News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

BoBo Phone - I’ve never seen one before today

Started by markosjal, January 13, 2018, 10:44:46 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

markosjal

Quote from: AE_Collector on January 14, 2018, 03:33:04 PM
Well, everyone knew that there had to be ONE person somewhere who didn't like ABBA.

The "Bring back ABBA" coalition...

from the dead?
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

AE_Collector


LarryInMichigan

#17
I think that it's cute, not hideous, and the price was too good to be believed.

Larry

markosjal

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on January 16, 2018, 03:30:36 PM
I think that it's cute, not hideous, and the price was too good to be believed.


Larry

even more hideous for the green/yellow colors
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

markosjal

If anyone is really interested in one of these, I just posted thius of interest to you.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=19632.0

Mark
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

markosjal

Okay , I got the Bobo Phone delivered today and imediately checked it out.

First as you can see it did suffer some from bad packaging in newspaper. The shell was separated. but luckily no breaks or cracks.

I discovered the unit has no hookswitch plungers I may have to fabricate some from dowelling, but should not be impossible. One part of a hoiokswitch plunger was found inside.

upon opening the unit I dee the hookswich is damaged but not beyond repair. The plastic that moves the contacts and connects to the plungers is cracked.  I managed to get it to stay in place as-is but will have some plasti-loka work to do.

The handset cord is bad so I connected a WE handset .


I was a little stumped at first by the 4 wire line cord then started testing and viola I found the right 2 contacts of the four. Dialtone, sidetone seem normal. Called Echo Test and all is good. Dial seems a little iffy on Grandstream ATA but not the first

I wanted to show the size of the dial and some internal components. This is a weird beast. I can actually see a smaller dial ring behind the giant one. I need to know how to safely disassemble the dial. I am guessing there is a screw or nut under dial center but dial center does not want to release easily. I figure it has tabs on it and would prefer to not break one trying.

I realized that years ago I did see one of these and have a vague memory of it after seeing this. It was in the circus and a clown used it as a prop.







Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

TelePlay

Is the phone heavy enough to simply put a finger in a dial finger hole and turn to the stop or do you have to hold the phone down with the other hand to dial out? It look really light.

markosjal

#22
It seems the phone is missing a baseplate or maybejust screw on feet? With that said it seems to slide easily but I amcertain it is missing something on bottom . On the two sides it is resting on screws a little crooked. There appear to be plastic feet in the center

Here is what I know so far been working on it since it arrived

Handset cord was shot. I have located and installed a suitable replacement, not round cable coled cord rather flat cable coiled cord. It is very dark gray like the original appeared to be.

needs a line cord I have shorter length round cords and flat cable , however it seems thios phone begs for a long cord so thinking abougt a long flat type cable wirth modular plug and call it good.

Receiver element is dead . tested with WE element and cabling to handset and handset is all good. As I heve no receiver element anything close to this I installed an asian receiver element .

Mic element produces static. Also noteworthy it has a date of 1972 on it. coinciodently looking at the mic element I found that it appeared similar to the Ericssons. In fact it is identical to some I saw on ebay months ago and thought about buying to keep on hand for Ericsson spares. Opening up an ericsson handset confirmed this , same diameter and same depth. It was plug n play. I nopw have clear sound on the handset but now both receiver and mic elements have been replaced.

The plastic is VERY DIRTY . In fact I was surprised how the color comes out just cleaning it. There are some tough stains that may never come out.

the metal handle is missing nuts as I originally suspected.

The gongs have green paint on them that is chipping off. I have a temptation to strip them as I see brass underneath.

the actuator for hookswitch is flaky and cracked. For me this is a plasti loka job but that will wait as I do not have anytyhing to use for plungers anyway. I need to come up with some strong solid cylyndrical material . Lickily I found part of a plunger inside the phone making it easier to match diameter.

Tonight I did my best to clean the handset even as far as using 0000 steel wool and getting some of the bad stains out. Then buffing by hand and turtle wax. Tomorrow I might try the buffer disk on the drill ,. Surpriingly the handset is looking good.

Base has some slight discolorations.  I do not think they are severe enough to even try to work to get out.

My main concern with this phone is how to fabricate or acquire plungers.

Mark



Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

markosjal

#23
I wanted to post an update to the Bobo phone . These are new pics that I took since I reassembled it today. Stil ilt is a work in progress.

