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Restoring a WECo pink 500 Set - Sanding and Solvent

Started by cihensley@aol.com, July 01, 2011, 02:45:30 PM

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old_stuff_hound

Quote from: cihensley@aol.com on July 30, 2011, 03:21:30 PM
Further experimenting. I sanded the caps with all grits of micro-mesh then sprayed them with MEK. I used a Preval sprayer and more than dusted with MEK. I got them wet but not to point that there was a danger of runs. These were not buffed. The MEK seemed to eliminate the fine scratches remaining after the 12000 grit micro-mesh, thereby imparting a gloss to the surface.

Chuck

Looks great! That's impressive work!

That was the idea in the patent wasn't it -- chemically polishing the surface? I wonder if that's why you were having troubles with bubbling -- the solvent being deeper in the plastic when welding the cracks than it would be if just used to level the surface.

Any idea if WE ever used their process in a production environment?

Now I wanna see the completed phone! :-)

Cheers!

cihensley@aol.com

Here is the completed phone. Verified by the denatured alcohol test, the handset and its caps are soft plastic. The balance of the plastic components are hard plastic. Overall, I am pleased with the MEK polishing. It produced a gloss and depth that I haven't achieved with polishing (buffing) alone following micro-mesh sanding. The MEK finish had a slight matte appearance. This is perhaps due to my conservative spraying to avoid runs. Buffing with Novus 2 eliminated most of the matte appearance. I was not able to eliminate all of the bleaching in the embossing and surrounding area from the V30 hair creme (see post earlier in this thread). To totally eliminate it would have involved an inordinate amount of material removal.

I set out to use WECo's patented process for restoring hard plastic. I concluded that I don't have the ability (through spraying) to deliver the volume of solvent necessary to wash away discoloration and leave a shiny new surface. It appears that the best that can be done is to use solvent to remove discoloration (with brushes and rags), followed by micro-mesh sanding to remove the marks of discoloration removal, followed by solvent polishing. The effectiveness of the latter was shown in the work on this phone. My next restoral will test the front end of the process.

The use of solvent softened plastic for crack repair has not been completely effective. Small gas bubbles mar the finished appearance. I continue to experiment with various techniques on old shells.

I offer the product of this test for $10 plus $10.50 USPS flat rate medium box shipping. If interested, send me an email at: cihensley@aol.com

Chuck

old_phone_man


rtp129495

I hope I can make my no dial Pink 500 that way. Its currently painted black badly. But awesome job I like that. Is it wierd for a guy to like a pink phone? lol.

suhoni56

Great job; thanks for sharing! I am going to keep reading before I begin. I have 3 project phones awaiting my efforts.

And no, it is not weird for a guy to like pink phones. It is weird that humans decided that pink is feminine.
Susan