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Getting an old Bakelite telephone running again.

kennyh said:
From looking at the the phone the only 2 comments I'd make are 1) He's machined polished that with a power mop. A practice I see the dealers are doing. It looks great to be honest but I've left my 332 in its original satin finish, I think someone in the past has buffed the 162 though.
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That’s an aspect that has confused me somewhat as I couldn’t work out whether the ‘matt’ finish of so many is daylight ageing of the bakelite or the original finish. I don’t know a lot about bakelite and the only pieces I have are the bulb holder/switch in my 1950 Anglepoise 1227 and a couple of Avometers. The 1227 bulb holder has that dull matt aged finish (I just cleaned it when I rewired the lamp, I have made no attempt to polish it as it looks fine) a lot of old bakelite has, but one of the Avometers was allegedly NOS from 1964 and it is just as shiny as the phone in the eBay link:

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I’ll try and google up some original promo pics for the 300 Series as I’d like to know what the original finish actually looked like, i.e. is the matt finish a design feature or part of the ageing process? Obviously if the latter there is a strong argument to be made that it is ‘patina’ and should be left as is. I guess it needs to be made on a case by case basis depending on how good/bad it looks.
 
I agree Tony, my 332 is 1954 and I'd love to know how its finish was in 1954. I've thought about putting it on the buffer but once done its original lustre is gone forever. However as I say they do look great polished.

I think some phones go "patchy" hence the need for a polish. Mine is just this satin finish all over though so have refrained from doing anything as of yet.
 
I was reading this thread using the Beophone.
If this is now a phone porn thread i will share my green 60's dialler?

i use it to torment phonespammers & people who ask me to press a key... etc. Lifes brief pleasures

In the background the bench testing refurbed Tannoys in tannoy rat boxes are massaging the cat with the sound of the 50th Anniversary of Sgt Pepper.

happy new year

 
Haha, Nice one Ian. I like that!!!

As an aside, with the weather what it was today I dashed out to a local electrical trade place and bought some bt extension sockets and 30 metres of 3 pair cable and decided to have a day indoors doing anorak phone things!. With these old phones I'll be needing more sockets so just getting up to speed now with the routing and cross referencing wire colours ;) Although 2,3,5 are the important things I hope!

I also stripped the old 162 down, it is very basic compared to the 300 series which everything mounts to the separate chassis. These bits bolt direct to the bakelite. The only bit missing is the induction coil and terminal nuts which is in the garage whilst I solder new wiring to it and discard the old blackened stuff! Then for the conversion and rigging up a bellset. Hoping I can salvage some bits from Rug Docs 59 set.
Cheers

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Hahaha, long time no speak Alan, all the best for 2018 too mate. Post up a pic when your first bakelite gem arrives :D
 
Lead me not unto temptation brother, I can usually find the way by myself..

(And all the best to you and yours MrH :) )
 
No, courier issues. It is finally showing on tracking though so should hopefully arrive fairly soon.
 
Ah, thought it must still be in transit. Hopefully you may get it today. Looking forward to your thoughts on it and how you reckon it sounds. Waiting for a few bits for the 162 also to arrive so I can begin the rebuild.
 
Ordered a 1935 vintage no 10 dial yesterday to replace the later one that was on the phone. It had a 1963 dial on it that just didn't look right!
 
Haha, good man. Yours should have the "narrow base" shark tooth finger stop when it arrives, the no. 10 I've ordered will hopefully have the "wide base" shark tooth stop. The one I had on the 162 was a GPO replacement from 1963 and far too angular, a no.21f dial :D.
 
The dating on the Type 10 and 12 dials seems really confusing. Hard to work out which belongs with which date-stamped phone as there looks to be a lot of overlap. Some type 10 dials are black too, which looks rather cool on a 300 series IMO.
 
Yes, I've seen some very early no.10 dials in black, also it seems hit and miss whether the dial was alpha numerical or not, although a letter on the model usually informed of this. Rule of thumb I think was no.10 for 200 series and no.12 for 300, yet I'm certain that won't be 100% true........that's what's fascinated me during my short time of dabblement with these, the sheer amount of changes and possibilities on what's what......loads of good bunfights on vintage phone forums about it too:D

Another quirky thing here too, the case on my 100/200 is so light they produced a lead filled base you see here, to stop it getting easily knocked off the telephone table or sideboard. It brings the weight up to virtually 300 standard.

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I get the impression the alphanumeric & number only dials were user options for a very long time indeed, i.e. a number only dial isn’t necessarily ‘wrong’ on even a 162 and is certainly fine on a 300. You can even find alphanumeric dials on the first Trimphones!

The lead weight makes perfect sense for a phone without a bellset. One design flaw with the Trimphone is it is so light it moves on a flat surface when you try to dial it!
 
Yep spot on, again many theories for alphnum but no definitive answer that I can find, I reckon personally it was area based depending on the exchange. Another thing that fascinates me but I've done no research on it as of yet is the "stand alone" Hull telephone service and the equipment they used. I will investigate this more before spring arrives and attentions turn again to outdoor pursuits lol.

Can't remember the weight of the trim phone now Tony, I wonder how it compares to the standard 700 series?
 
As an aside, when I fit the bellbox after building it up, the lead base then screws on to the underneath of the bell set sandwiching it between the phone.
 
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