First 302, How to remove the ringer for cleaning?

[RDR89]

  I just received my first WE 302 and I am excited/nervous about the dismantle.  It has a strong odor to it and needs to be completely taken apart and cleaned.  I have searched the forum and maybe I was not entering the correct search words but could not find out anything on how to remove the ringer, what the gongs are connected to from the base.
  How do you take that sucker off?

  I was hoping I could find a step by step photo instruction but no luck.  No luck at all on how to remove the ringer.  I am sure I am missing this somewhere.  Any advice?

[unbeldi]

There were several versions of the ringer mount over the years, but the most common is the spring-loaded kind that you have.  Simply push the ringer firmly against the end where its yoke is (away from the gongs) and lift it up by the gongs.  It is friction loaded. However, many ringers have a screw to block removal and that needs to be  turned back until the ringer can be lifted out.  I don't see a screw in yours.

Old smells are typical. Old electronics components smell.  Some insulating materials are organics and there are oils or treatment on insulating paper, and paraffin wax inside the condenser which sometimes has leaked out just a little bit. It melts easily in sunlight exposure.  The gongs look dirty because they are meant to be oxidized with a thin black or gray coat.

[RDR89]

Eureka!!!!  Thank you.

I am hoping I can get that smell out of the phone.

[Charles]

Be careful with cleaning the ringer. Don't disassemble the U shaped bracket. It is a weak magnet that is required for ringing (along with the electro magnets). Disassembly of the U shaped bracket causes loss of magnetism resulting in a weak or non operative ringer.

[zaphod01]

I bought one that smelled like rancid cigar smoke. Evidently, it had been stored for a long time in an air tight environment. I'm told those 302 cases out-gas forever. Cutting the cloth cords off helped. It spent a month in the garage before the smell subsided enough to make it tolerable.

This ended up being my first complete disassemble of a 302 and I was glad to have the learning experience. I thought it was a total loss so I experimented. I wet-sanded the case with 1000 grit sandpaper and buffed it out with Novus. After way too many hours of work, and fresh cloth cords, I had a very presentable phone. It was a lot of work for what is essentially a $40 phone but as Jay Leno said, "if you make money restoring cars, you aren't doing it right". Same applies to phones.