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#1
With the new images, I can see the red circled leaves (white wires) are the mute circuit and the blue circled leaves are the pulsing circuit.
#2
I've always had good results using rattle can automotive primer and paint from Walmart.

As, I remember, after stripping the metal and/or sanding remaining original paint smooth with 400 grit, degreasing the surface with acetone, applying the primer and then the first coat of paint after an hour of applying the primer.

Then baking it at about 120 degrees to let the solvents bake off and then increasing the temperature to set the paint.

When cool, sand with 600 grit, remove all sanding dust with clean compressed air and applying a second, and final coating.

Bake the same way and when cool, apply a coating of renaissance wax with a soft cotton cloth and buffed using a micro fiber cloth.

Works on brass, pot metal, aluminum and steel. Never tried it on copper.

Water and silicone surface contamination will cause issues.

Bought a larger cubic inch convection oven at Walmart for about $55 a few years ago.


This link has the method I used and baking times/temps.

https://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=8770.msg202165#msg202165


#3
Quote from: poplar1 on Today at 03:40:40 PMIn the second photo, it appears to me that the 2 white wires are connected to the muting contact springs. So when you dial, you are not hearing dial tone, because
the receiver is shorted.

Also, make sure there is not an added wire (strap)  between F and RR. 

I hear dial tone until I move the dial and the switch in red goes closed.

Quote from: TelePlay on Today at 03:51:39 PMDid I get this wrong? To me it looks like the white wires are connected to the pulse contacts  in the dial, the red circle.



Could use better images of the dial from different angles showing what is operating both sets of leaf springs.

More images per your request. Hope they show what you are looking for if not tell me what more is needed. The last picture shows where the two white wires from the dial plug in. Thanks!!
#4
Thank you for the welcome at least, Harry. I'm also located in Florida by the way. I considered using regular automotive type paint but frankly thought it might be over kill. Plus, considering all the issues I've been having with just spray paint, that could get expensive. I'm guessing the issue this time is the solvent used to wipe it down, which I don't like to use frankly because of the possibilities of fish eyeing if not sufficiently evaporated from the surface, but if I'm not sure I can use a tack cloth either, what else can I do? If I had an oven I could use it to aid the process, but I don't. Usually 24 hours is more then enough time though. The only other thing I could do is a soap and water wash after blasting, which I hate to do with bare metal usually because it promotes flash rusting, though maybe not with the alloy these phones are made from?

Maybe I should look into Japanning or a Black Bitumen paint/coating?
#5
Hi and Welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear about all your trouble with painting. I have not tried painting any phones. I have had phones and parts painted by a body shop using the same procedure and paint they do on cars with great results. Sorry I have no help or advice to offer you but I feel you pain :o
#6
Hi, I'm new to the forum and I am in need of advice badly as I am now officially at my wits end with this. I have a few different phone projects that I've been working on here and there for some time and recently I decided to go ahead and paint the lot of metal phone parts that were more chips then paint, which is the only reason I would paint an old phone personally, but it has turned into an absolute nightmare.

Originally I painted the entire lot, which consisted of three different phone bodies (a Western Electric 302 from 1941, a Stromberg-Carlson 1243, and a Connecticut TP-6-A 'toaster' from 1952), four finger wheels (two brass Automatic Electric, an aluminum Western Electric, and a steel Western Electric), four dial card rings (three brass and one aluminum), two finger cups (made out of pot metal I assume), and the hook switch flapper for the Stromberg-Carlson. So a differing variety of metal components. Initially the paint (Rustoleum black spray paint) laid down fine, nice and smooth. I even assembled most of the components thinking everything was fine, until my finger slipped while working on one of them and my nail took off a large chunk of paint straight back down to smooth metal beneath. After I got over the shock, and as agonizing as it was to do, in the end I tried the same with each and every component I had painted, running just my fingernail across them and... the exact same thing. No matter the type of metal, chipped right off with absolute ease with just my finger nail. So I disassembled everything again and stripped all the paint off, which was not adhering to any of the metal. I've never had paint that was not adhering lay down so nice and smooth before honestly. What a heart breaker that was.

