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1940/55 painted metal 302 for cheap on eBay

Started by TelePlay, June 12, 2016, 08:37:15 PM

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Doug Rose

I went back into the ATCA archives and here is mine. ...Doug
Kidphone

TelePlay

Quote from: Doug Rose on June 14, 2016, 05:45:48 PM
I went back into the ATCA archives and here is mine. ...Doug

Ah, yes, another mystery metal phone. Nice restoration. Maybe it is the years of being coated with cheap white paint the turns to metal to shiny smooth. Just kidding. It would be great to get a chemical analysis of this and a dull pewter shell to see what makes this one polish well.

Once I found this shell to be different, I did some research into pot metal. Most probably already know this but it was new to me. I liked this Wiki paragraph: "Pot metal—also known as monkey metal, white metal, or die-cast zinc—is a colloquial term that refers to alloys of low-melting point metals that manufacturers use to make fast, inexpensive castings. The term "pot metal" came about due to the practice at automobile factories in the early 20th century of gathering up non-ferrous metal scraps from the manufacturing processes and melting them in one pot to form into cast products. A small amount of iron usually made it into the castings, but too much iron raised the melting point, so it was minimized.

And "There is no metallurgical standard for pot metal. Common metals in pot metal include zinc, lead, copper, tin, magnesium, aluminum, iron, and cadmium."

When working on my mystery shell, I did notice bands or metal that were harder to polish, didn't polish up as well as other areas of the  shell. Would be interesting to know what piece of junk was tossed into the pot creating a metallurgical mixture that was hard enough to shine but still having a melting point to be cast as pot metal. If the pour was large, there may be many other such shells out there but how to find them, if any still exist, would be difficult, and not really worth the effort.

TelePlay

These are two other corner shots of the phone showing the other side. That polished raw metal sure does look nice.

Doug Rose

I vowed I would never do this again, but Janet came home a few weeks ago with 5/39 with all dates matching and paint missing from the front. So I stripped it, it came out really nice but nothing like John's beauty. I thought I'd share....Doug
Kidphone

Nick in Manitou

Well, Shucks!  Now you guys have gone and done it! >:(

My "Got to Have One" list has just gotten one phone longer.  These guys look really good!

Nick

andre_janew


Doug Rose

I had this North just sitting on a shelf in the dungeon....it's Teleplay John's Fault...............
Kidphone

Doug Rose

I haven't tried to buff it or put a shine to it. Just removed the paint with medium steel wool and then fine steel wool with a little Noxon to remove the excess paint.....Doug
Kidphone

TelePlay

Very nice, Doug. Yes, looks like that one would shine up to a near chrome finish. I like the handset too. Nice job. We may have started a fad here. They are out there . . .

Pourme

Ever since TelePlay first posted this thread, I have been eyeing this metal 302 I got in April as a part of the Craigslist Bonanza. This week...it was time. The pot metal on these 302's respond well to polishing. Paint stripper first, I used super fine steel wool with soap to clean it, don't do that. 800 grit, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500. finished up with Meguires compound and buffing.
The metal has imperfections as it was never intended to be polished bare metal. I like the look much better than the chrome bases I have seen. I liken the character of the metal. I've always liked polishes aluminum wheels better than chrome.

Inspired by Doug Rose's manual "RCA" Red Bar, I'm also doing my Red Bar and I can tell you there is a distinct difference in the metal both in surface smoothness and alloy content. Both look good in their own right but different. Pics of Red Bar later.

Once I get it polished I won't touch it without gloves!...Ha!

I like the look and may do more worn scratched up bodies in the future!

Thanks for the tip, John!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

TelePlay

Nice looking phones, all of them.

They all look great regardless of which state they are left in, pewter, satin, semi-satin or chrome like.

And might I say, no harm is ever done to any of these phones (only metal phones with poor paint are stripped) and in reality are only half way through the complete restoration process. At any point in time in the future, they can be nicely covered with black paint or powder coat to finish, no pun intended, the restoration process.

Pourme

Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

Doug Rose

Kidphone

Pourme

Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service