Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

An interesting development over the weekend.

I completed the required Voltage and Resistance tests on the Remote Receiver, which have provided some interesting information. I also finally pulled all the valves from the Remote Receiver to run them through the tester.

You may recall that at the time I acquired the three 52-Set receivers, I had no means of testing the British based ARP-3 and 12Y4G valves, so simply cleaned and visually inspected them all, cleaned the sockets and put each valve back where it came from.

So now the ones in the Remote Receiver all came out again and each was given an ID tag. Of the eight ARP-3’s in the receiver, the V1C (Mixer) was totally dead and another, the V1G ( 1st AF Amp), was so weak as to be useless, so both were replaced by good ones from my parts receiver.

The real surprise was the two 12Y4G’s on board. Both V2A (Detector/AVC) and V2B (Noise Limiter) were completely dead on both sides internally. Not even the slightest glow in the dark from either after 20 minutes of receiver warm up. When I pulled the easily accessed 12Y4G from the parts receiver, it too was completely dead on both sides.

That seems like an extremely high failure rate for a valve and it has now got me wondering what kind of a reliability record these 12Y4G’s had in service use.

David

[Bob Carriere]

Lots of the work you are doing is way over my head....but if those valves have been fried....so many of them...... could there be something else that "blew" them out......and could you be risking the new tubes you are planning to put in? ............ dried up capacitor...... any physical damage that could cause a ground....... Just curious!!!!

Too cheap to buy a proper static bracelet when working on my computer to eliminate any static charge I might build up................. so I wrapped a light piece of copper wire to an overhead water copper pipe in the basement computer room.......with the other end loosely tied to my left wrist..... until some one reminded me that if I accidentally touched a 110 v wire......I might just fry myself with a "dead ground" around my wrist........ I do have a proper voltage limiting bracelet now.......

Cheers

[David Dunlop]

Hi Bob.

I wondered a bit at first also, but then realized I had three dead valves between two different receivers. I did pull the second 12Y4 from the parts receiver, checked it and tried it in the Remote Receiver. It lit up and behaved beautifully!

On the down side, however, when I found the supply of NOS valves I bought a couple of years back, only one 12Y4 was in the bunch. It is now also in the Remote Receiver and running just fine. Quite a difference in performance in the Remote Receiver now, but still a ways to go with tweaking.

One interesting possibility has come up from some experts down East and in the UK. These valves go through a lot of heat up and cool down cycles when in use over time. The constant expansion and contraction cycles can eventually pop the soldered leads inside the valve base pins loose from the inside of the pins, causing the circuits within the valve to go into an open state. It has been suggested I try heating the pins and reapplying a dab of solder to the pin tips. This can often restore the valves. If not, and the two remaining valves in the Main Set Receiver are dead...not good. There be no spares at the moment.

Cheers,

David

[David Dunlop]

Thought I would show the steps I used to correctly align the TERMINALS, Aerial, No. C1 on my Remote Receiver, if anyone needs to do the same. It is also a good reference for me down the road, if I should forget how I did it when the Mains Set Receiver is due for a tweak.

The first photo is one I thought I would add because it shows the correct placement of the upper receiver panel, in relation to the two aerial terminals. Note the relatively even spacing of the upper panel around the two terminals. This upper panel has the ability to float about when being locked in place, which can allow the edges of the panel to come in contact with the sides of the lower aerial terminal socket. This should be avoided as it can result in the signals being received getting pulled to ground, which will mess with your reception.

In the second photo, I have inserted a 1/8-inch drill bit into the slot in the TERMINALS, Aerial to highlight the incorrect 12 - 6 position it is currently in. The tricky bit here is that in order to correctly align the orientation of the TERMINALS, Aerial, the Upper Panel assembly of the receiver has to be removed, and that is where the easiest reference mark for alignment resides. So to get around that, as shown in the third photo, I attached a tooth pick to the right side of the chassis at the point where the correct 4 o’clock position for the TERMINALS, Aerial should be. Then it is a simple process of removing the Gas Gap tube from its clips and reaching in with a quarter drive socket and slotted screwdriver head to loosen the TERMINALS, Aerial set screw enough to rotate the fitting to the correct orientation. There is no way around this process. It will require careful hands, a good sense of touch and patience, but can be done. Once everything is correctly lined up and secured, do not forget to clip the Gas Gap Tube back into its clips.

