Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

A little bit of a ‘step back’ from the 52-Set Sender this week. The work was at a logical point for a break and I needed to get a few things completed in the garage to continue with the overall project. That work was mainly final adjustments on the band saw I had assembled earlier, and bolting down the bench belt sander and giving it final adjustments as well. It was cool this week and it made sense to get those things out of the way. With that work being done, I decided to get back into the 52-Set Project by backing up a bit to work on the wooden Tool Box again.

I had not done much with the tool box since obtaining it from Jordan Baker, way back around Posts 60 to 65, other than sorting out the specs for it and what was missing from it. Basically, just two pieces were missing, the wooden partition inside and one metal bracket. I had worked out the details for both pieces and realized the partition would be something I could tackle easily enough.

The partition was assembled from solid. Clear pine boards, one half inch thick. It spanned the width of the box at 6 inches and was four and three quarters high. It formed a space at the left end of the box exactly 3 inches wide that was used to hold the cord for the 12 Volt DC soldering iron. The handle of the iron rested on the front top of the partition and the tip of the iron in the small metal bracket that was still in place at the front right side of the box, four and three quarter inches up off the floor of the box.

The challenge was that one half inch thick boards cannot be had these days Best I could find was three quarter inch clear yellow pine, seven and a quarter inches wide, so I bought a two foot length to work with. I marked off an eight inch wide piece (building in a Goof Factor) and split it in half lengthwise. This gave me two pieces of board that I could work with in the band saw when it came time to trim the thickness down to one half inch. Once trimmed, I glued the two pieces back together, let them set and then sanded down the rough bits on the cut side and finally trimmed the piece to the required 6 x 4.75 inches.


David

[David Dunlop]

Once I had the finished piece cut, I lightly sanded the top two edges to match the profile of the existing wood pieces in the box, as they have had 70 years of wear on them to soften the edges somewhat. Then it was a test fit that was delightful!

I then applied a single coat of the paint I had matched at RONA, by hand, both sides and top edge. I left the two ends and bottom of the partition unpainted to preserve an original look. The factory paint was applied after assembly of the box. I was not too worried about thin spots showing in the paint as the rest of the interior has some wear spots thinning the paint out a bit in a few locations, so it blends in better.

I had to think a bit about the best way to reinstall the partition. I assumed a 3-inch spacer block was likely used at the factory to quickly get the partition placed correctly at the left side of the box, so cut a 3-inch section of 2 x 4 to serve the same purpose.


David

[David Dunlop]

The nails used to fasten the partition were ¾-inch finishing nails. I initially though they might have been countersunk and filled, but after a bit of close study, realized they were simply hammered flush with the outside face of the box. Three nails were used front and back. One roughly centred and the other two about one half inch in from the top and bottom of the partition. The original holes were still visible, but filled with years of dirt and oil. This came in handy.

I pre-set the six nails to a point just before they poked into the interior of the box. This allowed me to easily set the partition up against the wooden spacer, ensure the partition was square in both directions and then hold it in place while lightly tapping each nail just enough to capture the partition. I could then easily remove the spacer block and run each nail home. I then used a flat punch to make certain each nail was flush with the exterior of the tool box.

David

[David Dunlop]

The process of isolating the three sets of Flick Indicator Flags on the front of the 52-Set Sender has now been completed, along with the related masking of the entire chassis for the ensuing work.

I split a pair of printer paper sheets in half length wise and centred two 5/8-inch slots one and a half inches apart to slide over each set of flags. When the three sets were so covered, I simply added larger sheets of packing paper over the front and sides of the chassis with masking tape.

This way, as I remove the old paint from the faces of the flags, the paint bits will be accessible for clearing away with a small battery vacuum I bought years ago to clean computers and never used. Everything is then also ready for the application of the flat white, flat black and luminous paint back onto the six flags.

David

[David Dunlop]

Three of the six Flags have now been cleaned of old paint. These were the three in the worst shape. The second from the left looked pretty good at a distance, but when up close, the paint looked suspiciously lifted.

I used a pair of Exacto blades to remove the paint. one is a s thin chisel head, and the second a long slim pointed blade. The paint pretty much popped off all of them and you can see where the paint had indeed lifted on the second one from the left. Darker oxidation of the metal is readily visible.

This procedure has also confirmed the original steps at the factory for painting these Indicator Flags. The full flag face was first painted flat white. The bottom halves of each flag were then given a coat of flat black. The final step was to return to the upper white sections and give them a final top coat of luminous green paint.

David

[David Dunlop]

The flags have now all be cleaned and received their new coat of white paint. I have used KRYLON Satin White #42420, my 'Go To' for flat white paint.

I slipped a small square of Post It Note paper under each pair of flags before spraying them. This paint sets up to the touch in about 15 minutes and I did not want the flags sticking to the mask paper underneath them, as I still have the flat black and luminous paints to apply. The best solution, therefore, was to slip the temporary papers under the flags and pull them out when finished spraying. Any paint sticking to these papers would not adhere, so I end up with nice clear edges on the flags.

This paint take 7 days to cure to a chip proof state, so the flat black will be applied next weekend.

David

[David Dunlop]

With some available free time today, I managed to get the masking of the Flick Indicator Flags for the flat black coat of paint sorted out and the painting done.

The flags are 13/16 inches long, split in the middle with the flat black paint being applied to the bottom halves. I decided to go with cut down strips of Post It Note paper again to mask off the upper halves of the flags. Once in place, I augmented them with small pieces of painters tape to ensure the guide edge for the paint stayed put when hit with the spray paint spray.

I measured back 13/32 inch from the glue end of each Post It Note and penciled a line across the top of a 3-inch square note. Then cut each note in half to form a pair of masks for each set of flags. Using the pencil line to line up at the top of each flag, I pressed them home and them did the painting tape thing to keep them all down.

Again, KRYLON is my go to paint and I was using their Satin Black #48823. About 10 to 15 minutes after the spay work was done, I removed the Post It Note masking, leaving just the original paper set down before starting work on the flat white paint earlier. Again, it will take about a week for the flat black to cure hard and then I will be able to do the hand application of the luminous Natural Green paint over top of the flat white upper sections of the flags.

David