Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Bah! Didn't find the aerial lead; I must have moved it to a different box in the 3-D Chinese sliding tile puzzle. Though I did find a box of surprisingly chunky cables, which it turns out are battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5 (presumably useless because they live in the Stowage unless you need to remove the set from the vehicle for use as a ground station with charging set).

Oh well... might get an early night for a change.

Chris.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

Bah! Didn't find the aerial lead; I must have moved it to a different box in the 3-D Chinese sliding tile puzzle. Though I did find a box of surprisingly chunky cables, which it turns out are battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5 (presumably useless because they live in the Stowage unless you need to remove the set from the vehicle for use as a ground station with charging set).

Oh well... might get an early night for a change.

Chris.

Ah, but that is precisely what happens in a Chev HUW wireless van. Everything is quick release. When in the van the chorehorse runs through a permanently mounted switch box with a knife switch that, thrown one way, charges battery pair one, leaving battery pair two to power the 19 set. Throw the other way and the reverse occurs. A Switchboard, Charging No.5 is mounted to the underside of the wireless table. When the table, batteries and chorehorse are removed to work remotely those cables would then attach the switchboard to the batteries and chorehorse.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

Though I did find a box of surprisingly chunky cables, which it turns out are battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5 (presumably useless because they live in the Stowage unless you need to remove the set from the vehicle for use as a ground station with charging set).

Oh well... might get an early night for a change.

Chris.

Chris. could you post a picture of those battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5? They would most certainly be part of my HUW's kit. and I'd like to see what they entail. That is after a good night's sleep of course....

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

Chris. could you post a picture of those battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5? They would most certainly be part of my HUW's kit. and I'd like to see what they entail. That is after a good night's sleep of course....

They are _extremely_ heavy, with a slotted lug at the battery end and a ring lug at the switchboard. I have a mix of UK and Canadian types, and also the battery linking cables (Connector, Single, No.3).

Cables are thick rubber (about 0.75 inch diameter) or fabric-jacketed (about 0.5 inch) and Connector, Single, Nos. 24 and 24A-D. (Without going to look.)

I will need one set for my charging switchboard, but the others will be available at a reasonable cost - shipping is likely to be the killer, they are definitely not lightweight.

Best regards,
Chris. (So much for getting a early night for a change.)

[David Dunlop]

Hello again, Chris.

I understand completely regarding the mails. Best the items in question stay put with you for the time being where they are safe and sound. There is little, if any, international air mail going anywhere these days. It is a service totally dependant on available space on commercial airline flights and with that service almost curtailed, it has dragged air mail down with it. We just received notification 10 days ago about an air mail parcel finally arriving at the Canada Customs Depot in Toronto. It was mailed from Barnsley, Yorkshire first week of December. I have another parcel mailed from Perth Australia mid November that has yet to get here.

Thanks again for all your assistance.

Now get some sleep!

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Going to sleep right away, Sir!



(falls into bed)

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

[David Dunlop]

Thinking about the ID Sleeve today, and the possible options for this Leads Assembly, my first decision was the easy one: going with the actual length of the sleeve from Bruce Parkers surviving example.

Another consideration was the markings on the sleeve. Bruce’s example confirmed them as well, right down to the size and font. My thought process for the markings had leaned towards pre-printed ‘Letterset’ style. 30 or 40 years ago, the odds of actually finding a matching font would have been excellent. Off the shelf today, not so much. I do have a few sets tucked away somewhere and will have to see if one is sized appropriately to work. That the font will not be a match to the original is fine with me. I am more concerned about fabricating a perfect working cable as close to specs as possible, without wanting to make it a perfect fake. 75 years from now, if this 52-Set is still around and in one piece, it will be nice to know that close inspection will reveal the replications and the care taken to make them.

I have now also decided to make this ID Sleeve yellow in colour. I agree with Bruce’s comments that his original very likely was yellow when made but age has not been kind to it. And that makes sense. Wartime was full of unexpected supply shortages, everywhere. It would not surprise me in the least that multiple manufacturers were involved in making these sleeves and they could have had to switch formulas for their production to maintain delivery obligations, Changes to formulas may not have altered the look of a product initially, but could very likely have impacted expected ‘life in use’ of the item.

So, next step is to find a suitable yellow colour paint for this ID Sleeve and see what happens.

Thanks yet again, Bruce.

David

[David Dunlop]

This little Sub Project has come together rather well, so far.

With the measurements Bruce posted from his surviving Leads, Aerial 25-3/4 inch, I cut a matching length from the heat shrink tubing I had available that just slides over the 7mm HT cable used in the Leads.

With access to shops once again, I checked available yellow paints in the local Canadian Tire Store and lucked into one remaining can of Rust-Oleum ‘Painter’s Touch’, gloss enamel that was a good match to the yellow ID sleeves on my CPP-2 cables. This paint is Stock Number N1945830 and is called SUN YELLOW. All of the other yellows I looked at were too much to the orange part of the spectrum, or the cream section.

The next thing I had to do was paint the sleeve I had ready to go and set it aside to cure. In the meantime, I measured out the length of cable I would need to finish this Leads Assembly off at the Sender Pin Terminal end, hopefully maintaining the required 25-3/4 inch length between the end faces of the two Pin Terminal Sleeves. With the working length of cable ready to go, I could then slide the painted and cured ID Sleeve up the cable from the free end to within about an inch of the insulated Receiver Pin Terminal end. Hopefully it will end up located and looking somewhat like the Leads does in the manual when finally installed.

With the ID Sleeve in place near the Receiver end of the Leads, I was then able to install the Pin Terminal assembly over the Sender end of the Leads. The Pin Terminal Sleeve at this end needed to be carefully crazy glued in place on the cable to prevent it from possibly twisting about and perhaps eventually cracking the inner copper wire core of the HT cable. So it was glue on and the copper core wire pulled 90 degrees over the end of the pin to snug it all down. The cable was then set aside 24 hours for the glue to fully cure.

This morning, I did the soldering at the Sender Pin Terminal end of the Leads and cleaned up and excess solder. Final measurement of this Leads ended up at just a stink over 25- 11/16 inches. I can live with that.

I have found just one black Letterset font in my stash that might work for the printing on the ID Sleeve. I will have to do some comparisons this weekend between the outer circumference of the sleeve I have used and the height of the font and see if I can get the required number of lines to fit in.

David