The last photo shows the TERMINALS, Aerial, No. C1 finally back into its correct 10 - 4 position. One more part of the puzzle done.

David

[David Dunlop]

I have been taking a bit of a break from receiver work today and taking a closer look at the Carriers No. 4 assembly to better sort out the work it will need down the road.

While Jacques Fortin had been keeping watch over the set for me prior to shipping it West, he had noticed all three components took a bit of grunt work to get in and out of the Carriers. A large part of this was attributable to the shear weight of at least the Supply Unit and Sender bearing down on the painted interior surfaces of the bottom of the compartments. Any dirt on the bottom chassis rails of the components really dug into the paint and there was no sense of 'slide' whatsoever. My short term thought on this is to strip the paint chemically from the bottom of the compartments to hopefully reveal the original factory satin nickel plating.

The other point of concern ws the snug fit of the Receiver into its compartment along the sides. While taking a closer look at this issue today, I discovered the left side panel of the receiver compartment bulges into the compartment right at the point where the left side mounting screw locates. I at first thought the problem was an overtightened screw at some point in time that drew the side panel in, but a close look suggests this is unlikely. The mounting screw passes through the side panel skin and starts threading into the steel reinforcing bar located around the outer edges of the panel. It then continues into the front guide bar assembly for the retracting carry handle which takes up all of the load of the screw. Looks like it should be an easy fix, however. Next time the receiver is out of the Carriers, I should be able to tap the bulge back flat to prevent the panel from binding on the receiver mounting bracket and upper panel assembly.

David

[David Dunlop]

I am not sure how large of a sub title these individual posts can handle, so I will start by providing the full description ID of this part as follows:

BLOWERS, Electric, 4-Blade, 3-inch, 12 V, 1.2 Amp No. C1 ZA/CAN 4411

One each of these are located in the upper panels of the Supply Unit and Sender of the Wireless Set No. 52. They are thermistor controlled, only coming on when the internal compartment temperature rises to a preset point, either from excess ambient air temperature, or excessive dynamotor operation. I suspect they are set up as exhaust fans, but that has yet to be confirmed.

While I was in the mood to explore the fan in the Sender more closely, I hauled out the trusty warm soap water and toothbrush to clean off the grime on part of the rear of the fan assembly. I deferred use of any chemicals as the two horizontal electrical components seen lashed to the rear of the fan motor looked very much like wax coated capacitors. I was 50% correct. The forward one was indeed a .1 microfarad 500 Volt cap, C3AF in the schematics. The rear cylinder, on the other hand, turned out to be the small R.F. Choke (L30B) to suppress noise from the fan motor and it was tucked neatly into a small plastic tube.

While not yet a comprehensive cleaning, it did confirm a pair of CMC inspection stamps on the back of the fan door assembly, and another pair on the rear face of the lower phenolic resin board on the lower half of the motor, The name “REDMOND” also showed up stamped on the back of the motor case, just below the rear bearing cap assembly.

David

[David Dunlop]

I connected a 2 Amp 12 Volt supply to the Blower in the Sender this morning and both fans sprang to life nicely. Very quiet operation and the amount of air they can pull out of the Supply Unit and Sender would be very effective, if needed.

They showed no wind down at all when the power was cut off, which could be by design, or more possible, they have seen little or no use over 75 years so are essentially brand new with no lubrication for at least 50 years. Time to see what the publications say about fan maintenance.

David

[David Dunlop]

Work on the receivers is now on hold, pending arrival of a supply of needed spare valves, so I am switching to the Sender, in order to start giving it some much needed TLC. It is a sad looking bit of kit at the moment, but the front panel is going to be the much easier task to undertake, and will have much more visual impact when finished (whenever that turns out to be).

The vast majority of paint chip damage to the Sender has happened around the edges of the panel and in a few spots, I will have to wick glue under the lifting paint to secure it from further damage. I am hoping that once the staining in the varnish has been polished down to the desired patina, the damaged paint around the edges will become less noticeable. The front panel of the Sender is so chocked full of knobs dials, buttons and switches, the eye gets naturally drawn away from the outer edges and the paint chips tend to disappear into the background shadows. The damage is not at the point where it detracts from the Sender and keeping it adds confirmation this 52-Set had a working history.

Apart from the paintwork, this Sender has very little other physical issues discovered so far. The four attached photos cover off what I have found will require some attention, and only one is currently of concern.

