Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

So! Let’s back up a moment to Post 435 and take a look at the area on the Sender front panel, directly above the PA LOADINGS decal between the two Counter Dials. Notice the empty pair of vertical holes? I did not, until last evening, and I was not impressed. Calm, but not impressed.

That is where the PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration goes. Mounted directly to the Sender front panel, and it is highly recommended this be done well before securing the front panel back onto the Sender chassis. The reason being, the two Dial Assemblies either side of the PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration, effectively block about 85 % of the access to the PLATES hardware location. There is no access at all from above or below. Silly me!

The bright side of all this was that after about 10 minutes of looking things over, I discovered it was possible to get my left hand in the Blower Door Access Hole, slide it in far enough to allow my left index and middle finger to carefully clear any contact with the left side Counters assembly and get the middle finger to reach both mounting holes for the PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration. The real trick, however, was going to be how to get each pair of lock washers and hex nuts over there to connect with their respective screws coming down through the Sender front panel, without all the bits getting scattered all over the place. I have had enough of that adventure for a while.

The first step of the solution I came up with was to take a couple of small drops of clear nail polish and glue the two lock washers to their respective hex nuts, being certain to keep the washers centred over the holes in the hex nuts and to keep any, and all, nail polish out of the threads in the nuts. Got that done successfully and they are now curing.

The second step, when I am ready to do the PLATES install, will be to glue the bottom of the hex nut to the tip of my middle finger with a drop of red nail polish and let it cure. Which will take about 15 minutes. The theory is the hardware set will stay put until the middle finger successfully avoids hitting anything and gets the hardware to the correct hole for the screw to be dropped into place and secured. Once the screw threads have engaged the hex nut to capture it, finger pressure will hold the nut in place until the lock washer starts to engage the back of the front panel, and I can let the hex nut twist free of my finger.

Having got all that sorted out, I then realized why I had not had the PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration all ready and waiting for reinstallation prior to remounting the Sender front panel to the chassis. This particular PLATES had a very bad bend in it. So bad, one could easily slide a new, closed manila file folder under the left edge of it and still have room to spare.

Earlier, I had thought I would simply replace the Sender PLATES with the one off my parts COILS, Aerial Tuning, only to discover it too had a curl to it, and the PLATES for the COILS were made by a different manufacturer than the ones used on the Sender. That had left me with the problem of whether or not it was possible to straighten out my curled PLATES to salvage it.

Some exploring on the Internet eventually revealed that people out there restoring vintage pinball machines from the 1930’s and 1940’s were faced with the same problem on their machines. Everything that lights up on these old games is hand painted artwork on plastic. A huge problem with these machines was the tendency of arcade owners to over lamp their machines to draw people to the newest games. The hotter bulbs took their toll on the plastic covers, frequently warping them.

The solution to this problem was to remove the warped plastic covers from the machines, lay them face down on a metal cookie sheet and place them in the oven at about 400 degrees F, leave the oven door open and sit and watch the plastic pieces until they slowly flatten out. This apparently takes about 10 to 15 minutes when the oven temp hits the 250-degree range. You then quickly remove the cookie sheet, put it on the counter and cover the plastic bits with something metal and heavy and let them cool for about 10 minutes. And they are flat.

I went a modified approach. I placed a sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet on the counter. Then put the PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration face down on the paper. Then I took a clear glass Pyrex baking dish with a smooth flat bottom and set it over the PLATES so I could watch it. Then I used a heat gun set on ‘High’, (about 500 F) and moved it back and forth over the dish while watching the PLATES. The weight of the dish flattens the PLATES for the most part, but I could still see the stress line at the worst part of the curve, so watched it. After 10 to 12 minutes, I could see the stress line disappear. I had oven mitts ready, so shut the heat gun off and carefully set it aside, relying on the retained heat of the baking dish to keep the PLATES flat. I had a small sheet of metal on standby with a small hydraulic jack. Removing the dish with my oven mitted left hand, I swung the metal sheet in behind it with my right hand and placed it on the plates, along with the jack. At this point, both the cookie sheet and the sheet metal and jack are acting as heat sinks. After 20 minutes, I removed the sheet metal and jack and removed the PLATES for inspection. Nice and flat with no damage.

The attached pictures show the before and after heating set up, and the edge on views are the Sender PLATES first, with the COILS PLATES next. You can see the amount of light getting under each. The Sender PLATES was originally twice as curled at the COILS one is in the photo.

I shall see if I am up to reinstalling the PLATES on the Sender tomorrow.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Interesting and clever solutions to problems, always great to see how you resolve them.

