Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

The clip at the "R" position inside the Connector Socket at the rear of the receiver is missing. The broken screw shaft is still visible in the bakelite.

The 'R' position is not needed for the Remote Receiver - it's the transmit/receive relay line and the relay grounds the aerial input in the receiver and mutes the audio amplifier (via the -1200V line that provides cathode bias to the PA stage.) (It doesn't have -1200 volts on it, just the 813 cathode bias voltage, I assume.)

If you need a spare connector I can post you the ones I have here as a source for spare contacts - the contacts are retained by a screw and nut so should be easy to swap out.

Chris.
(Who will eventually get to the Post Office - honest!)

[David Dunlop]

Hi Chris.

Downloading the 2/4 EMER for the 52-Set is on my Must Do list Monday evening when my 2 week probation is up. I have the equivalent 19-Set publication which also covers the same Flick Assy and I know I have disassembled quite a few on the 19’s years ago. I used that publication as my reference and ‘I think’ it covers reassembly, but it has been a while.

With regards to the Connector on the rear of the receiver missing its R-Clip, if you have spares to spare that would be a big help. Thanks.

I must revisit my parts bins again soon. I am sure I have other items tucked away, but cannot recall what. Never know what common items from the 19-Set might fall out of a bin and be shared with the 52-Set.

David

[David Dunlop]

A couple of Sunday morning observations.

It appears these receiver chassis were inspected at a standard inspection station that used a steel stamp punch to verify the inspection. I have found this 5/16 inch stamp on the outer left and right chassis side panels on both the main set receiver and the remote receiver. these two units are roughly 2,000 apart by serial number in Marconi's 1944 production.

The other interesting discovery relates to the Crystal Calibrator chassis in the upper left corner of the receiver. If you check back at the photo in Post #4, you will see a large daub of blue paint on the calibrator chassis at the left end of it. I found the remains of a similar daub on the Remote Receiver calibrator chassis.

This mark was applied at the factory to denote that all the valves in the calibrator have been 'aged'. That means they have been run for 12 hours to ensure the electrons will feel right at home in the valves when they are put to work. In addition, the receiver manual notes that Marconi has aged all essential and spare calibrator valves issued with the set. These valves have also been marked with a blue dot of paint on the end of the locating pin.

Whenever a valve has been replaced in the calibrator, the calibration test needs to be performed. With an aged replacement valve, this test can be done straight away. If the valve has not been aged, the calibrator needs to be run for 12 hours before the test can be performed.

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

With regards to the Connector on the rear of the receiver missing its R-Clip, if you have spares to spare that would be a big help. Thanks.
David

Consider it done.

Looking at the photo of the broken screw, I suspect the culprit attempted to undo it using a screwdriver. This is a mistake, as all the screw slots are in-line with the contact slot (twisting the screwdriver would deform the contacts) and the obvious assembly/disassembly method is with a box spanner or nut spinner on the rear of the connector. (Also the nuts are sealed with varnish, so may be very hard to undo without applying a suitable solvent (or heat) first.)

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Thanks, Chris. Much appreciated. PM me if you need my address.

I was wondering about that broken screw as I could see they were visible inside the clips, but a screwdriver would have to be forced into the clip to access the screw, which struck me as a very unfriendly thing to attempt to do to the clips.

You have now confirmed my suspicion that the back door to the Connector Plug is the best avenue of approach.

David

[Bruce MacMillan]

When I restored my Canadian Marconi CM11 I noticed it used the same connectors. Males were on the cabinet back & females on the equipment.

Jerry Proc restored the same equipment on HMCS Haida and may have or know of where spares may be on your side of the pond. http://www.jproc.ca/

[David Dunlop]

A nice surprise today. I was giving the innards of the Remote Receiver a closer look and a bright, shiny object suddenly caught my attention. It was the Gas Filled Discharge Gap that was missing from its clips at the Aerial terminals, stuck between two of the calibrator valves.

Cleaned it off and took the attached photo before clipping it back into its proper place. It measures 2-5/16 inches long and 7/16 inch diameter at the caps. The only markings on it are "PATT. 3841" stamped into the sides of each end cap.

