Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Last weekend, Debbie wanted to visit a local Thrift Shop to look for some items to do a craft project with, so I tagged along, initially to soak up the air-conditioning, rather than sit in the car waiting.

While she grabbed a cart and went foraging, I decided to explore the electronics section where most of the electrical stuff hides. I have actually lost track of the number of wartime wireless equipment bits that have turned up in these shops over the years. I was also hoping to find an old lamp or electrical appliance with a vintage 2-prong cord I could use to replace one on a piece of test gear, as the original is starting to show signed of the rubber crystallizing.

No such luck for either items this time around, but as I was passing a shelf full of old tools, a couple of hammers caught my eye. I needed to find the right size and style of ball pane hammer for the 52-Set tool kit. Bull Dog Tools, a British company that still makes garden tools, made the wartime originals. One hammer was clearly far too large and the wrong shaped head. The second, smaller one looked very close to what was needed and although the head was covered in surface rust, the hickory handle was in excellent shape, so for $3.99, I tracked Debbie down in the shop and added it to her pile of treasures.

It took about an hour to clean nearly all of the rust off the head, oil and rub it down, and clean the handle. The trace of the name on the handle appears to be ‘Benchmate’ or ‘Benchmark’, either of which start with the correct letter, so I was quite pleased with the find overall.

Once cleaned, the next step, of course, was to see how well the hammer fits the toolbox. The hammer can really only fit in the tool box with the head to the right side and the handle resting on top of the wooden partition to the left, and when you look at the spacing around the two metal support brackets fitted on the right side, the head of the hammer best fits with the pane end towards the front of the box. The leaves a nice long area across the front of the box to store the three screw drivers and if you want to avoid accidentally discharging your flashlight by resting it switch side down. It best fits switch up and lens to the partition.

With the hammer in this position, notice how the handle, resting on the partition, keeps the handle of the soldering iron in place and how it would also help keep the hydrometer box in place when it is resting on its larger metal bracket and the partition.

I have not yet figured out how the rest of the tools were packed in the toolbox at the factory, but the various pliers likely went in the middle of the floor of the box, between the screwdrivers and flashlight.

It’s a pity that packing instructions for so much of the wartime wireless instructions have not yet turned up. Apart from the ones for the three wooden boxes/cases for the 52-Set, I would love to find the instructions for packing the small Spare Parts Box for the Wireless Set No. 19 at the factory.

David

[David Dunlop]

I am continuing to work through the Operational Check List a few times a week with the 52-Set, up to the point where I need to tune the set to 10 Mc, insert the Morse Key No. 9, and go into a full blown, key down transmit mode. Up to this point, the set is producing all the positive results it is supposed to on the Check List. The two dynamotors speed up and slow down where they are required to and the relays activate to isolate the Receiver on queue, taking it off line as they are intended.

I have noticed that he MG2A Dynamotor is not as grindy on start up as it initially was a few weeks ago. This could be the grease in the front bearings is finally getting back to lubricating things a bit better, but more likely, the Brushes are starting to seat better with the commutater.

All voltages settle into the generally acceptable ranges provided for them, once the overall set has warmed up for about 10 minutes or so and I am even getting test readings on the Meter for the Sender Valves, indicating they are operating within stated specifications. Still a bit nerve wracking, however. At the end of the month, I still plan to pull the Sender, remove all the valves and redo the resistance tests for it that were suspect initially, to see if any have improved at all. Then I will start digging deeper as required.

In the meantime, I still want to try and get some spray painting done on the outside of the Tool Box, while the weather still holds outside. I have started stripping the old paint off the metal fittings on the right side of the lid, cleaning the accumulated dirt and paint out of the various slot-head screws and cleaning away the numerous runs and ridges of NATO Green paint. Once that is all done, I can start sanding and filling the various screw holes where the original Glazing Putty has fallen out or shrunk.


David

[David Dunlop]

The last few days have been spent on removing the NATO Green paint remains from all the metal hardware on the Tool Box. This actually was an easy task, though messy, as I could see a red oxide primer on the underside of the larger paint flakes and the metal fixtures were all zinc-plated steel. The paint was only really sticking where the zinc plating had worn away prior to the NATO repaint.

The next step will be to use the flat wire wheels on my Dremel to cut away the remaining traces of rust and other oxides before a final wipe down with cleaner and giving all the metal parts a coat of new primer.

I will also have to borrow Debbie’s little B&D Mouse Sander to smooth out the lumpy paint areas on the box around the metal hardware and rough up the overall wood areas to give the new paint a better grip. Tied in with that will be filling in the screw holes needing this work, with new Glazing Putty.

On the electrical front, I gave the 52-Set another run through this morning while reception was still good on WWV in Boulder, CO. I still plan on pulling the Sender and rerunning the resistance tests that were red flagged earlier, to see if anything has changed since electrons have been flowing through most of the Sender circuits for a while now.


David

[David Dunlop]

The old NATO Green paint is now off all the metal furniture on the Tool Box and all said surfaces have now been brushed clean of all rust and other oxides with a small Dremel wire wheel.

I picked up a supply of sanding pads for Debbies Mouse Sander and was going to tidy up the few runs and blobs of old paint on some of the surfaces before getting to filling in the various screw holes needing that attention. Then I asked myself why I wanted to sand twice at this point and realized there really was no need.

So the holes now have a fresh coat of putty and I am letting the Tool Box sit and the putty cure, so I can do all that sanding at once.


David

[David Dunlop]

Sanding down the exterior of the Tool Box has now been completed and the next step will be to prime all the metal hardware to get it ready for the topcoat of Flat Army Olive.



David

[David Dunlop]

I was hoping the sanding of the front of the Tool Box would bring up more of the factory original stencil but no such luck. I can still see ghosts of some of the information lines as per the Tool Box Geoff Truscott recently purchased here on MLU, to know the layout was consistent with the images in the manuals. The three later sets of markings (all differing from each other) are a bit more legible. Two, along with the factory original are done in a ½-inch high by 3/8-inch wide font. The last and simplest (VAOS Reference Numbers only) is in a larger ¾-inch high by ½-inch wide font.

Similar stencil font software is still available on-line but differs slightly in where and how the individual characters are split to avoid them falling apart when the stencil is cut. That will all need further investigation. In the meantime, I am making notes of how these older stencils were cut for each character to get a better idea of what I am up against.


David

[Lynn Eades]

I have a Marsh Stencil cutter, made in Belleville, Illinois. Google it. They are still making them and there is a new one for sale on trademe (N.Z. auction site) listed by Grainger inc. in the states (I guess they make them now?) NZ$ 4300.00
Each machine only does one size, and cuts a stencil into Oil board (cardboard)