My AE 80 Monophone - Two layers of paint!

[Greg G.]

your AE 80 is a painted, want to strip down the paint?

Yes!  I just discovered after giving it an Oxyclean bath that it originally was black, painted beige, then back to black!  Oxy leaves a slimy coating on it, and although it does a good job of loosening heavy gunk, it still needs to be hand-washed or at least rinsed.  That's what I was doing when out of curiosity I scraped some of the black paint with my thumbnail to see how loose it was.  Instead of finding more beige, the black area got bigger.    I scraped it more and then used a scotch-brite pad, and discovered that the original color was black, then painted beige, then black again.

I'm NOT looking forward to sanding off two layers of paint.  There's got to be an easier way.  I'm all ears!

[JorgeAmely]

I think this phone is a candidate for EasyOff.

[LarryInMichigan]

Brinybay,

A couple of years ago, I used a product called Safest Stripper from 3M to remove numerous layers of paint from a metal laundry chute door.  It may work on your phone and without damaging the plastic, as sanding would.  Good luck!

Larry

[Greg G.]

Brinybay,

A couple of years ago, I used a product called Safest Stripper from 3M to remove numerous layers of paint from a metal laundry chute door.  It may work on your phone and without damaging the plastic, as sanding would.  Good luck!

Larry

Sanding won't necessarily damage it, but it has to be done right with progressively finer grit, 400, 800, 1000, 2000, and it's a CHORE even w/o any layers of paint, let alone two.  That's especially true when trying to sand the small areas around the cradle.

[Dan]

I agree with Jorge--easy off oven cleaner is the way to go....

[Greg G.]

I agree with Jorge--easy off oven cleaner is the way to go....

I went and got a can of it.  On a side note, why, oh why, did they switch from a simple screw in the middle of the finger wheel?  That is SO much easier than finding a tiny whole and rotating the dial to the correct position on a full moon while standing on your head.

Here's a pic after the preliminary cleaning.  I didn't do the handset because it wasn't that bad, just have to carefully peel off the sticker.  I still need a correct handset cord for it.  This one is either for a different model, or is a WE handset cord, I'm not sure which.  I will gladly trade somebody for the correct one.

[Phonesrfun]

Briny:

The hole came first, and then they switched to the center screw.  The cord you have is from a WE, as indicated by the way the transmitter cup in the WE had a notch in it to hold the cord in place by its notch, and the fact that the receiver wires are two white wires, rather than black and yellow, which AE used.

As far as the refurb on the case goes, you seem to have your work cut out for you....just don't throw it under a bus!

Cheers,

Bill

[jsowers]

I was going to ask what that big splotch was. That poor housing has had more lives than Shirley MacLaine!

I said in a later thread in Classified that I probably have the cord you need in my basement and would be glad to trade, and that still goes. But you may first want to make some headway on the housing before you think about trading cords. Sanding won't work on that AE logo at the switchhook, unless you want to sand it off.

Try some Easy Off and pray hard.

If you need an AE mounting cord, I probably have one of those too.