Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Apart from four different sets of coil case hardware that need to be cleaned and have a new coast of zinc plating reapplied, the next major step in restoring this Coil, Aerial Tuning No. 2 A has to be the removal of the front panel from the coil chassis assembly, so that it can be stripped down of old paint, repainted and new luminous decals applied. This part of the project comes with some trepidation. The attached photos in this post are all of my spare parts coil front panel, which spent enough time in its life in a damp environment that its tuning/tracking assembly seized up completely and broke.

Once this panel is removed from the coil chassis assembly, there are only two parts still attached to it: the Tuning Counter assembly, and just under it, the Screw, Special, Brass post that forms the basis of the locking assembly for the tuning control. There is a large reinforcing plate fitted over the drive shaft of the counter. Two large spot welds secure it to the front panel and two of the three mounting screws that fasten the counter to the back of the front panel pass through the lower portion of the reinforcing plate. The third mounting screw sits just above this plate on the panel. When the tuning knob is in place, the reinforcing plate is largely obscured. The reinforcing plate prevents the front panel from flexing when the coarse tuning lever has been extended from the front of the tuning knob and can act as a lever which might otherwise bend the tuning shaft out of alignment.

When I was restoring the Sender, I had to remove a pair of these Counter assemblies from its front panel and the hardware all came free very easily. I have tried several times to remove these same item from this coil front panel with no success at all. Since those attempts, I have subsequently discovered the coil front panel is aluminum plate, not steel like the Sender front panel. I am now thinking that electrolytic reactions between the aluminum, brass and zinc, in conjunction with the dampness the coil was exposed to, may have fused this hardware solid. In addition, the hardware holding the Screw, Special, Brass in place is alarmingly tiny stuff: 2-56 zinc plated brass hardware I believe.

I am hoping I am correct about this spare parts panel and that the hardware will pop loose OK on the front panel for my working coil assembly, but it is definitely a concerning task ahead.


David