[R-390] Hosing those 390A, a short pictorial

[Mark Huss]

For what it is worth, in the ASA, we used to wash down the R-390A's in a 
huge sink every four years, weather the needed it or not.  the only 
precautions we took was to yank the PTO and tubes, then went at it with 
degreasing fluid.  Then we took it to the sink and hosed it down real 
good.  Finally, they went to a small spare room we had, which had a few 
industrial heaters that kept the room at about 130 degrees.  After a few 
days, we would pull them out, lube the gears, and install the realigned 
PTO's
      What was funny was when we had a Collins Rep come in.  He had an 
Engineering Degree, whose ink wasn't dry yet.  Supposed to help us with 
a maintenance schedule for some new Collins solid-state intercept 
receivers.  As soon as he walked into the shop, he demanded to see our 
maintenance procedures for his Collins equipment, with that 'know it 
all' voice of the 'Young and Ignorant'!  So I took him out to the van, 
and drove him to the Fire Station, where we were washing down a dozen 
R-390A's.  Panicked when he saw us fire-hosing down a dozen R-390A's!  
And actually fainted when Charlie told him we had already finished doing 
the HF-8050's he had come to maintain!  Remember Charlie's last words to 
him.  'Hey, a Collins is a Collins'
    Also a sea-story when I was in was a shipment of R-390A's arriving 
on a small barge in the destined for Field Station Okanawa in 1968.  
Sank between the cargo vessel and the dock.  In 1972, a couple of 
maintenance guys were diving in the harbor, and ran across them.  Hauled 
them up, washed them down to get the salt off of them, then shoved them 
in the rack.  Every one worked fine.  Not sure I buy that one, though, 
considering the damage salt water would do the the coils, if nothing else.
ToddRoberts2001 at aol.com wrote:

>In a message dated 3/19/2006 12:25:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
>n2fq at sbcglobal.net writes:
>I used Simple Green and a water hose, perhaps I committed HariKari.
>Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
>
>Hi Fernando, thanks for the interesting pictures of your R-390As being 
>sprayed with simple green and hosed off with a garden hose. There are several things 
>I would worry about with this procedure. It looks like you left the tubes in 
>their sockets? The dirt and muck loosened up from the simple green and water 
>could settle in the sockets causing problems? I would also worry about water 
>possibly migrating into the fiberlass insulation in the crystal oven and PTO and 
>just sitting in there wet unless the covers were removed and allowed to 
>air-dry. Not likely but water could get into the meters and it could also get 
>inside the carbon pots and RF/IF transformer cans and sit in there. The only thing 
>I would dare to give the radio like the R-390A a bath in would be something 
>non-conductive like Kerosene or Diesel fuel. In that case you have to remove the 
>small ceramic trimmers or else the kerosene will get into the rubber gaskets 
>and cause them to swell up, but normally kerosene will not rust or short out 
>electronic components. But your radios may turn out just fine if everything is 
>allowed to thoroughly dry. I know people have rebuilt the Blue-Stripers and 
>they were sitting out in the weather and rain for who knows how long. I once 
>washed and hosed off a really dirty SP-600 with soap and water and it is the best 
>working SP-600 I have. I put it in front of a dehumidifier for 3-4 days and 
>it was bone dry but I did have to take the meter apart to dry it and took off 
>all the covers from the IF cans, etc.to air dry the innards.  Good luck and let 
>us know how the R-390As turn out!  73 Todd WD4NGG
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