and 6 resisters was installed and wired up.

On the other hand, "if" I can free the front panel easily, the full front of the Flick Mechanism that needs a fix is fully open and accessible. And hopefully, nothing will require unsoldering.

Currently, of all the screws I can see on the front panel, I have sorted what 75% of them do and I think that covers all the ones securing the front panel. The others still need closer inspection to see if they hold items to the panel that can stay put, or need to come out,,,and if the latter, how to get access to them to do so.

I am going to approach it in baby steps for sure. Trying to wrap my head around the entire concept as a single issue would empty our wine cellar!

Cheers,

David