Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

This morning was spent getting the soldering iron cord prepped for installation of a set of Mueller clips, once I find a pair of the correct ones.

First step was to remove the AC Plug, which turned out to be a 4-piece item made by Belden. The central portion of the plug, between the blades, turned out to be a plug and a small slot head screwdriver could be slid down to meet the bottom edge of the plug and pop it free. I then just clipped the two leads at their solder points on the blades and pulled the cord out of the plug, By gripping each blade with pliers and twisting it, they unlocked from the plug shell and could be pulled free.

Next was to measure up 5.5 inches from the end of the cord and mark that point with a wrap of ¾-inch masking tape. I figured 5 inches was a good length to avoid strain on the cord and the 2-3/4 inches of Mueller clip for the No. 24A 25-Amp clips needed gives an excellent reach. The extra half-inch covers the distance from the crimp at the bottom of the Mueller Clip that captures the lead insulation and the screw terminal the lead is secured to and soldered. Interestingly, these Mueller Clips used on the Soldering Iron are identical to the ones used on the 19-Set Dummy Load Grounding strap.

The leading edge of the masking tape was where the loom of the cord would be cut back. The back side of the masking tape marks the start point for the black lacing cord that will be wound forward from that point to cover the main loom and first quarter inch of the two leads to secure them and prevent further fraying of the loom.

When the loom was finally bound, a coat of varnish was brushed on to hold it all in place. Should be ready in about three hours and then I just have to find the Mueller Clips.

There is an important addendum to working with this power cord. You may be familiar with cutting back the sheath on electrical cords to find two or more cords of twisted brown paper entwined with the electrical leads inside the sheath. This fills out the innards of the cable and presents a smooth exterior finish to the loom. It is also very flexible. On older high hear electrical appliances such as this soldering iron, toasters and laundry irons, they could not use these paper fillers. If the cord came in touch with the hot appliance, it was a serious fire hazard. This cord had three windings of asbestos in it, one formed the central core and the other two wrapped around this central core with the two electrical leads. I found that by cutting around the circumference of the black cotton loom at the masking tape and then using the edge of an Exacto Knife Blade under the loom and cutting away from it, I was able to easily slice straight down to the end of the cord, at which point the black cotton loom literally fell away. I did this with disposable rubber gloves on and a respirator and full eye goggles. With the loom off, I sprayed down the asbestos cords with a water bottle and they unwrapped easily and were cut free. Wiped everything down with a damp cloth after and everything went into a plastic bag. I can drop it off tomorrow at a hazardous waste depot at Manitoba Hydro tomorrow.

David

[David Dunlop]

Yesterday afternoon’s Mail brought these three paints I need for upcoming detail work. With the current COVID limitations and the Xmas Rush, it only took 19 days ‘First Class Mail’, for an otherwise 2-3 day delivery. Oh well, they are here now. Happy Dance!

The colours are all Testors products: Flat White TES2751, Gloss Red TES1103 and Gloss Dark Blue TES1111.

David

[David Dunlop]

From earlier Posts here, you will know the Flat White paint that arrived yesterday is to provide a reflective background strip on all the luminous paintwork coming up for the various knobs and markers on the 52-Set.

The red and the blue gloss, however, might be more of a mystery.

These two colours are for the Flick Indicator Dots on the Handles No. 72, as shown in the attached photo. As you can see, all these Handles on the Sender received a spray coat of varnish during their last overhaul, which has now turned that typical greenish yellow.

I had intended to redo the paintwork on all the Handles No. 72, but was initially hoping to save these two sets of original paint dots on the handles. These dots are all nicely placed in recessed holes, so a drop of Rubber Paper Cement placed on each would have protected them quite well, and would simply roll off with a little finger rub when the grey paint had cured. The problem was that very noticeable ridges would have been left behind around each dot from the build-up of a new layer of grey paint. It also eventually dawned on me these red and blue dots had also been covered with the aging varnish and, therefore, were no longer close to their original bright colours. This was confirmed when I compared a Handle No. 72 from the 52-Set to the original unvarnished ones on my Wireless Set No. 19 Mk III. The colours on the 19-Set popped by comparison. So I made the decision to remove all the paint on the 52-Set Handles No. 72 and build it all back up. A web search a while back found these two Testors colours were the closest matches to the originals.

So the rebuild of the Sender can continue now!

David

[David Dunlop]

I have been able to clean out all the old paint from the marker slot on the Knob today with a small awl. The slot was surprisingly deep when finished.

Masking tape was then applied to each side of the slot and a base coat of flat white enamel laid in with a 20/0 round brush.

I can now let this cure for a couple of hours and then start the process of building up the rest of the marker slot with Neutral Luminous Green paint.

David

[David Dunlop]

I used the DecoArt Glo in the Dark DS102 luminous paint to fill in the marker slot in the BAND Switch Knob. It is the thicker, pastier paint, you may recall, with a very even distribution of phosphors through out.

It took two coats to fill the slot to its original level, just below the face of the Knob.

The first photo shows the Knob after I was finished and the paint was charged with my UV Lamp. About five minutes later the BAND Switch Knob was reinstalled on the Sender front panel and in the second photo you can see it is still glowing happily away.

In the last photo, the upper half of the Sender front panel has now been fully refurbished and this is what it looks like under the UV Lamp.

Next step will be starting on the clean up of the FREQUENCY MC Dial Assembly components for the lower left side of the front panel.

David

[David Dunlop]

I was going to cover this off in Post #488 on this topic but realized the photo I had taken back then was not properly illuminated to show the necessary detail.

At first glance, if one were considering completely stripping the old paint from a Handles No. 72, the first and obvious fear would be how you would ever know or remember what coloured red and blue dots and marker lines went where. All four corners of the part look the same. The beauty of these external dial tuning drives used in the 52-Set, 19-Set and many other British and Commonwealth wireless sets is the designers used a standard, keyed assembly process for all the parts. They will only fit properly one way.

If you look at the centre opening of the Handles No. 72, you will see straight away it is shaped like the letter ‘D’, keyed in reality to fit only one way onto the machined brass drive head.

If you orient the Handles No. 72 in front of you on your work bench, so you can see the letter ‘D’ properly, you will find the four corners of the Handle automatically orient along the ‘x’ and ‘y’ grids of a graph. The x-axis, parallel to the front of you is the Red Flick Indicator Dots. The y-axis, pointing directly towards you is the Blue Flick Indicator Dots. Beside each dot is its corresponding coloured Marker Slot. These slots originally held an appropriately coloured Neutral Red or Blue luminous paint. These may be missing, faded or replaced with plain flat white paint at this point in time.

So if you keep this simple orientation trick in mind, it is very easy to strip down a Handles No. 72 and repaint it. I would use caution with any chemical strippers, however, as these handles are cast metal, possibly a zinc alloy.

David

[David Dunlop]

I was reviewing my notes on the Flick Drive Assemblies and realized these Handles, No. 80, basically the Flick Levers, were an integral part of the total Drive Assemblies so should be included with the repainting process, with the HANDLES No. 72.

These smaller handles are also cast parts, likely from a zinc alloy, but are simply overall Gloss Navy Grey with just a small (approximately ¼-inch) Marker Slot cast into the upper curve of the handle, visible at the top right edge of the second photo. These slots were filled with the Neutral Luminous Green paint originally.

I might as well spray paint both handles at the same time.

David