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NE-500 from Turkey - how to remove the Finger Wheel and Bezel from the Rotary-Unit?

Started by Gerd, March 22, 2024, 08:43:31 AM

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TelePlay

How was the bezel held on? This is a bit different than a WE dial. How did you get it off?



Gerd

The Bezel has 3 Wings. By holding the main dial unit and turning the Bezel counter-clockwise it can be easily separated.

TelePlay

Okay, not seen that before. An inexpensive way to do that.

So, there are 3 of these holding the bezel in place, right?

Gerd


TelePlay

I prefer to use lacquer thinner, mineral spirits, white spirits or paint thinner to clean metal dial gears and parts. You have plastic, or maybe nylon, parts and gears which might melt with the petroleum based solvents.

Alcohol, a water based solvent, should work but will take a bit more time, more effort (oil based crud doesn't dissolve in water based solvents as well).

An old toothbrush, or similar type brush, along with pointed toothpicks (for getting crud out of gear teeth) and pipe cleaners work will for cleaning these dials which can not be taken apart.

And, it might be you dial is not crudded up but just lubricant dried out, in which case lubrication will be all that is needed.

I've found that dials slow down for basically 2 reasons: 1) excessive lubrication which collects dust and dirt which over time turns to near rock hard crud, and 2) the original lubrication has dried out and friction increases.

In either case, lubrication will be needed and this topic is a good source of lubricant information, if you haven't already found it:

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=7899.0


Gerd

Thank you again,
I read the Link about lubrication. After all I am making my mind up using my ultrasonic cleaner an then will this product give a try:
https://www.ballistol-shop.de/Universal-Oils/Fine-Mechanic-Oil_B_S_38_52.html
I will give an Update as soon as possible.

TelePlay

Didn't know you had an ultrasonic cleaner. They work well for dials that can't be taken apart for cleaning. I have one and used ultrasonic on dials, only caution is to let them dry out after cleaning, rinsing with distilled water and blowing the water out with dry compressed air.

I would let them sit under a tungsten filament (Edison) light bulb to warm them up to dry better.

You can search the forum for "ultrasonic" and find a lot about that method.




HarrySmith

COOL! I am happy you did not give up and got it apart. Also, thank you Teleplay for that detailed post, very informative. I agree, the ultrasonic cleaner should do the trick. Just follow the warnings about getting it dried out completely. Lubing it will not be difficult either, use the oil sparingly.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Gerd

Thank you HarrySmith. Honestly I'm happy,too. Today I began wet-sanding the Bezel, Shell and Handset. 320, 400, 600. To follow up to 3000. The Bezel already came out nice, all the scratches could be removed. Waiting for delivery of the Sandpaper..
*more to follow*

TelePlay

I found that the final finish on the bezel is less shinny that the other plastics on the phone.

I stop at 800 grit on the bezel and finish it from that point with 2 or 3 applications of Novus 2.

That leaves the bezel less shiny, a bit dull, which is what I believe was done when the phone was made.

My proof of that statement? I once polished a bezel to a high shine only to discover the lettering was difficult to see, the lettering was washed out in the shine.

Took it off, sanded it to 800 grit and polished it. Much nicer, easier to read the lettering in any light condition, at any viewing angle.

Also, don't sand too much on the bezel. It is possible to sand through the green and ruin the white injected lettering. If that happens, the lettering will become fuzzy and that error is permanent, can't undo the damage.

I didn't quite understand what happens during the injection molding of lettering on a bezel until I ruined this pink bezel by over sanding, sanding meant to remove the pink turned near white by improper application and over exposure to peroxide.

Click on the image to enlarge it and then look at the lettering too see what over sanding a bezel will lead to, an unrecoverable error, permanent damage.


Gerd

Uh! Thank you for the informations. Here are some pictures of the bezel and the dial. I am still thinking of disassembling the spider and the main spring but also I am a little afraid not to get back all together. Nex Step the dial will be ultrasoniced.

HarrySmith

The bezel looks good as is. Maybe a little polishing with Novus or a similar plastic polish. I believe Greygate or something similar is a good polish over there? I would not try to take that dial apart. The ultrasound should do the job of cleaning it without taking it apart.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

TelePlay

I agree with everything Harry said.

After ultrasonic cleaning, dry it well before adding lubrication.

When lubricating, the tricky part is applying oils to the governor axel bearing points without getting any oil inside the governor raceway. If that happens, the wing brakes inside the governor raceway won't brake, govern, the dial speed.

I looked at that oil site link. Stay away from penetrating oil, use the type the have for sewing machine.

The oil should stay where you place it, it should not spread out. Oil all axel bearing points and a thin layer on the gear teeth. Put a bit of oil on the outside axle bearing points and on the inside where the axle sits on its bearing point, when you can get to that point inside the gear train cage.

Use what you wish to apply the oil. I like to use a 20 gauge piece of solid copper tele wire with about an inch of the plastic stripped off. That lets me control the amount of oil to be applied and with a long thin reach to get deep into the gear train cage.