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Damaged AE40

Started by Telephone Mike, May 24, 2012, 12:24:24 PM

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Telephone Mike

Can anyone tell me if there is any hope for this?  I got this phone on Ebay and when it arrived was in this condition.  I contacted the seller and he said it was not broken when he sent it and was good enough to refund my money and agreed to let me keep it "as is".  I guess the question is, can bakelite be repaired or should I look for another case.  Does anyone here have a case for sale?

Thanks for looking,

Mike

AE_Collector

#1
Unfortunately smashed in side grills and/or a crack usually running from under the dial to the lower edge of the housing is the most common damage to AE 40's. It is a crime when people don't pack phones properly because as they say "They don't make these anymore".

Repair is possible but I'm no expert. Best bet is to very carefully look for all the pieces as they must all be there somewhere. A reasonable repair can be done by gluing it back together. There are threads here on the forum covering patching (reproducing) bakelite but in the area of the side grills on an AE 40 is probably the toughest area to tackle.

I would buy another one watching for one with chrome next time and if you can't find all the parts to glue this one back together you will eventually be able to use the handset, dial, straight line ringer (if that is what it has) and maybe the carry bar on other AE projects.

How was it packed? Looks as though it might have been the handset that knocked the grills out?

See this thread:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3690.0

Terry

LarryInMichigan

I have an AE40 shell which is missing a big chunk from the back side but has good sides.  If you are very skilled, you could cut out a section from one shell and glue it into the other.  I would send you the shell for the cost of shipping.

Larry

AE_Collector

I did this once and I have a friend who did it (with better results than me) to the smashed out grill area on the underside of an AE 50. It is best to do the repair to a phone that you would like to paint afterwards so you can sand the bakelite to get the repair smoth.

Terry

Telephone Mike

Thanks for the input guys.  Terry, the guy packed it with styrofoam all around it but you're probably right, he must have laid the handset in beside the phone.  Was so upset over the obvious damage, I didn't check the rest of the phone and sure enough, the receiver is busted too, broken off all the way around where the cap screws on and the cap is stuck to the capsule.  The styrofoam was was all busted up like the guys used the package to play football with during their break.  I found most of the pieces and have tried to super glue them back together but there's one chunk missing and there was a hole in the package it could have fallen out of.

Larry, thanks for the offer and will keep it in mind if I can't come up with another case.  Don't think I'm talented enough to try to piece it together but if worst comes to worst, may have to give it a try.

Thanks again to all, I'll keep you posted.

Mike


AE_Collector

Quote from: Telephone Mike on May 24, 2012, 03:21:08 PM
broken off all the way around where the cap screws on and the cap is stuck to the capsule.

This is he receiver capsule, not the transmitter capsule, right? If so you should be able to pull the capsule out of the cap. Sometimes there is a cork or rubber backed ring in there between the cap and capsule and it breaks down a bit which glues the two pieces together. Now if it were a colored 40 this would be a different story. Then the cap would most likely have shrunk around the capsule trapping it.

Terry