So then I tried again with the first two phone bodies, this time using Rustoleum etching primer, as I had managed to find a few threads on here where people said etch priming them was a necessity. Well, it didn't work for me. It turned out to be the same difference after drying for several days, looked nice and smooth but peeled right off, back down to bare metal with little effort. I had been using a tack cloth for final prep until this point, as I always have when painting stuff for my classic car projects, but it got into my head that maybe the issue was some sort of residue off the cloth preventing adhesion to these types of metal. So, I tried for a third time with just the 302 body, sanding it down, wiping it with solvent, and then just blowing it off with dry compressed air before priming. Nope. Same difference. The paint, actually etch primer again in this case, would lay down nice and smooth, but would not stick at all to the metal beneath.

At this point I went back to the only other metal phone part I had ever painted before, a handset hook on a Western Electric 354 wall phone for my shop. This paint had stuck without any issue using the same technique I had been trying for these other components, it had even appeared to be a similar type of metal to the phone bodies. The only difference I realized was I had used Krylon 5X adhesion paint by pure happen stance, as I had a can from some other project left over when I went to paint it. So, thinking that this different brand/type of paint must be the solution, I went out and bought some more of that exact paint and this time fired up my blasting cabinet and bead blasted the 302 case to assure it had a sufficiently roughed up surface to even better promote paint adhesion. Then I wiped it down with solvent to remove the dust/residue from blasting and let sit for 24 hours as I had before the previous painting attempt, blowing it off with only compressed air before painting.

This time, nothing but fish eyes over every millimeter of surface. The paint won't even lay down now. At least it was laying down flat and smooth before. Sure, it didn't adhere, but now I can't help but think that I've made things even worse. I literally have no idea where to go from here. The only thing I can think is there's still unevaporated solvent on it, but I don't know how. I've been working on classic cars as a hobby, including painting them, for over three decades now and these are the techniques I've used for painting smaller chassis and under hood components in all that time without any issue. Granted, these phones (which I'm much more new to as a hobby) are made from different alloys then most of which I'm used to on older vehicles. I don't even mess with aluminum parts all that often on my cars to be honest. I've read every post about painting I could locate on here however, and other then powder coating (which I don't have a powder coat system available to me) or baking them in the oven (which again I don't have access to in my shop) I've tried what others have suggested to no avail. Any suggestions, comments, sympathy (especially from others who have managed to successfully paint their phones) would be very much appreciated.
#7
Quote from: poplar1 on Today at 03:40:40 PMIn the second photo, it appears to me that the 2 white wires are connected to the muting contact springs.

Did I get this wrong? To me it looks like the white wires are connected to the pulse contacts  in the dial, the red circle.



Could use better images of the dial from different angles showing what is operating both sets of leaf springs.
#8
Quote from: TelePlay on April 13, 2024, 06:42:02 PMThe pulse circuit leaves are circled in red, the mute circuit in blue.

The green wire is connected to the muting leaves

In the second photo, it appears to me that the 2 white wires are connected to the muting contact springs. So when you dial, you are not hearing dial tone, because
the receiver is shorted.

Also, make sure there is not an added wire (strap)  between F and RR. 
#9
If you haven't already, I would put the two wires from the pulsing contacts on F and RR respectively and the two wires from the mute contacts on R and G respectively and see what happens, and if it doesn't work, swap the wires going to F and RR with each other and try again

Mike
#10
I have herd military phones like that were '4 wire' systems, perhaps that has something to do with it.
Whats the desired outcome a dial intercom for the ship?

I found some info on the PBX here:
https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/browse/document-repository/catalogs-manuals-educational-docs-by-company/western-electric-bell-system/marketing-documents-by-date/309-dimension-electronic-pbx-series-100-400-and-2000/file