Friday, July 22, 2011 — Yeah, I’ll never be a rapper, poet, or a great CW operator — but at least I can own a turntable, an ink pen and a semi-automatic bug, which are all tools of the trade.
My latest disassemble/clean-and-polish/reassemble victim is the Les Logan Speed-X Model 500 in the accompanying photographs.
There’s nothing that makes this Model 500 stand out over any of the others — beyond its transformation from a dirty looking bug with seized adjustments to a very nice operating key.
The base of this key was dirty, as was some of the chrome; the biggest problem I had was the fact the key’s adjustments on its T-bar pivot frame were seized tight. A couple of days ago, I removed the T-bar from the base leaving the keying arm intact and in place. I applied liberal amounts of PB Blaster to the pivot point adjustments as well as the left and right stop adjustment screws. My fear was twisting one of the screws off — they are a 
much lighter, cheaper material than Vibroplex was using at the time.
Today was the moment of truth — I was either going to get the screws loose or make a new parts donor out of this key. In the end I had to really tempt fate and break out the channel locks. I gingerly broke the adjustments loose, first turning them inward before turning them “out.” None of them broke, but they didn’t unscrew willingly.
The pivot screw did just fine once it was loose; the left and right stop adjustments fought me for their entire length. Once I had them out, I tried both of the screws out in the dot contact post (all of these screws are the same thread and diameter). Lo and behold, both of these screws were nearly impossible to get screwed into the contact post!
Apparently the screws were a bit larger than they should have been — which explains the pliers marks on the heads of the screws (it was probably the only way you could adjust them).
I have a couple of Les Logan Speed-X donor keys, and I found a couple of donor screws — which screwed into the pivot frame perfectly and without the need for channel locks (thankfully!).
The rest of the key cleaned up very, very well. There are only a couple of very minor flaws in the wrinkle paint on the base. The chrome on this key’s T-bar pivot frame is in much better condition than the last one I cleaned up.
The key arrived with only one weight (most were sold with 2). The key arrived with the original hold-down bolts and nuts that were in the two holes in the base (I’m not sure why, but many owners of these keys left those screws in the base).
The chrome finish on the key is pretty good; probably close to its original condition. The quality of the plating improved during the E.F. Johnson years (IMHO).
My next “problem” is finding a place to keep these keys that will keep them from getting dusty and dirty. I’m still working on that one. I may wind up putting them in freezer bags just to keep them clean. It’s amazing how much dust they collect over time.
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