Soft center finger wheel

[MagicMo]

Hello,
I have noticed some people discussing a soft center finger wheel. Can someone please elaborate with pictures if possible and help me understand the differences and types of finger wheels? I will go check out Paul's website too.
Thanks in Advance,
Mo

[WesternElectricBen]

Very simple, a soft center finger wheel had a removable celluloid where the other is all one piece. Another easy way to tell if it has a soft center finger wheel is if the dial card stalk is raised about a 1/4 or 1/8 of inch (not exactly sure on hight.)

The first one is a soft center the second one is not

[TelePlay]

Here are two more soft center and a hard center newer finger wheel.

The newer finger wheels are flat, have a hard plastic lens that is part of the wheel and have what appear to be concentric circles around the paper dial card.

The dial card set up for a soft center is different. It consists of a soft plastic lens, a metal backer and the paper dial card. The ring around the dial card is raised and smooth.

You can search the forum for "soft center" and find many threads.

The early 500s, 302s and earlier rotary phones had metal finger wheels that used a metal card retainer that also used a soft plastic lens, a metal backer and the raised metal ring but the ring itself is removed from the finger wheel to change the card instead of removing the finger wheel to change the number card on plastic finger wheels.

[MagicMo]

Thanks for the info!

[TelePlay]

Thanks for the info!

I just added a bit more so you might want to reread the post above.