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Dial Centers

Started by Phonesrfun, May 05, 2011, 11:55:05 PM

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Phonesrfun

Several years ago, I made up a sheet of paper in MS Word of the old 1939 AT&T logo for decorative dial centers.  This logo was downloaded from the Internet, and I did multiple copy and paste routines to get in on a single sheet.  A friend of mine asked me about this, and since I went looking for the file, I thought that while I was at it, I'd post it here.

You can print these out on white, ivory, ro light gray card stock.

You can either use a circle cutter, or cut them out with scissors.

I have attached this file in both Word and in pdf formats.  See the little attachment icons at the bottom of this post.

I hope someone will find this useful.
-Bill G

GG



I just looked up circle cutters and found one on Amazon made by Fiskars which is a recognized brand for scissors.   The information says it'll do circles form 1 to 8" in diameter.  Is that a decent one or do you have a recommended one, and how are these things used?   How accurate are these things in terms of setting the circle size? 

Also can they be used to score circles on plastic sheet, so the circles can be cut using some other tool such as a Dremel? 

Phonesrfun

I use the Fiskars circle cutter, and you can also get it at Jo Ann Fabrics in the scrapbook/hobby section of the store.

They work pretty good, but you have to do some experimenting with it to get the correct size and the correct alignment around the center of the dial center to be cut out.  With lots of images on a sheet, you can experiment and toss the ones that don't come out.

Once I got the size correct, I marked the position on the plastic ruler of the cutter with a ultra fine Sharpie.  The nice thing about it being adjustable, is that you can use it on AE dial centers too.

It is adviseable to get a small plastic cutting mat from Jo Ann's or wherever you get the cutter, since it has a little razor-sharp cutting blade, and that would mess up a desk top in a hurry.  You could also use several sheets of plain paper underneath.

Here is a picture of the one I have.

-Bill G

dsk

Dialcards are an interesting subject.
we have no traditions for using dialcards here. just fixed blank centers, ore some with the dial numbers on.  

I have posted some pictures in another thread:  http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=503.0

Some of those dial cards looks better for my eye than others, but witch would be right to put in to e.g. a 500?

I really like this.
Has it been used with the 500, or only older telephones?

dsk

jsowers

What I call the "black masked" cards date to the 1950s or earlier, so that card would be fine on a 500 from, say 1955 or 56. Sometimes older cards were used on newer phones. It all depended on what the installer had and what the company used. The particular one you posted doesn't have the exchange pre-printed, so it could have been for an 4 or 5-number phone number that was stamped.

Sometimes cards were re-used when the phone was replaced. If you're lucky, sometimes you can find the old card behind the new one, or a stick-on card stuck to the acetate disk. That's often referred to as a bonus card.
Jonathan

GG



What I did in high school & college (before personal computers, much less desktop publishing) for phones that I was going to install for people: 

Black card stock cut to the correct circle. 

Then a sheet of white rectangular stick-on labels run through the typewriter to type in the correct phone number. 

Then stick a typed rectangle in the middle of a black circle.  Put that in the dial center with the usual plastic cover, and it looks acceptable.  (Or did at the time anyway!)

Alternately use a white strip that sticks across a black or gray circle. 

For the Dutch PTT phones, just type it on a card (the Ericssons fit nicely, the HEEMAF ones were tough to get all the info on, and the Standard Electric ones were smallest & most difficult). 

gpo706

Quote from: Phonesrfun on May 06, 2011, 01:43:17 AM
I use the Fiskars circle cutter, and you can also get it at Jo Ann Fabrics in the scrapbook/hobby section of the store.

They work pretty good, but you have to do some experimenting with it to get the correct size and the correct alignment around the center of the dial center to be cut out.  With lots of images on a sheet, you can experiment and toss the ones that don't come out.

Once I got the size correct, I marked the position on the plastic ruler of the cutter with a ultra fine Sharpie.  The nice thing about it being adjustable, is that you can use it on AE dial centers too.

It is adviseable to get a small plastic cutting mat from Jo Ann's or wherever you get the cutter, since it has a little razor-sharp cutting blade, and that would mess up a desk top in a hurry.  You could also use several sheets of plain paper underneath.

Here is a picture of the one I have.



THAT IS GENIUS!

ebaying one now.
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"