5302 Dial Size

[tjmack99]

What dial size was original to the 5302? Or does that just depend on when it was produced? Any particular size considered ideal?

[Kenny C]

A 3 inch dial. all 3 inch dials are #2 #4 #5 #6 they are commonly found with #6 dials but some have been found with #5's. Paul-f posted a picture of 1 with a #2 but I would say a #6 is the most appropriate and cheapest.

[Phonesrfun]

Kenny, You are really getting to know your stuff.

[Kenny C]

Thanks to you guys and a lot of reading.  thanks forum

[tjmack99]

Thanks all. My 5302 arrived yesterday and reeks of cigarettes and tenite! (cool name for a song, huh?) It might not be "barn fresh", but it's "smoking room" fresh for sure. Anyway, the #6 dial is pretty beat up, before I troll ebay, does anybody have one they want to part with??

Thanks,
McCormack

[Kenny C]

chinsley@aol has them for 10 bucks apeice they have been cleaned by steve Hiltz I bought one

[tjmack99]

Pardon my ignorance, but can I contact then through this forum, or do you mean through ebay?
Many thanks,
McCormack

[Kenny C]

Here is his profile. Just click send this member a personal message at the bottom of the page

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=484

Did you get my PM?

[LarryInMichigan]

McCormack,

I have received at least two phones from ebay sellers which REEKED of tobacco.  The worst was an NE Uniphone.  I spent an enormous amount of time and effort trying to clean it.  The worst part was the dial.  The back side of the dial was completely coated and permeated with thick brown goo, which I believe was largely nicotene.  It reeked to the extreme, and didn't work at all.  The dial barely turned, and the contacts were all stuck together.  I tried very hard to clean it and make it work, but I failed on the first attempt.  Recently, after several months of the phone sitting on a bottom shelf, I dismantled most of the dial parts and socked them in mineral spirits to remove more of the goo.  I finally managed to make it work properly.

Good luck on cleaning.  Foaming tile cleaner would be a good start for removing the nicotene.


Larry

[tjmack99]

That's interesting, and to some extent speaks volumes about theh istory of these phones, and where they have been sitting for the last 50 years. There was some obvious damage, the dial wheel looked like a warped LP record (I remember trying to "repair" a warped copy of Live at Leeds) but beyond that , the inner workings were still wonky when trying to tuen the dial. I don't have very much knowledge about what may be going on internally in the dial, but the tobacco theory does seem intriguing....

[Dennis Markham]

If the finger wheel is warped...I've improved them but removing the wheel and placing it flat on a surface, like the flat part of an anvil or vise.  A concrete floor works too.  I use a small piece of wood to lay atop the finger wheel then smack the wood with a hammer.  It will generally flatten out a warped wheel. 

[LarryInMichigan]

A medium large rubber mallett is good.  I place the finger wheel on a piece of thin cardboard on a flat concrete floor and hit it with a rubber mallett. 

Larry