I know, another PTT24....

[FABphones]

I know I said the last PTT24 I bought was the last one I would add to my collection, but this one caught my eye. I had been looking for a PTT where the paintwork was so far gone I could justify taking it all off and polishing up the metal.

Although I asked the seller to please wrap all four pieces individually, the phone arrived with the handset and ecouter on their cradles and the metal wall box pushed in above the dial. Then the whole thing was surrounded in so much bubble wrap the box was misshaped. Thankfully it survived. On the good side the seller kindly enclosed a very nice condition fabric curly handset cord and a length of line cord that I knew nothing about.

Aside from the poor paintwork this one is actually one of the better renovation PTT24's I've come across. Both cables to the handset and ecouter match, and as an extra plus point the line cord is still attached to the metal wall box. Very hard to find one of those. I had to get it.

The base fabric is in as new condition, but the dial won't return by itself. I'm pretty sure I can sort that though, I've done quite a few dials now. I think I've found my niche with these phones, I know them inside out. Literally.

I totally love this one. I just know it is going to renovate very nicely. 

Photos of it 'in its juice'  :

[ma_xyz]

Nice - looking forward to see your renovation results.

I got one of these just recently in very good condition, just needed a little cleanup unfortunately - because in the end renovation is one of the most interesting parts of our hobby :-) - This phone currently is also one of my favorites - psst don't tell my other phones :-)

[FABphones]

Nice - looking forward to see your renovation results.

I got one of these just recently in very good condition, just needed a little cleanup unfortunately - because in the end renovation is one of the most interesting parts of our hobby :-) - This phone currently is also one of my favorites - psst don't tell my other phones :-)

Sounds nice. Do you have any photos?

[HarrySmith]

I agree, that definetly qualifies for trashed paint! Those are some goodlooking cords though. Please document your restoration process, I can't wait to see how it polishes up with the bare metal. I am thinking it will look like one of Dougs bare metal 302's! There is never a "last one" with Phoneitis

[ma_xyz]

Do you have any photos?

Just realised that I only took photos during cleaning and not of the assembled result. Will add a photo of the assembled result over the weekend, hope I don't forget (am out of the house).

[ma_xyz]

Here the photo of my PTT24. Looking forward to see yours after restoration.

[FABphones]

Finally, this phone has made it to the top of the list. Started work on it this week.

So far: Taken it apart and paint stripped the metal. Four coats then it refused to yield any more paint.

Today I started sanding. What you see on the photo below is 10% paint, 90% rust.
Some deep pock marks need more work.

More sanding to be done, not quite as good to the eye as in the photo.
Out of time today again.

[FABphones]

Finished!

Boy, have I put some hours into sanding the stripped metal body of this PTT24 by hand. Done plenty of experimenting with polishing products on this girl too.

Here are the products that worked best in this instance:

I used Turtle Wax 'All Metal Polish' on the pot metal body of this phone (a Teleplay tip) to get some shine, having tried six polishing products in total just to see how they compared. Nothing else was as effective. I used grades of sandpaper From 80 to 8000, and then started over again several times to try and remove as many of the blemishes as possible. Those that remain are in the region of 1mm/2mm deep and I can't think how to improve them further short of sanding even more, but the metal will only get thinner. I will do no more sanding for the moment, but now I've stood back and looked at the work so far I think at an age of 88 years old this 1931 phone is looking pretty good in the nip.

I used Autosol as the polishing product on the Bakelite parts. I usually only use this on metal but another thread prompted me to see how well Autosol would clean up Bakelite. It did a good job so I used it on the Ecouter too. I don't think it will ever offer that 'high shine' result but it gives a nice gloss with a smooth and clean feel. I used Autosol on the metal Cradle and on the metal to rear of the Ecouter (listener) too. This is not the same metal as the body of the phone and Autosol worked best here.

The dial was seized, opened it up to find thick clumps of dust. I have no special dial cleaning equipment so I use compressed air, contact cleaner and a fine oil pen. It had one heck of a loud squeak when it first started moving but it has come good.

I was very tempted to replace the fabric base cloth with black suede, and I may still do that as the colour will match in better, but as this fabric is original and in good condition I have left it for the moment. If I do swap it over it won't be wasted as I have another PTT24 that can use it.

ETA: Last photo - taken with a 'cousin' I tidied up last year. 

Photos:

[HarrySmith]

That came out nice. I have not tried the Turtle Wax polish yet. Last time I stripped a metal 302 I tried a lot of different products on it but could not get a decent shine on it. I was told some shine up nice & some don't, I guess it depends on the compostion of the "pot" metal used. I have another metal 302 I need to strip as the paint is really bad so I think I will give the Turtle Wax polish a try on that one. Thanks.

[FABphones]

Thanks  .  Start a thread for your 302 as well Harry, it will be interesting to see the photos and process.


Below: Before and after photos, same angle.

[Scott]

Totally cool, that looks great. Nicely done.

Scott k.

[HarrySmith]

The 302 is in the Queue for now. I have a few other projects ahead of it but I will start a topic on it when it comes up.