David

[David Dunlop]

While giving a closer look to the Remote Receiver today, a piece of beige paper revealed itself trough a circular hole on the left side of the chassis. While looking at it, I noticed a pattern of four screws, above and bracketing this hole. I had seen that pattern before and it took a while to register exactly where. It was on either the side, or rear B-Set chassis plate on my 19-Sets. It was a Modification Card Holder and this one on my Remote Receiver clearly held a card.

I was delighted when I removed the card to find it confirmed the Serial Number of the Remote Receiver as being '7746'. Three modifications were done to the receiver on 10/03/61 (I can never remember the Military Day/Month sequence on these things but interesting the work was done in 1961).

'F257' is probably the reference code for the 52-Set Cdn, and if that is correct, at least six modifications exist and the three noted relate to the receiver.

This prompted another look at the Main Set receiver. Sure enough, the Modification Card Holder was there, but I could not see a card initially. However, when I shone a flashlight down into the top of the holder, I could see something was there. This resulted in a quick raid of my lovely wife's sewing room. A possible tool was found. A return to the receiver and an insertion of the tool pulled out a modification card. (Who knew a crochet hook could be so handy!) A different pattern mod card than the other one. Much stiffer paper and when folded over in the holder it stayed put. Interestingly it shows the chassis Serial Number to be '8356', as opposed to the plate on the front of the receiver being '8349'. At the moment, my gut is going with the Mod card. It was firmly in place in its holder and invisible. More likely the data plate was replaced or the entire upper front panel of the receiver.

Only one modification was performed on this receiver on 01/12/52 - F257/#1.

Be interesting to find a record of these modifications.


David

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

...Three modifications were done to the receiver on 10/03/61 (I can never remember the Military Day/Month sequence on these things but interesting the work was done in 1961).

Nice couple of finds David. I believe the date format is dd/mm/yy. That was the format used on the RCEME engine rebuild tags anyway (at least the ones I have seen).

[David Dunlop]

Does anyone have an original condition Carriers No. 4, or Remote Receiver Case in the No. 2 Brown colour?

My Remote Receiver case has been refurbished in postwar NATO Gloss Green, and was completely painted inside and out. I am curious if these two items were completely painted, inside and out, at the time of manufacture, or if the interiors were only painted as far back as the overhang that protrudes beyond the face panels of the main components.

And while I think of it, was the C-Broad Arrow stamp applied anywhere on the outside of these two items? And in what colour?

David

[David Dunlop]

Thanks for the date confirmation, Wayne.

On looking at the two Mod Cards again, I realized two different numbers were referenced: F527 and F257. One of those has to be a brain fart.

Looking at my two receivers over the weekend, I have decided to focus first on restoration of the Remote Receiver. Foremost, it is electronically intact and also cosmetically very good looking. The chassis will need a cleaning and an inspection/testing of all valves and should then be ready for a careful feeding of electrons. The case needs a few repairs but they can wait until I get the correct painting information sorted out. I will also benefit by becoming more familiar with the receiver chassis before I have to tackle the more serious switch damage repairs in the Main Set Receiver.

I was able to download and print out a copy of the Parts Identification List for the set on the weekend. An absolute goldmine of information for a project like this.

David

[Tim Bell]

Epay - not mine... ws52 remote receiver psu...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW2-Canad...wAAOSwDFBaS4UL

[John Hooper]

David:
As it is apparent that you have some radio background I have a question.
What would be the correct radio for an M38A1 M170 1955.
A chum has picked this up and wants to go radio vehicle not ambulance.
TNX
John

[David Dunlop]

Hello John.

I am not sure how much help I can be for you and your friend, but I have copied your post into a new topic on the M170 in the Post-war Military Vehicles Thread where there are a lot more knowledgable people on this particular topic.

You might also want to look at the M38A1CDN2 Antenna Mast Assembly Thread under the same section of the Forum. It deals with some of the issues you raised as well.

David

[David Dunlop]

The BAND Selector Switch in the upper right section of the Sender front panel appears to be the only user of this particular KNOBS on the entire 52-Set. Nor does it appear on any of the CMC built earlier No. 9 Wireless Sets. It may be unique to the 52-Set, but it is still possible Canadian Marconi was using it on one of the wireless sets built by their Marine Division.

