UK GPO 746 dial fork or ring terminals

[royalbox]

Does anyone know the designated size of the fork or ring terminals of the 746 telephone dial? It's hard to find them online. I ordered some solder tags from hong kong, took ages to arrive and they sent me self adhesive feet instead. Thought I'd try and get the proper terminals and get a crimper instead.

Thanks for any help,
Barry.

[andy1702]

Are we talking about the fork terminals that slide under the screws on something like a 746? If we are then I've had the same problem getting them. I did get something similar with some line cords I bought cheap, but they were solder type and when I tried soldering to them the iron actually melted the terminals! So probably not the best quality there!

What I do now is recover the old terminals from bits of line cord etc and solder those to the ends of the new line cord. I tend to make up my own cords rather than buying them , using the original gromets and terminals but a new piece of cable and a standard plug.

Andy.

[royalbox]

Hello Andy,
I'm talking about the small terminals on the dial itself. I've made a pulse to DTMF converter from an online open source project that I'll post about once I've got it rigged up. I don't want to ruin an original dial loom.
Barry.

[andy1702]

They're the REALLY small ones! I've never tried getting those. However there's a very good electronics shop in Sheffield, so once they're open after new year I'll go and see what I can find. They've suppiled me with 3.3Kohm resistors and even N.O.S. line cords before now! The line cords were interesting because I bought his entire stock (3) and he muttered someything about not having sold one of those since 1985! 

Andy.

[royalbox]

They are small indeed. It's annoying because I ordered some ringed solder terminals of both sizes required, waited weeks for them to arrive from hong kong and they sent the large ones plus something else entirely.

I may try and order some solder lugs from another seller but they all seem to be in the far east and have lots of negative feedback about items not arriving.

No decent old fashioned shops round here unfortunaltely.
Thanks Andy,

Barry.

[twocvbloke]

I've not found a source (a reliable one at least) of those terminals, the only ones I've been using are the self-piercing ones (bought up a shedload of the Radioshack ones when a UK seller had them, just to make sure I had plenty!!), but they're far too big for the dial terminals...

[andy1702]

I've been making a cord this afternoon to go from one of the old plastic GPO terminal blocks to a modern plug. I ran out of the bigger terminals, so I resorted to the old method as used in 300 series handset cords etc, where you strip quite a bit of cable at the end, twist the core into a sort of rope, then bend it round a screwdriver shaft  and twist the ends back around themselves, so when you pull the screwdriver out you have a loop on the end of your wire. I know it's not a fork, but it is a secure way of making the connection if you don't happen to have any of the right sized connectors around.

Andy.

[andre_janew]

I read about making ring terminals that way in an old automotive manual that my grandfather had.  The final step was dipping the ring in solder.

[andy1702]

I can't remember if the 300 series terminals were dipped in solder or not. I think they were actually machine made somehow as they seemed to have a thin strand of wire wrapped around the loop to hold it all together. The solder would do that job much easier though.

Andy.

[andre_janew]

The name of the book was Dyke's Automotive Manual.  It was published in 1918.  I don't have it anymore because it was sold at a public auction several years ago along with some other books.  I mentioned the publication date to give an idea of how old the technique is.