The first photo is of roughly the upper right quadrant of the panel. A panel mounting screw has had its head snapped off, directly above the BAND Switch. The screw shaft is exposed behind the chassis, but next to impossible to access to try turning it all the way out. It will likely become a candidate for being carefully drilled out. It is one of those small, split tip self threading items that also shows up in the assemblies of the 19-Set so should be an easy item to find replacements for from some of the bits I have on shelves as spares.

The critical repair also shows up in this photo. It is the COUNTERS, 0/9999, 2-3/4 inch x 1-3/8 inch x 1-7/8 inch, No. C1 ZA/CAN 4642, which is the small, four-digit dial indicator for the 7 – 16 MC PA TUNING assembly. As you can see, the indicator shows ‘0,0,0,4/3’ with the dial brought all the way back to its starting point. It should be showing ‘0,0,0,0’ at this point and I will have to figure out how to zero set it eventually.

The second photo is the upper left quadrant of the panel showing how badly chipped the paint is on the Blower Fan Cover. No way around it, that item will have to be removed, cleaned up and repainted. Way too much bare metal now showing on it.

The third photo is the lower left quadrant and the only thing going on there at the moment is another split type panel screw that is completely missing.

The last photo is the lower right quadrant where the Slow Motion Drive for the PA TUNE dial is missing critical parts, which I now have a suitable temporary replacement.
Another bright note, I have discovered the cabinet lock for blocking High Power Mode on the output power switch, is not frozen. Just need to track down keys for it eventually.


David

[David Dunlop]

This is the formal name for the two four-digit indicator dials on the 52-Set Sender PA LOADING Dials and the Coil, Aerial Tuning Assembly.

As the name of the item notes, these Counters are capable of reading from a Zero start point all the way up to “9,9,9,9”, if they need to. As far as the 52-Set is concerned, none of the three Counters come even close to their limits at their respective top ends.

The error on the 7 – 16 MC PA LOADING Counter on my Sender is high when it is back at its Zero Point. After thinking about it for a while over the evening yesterday, I realized the only way that could have happened was at the top or upper limit of travel for this Counter, but I had no idea exactly where that upper limit would be, for ANY of the three counters used with this wireless set. And none of the manuals reference that limit information either. The only way the misalignment of numbers could have happened, given the design of the system, was if somebody had rapidly spun the dial up in a very aggressive fashion and when the upper stop was hit, the angle drive at the back of the Counters flexed enough for the gear set to jump a few teeth, pushing the numbers up three and a half digits higher than the indicator should have gone.

So I took the time last evening to run each dial up to its upper limits and recorded the results as follows:

7 – 16 MC PA LOADING: 0,4,4,9/8 *
1.75 – 8 PA LOADING: 0,7,7,8
COIL, AERIAL TUNING: 1,2,9,6

* Given this COUNTERS is now reading 3.5 digits high, the correct upper reading should likely be ‘0,4,4,5’


Thought I would post these results in case anyone else needs to know.


David

[David Dunlop]

Here is a photo of the back of the Counters for the 1.75 - 8 PA LOADING Coil. It is the only one in the set that is readily visible at the right side of the Sender Chassis The incorrect one, unfortunately, is inboard of this one and next to impossible to view/access without major disassembly of the Sender.

You get a good idea of how the angle drive operates and relates to the main shaft of the coil assembly, however, and all three would have an identical setup.


David

[David Dunlop]

This little bundle arrived in this afternoon's Post. 12 NOS Canadian Marconi Company (Radiotron) 12Y4 Valves in minty, original wartime packaging.

David

[David Dunlop]

The Sender is now laid out for disassembly and cleaning. I have the back of it resting on two 18 inch sections of 2 x 4 lumber to protect the pair of 8-pin connector sockets on the top rear of the chassis. This keeps them well off the surface of the work desk.

I wish the rest of the chassis interior was as clean as the bottom section. Sigh!


David

[David Dunlop]

I spotted one of these BA Tap and Die Sets on Amazon Canada a couple of weeks back and ordered one. It arrived this afternoon.

It will very likely get put to good use cleaning up threads on various parts of this 52-Set project.

David

[David Dunlop]

There are a couple of rivets used on the 52-Set I need a correct identification for as some of the project work down the road is to replace a couple of parts fastened by them. I think they are either called tube, or hollow rivets and appear to be plated brass in nature.

