Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Hi Bob.

I did see this one. Pretty nice looking Northern Electric from the outside and showing all the usual Mods with an interesting bit of service History, if the case is original to the set.

According to the Sellers description, all original caps and resistors were replaced, but the old ones were all left in situ and merely disconnected. I could see that working in Receive Mode but I am not sure i would trust modern, caps and resistors designed for solid state voltages with 80 year old valve driven equipment putting it into Transmit Mode for any length of time..

Lots of photos posted but I cannot see any modern caps of equivalent design to the original paper ones anywhere. Either they are all extremely well hidden, or perhaps small, button style were used and hidden under the originals.

Any interesting curiosity, but I would pass on it.


David

[Bob Carriere]

....had another closer look at the guts......and can't see where any modifications or parts replacement were done....... all the large paper condensers and not one "new" item added.......

Buyer beware!!!!!!

Bob C

[Bruce MacMillan]

having had a close look I can see many black Sprague TVA Atom series caps. These are fairly modern so I suspect some recapping has occurred.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Bruce MacMillan

having had a close look I can see many black Sprague TVA Atom series caps. These are fairly modern so I suspect some recapping has occurred.

Yes didn't spot those. Higher voltage rated axial packaged caps are becoming harder to find, the old stock new in the package capacitors or NOS can cause problems too - years of storage can degrade the dielectric materials. You can now buy modern made Chinese poly caps in axial form but they are usually a bright yellow colour ! I have noticed a Ebay seller here based in Canberra sells them in black.

In order to retain the original appearance, I have seen restorers resort to methods like drilling out the old caps and then placing a modern cap inside the old original.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Mike.

That may very likely end up being the way I go when it comes to a closer look at the paper caps in my 52-Set.

Have you ever noticed the cardboard ends on those old caps are folded in, in a manner very similar to what used to be accomplished with the reloading tools used with the old cardboard shotgun cartridges years ago? Down around the 410 size, or maybe even the cartridge size used in the wartime 2-inch Mortar rounds.

David

[David Dunlop]

Although the warmer weather re-activates all the exterior chores around ones home, it is still a perfect time to be sanding down old lead based paints outdoors. Better out than in they say, so I have now started restoration of my good Case, Spares for the 52-Set.

I thought it would be good to start with how the Case, Spares looks at the moment and these first three photos show the smaller left compartment which only has KimPak padding on the bottom of it (Not sure yet what was stored there.), the larger compartment on the right, which was fully padded and held the spare valves for the Main 52-Set, and the fully padded inside of the lid. Neither this Case, or my much rougher grey one, show any signs of a Contents List ever being glued anywhere on the inside. If anyone has such an original list, please contact me. It is possible this list my have existed in a free standing form as a folded sheet placed in the larger compartment with the valves.


David

[David Dunlop]

I think this Case, Spares is in such great shape because it was fortunate enough to have been stored somewhere very dry for most of its post-service life. The last known owner only ever used it to store spare valves in, in their original cardboard covers, and the case saw very little use once full, before passing it along to me. There has been some shrinkage of the Pine boards over the years, but nothing at all alarming, compared to my other grey Case, Spares that shows significant swelling and heaving of joints due to exposure to excessive moisture over the years. In fact, the shrinkage of the boards on this case ended up revealing a design feature I was not expecting at all, which was fun to discover.

The first photo of the lid shows some fine splits across the length of it, but these do not appear to have made it all the way through the wood.

The next two photos are of the back panel of the case. It was here that I first noticed the shrinkage had taken place. Note the four 1-inch Finishing Nails used to secure the partition board inside the case, at the left side. The wood has pulled back from around them a bit and it is just paint on the ends of these nails, no filler at all. This is consistent with what I suspected with the Box Tools when replacing its missing partition. The Finishing Nails were simply run flush to the wood and painted over to save time on the production line. I will have to tap these all flush again before I start sanding, however, or I will be shredding a lot of sanding materials.


David