There are various times kitchen utensils and appliances are very helpful in restoring or testing radio and truck parts. Boiling temperature gauge sending units in a pot on the stove, baking gas fouled spark plugs under the broiler, using the kitchen sink as a mild detergent wash basin. Of course if the wife catches you (which is almost all the time) you're done for. Fair being fair, when caught I always offer that she can do whatever kitchen chores she wants in the garage. And THAT'S when you duck the incoming frying pan.

[David Dunlop]

I usually try and use all the borrowed items in the Laundry Room, Bruce, but the results are the same as yours.

Debbie really likes the aluminium fry pans. She's perfected a mean underhand hook with hers!

David

[David Dunlop]

Well, the plan for reinstalling the PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration on the Sender front panel was a spectacular success this afternoon. It took an hour to complete, but that was only because I chose to wait a full 30 minutes for the nail polish to dry properly, gluing each hardware set to my middle finger. I have not watched so much daytime television in years!

David

[David Dunlop]

I got back to working on the DOORS assembly on the Sender today as well. Turned out my procedure for the PLATES, Phenolic, Calibration hardware came in handy with reinstalling the DOORS also.

My plan for all the hardware was to stuff enough paper towel into my ¼-inch Quarter Drive socket to get the hex nuts sitting just flush with the end of the drive socket, rest the lock washer on top and with a slotted screw driver already securing the screw from the top, move the socket with the hardware in by my fingers to engage the end of the screw. Then run the screw home. It worked perfectly for the inner three sets of hardware. I had forgotten, however, that the two outermost sets of hardware are in much closer confines and this approach would not work for them. So I went back to the finger-gluing plan with my left index finger this time.

Problem solved with the reinstallation.

An interesting discovery surfaced, however.

The lower Cowl fastener on the door had a broken Cross Pin in it and did not fully engage the receptacle mounted on the side chassis. It now locks home in a quarter turn just nicely. This fastener is the replacement Dot made cowl fastener that was installed on the Door at some point in the Sender’s history.

The Cross Pin on the upper cowl fastener was the correct length, but offset to one end and this longer end bent down a bit, away from the door. With the new Cross Pin in place, I discovered why the upper Cross Pin was the way it was.

The upper Cowl Fastener, appears to be too short a length: about the thickness of the cross pin from what I can tell. Instead of engaging the groove between the two receptacle spring plates, it is riding along the upper, outer, spring plate. Whenever this Cowl Fastener was installed, it must have been an ‘available’ replacement and the new cross pin was bent deliberately to make it work. I am going to leave it as is, for the time being. I have not found enough information to date to fully understand how the sizing codes for the Shakeproof Wing Head Cowl Fasteners work to know what exactly is needed.

David

[David Dunlop]

The TERMINALS, Aerial, No. C1 was remounted to its new phenolic board this morning and the terminal feed wire reconnected to it.

As with the Remote receiver some time back, I took the time to mark the terminal feed hole with a toothpick and aligned it corrected with the location of the Eye Bolt the Receiver Feeder Cable passes through, just before connecting with this TERMINALS. The Feeder Cable is an exact length and in accordance with the factory photos in the 52-Set Manuals, comes off this Eye Bolt and runs straight into the Sender Terminals.

I found my ¼-Drive Ratchet with a medium slotted screw driver head wound just fit carefully behind the front panel to run the TERMINALS screw home with one hand, while keeping the TERMINALS correctly aligned with the other hand.

Not only is this part now solidly remounted to the Sender for the first time in however long, but also one of three electrical feeds I had to undo to remove the front panel, is now restored.

David

[David Dunlop]

Another good afternoon’s work today.

The two Screw-Eyes above the Access Door Assembly were cleaned and reinstalled. The room to access the hex nuts inside the upper chassis frame is limited, so best to put these items back while the Blower Motor is off the Door. One can simply slide the hex nut up the inside of the upper chassis frame with a finger until it is centred in the hole and then screw insert the Screw-Eye.

I did not run the hex nuts all the way home on these two Screw-Eyes. They were both able to move freely in their holes in the front panel initially and it made sense to allow them to do that as they can shift with any bending of the Connector Cable they support between the Receiver and Sender. The inside diameters of both of these Screw-Eyes were perfect and I want to keep them that way. By comparison, somebody over tightened the Screw-Eye on the Supply Unit to the point the open end of the eye closed up on the loop enough you can no longer thread the Connector cable through it. One of the things to address when I get to the Supply Unit.

Once the Screw-Eyes were out of the way, I reinstalled the Blower Assembly and lacquered down the hardware. The power feed has not yet been resoldered in place. That will be the next bit of work.

Lastly, I reinstalled the restored COVERS, Metal, Blowers, Electric with the cable clip holding the Power Feed Cable to the door once again, and then lacquered that hardware.

It is nice when things can start to go back on a project.

David