Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Getting the front panel of the Sender to a point where I can clean it is a slow process. Some screws break free easily and some fittings slide off easily. Then you run into grub screws, set screws and knobs that do not want to budge without a soak of cleaner and or light oils. The current delay is freeing up the PA TUNE Knob from its brass shaft.

A good play is also helpful when doing a tear down. From working with tuning dials on 19-Sets, I remembered it is always a good idea to orient the main dial knobs in such a way that the set screw can be easily accessed with a screw driver. Adding to the mix with the 52-Set Sender is the fact it has three large dial assemblies spaced across the front of it. For disassembly, the Flick Control Levers must be in the "SET' Position, with the set screws facing to the right. That means one must disassemble each dial assembly in sequence, from right to left across the front panel.

As I remove parts, they are all being tagged and bagged with their respective hardware and placed in a bin.

I am never keen about this phase of a restoration. Whatever you are working on progressively looks less and less like what it should, and in some cases can end up looking like something even the local scrappie would run away from.

David

[David Dunlop]

Seems a small road block has been encountered with the disassembly of parts from the Sender front panel.

If you look at the first two photos of the previous post, you will see the PA TUNE Dial assembly has the four Clamping Screws removed, along with the central retaining screw for the large grey tuning knob. What cannot be so readily seen, is the set screw for the knob has also been removed.

At this stage in the disassembly of the dial, the grey tuning knob and the large dial disc immediately under it should just lift off the brass shaft to expose a few other bits beneath them. No such luck here. Both the knob and dial are stuck firmly in place.

Looking at the gap between the back of the tuning dial and the front panel, I can see the lower half of the supporting brass shaft is nice and bright. The top half, however, is covered in that brown, oily soot. I strongly suspect that crud has seeped into the space between the tuning knob and dial and glued them together.

After some thought, and consultations with Jacques Fortin, about options to proceed, I have decided the best approach will be to try and let some 3 in 1 Oil wick into the space to soften up the crud and then try using a gear puller on the knob to pop it free. The pullers I have on hand are far too robust to do the job, but I did find a small, 2 jaw, 3-1/2 inch max puller at Princess Auto so have ordered one. It is only a 2 inch diagonal across the corners of the grey knob, so this puller should fit in quite nicely. At Jacques suggestion, I will reinstall the central screw a couple of turns in the central brass shaft and use the face of the screw to rest the screw shaft of the puller on, to avoid damage to the brass shaft.

The puller should be here next week sometime so I will continue applying 3 in 1 Oil until it arrives.

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

I wonder if kerosine or diesel oil would be a better penetrant than 3-in-1?
(Always assuming you can't get 'proper' penetrating oil, of course.)

I'd also be wary of damaging the internal(?) thread on the shaft if you back the screw off to fit the puller. Perhaps adding a couple of flat washers to the end of the screw so you have a solid support and no pressure on the actual thread?

If all else fails and it won't shift, the square knob is presumably identical to that used on the WS19? (Check the part numbers first!) That could be sacrificed to protect the shaft.

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Chris.

I do have a couple of penetrating oils on hand but have chosen the 3 in 1 because it is milder than the others. The paint work on the PA TUNE Dial is in good shape, though the rim needs some TLC to clear surface rust. I just don’t know how well the paints will hold up to anything too strong in the way of petroleum based products, for extended periods of time.

My game plan is to try and avoid powering the knob free at once. I hope to load the puller with just enough tension to apply strain to the sticky bit between the knob and dial and then let it sit a while under load. Hopefully as the crud softens a bit, the knob will move up the shaft and the puller will fall free. I will have padding on the front panel of the Sender in anticipation of this. The concept worked for me years ago on a larger scale when I had to free a stuck timing gear on the front of an old CMP Chev 216 engine. Took a few days but eventually found the puller on the shop floor one morning and the offending gear finally in a removable mood.

Those are the cards I hope to play, but I have yet to see what’s in the crud’s hand.

David

[David Dunlop]

Shifting back to this sub-project while I await arrival of the small gear puller I ordered, I have now been able to file the diameter of the black insulator assembly such that when trimmed to ¾-inch, it just fits nicely into the brass sleeve.

I ended up using a fine-toothed wide flat file to trim down the insulator in my drill press. I could not get enough even pressure on the side of the insulator with the fine grit sand paper. It took a while, but worked quite nicely in the end.

The test fit looks really good and I now just have to trim back the insulator until I arrive at the inner core part of the pin. That should give me just over one half inch of the 7 mm cable inside the brass sleeve when everything gets soldered in place.

Just have to make a second one now.


David

[David Dunlop]

And then there were two.

Now to sit down and sort out the next steps.


David

[David Dunlop]

The small gear puller I had ordered from Princess arrived this afternoon from Brandon. Interesting that it shipped last week but took three business days this week to make the tracked run into Winnipeg.

In any event, it is now set up on the PA TUNE Drive Knob and under load. As you can see, the front panel of the Sender has been covered with heavy cloth and I added a C-Clamp to the jaws of the puller to add another level of protection to everything, should the knob suddenly break free when I am not around.

The plan is to run the puller screw down one quarter turn each half day for the next little while and see how it goes.

May The Force Be With Me!


David