The first type are illustrated in the first photo of Post #248 and here. They have a shallow truss head and are used to hold the AE Aerial Terminal in place on the Sender.

The second type is a full countersunk head rivet used to mount the fixed receptacles for the cowl head fasteners. the 2nd and 3rd photos are of this style rivet.

David

[David Dunlop]

I will be pleasantly surprised, if I ever chance to run across one of these original Leads in complete, working condition, so I have moved on to the alternative idea of reproducing it, as best I can with available modern components.

The first step in this sub-project came about back in February of this year (Post #240) when I found the suitable single conductor cable. This sub-project also makes for a nice break from the rather tedious task of cleaning the front panel of the Sender, a task that is a tad hard on my pinkies these days.

The original end terminals for this lead assembly were a one-piece sleeve version of a Motorola Pin Connector. The central copper conductor fed through the pin and was soldered in place at the tip, essentially making the sleeve ‘hot’ during transmission. An extensive search of the Internet showed a lot of modern Motorola Pin Connectors available, catering to the various sized coax cables on the market. A number could be found with the required 7 mm inside diameter, but the outside diameters were all far too large to clear the guide holes and eyebolts across the upper front of the main 52-Set. I then started to think of the possibility of building the necessary Motorola Pin Connectors from suitable parts, if such could be found.

I started by searching for 7 mm inside diameter metal sleeves, which opened a staggering number of possibilities. While plodding through some online photos of possible metal sleeves one evening, I spotted a small, brass, ‘cord tip’ which was ¾-inch long (the required length) but basically shoelace sized. It came from a company identified as “ozbrassshop.com”, which I assumed was in Australia, so I headed to their site to have a closer look at their product line. Yikes! They listed over 10,000 items, nearly all in brass, catering to the craft and jewellery making market, and they were based in Istanbul, Turkey. Well, I had gone this far!

Yes, I spent the better part of two entire evenings going through the entire product listings for the ‘ozbrassshop’. 48 images at a time. It paid off.

Near the end of their listings (of course it was) I found what I was looking for: Item # ENC7 2402. It was a package of 20 pieces for $8.00 USF and free shipping, and the item was:

End Cap, brass 8 x 20 mm (7 mm inner) raw brass (4.5 mm top hole) cord tip ends, ribbon end.

I ordered them.

The attached three photos show the tip on its own, fitted over the 7mm cable and how nicely the tipped end will pass through the two eyebolts on the top of the Sender panel. The one fly in the ointment at this point: the eyebolt on the top of the Workshop 202 rebuilt Supply Unit has too small an inside diameter. Something else has now been added to the ‘To Do List” for this 52-Set Project.

More to come on this Leads, Aerial 25-3/4 inch Project shortly.

David

[David Dunlop]

The third piece of the puzzle for fabricating a suitable Leads, Aerial 25-3/4 Inch was to be able to source a suitable central pin assembly for the tips. This is where the modern Motorola Pin Connectors come into play. The vast majority of these have a ½-inch pin fitted (the necessary length), but not all. Most venders on line do not provide much information regarding the pins on the products they offer, so you have to email them and ask. The more critical issue regarding the pins today is the construction of them. It is not always evident from the photos provided. Three methods of manufacture are used for making the pin components.

The cheapest method, and the most likely one to produce garbage, is an attempt at rolling a small rectangular strip of metal which results in a series of three and a bit longitudinal folds for the length of the pin, and the two longitudinal edges end up overlapping one another to some random degree. The finished pin should have a .125-inch diameter. The problem with these pins is the sides of the folds are rarely equal; so one measurement across the pin will be in excess of .125 inches, causing the pin to jamb in whatever it is plugged into. I would avoid this type of product at all costs.

The second means of pin making, uses equipment that produces a true rolled pin body cylinder, with the two longitudinal edges butting up smoothly and evenly against one another. The cylinders are then cut to the required length and the rounded tip and flared base formed. They cost more than the first type, but are more commonly found and the diameters consistently measure very close to spot on .125 inch.

The last type of pin production involves extruding the pin metal to produce a long closed tube. Pieces are then cut to length and formed as per the second option above. Specs are very high tolerance and the products these pins are fitted to are the most expensive. Just remember to always ask for the specifications of the pin before buying.

