As there isn't too much written on the web about these phones, I'm adding this info here for anyone else who may ever need to tidy one of these up. I will break this up into several posts if I may, just to make this all easier to type out (and maybe easier to follow). Apol if it's a bit long...
As a fan of the 1960's TV programme 'The Prisoner' this Gfeller Eiger phone interested me. It is close in design to the 'telephone' used in the TV series (a National Interphone VL-290 intercom).
See this thread for more info:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15098
The Eiger was made by Gfeller, Italy, and released in the UK by BT in the 1980's as part of their Special Range. This one is the Stone coloured version (the black keypad confirms this), but to me it looked like it had turned green over the years. It was sticky and the stickiness wouldn't clean off. It looked and felt like it had lived its working life as someone's oily workshop phone. It had ingrained black grime which no amount of scrubbing would remove and to touch it felt like it had been left in with a bag of soft boiled sweets. The over streatched line cord felt exactly the same. There was also the gluey remains of a large sticker down the length of the back which added to the sticky feel of this phone.
Link to more info on this phone:
http://www.britishtelephones.com/tsr1009.htm
BT information photos:
I had read that this phone was textured and coated in some type of 'rubber feel' coating. This one had no texture left to it, but that type of coating could account for the stickiness if it had started to break down.
Next step not knowing exactly what it was made of, was working out how best to clean it up. I took a look inside (photo below) and it was pretty much as I expected. And not straightforward to dissemble as I think someone may have been in there first - is that white rubber cement meant to be in there :-\ ? I decided this one I would clean up without taking apart first.
Photos: Phone as received, and inside.
My first thought was to bring the colour back by bleaching it, mostly as I haven't yet tried that method, but as I wasn't going to take it apart I decided against that idea. I did however bleach and recoil the dirty sticky stretched out line cord. This was done by first cleaning the plastic cord in soapy warm water, then drying and leaving overnight in a 50-50 mix of household bleach and water. The next day I rinsed and washed it with washing up liquid and a soft scour pad. Then I wound it around a metal bar and left it in a boiled water bath to soften. After about 20 mins I removed it from the water, rinsed it in cold water (whilst still wrapped around the bar), and placed foil around it. This was to leave it to cool down naturally but mainly just to keep it out of the way whilst I cleaned up the main unit.
Line cord photos:
Having decided to do a Acetone/Meths chemical sand I got everything ready and cautiously choose an area to the rear of the phone to start just in case it went wrong. And it did go wrong. Lesson learnt the hard way - don't wade in with pure Acetone when you don't know what material you are working with. A couple of rubs and (as I then discovered) the top coating dissolved and came away on the cloth.
I had two issues here, pure Acetone is too strong for this coating, and the piece of towelling cloth I was using was too coarse. So I diluted the Acetone (20%) with Meths (80%). This was better and turned out to be the ratio I cleaned the whole phone with. The exposed area under the accidentally removed coating looks like it might be a molded resin, but I can't be 100% sure.
I remembered a tip passed on to me a while back by Teleplay about disposable wipes called 'Wypall'. I had purchased a couple of boxes and boy am I glad I did. If you don't have any of these I can't recommend them enough. With these wipes you can easily see the build up of removed coating and when you need to move to a new area of wipe. You can gauge how much colour/grime is lifting, and the wipes hold the fluid well, so I found it goes further. In this instance it was good to have a dry wipe to follow up as I worked, as this phone's surface coating was unusual and I didn't want to risk making another blemish.
Nothing would remove the large sticker mark on the back of the phone. Looking around for what I had to hand I actually ended up rubbing it off using Sunflower Oil. That worked a treat.
Photos of progress showing label, removal, and partially cleaned areas for comparison:
I worked small areas at a time, going back over each area lightly until I felt it had cleaned about as much as I dare risk without totally removing the top coating, paying careful attention to the areas which would have been in contact with the hand as these may have worn thinner than other surface areas.
The front facia is in one piece and is not the same material as the rest of the body of this phone. This to me appears to be uncoated ABS.
Another work in progress photo:
After finishing the chemical sand I buffed the phone using 'Greygate Paste Polishing #5'. I like this product, it has a good 'grit' and leaves a nice finish. The sticky feel has gone and it actually feels quite nice in the hand. A good weight too. The blemish on the rear (!) I think might cover with a plasti-cote type product I have someplace here. I need to find it and do a colour match...
'After' photos below. I don't have special lighting for pics, but I did take all the progress photos on this thread in the same place.
Final photo - the phone in its new home alongside it's new buddies (the lighter area to base is a reflection from the glass shelf).
And the final colour - officially 'Stone', to me it looks dark beige. It just about sneaks into my collection under 'sepia'. I like it.
Thanks for reading, hope this is of some interest and help to someone.
*oh I nearly forgot, the purchase price of this phone – just over £3. About $4 (US), $5 (CAD).
That turned out great, nicely done, and your received cord looks new. A very cool phone and it looks right at home on that shelf too.
Scott K.
Nice! 8)
Thanks. :)
I would ideally have liked to lift it another shade or two, but I daren't. With that coating it was literally ok with one wipe then gone with the next. No warning. I would say the phone has seen a lot of use in its time, but at least now it is clean, and pleasant to handle.
Nice! Cool looking phone & you cleaned it up nicely. i think the color fits in your collection also.