Yet Another Dead PayPhone

[Fabius]

This one is also in South Bend Indiana on Lincolnway West. It is just a couple of blocks from the other South Bend payphone I posted. This one is in front of a closed mini-mart. Notice the drop wire on the ground. Company name on paystation is MTI Public Communications.

[TelePlay]

Just thinking, they might even pay you to remove the phone, shelter, sign, etc and take the removed stuff to the dump (your basement).

[Greg G.]

Just thinking, they might even pay you to remove the phone, shelter, sign, etc and take the removed stuff to the dump (your basement).

Doesn't cost anything to ask either.

[Fabius]

Just thinking, they might even pay you to remove the phone, shelter, sign, etc and take the removed stuff to the dump (your basement).

Those are pretty big bolts holding it in place.

[Greg G.]

Those are pretty big bolts holding it in place.

Explosives!

[AE_Collector]

A lot of pedestals around here had some sort of anchor in the concrete with 1/2" or 5/8" threaded studs screwed in. Then the pedestal base sat over the studs and washers/nuts to hold it down.  Full Booths never needed anchors that strong but large pedestals wanted to tip over so they were bolted down pretty well.

When we removed them the studs were a nightmare to unscrew from the anchors in the concrete as there was no head on them like a bolt has and after years of water and snow they were well rusted into the ground. So, we had a big heavy solid round bar about 5 or 6 feet long and maybe 1 1/4" round. It had a hole maybe 3/4" diameter drilled about 4 or 5 inches deep into one end. Put it over the stud and simply bend the bar over sideways until the stud snapped off flush with the concrete slab.

Only thing was....just thinking about it all these years later, I can still feel the shock wave in my shoulder, elbows and wrist when that stud snapped. And there were always four studs if not six. I hated that feeling reverberating through my arms.

Terry

[RB]

Terry. That shock is not good for you! as you know...
great idea tho.
My best side arm for that kind of torture, is a 90 degree grinder
moves tons of metal, and no shock.

[TelePlay]

This is thinking outside the box.

You could put a small Styrofoam coffee cup with a hole in the bottom over the bolt and nut with a bead of grease on the bottom of the cup to seal the bottom of the cup to the metal plate and then fill the cup about an inch over the top of the bolt with liquid nitrogen. Then after about 5 minutes, pull the cup off and hit the now deeply frozen metal nut sideways with a claw hammer or ball peen hammer, or use a cold chisel at the intersection of the nut and the pedestal plate. Should shear the bold off at the plate level, just below the nut.

Liquid nitrogen is -321° F and a small dewar of it, a gallon or so, would be enough for 4 to 6 bolts. Available from Praxair or similar company over the counter for $20 or so plus a deposit for the dewar. Never did this particular thing with liquid nitrogen but have used it in the past during my 8 years with one company and am familiar with it. It's safe as long as you keep the liquid off of bare skin. Here's an example of what cold metal does when struck.

     https://youtu.be/DqI9caqBHkg?t=4m55s

[Number, please!]

It may be obvious, but do NOT substitute LOX (liquid oxygen, if you can even find it, it's probably illegal for you to buy) for liquid nitrogen.  They are both very cold, but have rather different handling requirements.

LOX creates an OXYGEN rich environment which renders almost anything not massive into FUEL, and requires very little HEAT to ignite in a rather spectacular way.  Leave this one to the Jackass movie guys.

[tallrick]

Just head down to your local Harbor Freight and buy a deep socket set. Buy a breaker bar and get a 3 foot long 3/4 inch water pipe. If it won't come off get the 36" bolt cutters and snip the nut at an angle. It looks like that one doesn't have the usual concrete fill over the bolts. A large adjustable wrench can also be used to wiggle and snap off the studs with nut.

[AL_as_needed]

I use a cordless Ryobi angle grinder to solve many "frustration inciting" situations..... Maybe a phone liberation would be a good cause. Let me charge up my batteries and gas up the truck.