[ARC5] cleaning radios

[David Ross]

Jay & the gang -

  Good luck getting that little jewel cleaned up Jay.

  I recently bought an ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight and am 
having real good luck with it (their number 95563-3VGA).  I would not 
want to put a painted part in it but it does a real good job on smaller 
pieces, either plated or unpainted -  might be useful in cleaning small 
parts or hardware in that T-15.  The cleaner has a built-in heater, 
which is pretty much essential. HF sells a detergent for use in the 
cleaner -  I believe it is just repackaged Alconox (common 
industrial-grade detergent).

  Has anyone ever tried etching for badly corroded Command Set sheet 
metal parts?

73
Dave Ross    N7EPI



jcoward5452 at aol.com wrote:
> Greetings All,
>   I recently aquired an AN/ARC-5 transmitter that although not modified 
> in anyway,has suffered Time in an unfortunate manner.From the evidense 
> this one spent some time in a container of rusty water.Only partialy 
> submerged from the rear end,the three tube sockets,the oscillator 
> tuning box and the variable oscillator tuning cap were thus drowned.It 
> has a diagonal "water line" in the cover and chassis and the capacitor 
> plates have an orangey hue.
>   With liberal use of Liquid Wrench I was able to remove all the cover 
> screws without breaking any(one of my Big Fears).With dish soap I 
> washed the top and bottom covers and they look OK but still have rust 
> stains on the aluminum surfaces and a water line in the paint.The 
> chassis I have liberally douched with WD-40 and with a small nylon 
> brush have managed to clean up the mess inside.It's outside dripping 
> and drying in the sun right now.I have not yet opened the oscillator 
> box.I'll have to break the orange paint on the screws but I can repaint 
> again after assembly.Anyone know the right color orange to use?
>   My big question is: Can I get away with useing Laundry or Dish soap in 
> a big bucket and submerge the chassis and wash everything or will 
> something get ruined permanately?I have heard of people putting R-390's 
> in the dishwasher....
>   At some point the wrinkle paint will need some touch up.I seem to 
> remember Dave S. giving a short talk at the first West Coast Military 
> Radio Collectors Group meeting.Something like spraying wrinkle paint 
> into a cup and then dabbing paint onto the ares needing it.Anyone try 
> this and Dave ,any comments?
>   Also looking for a calibration crytstal for the T-15/ARC-5.(Loooong 
> shot...)
>  Thanks,
>              Jay KE6PPF