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GPO 162 ‘Pyramid’ Restoration

Started by FABphones, July 06, 2022, 09:47:16 AM

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FABphones

Started to work on this CB phone today, bought as a 232 repair project, Bellset underneath making this a GPO 'Pyramid' phone. It's a grubby old phone in quite a sorry state. Bakelite cradle and Bakelite plunger both broken, cords cut, handset missing.

Pleasantly surprised upon opening to discover not a No26 Bellset as expected, but a No25. So not a 262 but an older 162 CB Pyramid. No25 Bellsets are a harder find.

;)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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RDPipes

When you pick the phone up what are you to listen for?  ;D


david@london

Quote from: FABphones on July 06, 2022, 09:47:16 AMStarted to work on this CB phone today, bought as a 232 repair project...

Great project CJ, will follow with interest.

FABphones

#3
Thanks David.  :)

The handset cord was cut and the handset long gone before the phone came to me, but I've had a rummage through some of my spares bins and found a complete handset, prewar, with the older style Spitcup. Dated 1932 which matches the phone nicely (Bellset has a date of 1936). Needs a cord but I have plenty of original GPO cords.

These broken old grubby phones are the best to work on. This will be another phone saved from the trash - and an unexpectedly slightly harder to find one.  :D

Tomorrow begins the search for a cradle and plunger...


A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

tubaman

Nice, the 162s are far less common than 232s, especially so with a Bellset 25.

FABphones

#5
Looked through all spares bins but no suitable cradle. All I have are the wider versions, so this project will take a while longer to complete than I had hoped whilst the search is on.

Meantime, swapped out the handset cord which was already attached to the 164 handset for a more suitable original in good condition.

The Bellset interior also received a spruce up as everything was covered in soot.  :)

Someone previously has removed a few essential screws (ringer, induction coil) which will need replacing, hopefully the correct size will be in my 'misc odds n ends' box.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

RDPipes

Look'en good sir, can't wait to see the finished product.

FABphones

The two schematics had come away from the inner side of Bellset cover. Made from a type of shiny plastic they had warped and hardened out of shape. To the rear the adhesive had also hardened and discoloured.

A Teleplay thread describes a method to remove hardened adhesive:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=26318
so I thought it worth a try on these schematics. Using first a product similar to 'goo gone' followed by a 50/50 meths/acetone mixture I was able to remove the surface grime which had become embedded in the old adhesive (as these were to have an adhesive reapplied, no Novus added). The meths/acetone mix removed the hardened adhesive and made the 'plastic' soft and flexible. This meant both schematics could be reglued back into place fairly well without cracking.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

Owain

Quote from: RDPipes on July 06, 2022, 10:07:42 AMWhen you pick the phone up what are you to listen for?  ;D

The operator saying "number please?"

FABphones

Found a good cradle and plunger in the spares bins to complete the phone.

Before and after photos.
 :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

RDPipes

Looks great sir.......as I had anticipated.

Etienne

Looks good! And it would look even better with an old style, unlipped cradle like the original one. Good work anyway.

FABphones

Quote from: Etienne on July 10, 2022, 09:14:44 AM...it would look even better with an old style, unlipped cradle like the original one...

The older style cradle would certainly be nice, but as mentioned in my posts above, no such cradle was in my spares bins. The cradle on it now is an original, looks good and gets the phone back together until an older cradle becomes available rather than the phone sitting in pieces on the workbench.

—-

Photo below for comparison, of the removed broken cradle and the replacement cradle.

:)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

RDPipes

Very little difference can be seen between the two, unless your looking for it.
I'd be very happy with the results no matter what.