How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

Well tonight I managed to finish off building the wireless table from the original I borrowed. I tried my best to copy all of the details of the original.

[Jordan Baker]

Some assembly required. I was extra careful to ensure everything was lined up before tacking the parts into position. It is amazing how parts can appear to be lined up, you clamp and measure and then measure again only to find its out by 1/4" Re clamp and re measure and then weld.

For the table top, after careful study of the hole pattern, there is three sets of holes for the various WS carriers. Some of the holes are 3/8" diameter. I chose to drill most of them only to 1/4" for now. I figured its a lot easier to drill them larger down the road vs having them too big now.

[Jordan Baker]

The two top rails provided me with a bit of work copying. Now if I had a huge press brake it would be simple. Buuut since I don't I needed to make these another way. I ended up using 1/8" angle iron and welding on a thin strip. I used some scrap pieces as a spacer and tacked it on the outside. I then upped the heat on the welder and did small sections along the inside. Once that was done, I ground down the inside to give it a radius bend. On the outside I ground down the excess angle iron. Finally I used a flap disk and worked the two outside corners to give them the profile of being bent on a brake. The first two pictures are my finished piece. The last two pictures are of the initial welding using a spacer pieces to give me the correct inside distance.

[Bob Carriere]

......and very creative problem solving.

Very nice job.

[Jordan Baker]

Well it's been a busy day of in and out of the shop. Loaded up the wireless table and the three top bows and dropped them off at the sandblasters. Right after leaving the sandblasters my phone rings. It's the sheet metal shop and they have my wire-3 box sides and main channels all ready for pickup. So drive over to get that stuff. While. At that shop the sandblaster phones to say my stuff is ready for pickup. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon. He had them done and ready in under an hour.

As for the side panels I had the shop press break the main 4" channels. These run along the top edge of all three sides. They weren't able to press brake in one piece like the originals. This just means I'll have a whack of welding to do carefully to avoid as much warpage as possible.

[Jordan Baker]

Tonight I finished (not this late but much earlier) the welding of the top channels on the side and front panels for the box. It worked out to approximately 80" of weld for a butt joint. Other then taking a while as I had to wait for the each pass of welds to cool before moving on, it went really well. Many clamps were used to hold the panels down flat to the work bench. I then went back with a flap disk and cleaned down the welds and blended them into the surrounding metal.

Tomorrows (todays now due to the hour ) plan is to finish the front panel and start in on the sides.

[Jordan Baker]

So much welding.....but I'm getting closer and closer. The front panel for the box is completely finished. I was able to use the original tied down loops and hooks. For the side panels I'll be using the original hooks as well. I also was able to use the original top bows brackets. I have also used the original box to match up the weld pattern. I'm still amazed at just how much welding/fabrication was going into these things during wartime production.

One thing I have not done was do any painting on the inside of the top channels. I thought I would wait until nearly finished. My plan is to drill a hole in a spot that will be covered once welded to the box. Once I'm ready I'll use a small funnel and pour POR into the channel. Then I'll rotate it all around to cover and soak the inside. I did that with the doors and it worked rather well. This also means I won't be burning any off from welding.

Next up will be finishing the side channels and then welding them on. The bottoms of them are open so I'll be able to spray POR inside them once done.