Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

I had popped downstairs to check on how the paintwork was curing and found I needed to be within one foot of the two pieces now before detecting any further off gassing, so they will be ready for reassembly on the weekend. While checking, I also decided to make sure all the other parts were good to go and it was a good thing I did. I had not done anything yet with the two Shakeproof No. 18 Wing Head Cowl Fasteners.

I remembered the one survivor on the Sender was in very good condition and confirmed that with a quick look, which also reminded me these parts had a bright finish originally, along with their larger ‘Airloc’ cousins. The two I had to work with now only had a thin band of bright finish left along the ‘SHAKEPROOF INC’ stamp along one side of the wing. Everything else had worn away. Since all my electroplating to date (going way back to around Post #400) had been flat finish work, I went and reviewed Jordan Baker’s thread on his Otter restoration where he had done some plating and bright finish work on some electrical parts. A very helpful thread.

So for two days now I have replated and polished the two No. 18 Fasteners.

The first photo is the top fastener after plating and the polishing of the wing head started. With that much done, I then compared it to the survivor on the Sender, as per Photo 2. So far so good.

The third photo is the top fastener with polishing completed, and in the 4th photo I have compared its finished state with the original, ‘as acquired’ look of the bottom fastener.

Finally, in the last photo, both fasteners have been replated and polished.

Its interesting that the more you use your electroplating solution, the more loaded it becomes with the metal electrolytes you are working with and the faster the plating times become. When I first started this electroplating work, a good plating layer took one to two hours before metal whiskers’ would start to grow on the object being plated. Your metal anode plate also etched away at a pretty quick rate. This plating work only took 15 minutes per item before the whiskers arrived and the anode plate only had a slight discolouration along its edges that were in the plating solution.


David

[David Dunlop]

It was Reassembly Day today for the Vibratory Supply, which is always a nice point to reach in any project.

There was wee bit of a challenge in the very first step of fitting new cross pins to the two Shakeproof No. 18 Cowl Fasteners. I was able to seat them with the Cross Pin Setting Tool, but the resistance was too high when I tried getting then centered so I ended up having to tap them home with a small hammer. An interesting exercise I am glad is over.

Once the two cowl fasteners were reattached to the front panel, the next step was putting the panel back on the front of the Vibratory Supply. Since there is a significant overhang of the bottom of the panel, I set the Vibratory Supply up on a pair of small wooden blocks to clear the bottom of the panel from the surface of the bench. Then, after the Knobs, Metal was loosely fitted, I installed the two SEMS Screws, also to a loose fit. The three holes in the front panel for these pieces of hardware are slightly oversized. This allows one to ensure the bottom edge of the front panel is square to the surface the Vibratory Supply is resting on. In that way it will also be square to the front panel of the Supply Unit when reinstalled in it. This hardware was then given its yellow lacquer on the inside and the two Clips, Metal U-Shape for the drop cords were put back on. Again, there is just enough wiggle room with this hardware to allow one to ensure the outer edges of the clips are parallel to the outer edges of the front panel before carefully tightening them down. With this hardware given its yellow lacquer, another small bit of the project done.


David

[David Dunlop]

Just a refresher as to what this part of the 52-Set looked like initially.

Next step will be cleaning up the case the Vibratory Supply fits into. Not a huge project, but still needed.


David

[David Dunlop]

A couple of relatively straight forward little jobs today which pretty much finish the work needed to be done on the Vibratory Supply assembly.

The first was to clean up the surface rust that had accumulated on part of the bottom of the case for the Vibratory Supply in the back half of it.

A pair of scrubbings with the brass ‘toothbrush’ and my favourite cleaner was followed by a water rinse. I then used a small cotton BBQ sauce mop, soaked in a 50/50 solution of CLR and cold water, to scrub the rusty surface for about 2 minutes and then rinsed the case in cold running water for another two minutes. This was followed with hand drying the case and then placing it in the oven at 150 degrees F for half an hour to make certain all water had dried off completely.

Once that was done, it was on to the last repair for the case.