In any event, it is a 3-Wing Knob with the lower wing that points down towards the curved Band Decal, being the longest of the three wings. It is also the wing, therefore, that has a deep groove cut into the tip of it, which was originally filled with green luminous paint. Only a few bits of it remain today.

The KNOBS mounts on a typical D-shaft, with a central, countersunk, slot-head screw, and a slot-head grub screw, directly behind the long wing, locking it onto the Band Selector Shaft. The second photograph shows the grub screw hole and also the depth of the groove at the tip of the long wing, top dead centre.

I have decided once this KNOBS has been cleaned up, I am going to wipe a single coat of flat white enamel into the groove to provide suitable reflective background, and then infill the groove with one or more layers of natural luminous green paint. That should get me pretty close to an original look. Then I will deal with the remaining knobs.

The only small wrinkle to this work is my supply of flat white enamel. I have a 13 oz spray can of the stuff, but for what I need for the job at hand, the amount of wastage to spray some into a small container for one brief dip of a fine tip paintbrush made no sense to me. But I was out of any ¼-oz jars of Testor’s Flat White Model Paint. THAT became an interesting exercise this past week!

Model supplies are non-essential at the moment here in Winnipeg and the shops locked down. On-line purchasing was another challenge. I was finding most places were out of stock, or showing a discontinued status, or showed on line they carried the brand but no details as to what was actually in stock. Checking on-line also showed some interesting News Reports from about a year ago that the company that bought Testor’s a few years ago was shutting the brand down for some unknown reason.
I eventually remembered a Model Supply shop in Calgary I had dealt with a number of years ago and tracked them down on line. 15 pages of Testor’s products were available and after looking through them all, I found the ½-oz bottle of flat whit enamel in stock, along with a shade of red gloss, and blue gloss enamels I had forgotten I would soon need for this project, so I ordered a ¼-oz bottle of them as well. Once here, I will finish off this KNOBS for reinstallation.

David

[David Dunlop]

While waiting for the paints I ordered to arrive, I decided to finish up the cleaning of the Sender chassis frame.

If you look back to Page 7, Post #207 of this thread, you will get a pretty good idea of just how much post-service crud had accumulated on this Sender, and the one small section of plate I had cleaned back then on the top chassis framework. At that point, most of the interior had been cleaned, with really the three big phenolic tuning coils, and the lower chassis floor level, down around the base of the 813 Valve left to deal with before I broke away from that part of the project. What looked bad then, looks positively hideous now, with the refurbished front panel taking shape so well.

The cleaning of the top chassis rails last evening was nothing more than a careful brush with a brass bristle tooth brush. It raised lots of questionable dust, so a mask is definitely needed for this work.

Should keep me out of mischief for a bit longer.

David

[David Dunlop]

The latter part of this morning was spent cleaning up the right and left side chassis rails, along with the rear rails and the two 8-Pin Socket Assemblies.

Just the lower chassis shelf to clean now, along with the two PA LOADING Coils. I have to think about the approach to that a bit. I have a suitable spray cleaner that can get in there and lift/float the greasy soot loose, and it is a water-soluble cleaner. The bit I am unsure of at the moment is how best to get the water rinse applied and wiped up.

If you look at the last photo posted today, inboard of the Tuning Capacitor at the left, and the Tube Shield on the right, you can clearly see the area of the lower chassis shelf where the greasy soot is still sitting and how thick it is. Two cleaning spray sessions are not out of the question yet!

David

[David Dunlop]

This KNOBS assembly has now been cleaned and polished. More of the indicator paint had survived under the dirt than I had expected, but it is not showing any signs of being luminous. It could either have simply grown old and failed, or it was not luminous to start with, but I suspect the former.

The greasy soot had even infiltrated under this KNOBS assembly onto the switch shaft itself, so it received a cleaning as well and now the KNOBS is a nice snug fit sliding both on and off the shaft.

I will redo the luminous paint when the flat white arrives next week.

David