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Cracked blue 302

Started by ETS1979, March 06, 2010, 11:42:35 PM

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ETS1979

#45
I have finished polishing the front.  A few more hairline surface cracks appeared during this process. (See second photo)  I think they were on the phone when I got it but were not visible until after polishing.  One of the disadvantages of high luster polishing, I guess.  Any imperfections become all the more visible.  I spent 11.5 hours on the front.  Now I will begin the top cradle area.

The white specks on the second photo are dirt and not part of the phone.

On a personal note I have been feeling much better!

AE_Collector

#46
Hairline cracks like that just wouldn't bother me. It looks incredible and it is a what....60+ year old phone?

Terry

McHeath

Holy blinding shine Batman!  That's incredible! 

baldopeacock

It's really going to look great alongside your other color 302s.   Get it finished and post some "family" pictures of the whole brood.

Kenny C

thts as shiny as phonesrfun's head ;) Kidding bill
In memory of
  Marie B.
1926-2010

ETS1979

I have finished polishing the top of the phone.  As with the other areas completed thus far, polishing revealed more hairline cracks.  Though it is a small surface area this part of the phone is difficult to polish because of all the edges and detail.  Whenever polishing close to an edge I usually (reluctantly) opt to leave pits or scratches alone to avoid harming the edge detail.  I spent about 8 hours doing this part of the phone.  Now I will begin polishing the back.  Sorry this process is taking so long.  I am still working full time, etc.  Also since this is very tedious work, I must be in the right mood and usually limit myself to working on it for only one hour at a time.

ETS1979

I have finally finished the back side of the phone.  I included a close shot of the crack and how it appears after polishing.  Now on to the last remaining side of the phone.  Hopefully with onset of winter I will have more time to work on it....I am the winner of the recent '41 Ivory 302 Ebay auction.  I will post some photos under the auction talk topic.

ETS1979

Here is another photo

HarrySmith

Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

mienaichizu

WOW! oh  by the way I'm late for this post, welcome to the forum!

Phonesrfun

#55
Speaking of these plastic colored 302's.  I have two.  I have an old rose that has a crack in the base in the back on one of the corners.  I have an ivory that has no cracks, but was so incredibly tight from shrinkage that I literally had to pry the cover off the base to do any work to the phone.  Today, I decided to tackle cleaning and lubricating and painting the outside rim of the dial.  Due to the shrinkage around the dial recess, I thought I'd never get the dial out, or back in for that matter.

I decided to use some #100 sandpaper and do some sanding around the inside surface of the dial recess.  I was able to sand away just enough that the dial now easily fits in the recess with no problem.  It appears that there was plenty of "meat" to the walls of the recess that I did not compromise anything.

Having had luck with that, I decided to tackle the base.  First, I used some flat tipped pliers and lightly bent the edges of the metal base inward to relieve as much tension as I could get from bending the base.  An improvement, but no cigar.  That sucker was really tight, and I can now see why so many colored 302's have such cracking problems!  There is a lot of shrinkage.

So, I got out my dremel that is a cylindrical barrel-shaped sanding tool, and ground out some of the plastic in the insides of the rounded corners and about a half inch from side to side from the corners.  That is where all the shrinkage was coming from.

I really hope I did not compromise the plastic strength, since I had to grind out about half the thickness of each of the 4 corner walls to achieve a fit.

Still no cracks and the base and the dial now fit nicely.

This may be a double edged sword.

Had I not sanded and done the grinding, I think it would have been a matter of time before the base and even around the dial would have begun cracking.  Particularly since I was getting into the phone from time to time, and each time, I had to hold my breath while prying the cover off the base.  I think I have bought some time.

On the flip side of that coin.... If there continues to be shrinking over the ensuing years. I have probably compromised and weakened the strength of those corners, to make it harder for the corners to withstand any future shrinking.

I guess either way, there would eventually be cracks.  Perhaps I have delayed that for several years.

If the phone is now 60 or so years old, then if it can go another 60 before cracking, I'll never know the difference because I won't be alive to witness it.  I just need to make sure it doesn't have a little help, so I'll make sure not to drop the phone on the floor.

Maybe in a million years, all the colored plastic 302 covers will have shriveled and shrunk to be the size of a dime.

Oh the fun of collecting!
-Bill G

ETS1979

All of the above are great ideas.  I have one more suggestion for "stress relief".  I usually remove the leather feet and file each of the four corners to remove as much of the stamping press wrinkles and burrs as possible.  I then tape off and carefully spot spray some black satin paint to cover the filing.

ETS1979

I finally finished the handest cord side.  This finishes the case polishing at long last!  Though not visible in the photos, there are still what I call "cobweb" scratches.  Try as I might, I was not able to get rid of them.  If I used a polish fine enough to remove them, the above mentioned "scuff" marks would appear.  I did the finish polish with Novus #2.  Using less and less polish with lighter and lighter pressure seemed to minimize the scratches.  I will next work on the handset.  It will be interesting to see if it will have the same properties as the case. 

So far I have about 78 hours invested in this phone.

Hopefully, sometime in the near future I will be looking to create a dial card for my blue 302.  I have had mediocre success doing this on my own in the past. I know its a long shot, but does anyone know someone who may have original or quality reproduction dial card masks for colored 302's?

Dennis Markham

Wow!  It looks fantastic!!

JorgeAmely

ETS:

Very excellent job. I wish I could stop by to see your techniques in action.
Jorge