Sunday, July 24, 2011 — While cleaning up some tangled cables under my shack operating position I ran across this little jewel — a homebrew combo key that features a Les Logan Speed-X Model 515 and a CLT-26001B straight key.
It’s attached to a piece of wood about 3/4-inch thick, and the wood appears to have some sort of thin veneer of bakelite or something similar.
The Speed-X 515 is a later version of this key, judging by the base. There’s some paint loss on the pivot frame of the key, but other than some surface rust on some of the screws, it appears to be fairly complete. It is missing the original thumbscrews to secure the weights, as well as the correct dash screw with contact and the locknut for it. On this key, those were replaced with a regular screw (no silver contact) and a hex nut to serve as a lock nut.
The CLT-26001B straight key is a Navy-issue key built by the Lundquist Tool Co. of Worcester, Mass. It was intended to be a general purpose key, and I’m assuming they built millions of them; they’re very common on eBay and were sold for less than a dollar on the post-WWII surplus market. It’s a very good straight key.
There are no feet on the bottom of the wood base. It sits well and doesn’t want to move anywhere, judging from my initial impressions. One interesting thing to note is that the fellow who mounted the bug to the base at some point moved the dot contact post — look closely, and you can see that the screws securing the bug to the base aren’t parallel — the left side screw is actually going through the original hole for the dot contact post. Speed-X keys were manufactured with two holes in the base that were handy for mounting them to the operating desk or to another base of your choice. Why the op moved decided to move 
the post back is anyone’s guess; would it allow for slower dots, perhaps??
I’m going to take the keys off the base and give them a good cleaning; the CLT-26001B can clean up nicely; we’ll see how it works. The paint loss on the bug’s pivot frame has given me the thought of perhaps refinishing the key; I would like to keep the keys together on the base, its an interesting set.
BUG BOX REDUX. Checking over the T.R. McElroy box I got in the mail, I realized that it is constructed of the same thickness material as the old Vibroplex carrying cases. If I buy a sheet of the material, maybe I can experiment with making both styles? I need to invest in some tools — or borrow them from my brother — first!
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