[David Dunlop]

I worked on getting the Front Panel assembly removed from the Coil chassis this morning.

I started by removing the top two sets of 10-32 hardware down either side. Relatively easy with a small adjustable wrench on the inside. Not so much with the bottom two sets of this hardware. Not much access room at all for anything other than a very this wrench or spanner. What eventually worked was jamming the hex nut with a small screwdriver through small corner holes in the chassis base plate corners so my large screwdriver on the 10-32 machine screw could break the tension of the Shakeproof lock washer. Getting these two sets of hardware reinstalled later is going to be a VERY interesting exercise.

With the six sets of 10-32 hardware removed, the two 8-32 screws at the bottom came out very easily and the Coupling assembly on the Gear Drive for the Counter disconnected quite nicely. A few years of dust and dirt have accumulated on the faces of the Coupling assembly, but that should clean off easily. The hardware was all reinstalled where it came from, with the exception of the two problem sets in the lower corners, but they were bagged and tagged for dealing with later.

When I discovered this front panel was aluminum plate a while back, I realized a suitable aluminum primer was going to be needed for the repaint, but decided the cost of aircraft green chromate primer was not in the books and chose a modern cream coloured primer. My plan was to aluminum prime first and then overcoat with standard grey primer to keep away from any possible variation in the top coat colour due to what it was sitting on top of when applied. It was quite surprising when all eht mounting hardware was removed from the front panel. The two problem sets of hardware had cut deep into the panel paint and the aircraft green chromate that was common from the 1940’s through to the era of the 1960’s rebuilds of the 52-Sets showed up clearly. The other hardware, which had not cur as deeply into the paint, revealed a grey primer over top of the green, and directly under the top coat grey.

The interesting thing now will be to see how easily the Dial Counter assembly wants to come off the front panel. It will not budge on my spare parts coil front panel and I am suspecting it is a result of brass, steel and aluminum bits all in contact with one another since the 1960’s rebuilt. I had no problem at all removing these items from the Sender front panel when I was working on it, but all the metals were steel with those two. Tine will tell.


David