"Ooooooh That Smell" (How do I neutralize offensive odors inside my 500)

[metdial]

I know that I have already spoken ad nauseum about the pungent smell of my newly acquired '52  500, and I apologize for bringing it up once again.  However, the combination of 50+ year old sour smelling plastic and 50+ yrs. of dirt, grime, mold, and mildew is overpowering and potentially harmful to the health of me and my spouse.  My wife says she can still smell the musty traces of this phone in the room where I took the case off to examine the phone's innards.  We both have allergies to certain environmental agents, and this phone appears to be one of them.  I did give the case a quick soak in bleach and water to try to kill the white moldy stuff on the inside of it (helped a little bit maybe), but I don't know how to go about sanititzing & neutralizing the internal components (all those wires leading to and from the network and to and from the dial).  I haven't yet learned how to disassemble and clean the dial(is there something that I can just spray in there to clean and lubricate the dial mechanism without disassembling it?)  Is there a disinfectant that I can spray all over the wires and internal components that will not hurt anything but will kill any odors and pathogens lurking inside?   I know everyone has to learn by doing and by making mistakes, but I really don't want to damage this phone.  If I can just kill the evil mold spores & bacteria that are causing the horrific smell and posing a biological threat to my home, than I will be able to learn how to properly refurbish this phone at a healthy and leisurely pace as my knowledge increases.

P.S.  I've read about the 2 to 3 hour bleach & water soak that some of you recommend for killing mold, but will this method damage or remove the ink stamped date from the inside of the phone? 

Thanks for all of your help and suggestion. 

Tom

[Dennis Markham]

Losing the "ink" stamp date is a concern.  I have utilized the bleach method on a few occasions and never had the date come off.  That doesn't mean it won't on the next one.

I don't know what you would use to spray the cloth covered wires with to eliminate the musty smell and mold.  Maybe just drying them out in a warm spot--under a lamp or in front of a space heater (away from the plastic).

As far as lubricating the dial...they are designed to use very little lubrication.  Here is a posting I made in the past about this, using a 7D as the example.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=285.0

You do not need to disassemble the dial to clean it.  I would get some Non-detergent electrical contact cleaner (Radio Shack has this) and spray all the old gunk off the gears.  That and compressed air, a few Q-tips and a rag ought to do the trick.  Then the dial should be lubricated in just a couple areas.  That info is on the above posting as well.

I have picked up black soft plastic 500's that had musty odors.  I have cleaned and polished them, used bleach when needed and just let them sit somewhere to air out where they won't conflict with your breathing.  If it were summer time I'd say set it in the garage or someplace where air circulates.  Over time the odor seems to clear up.  I recall a friend that had a soft plastic 500 that smelled like moth balls.  It took a while but eventually he was able to "air out" the phone and get rid of the odor.  But I would imagine the smell, must, whatever does permeate the plastic and the bleach should kill that.  Two to three hours in the mixture has worked for me.  If not, soak it some more.  Just keep an eye on the painted/inked markings.

Dennis

[Dan/Panther]

I found that soaking the cloth wire in armoral, then letting it dry out, will take away bad odors.
D/P

[BDM]

Ok, try mineral spirits. Yeah yeah, before you run off and scream in horror, believe it or not it works on radio dial scales. Without removing the ink. Want to bet? As any of you radio collectors know, wiping down a Philco dial scale(35, 36, 37 or 38 vintage) is a guarantee that the scale will be nice and clean. Especially the numbers. If you even think of cleaning them, they lose their numbers.

So, with info from another collector, he told me to use mineral spirits. Low and behold, not a number even smudged. But it cleaned the dial real well. I was stunned!!
Try it on the plastic. Bet it works well without removing the date codes. Try it on a unimportant set first as always

[metdial]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.   I was thinking that if we ever get a January thaw day up here in the northeast, I can let it sit outside to air out as Dennis suggested.  Perhaps I could then try to blow out all of the dust & dirt with some compressed air.  Speaking of compressed air; is there a small compressed air unit or machine that you guys use, or do you buy the stuff that comes in a can?

I've got quite a shopping list of things to get related to my new hobby:

Novus polish, electrical contact cleaner, Simichrome polish, 409 type cleaner, mineral spirits, armoral, pipe cleaners, cotton socks from Walmart for cleaning & polishing, dremel tool with appropriate attatchments, Ryobi buffer/polisher, some sort of compressed air unit or product, .....and on.......and on.......and on.....

Gee, maybe I need to stop buying phones and start buying supplies.

[McHeath]

Never stop buying phones!  Afterall we have to keep the economy going!  And it's cheaper than a government bailout.