A long awaited project coming to completion

[Key2871]

Thanks,
I laid it out to be super easy and functional, I'm a lefty so a lot is on the left, where as if I was "normal" lol, I may have laid it out differently. I've always been drawn to the complicated stuff. Like 1A2, all those wires, switches, it makes my creative juices flow. I fell in love with 1A2 back when I was a kid, later to find out it hadn't come out back then it was 1A1. But the phones I saw were cool looking with those buttons along the bottom of the phone.
Then I saw that RED button, 1A2, I got the chance to talk with an installer who was putting in a system for my brother, in his office, wow I was in heaven,  I asked so many questions. But the was very nice he answered my questions and didn't get snippy.

But I have some white plastic wall covering. Easy to wipe clean, and I have corner mold to finish that. I just hadn't gotten that far yet. I was still on the fence about that. Because I do use it as a work bench, and it could break if I did something on it. Or I may just give it a good coat of enamel paint, and call it good. But I got to thinking about that last night, I would have to remove everything I worked so hard at getting in place. Or I could just try and cut around it all. But that too would be a royal pain to do.

So for now, I ponder what to do with the whole thing.
I think painting it would look better, and help the wood to be more stable. Less apt to warp, or just darken.

Well we'll see.

[RB]

give it a coat of clear, and let the shine out!

[Key2871]

Hmm clear, well the wood grain does look nice. And I am usually one for leaving wood natural.. well I'll consider it, I'm thinking more about painting. I had my 1A2 stuff built on plywood, using an end cap unit from a store that was changing out fixtures. And I painted the back  bell system Green. It looked nice when it was done. I have pictures somewhere on a hard drive. I'm not going that route this time, I was thinking of a light grey.  I have yet to go to the store to look at colors. But I really need to do that soon.

[19and41]

There are a lot of disused t/t and dial panel phones in place in the rail system I work for.  They just installed wall phones at each location.  The type with the footprint of a trimline, but with a conventional handset.  The old panels are S-C with a rose beige finish.

[Key2871]

 Oh, cool  Well I had a peek into the local CO when they were changing over from a number 5 Xbar, to a number 5 ESS.
Quite noisy with the cross bar, and at the end of the first isle had a 2872 in beige, I didn't get to see any other isles because the super came by and told me to leave, he wasn't very nice about it either. There was a couple guys inside, they didn't care, as long as I didn't cross the threshold.
But I do remember seeing some sort of phone way down at the end, and now I saw that #3 I figured it was a panel phone.
I did do my make over with my panel phone, it looks factory. I think it really looks better than silver with a faded white handset.

[Key2871]

Well I got back to the project today for a little change of pace and of the test board.
I realized that I had no key set to use my 1A2 for answering the phone in the shed, I thought about using the panel phone, but I would need a separate key for that. So after much thought and also realised I would also need two punch blocks with the intercom where it was. Came to this:

[Key2871]

Oh, then realized that the handset hanger is in the way for my bridging block for extensions. So I removed that and will put the bridging block in its place, the handset hanger will reside on the left side of the board. I have a hanger for the test cord. Now I have to get out my AMP butterfly tool so I can make cables for the key telephone extensions.
And wire in the intercom unit. That will be CO for lines 2 & 3, and when an extension wants to call me in the shed from the house, or vise versa, the line on the phone will ring, and a station/ CO line can be re-rung if the circuit times out by pressing the # key.
I have already begun to test phones for charity, and so far things have worked wonderfully! It's so much easier to have a solid place to test with. And power right in front, no tools falling to the floor, etc.
It was during this time that I realized a couple errors regarding the key set, and intercom system. And future connection. So no problem, just move a few things around and it should work all around.

[HarrySmith]

Looks good. Sounds like it will be a great place to woprk on phones too! Maybe one day I will get something set up like that. My work area is one corner of the dining room table! Does not make for a very happy wife. Right now I have Haf's hostage phone spread out over most of the table! Definetly not a happy wife!

[Key2871]

Yea, as explained before my (2ND) wife is not into phone's unless she's talking on them... Lol. My kids (8 & 9) like playing with them, but one gets too rough at times.
But yes, it's great, having a place to call my own, away from everyone. Gives me a chance to enjoy my hobby.
Over all, I have several days into designing and building this.
And I used scrap wood for building it.
I have the chance to put casters on this so it's easy to move around, but I'm afraid it will be too easy. So I still sit on the fence about that.

[RB]

get locking castors!
man, that thing keeps gettin better!!!

[Key2871]

Well, thanks, I find stuff that others don't need, so I kinda go with what's available. I'm on less than a shoe string budget. More like a no string budget. But casters are cheap and yes. Most likely will go the locking route to keep this from wondering around. But I may still find some on something that someone has got rid of and I can get them for free.
I'm not cheap, just have to watch money, as I'm disabled and can't work anymore. So you young guys, don't hurt yourself working hard! Or you might end up like me.
Well today, I had to go out get some petrol for my truck. So I braved construction traffic to go to my favorite paint store. I got a quart of paint, retail was $22. But I got for $2. Because it was mixed wrong, so they sell it real cheap. Didn't get a whole lot done, mostly because of my back. But I did get a good coat of paint on, and remounted a couple things, I also got my AMP bridge mounted up. It's the grey box under the ksu. That quick connects to the KSU and breaks out to five key stations via AMP connectors. I still have to figure my cabling out of the KSU, and to and from the intercom unit.
I'm glad I didn't decide to go with a smaller back on this thing, or I would have run out of space!!

[HarrySmith]

Nice!

[Key2871]

I did look at clear coat, poly. But at $18. A quart, I said I'd rather buy that for a furniture resto job I've got coming up.
So gray it is, they had other colors, but red, blue, brown just weren't doing it for me. So Yea, I think it looks good.
Thanks Harry.

[FABphones]

Good colour choice, a nice little tidy setup. Very neatly done.
And it's given me an idea for a workbench area here too. Thanks! 

[Key2871]

Thank you, and cool, let us see your idea and what your doing. I'm having a blast with this project, and my boys can't wait till I get the phone in the livingroom so they can call me or each other to talk.
And the color looks good too, I'm glad others think so too.
I could have got a lighter gray but went with this, I like it reminds me of a CO rail system.
I'm glad this has given others ideas for their own work area!