David

[David Dunlop]

Back in Posts #765 and #766, when I first decided to tackle some of the work on the Supply Unit, I had discovered a small patch that had fallen off the upper rear corner of the left side of the case for the Vibratory Supply. It had been lacquered in place to serve as insulation to shield some wiring on the main supply unit from accidentally contacting the side of the case.

At the time, this small piece looked either made of a thin’ plastic, or thick manila sheet. On closer inspection now, I am pretty certain it is a thin plastic. Over time, it had developed a few ripples in it and was proving difficult to get to lay flat again on the side of the case.

I decided to use some old clear nail polish my lovely Wife had donated to the cause, due to the polish having turned a light amber, to reattach the patch. As soon as that was done, I set one of my hydraulic jacks on top of the patch to weight it down and fired up my heat gun on low heat (350 degrees F) and directed the airflow into the back corner of the case, under the jack. I did that for almost two minutes. At that point, the rear sheet metal of the case was uncomfortable to the touch and the base of the jack was warmer than room temperature. The heat gun was then turned off and the entire assembly allowed to cool down for 6 hours. Quite pleased with the result.

Now there are a couple of items to address on the Supply Unit itself, related to the Vibratory Supply.


David

[David Dunlop]

The last small project directly related to the Vibratory Supply was finished this morning, which involved reinstalling the hardware set that had fallen out of the right side of Panels, Phenolic No. C1 (ZA/CAN 4229). This discovery was also covered back in Posts #756 and #766.

This Panels assembly is fitted to the back end of the tray in the Supply Unit the Vibratory Supply and its Case slide in and out on. The Panels supports the three Sockets, Metal, ¼-in OD 40 tpi thread, No. C1 (ZA/CAN 4583), which are basically a form of Banana Socket the Vibratory Supply plugs into when in place.

The front collars of these Sockets have ridges in them parallel to the longitudinal axis of the sockets and the sockets are fully threaded on the outside. On the backside of the Panels, Phenolic there is a 1/16-in free space between the Panels and a pair of hex nuts run up against each other and lacquered in place. This gap allows the Sockets to ‘float’ on the Panels, which allows the plugs on the back of the Vibratory Supply a better chance to capture the sockets. Probably a gauge was used on the assembly line t make it easy and consistent to attain this gap. The Sockets and Panels assemblies were likely assembled to the tray for the Vibratory Supply, before the tray was riveted in place at the bottom of the Supply Unit chassis. This latter point makes it trick to replace the right side screw assembly that had fallen out of the Panels.

When the wiring was disconnected from the Sockets, the lowermost lock washer was covered in rust that needed to be tidied up. Removing the wiring, with its large tags provided more access to where the hardware went, in behind the chassis side frame. The other thing that was necessary was to slide a wooden wedge between the chassis side frame and the back of the Panels to hold the Panels firmly up against the back end of the tray assembly. This allowed the screw to be reinstalled to fully pass through the Panels far enough to easily engage its lock washer and hex nut when the time came to fit them.


David

[David Dunlop]

Given the tight space behind the Supply Unit chassis and the back of the Panels assembly at the rear of the Vibratory Supply tray, I needed to be sure the hex nut and lock washer stayed put long enough for the screw to capture them.

To do this, I glued the hex nut to my 5/16” Box End Wrench with clear nail polish, and then glued the lock washer to the hex nut, being sure to keep the polish out of the hex nut threads and the washer centred over the hole in the hex nut. Once dried, it was easy to hold the two parts in place and manoeuvre the screw to engage the thread in its hex nut. As the hex nut tightened down, it popped free in the wrench and shed all the nail polish. I could then switch to the open end of the wrench on the backside and a screwdriver on the screw to carefully tighten the hardware. A final wipe of polish across the back of the hex nut and it was all done, and the wiring could be reinstalled on the Sockets.

Now that is out of the way, I need to look at how best to access the hex nut binding the Case for the Vibratory Supply and fix that problem. All that work is in the Supply Unit itself but has a major influence on the Vibratory Supply.


David