The first photo attached shows the off the shelf Motorola Pin Connector I purchased from an eBay Store called ‘Antenna World Inc.’, based in Miami, Florida. The Seller goes by the name ‘platech1’ and the Item Number was 361514744308. The item is described on the site as follows:

10 Lot Motorola Male Car radio antenna connector Crimp Solder RG-58 RG-59 RG-62

The second photo shows how the crimping end of the outer sleeve can be bent to the side and the sleeve spread open to release the inner plastic insulator assembly holding the pin. A very pleasant surprise at this point was to find the diameter of the pin base is just one half mm smaller than the end hole of the brass sleeves I purchased. Also, in these first two photos you can see the longitudinal seam down the side of the pin. This should allow good solder penetration from the tip and side of the pin and also allow the base of the pin to be soldered effectively to the end of the sleeve when the time comes. So the sleeves will be “hot” on these fittings, just like the originals.

The outside diameter of the plastic insulator is at a maximum of 7.5 mm, so the insulator needs to be thinned down to the point where it is a snug 7 mm. I want to avoid any wobble in the final product if at all possible. Lacking a lathe, but having a drill press, the drill press gets the job assignment. I found a 13/64-inch drill bit shank is a snug fit when inserted into the cable end of the insulator. It would probably not be snug enough to resist slipping when any load was applied to the outer surface for long, when the drill was powered up. The solution was to place two layers of saran wrap between the drill bit shank and insulator when inserting the drill bit shank. Very snug now…yet removable in the end. The plan is to use thin strips of fine, to very fine, sand paper against the side of the spinning insulator to slowly trim it down to the needed diameter.

The third and last photos show the fitting of the Saran Wrap, before and after trimming away the excess.

Will let you know how that turns out.

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Ah....

What diameter is the central pin on the original?

I'm asking this because I bought a post-WW2 test kit last Saturday "Aerials, Dummy, No.2 and No.3" and this contains a bunch of short connecting leads with plugs that approximate aerial rods, the standard wrap-around spade lugs for the spring-loaded terminals on the WS12 and R107 (etc.), and the other end is a turned pin, probably nickel plated, that fits a slotted terminal as used on field telephones.

The pins are smaller diameter than the insulation on P11 cable (which they are fitted to) and the junction covered by a rubber sleeve.

I wonder if these were a standard WW2 item?

Chris. (G8KGS)

[David Dunlop]

Hi Chris.

Good question on the original pin diameter size. That little detail is missing from the Master Parts Listings. They do, however, identify that the slot in the AE Terminals into which the pins fit, are 1/8-inch deep and I found a 1/8-inch drill bit shank slides in and out quite easily.

The other factor that I ran across is that the 1/8-inch pin size seems to have been a standard for many decades for the Motorola Connectors used with automobile radio aerial leads. At one time I think the sockets used to have spring loaded innards that gripped the aerial connector sleeve to hold it in place, but todays versions appear to have switched that up. The spring grips are now on the connector sleeve, or they use a bayonet type lock.

Years back, a smaller version of these pin connectors were common for speaker and headphone connections to wireless equipment, so that might be another possibility for you Chris.

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

I definitely have some smaller pins with plastic ends, as used on old radio sets for aerial, headphone and possibly battery connections.

I will have a rummage tomorrow if I get the chance.

Chris.
(Currently working from home due to the pandemic, and wanting to stay well away from any potentially infection carriers.)

[David Dunlop]

A safe Gnome is a happy Gnome!

David

[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

[Bob Carriere]

....from a hair dryer...... or a larger paint removing electric gun....... but you need to be careful as it may damage the paint finish....... or the tip of a soldering gun directly to the center pin where it is stuck???

Bob C.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Bob.

Not yet, but it is likely next on my possibilities list. It will also motivate me to actually go out and finally purchase a heat gun. Not sure if its creeping old age, but my lovely wife’s ‘Stink Eye’ is starting to have an effect on me whenever I borrow her hair dryer for projects.

And, truth be told, I have some bits of paint on the Sender panel that have cracked and lifted a bit. I am pretty sure if I attempted simply pressing it back flat to wick some glue under it and rescue the pieces, the bits would crack free. I am thinking a careful application of heat would soften the paint enough to allow it to be pressed back flat as a first step. Then let it cool and wick the glue under it.

David

[David Dunlop]

Progress!

Went down and checked the PA TUNE Dial this morning and the dial disc is now free from the knob and a bit of the bottom shoulder of the knob is visible. The dial free wheels and I can rock it side to side +/- 1 mm.

David