Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Back on December 23rd in Post #1055, I showed the final printout for the replacement Contents List I had to replicate for my Spare Parts Case. The next step at that point was to add a coat of varnish or lacquer to it to match the appearance of the list in my Remote Receiver Case and a friends Spare Case in Edmonton. There cases seem to be the only ones with this type of treatment. All four Tool Boxes I have seen are all clearly plain paper Content List labels.

The finish on these Lists is definitely not a high gloss and of the Matte and Satin clear spray lacquers I had on hand, the satin gave the closest look to the originals I had seen. So yesterday I did the spraying on a couple just in case I botched one.

Today I did a rough trim down and will do the final trim in a week or so, once the stench of the spay has died down a bit more.

These lists were originally glued to the insides of the various boxes and cases with good old mucilage glue, which LePages and the other glue makers stopped making a few years ago. On the bright side, yellow carpenters glue dries with a similar colour to the old mucilage which always seems to have oozed out from under the lists when they were glued in place, so I should get a similar effect using the yellow glue as a replacement. Somehow, however, getting sloppy with the glue application goes against the grain with me a bit.


David

[Wayne Hingley]

Nice looking results David. Well done.

[David Dunlop]

It is great when Time is your friend.


After applying the spray lacquer to the Contents Lists for the Spare Parts Case, I had set them aside to fully dry and finally got a chance this morning to get out and pick up a bottle of Yellow Carpenters Glue to mount the lists to the inner lids of the Spare Parts Cases. When I took the glue to my work bench, I glanced at the lists and was stunned at what I saw. All traces of the Sepia Tone in the paper had been bleached out by the lacquer. They were now a very tired looking grey colour. Not acceptable at all.

I had used the Krylon spray lacquer of the two I had available and clearly, one or more of the compounds in its composition did not like the dyes in laser printer toner that was not black.

Fortunately, the other clear spray lacquer I have is a Rust-Oleum product and a careful comparison of the two cans revealed it has a completely different makeup to the Krylon product. So, I have now printed out a new set of Contents Lists onto a tan coloured paper and I shall apply the Rust-Oleum to these later this week and monitor what happens with it as it cures.



David

[David Dunlop]

The second time was a charm! With some amendments.

I started thinking about the two clear spray paints I had on hand last week and after triple checking both the Krylon and Rust-Oleum cans, I could find no direct confirmation that either product was acrylic, so I started thinking about that and realized the most likely place to find what I hoped would work was at an automotive supply shop selling clear coat automotive paints. Off to the local Canadian Tire Store I went and 45 minutes later I came home with a 340 gram spray can of Dupli-Color Acrylic Lacquer Clearcoat, for just under $22.00 Cdn.

The formulation for this product was different again from the other two I had on hand, but the instructions were encouraging. It is a rather fast drying product and they recommended applying two light coats first, allowing them to dry before adding what they call a “wet coat”. I added to this process a bit by deciding to use the two stage hair dryer we have on hand for bath days for our puppy. I felt this would accelerate the drying times and speed the general process time up significantly. It would also drastically reduce the time any of the lacquer solvents would stay in contact with the laser printer toners in a liquid state.

The process took no more than 20 minutes from start to finish and I was able to apply three “wet coats” to the prints to achieve the same state of gloss that was on the Contents List in my Operating Case for the Remote Receiver.

Once the lists have fully cured this coming weekend, I shall trim them up and apply them to my two Spare Parts Cases. So far, there is no sign at all of the toner colour getting bleached to grey with this clearcoat.


David

[David Dunlop]

I am not sure when either of my two Spare Parts Cases last had their Contents Lists fitted to the inside of their lids but as of this weekend, these lists have now been refitted.

The Yellow Carpenters Glue worked very well, but if you choose to go this route, I highly recommend using a decent hair dryer on high heat, along with a few other tricks.

When the lists were cut to final size, the coat of clear acrylic lacquer made them curl over themselves. I was able to solve this by wrapping them lengthwise around a section of grey plastic 3/4-inch electrical conduit just before applying the glue to the backs of them. I used a 3/4-inch wide black foam wedge brush to spread the glue across the backs and then place them on the inside padding of the case lid. The nice thing about this is if any excess glue oozes out from under the list, that is a good thing. That happened with the factory originals with no sign they ever bothered to clean the blobs and runs of glue up. I used the hair dryer on the top of the list with one hand while working the list down flat with one finger and finger nail on the other hand. The trick is to get the edges set quickly and then slowly press excess glue out from under the list as needed. It is pretty easy to see when the edges will stay put and the creamy colour of the glue changes to the translucent yellow in about 48 hours in a warm room. If some of the glue blobs are a bit lumpy, they can be gently pressed flat with your finger once they skin over a bit and a little time with the hair dryer will set them nicely.

Back on Page 34, Post #994 of this thread, you can see what the interior of this Spares Case looked like when I obtained it, as compared to the look of it now with a Contents List back in place. The level of lacquer gloss on this list is a very close match to the list I have in the Remote Receiver Case, so I am happy with that as well.

Apart from still having to add the correct C-Broad Arrow markings to my three cases and boxes for the 52-Set, this portion of the project is at a happy point for me now and I can now finally focus fully on the work required to bring the Supply Unit for the main set back to an acceptable level of looks and operation.



David

[David Dunlop]

Work on this item is getting a lot closer now.

Hopefully, the last major tool needed for this part of the project was purchased yesterday, the Arc Stick Welder pictured below. These only come on sale a few times a year. It is definitely not in the same league as the massive Lincoln beast I owned in the 70's and 80's that needed its own 220 Volt service line installed in my parents basement shop at the time, but it is a very capable machine for repairing what needs to be done of the Supply Unit.

As a reminder, somebody as one time spent some time hitting the top edge of the front panel with a hard object. This welder will allow me to infill those dents and file the top edge back to its original look. the welder gets very good reviews from people who understand its limitations. Prolonged use on a 15 Amp Household circuit will trip the breaker unless you dial back to around 60 Amps on the welder, but it works just fine on a 20 Amp circuit, of which one is present in my current basement shop.

I have also ordered in 10 each of 8 different carbon composite resistors, most of which will be needed in the front end of the Sender when its time comes, and a couple might be needed in the Receiver Vibrator Supply section of the Supply Unit.

Two 0Z4A valves are on there way here as well. The one in the above noted section of the Supply Unit might be failing and causing some/all of the current issues with the Supply Unit, but I discovered the one remaining such valve in my spares kit is suspect.



David

[Mike K]

Hi

Good luck with your ongoing project.

If you go to the cool386 website - scroll down to where he has a sub-section on vintage radio electronic vibrators with downloads of manuals.
"Vibrator Power Supply Design & Repair"
https://www.cool386.com/