[Lafayette] Those pesky (and fragile) Lafayette dials

[Ron via Lafayette]

I know that everyone who has several of the Lafayette radios like the HE-80, etc, with the slide rule dials, has seen the lettering flake off.
No cure for that, I'm afraid. However, here's something I discovered this week........

I just received a HA-52A receiver. I buy these and after fixing them, give them to friends who don't have or can't afford a NOAA radio.
This particular specimen was (is) a mess. It appeared some components shorted, letting the magic smoke out of the power transformer.
This smoke made it's way to the back of the dial. which had all the numbers, logging scale etc.
I cleaned the front with Windex and started cleaning the back with a q-tip around the numbers, it looked worse than before. The Part # is the same material as the numbers and sure enough Windex wiped them away.
Then, I tried the use of a Micro fiber towel, dry and gently. Some of the smoke came off and the letters stayed put. Next, I 'fogged' the dial with my breath. Wow, worked perfect. No smoke, clean as the day it left Japan. No onions that day!

BTW, my first 'experience' with this lettering came when I absentmindedly wiped the inside of a HA-63 dial. That radio now has a digital dial!

ha ha 

ron
N4UE
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