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"Semi-restoration" of my US Army Western Electric 302 EW with AE dial

Started by shortrackskater, June 05, 2017, 06:48:59 PM

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shortrackskater

Tonight was "make feet" night. I bought leather and felt, cut the templates according to the link here on CRP, and squished the leather in. It was tricky and took awhile. It helped to have a tiny screwdriver and just keep pushing. I finally finished all.
I don't think it's too bad for my first effort.
Mark J.

shortrackskater

Two nights ago I "re-epoxied" the big splits in front. Cleaned out the residue glue and then used an epoxy specifically for plastic.
The case is warped, not horribly but right were the spits were. So I applied the epoxy and banded the front with wire tires but left just a little space in the cracks. This time it held. You have to tweak it to seat it on the chassis and I could tell the bond was strong and flexible. The picture makes the crack appear bigger. It's not that big.
Last I sanded again, and dabbed on some gloss black paint. My intention was to sand enough of the epoxy so that the paint would fill in the the rest of the way and blend in.
It sort of worked!
The camera, though, makes it look much worse. In person, they look like scratches. I might sand and paint again, maybe.
But for me, this phone is done!
I just wanted to do a "quick" (well a few weeks!) restoring job to bring it back to just a good phone and not one bound for the dump!
Last picture: how it was before.
Mark J.

shortrackskater

Finally the phone is complete. The number card holder came in today.
Mark J.

Doug Rose

You saved it from being sent to the phone graveyard where millions have already ended up. Outstanding job, you should be very happy with the results...Doug
Kidphone

AL_as_needed

Perfect timing with the 4th coming up and all....but with that flag back there I'd almost say that was the goal  8)

Looks great, might consider this a "notable referb"?
TWinbrook7

shortrackskater

Quote from: Doug Rose on July 02, 2017, 07:54:02 AM
You saved it from being sent to the phone graveyard where millions have already ended up. Outstanding job, you should be very happy with the results...Doug

Thanks Doug!
I appreciate the compliment. I'm by far, no expert on restoration. I just wanted to see what I could do with a $5 "trash" phone. The hardest part so far has been those 2 cracks. The case was too warped to try squeezing it back so it was best to just squeeze a little and then fill. I also discovered an embarrassing mistake: I had put the line cord grommet on backwards! It fit but to close the case I had to add extra pressure and that made the crack on one side open. I fixed it and now the case goes on easier. I ended up using super glue, packing it in the last small gap and that actually held strong. That's the best I can do and I was happy get it back together and functioning with all the original parts other than the transmitter and receiver.
Mark J.

shortrackskater

Quote from: AL_as_needed on July 02, 2017, 08:03:37 AM
Perfect timing with the 4th coming up and all....but with that flag back there I'd almost say that was the goal  8)

Looks great, might consider this a "notable referb"?

Yes I thought it looked good on that part of my desk.  :)
That is actually a USA bandana and it's covering a restored early 40's Underwood typewriter.
Mark J.

oldguy

Nice job, the phone looks great. I need to recover some 302 feet too.
Gary

shortrackskater

Compared to repairing the cracks in the case, redoing the feet was easy! Just follow the info posted here on CRP and it's very straight-forward. Just make sure to get the correct thickness of the leather.
Mark J.