It is currently cleaned, reassembled and working.

I did have the plastic somewhat cleaner however I think it got some dirt on it while reassembling it . It took me several attempts to reassemble as it is a seious PITA to get it all back together.

The plungers were broken and I fabricated this as a temporary solution . These are aluminum file clasps you get from Office Depot  or Office Max. They resemple a long hollow aluminum nail however the end with no head is threaded inside and they come with a screw end (I bought several sizes of these one day and they have proven useful MANY times, not only in phones) . I will be putting a spring on each plunger between the aluminum clasp and white standoff. This will serve two purposes one to allow the plingers to come up more easily , not relying on the old hookswitch sring, and take up space between plunger and standoff so standoffs are not so wonky.  The standoff I felt was necessary to keep the pluinger from going down too far. and damaging the hookswitch mechanism.  The original translucent plungers had E rings on them inside the phone for the same purpose. I may be able to put a groove in the aluminum plungers to accomplish the same  I am also going to investigate cutting down paint brush handles as these plungers are very thin,  thinner than a pencil. The plungers are more like those on a WE 500 but about 2 inches long. no wonder they broke.

Bottom plate is in fact missing . I have concluded that fabricating a flat thin base plate may be the best solution. It can attach to screw holes on bottom. Aluminum plungers stain the handset quickly need to find a way to put a rubber or felt cap on them.  White standoffs need to ground down a couple of milimeters to allow handset to rest on phone base and not on standoffs/plungers.

I am really considiring taking the green paint off the gongs and exposing brass. Paint is scratched up.

I had to guess on bell clapper as the clapper shaft was bent . I have seen several videos and images of the back side of these phones and there seems to be no consistency as to the bell clapper and hole cut-outs.

the gong and handle mounts seem to have some bad threads which I managed to avoid using a couple of washers.

All this and no modifications to phone that can not be undone should I find parts, which I really doubt.
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

AE_Collector

Good innovation on the hook switch. Doesn't look bad or too out of place.

Terry

markosjal

I went looking for some things. I did not think about looking for Springs in Auto zone butsprings seem to be my main problem right now

I did find some paint brushes , art type and have now cut one down . It looks a lot more normal and natural than the aluminum.  just a problem finding the right springs.
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

markosjal

#26
I went to office Depot today and was actually looking for pens I could rip springs out of . No fat pens with fatter springs. Looked at some paint brushes and wanted to see if they were very strong and hollow wood broke in my hand before trying

Then I found those in the photo for kids. These have PLASTIC handles.

Upon my return I went to work taking apart, again, the bobophone . Luckily I did find a broken piece of the old plunger and e ring inside the phone . This told me how much should stand up above the top of the phone. Tnat combines with the aluminum plungers I fashined I had the measurements and the concept.

I used no springs as these plungers are very light and I can not find springs anyway!

Here it is, and if you ever need to fashion plungers, this can easily be modified for many other phones with cylindrical plungers


Pic 1 The victim

Pic 2 the first decapitated victim, note the notch for the E ring. I also had to sand the fat end down so it was thinner

Pic 3 Installed in Bobo with  E ring and white cylindrical spacer as a stop. If it was not for the stop the plunger would force the hookswitch mechanism down too far and break it. The  E ring causes the plunger to not exceed the up or down limits and keeps the plunger from falling out. hookswitch should not force the plunger to the E ring limit. I have no idea how this was on the oringinal hookswitch mechanism but there most have been a plunger stop.



Pic 4 Plunger in Hung up position with E ring resting on white cylindrical spacer. This mechanical limit will not be reached when on hook. It is a stop for when hookswitch is pressed with hand.

Oh and thatks guys I have had Abba in my head for days now.
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish

AE_Collector

Very creative. After this you will be on the lookout for another BoBo just to see how the hookswitch plunger mechanism was made.

Terry

paul-f

Here are a few photos showing the plungers in both clear plastic and metal and the bottom cover. I haven't uncovered any internal photos and sold my last BOBOs several years ago.

The first has an advanced case of color fading. 
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

markosjal

#29
Here is how it came out. As one plunger was slightly shorter than the other, so I made a plasti loka (love this stuff) plunger extension  at the end of it .

The last two show plungers up then plungers down
Phat Phantom's phreaking phone phettish