Cracked case - some advice please

[winkydink]

I have a crack in the shell of one of my 302 phones but it is not at the edge.  I looked around and found this link

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=222.0


which talks about some various repair techiniques.  My case is a little different, in that the crack is at the back of case in the center but doesn't actually go to an edge, it is in the middle of the plastic.

At first I thought it was a deep scratch, but looking from the inside of the case, I can see that the crack goes all the way through.  I will try to post pictures later, but I would like some suggestion on possible repair.   I can't pull the crack apart to bath the edges in crazy glue so I am at a bit of a loss.

Hopefully there is something I can do with it to make it "present well"

Thanks in advance.

-Jim

[GG]

Krazy Glue (cyanoacrylate) is sufficiently thin that it will find its way into almost any crack.  If you can't pull the plastic apart slightly by pulling in opposite directions, try this:

Put some Krazy glue along the seam of the crack on the inside of the phone.  Then, immediately, before it begins to harden, press one side of the crack *out* slightly, and one side *in* slightly (fingers on both the inside and outside of the housing respectively, and do this *gently*).  This will flex the plastic sufficiently to get part of one face of the crack raised slightly above the level of the other on the inside of the phone, thereby causing the Krazy Glue to run into the crack.  Then when you release pressure on the plastic, it will return to normal shape, and the Krazy Glue will bond between both halves of the crack. 

[winkydink]

OK so here are some photos.  I didn't realize the crack was as large as it appears.

Any hope that after the gluing that there is any chance to sand this out ?  Or did I just get myself a nice subset in need of a shell ?

[LarryInMichigan]

If the shell has not shrunken too much to fit over the base, and the rest of it looks good, I would try to salvage it with super glue.  Use the glue sparingly and try to prevent any excess from reaching the outside of the shell because it is harder than the plastic shell after it cures, so sanding is a bit challenging.  Apply the glue from the inside of the shell.  After the glue cures, you can use a pin or toothpick to apply tiny amounts of glue to fill in any gaps on the outside of the shell.

Larry

[deedubya3800]

I believe my black 1954 302 has a very faint hairline in this same location. It's virtually invisible from the outside, however. It's a daily user and not much of a show phone, so I'm not too worried about it. But I'll keep this thread handy in case.

[LarryInMichigan]

I believe my black 1954 302 has a very faint hairline in this same location. It's virtually invisible from the outside, however. It's a daily user and not much of a show phone, so I'm not too worried about it. But I'll keep this thread handy in case.

I would apply a small amount of super glue to the inside of the shell along the crack to help prevent it from spreading or widening.

Larry

[deedubya3800]

That sounds like a good idea. Thanks!

[bingster]

Even if the crack can't be repaired well, that shouldn't relegate the phone to the parts bin.  It's still a perfectly good phone, and who studies  the back of a phone, anyway?

[winkydink]

Well, I applied the super glue and then began to sand... 400 ... 800....1000 .... 1200 .... 1500 (had to stop there because I don't have 2000 grit.

Bottom line, it looks better but it still shows, but it is at least stable and the crack should not grow.  This was going to be one of my 6 or 7 phones that I am giving as gifts this year, but it just was not good enough.  Good enough for me, but not good enough as a gift.

As fate would have it, I had another 302 which had a cracked corner.  I followed the super glue and sanding routine, and the crack almost but not quite dissapeared.  But unless you are looking for it, you can't really notice.  That one is good enough for a present.  So I swapped the shells and now I am back in buisness.  

4 phones down 2 or 3 to go.  It's going to be a photo finish to see If I have enough time to finish the 3 for Christmas !

[LarryInMichigan]

winkydink,

I am impressed that you know 6 or 7 people who would appreciate old phones as gifts.  I gave one 302 to a friend as a housewarming gift.  He appreciated it , but it mostly gathers dust on his desk, though he was happy to use it when his electric power was out for three days this summer.  Nobody else I know can be convinced to take a phone.

Larry

[DavePEI]

winkydink,

I am impressed that you know 6 or 7 people who would appreciate old phones as gifts.  I gave one 302 to a friend as a housewarming gift.  He appreciated it , but it mostly gathers dust on his desk, though he was happy to use it when his electric power was out for three days this summer.  Nobody else I know can be convinced to take a phone.

Larry

Hi Larry:

I have actually given away several phones, mostly 500 sets. One lady who I used to work with almost cried when I gave her one. It turned out it was exactly like the one she grew up with, a beige touch tone set. That was un-planned - only an accident, but what a perfect outcome! It, along with a beige dial set I gave to another have become their home's main phone. They both love sound of the real ring, and the fact that they continue working during a power outage.

So, from my experience real phones make very welcome gifts!

Dave

[GG]

I was out with a friend the other night and after dinner a bunch of us were hanging out in the parking lot.  Somehow in the conversation I ended up reaching into one of the bins on my truck to hold up a 66-block as an example of "forty-five years later there isn't a better way to do *this*." 

Later on, I said to my friend, "I should have pulled *this* out as an example..." and fished out a new Cortelco 2500 set (always carry one in the truck, you never know when you'll need it:-) and he said "That reminds me, I need to get a phone, I have DSL and just discovered there's a phone line in my house to go along with it." 

"Merry Christmas early!"

He was very pleased.  One more cellphone-only user soon to discover the joys of conversations without interruptions. 

[gpo706]

I lent a mate a 700 series repro DTMF phone (black plastic) as a stopgap as his modern garbage had failed.

His wife needed to phone her Dad in South Africa, and needed a "tone phone" to get through the international exchanges.

Then he complained the wife fancied a two-tone green dial phone, so last Christmas I managed to get him a nice MK1 cased 746, and did the conversion on it.

Now he says they don't use the "real" 746 as its too much trouble for international calling, and she only wanted it because she liked the colour scheme to match the decor in the house, kept the "lent" repro and the the lovingly rewired original 746.

Just no pleasing some folk eh?

Sod that - I asked for the 746 back, nothing as yet, the bloody repro cost more than the real thing!

[GG]

I've seen a repro DTMF 746 (properly referred to as an 87xx series if I recall correctly) that actually looks darn good, very close to the original.  These are produced in black and in chrome (?!), and appear to be using the same mouldings as were used in the red version with wheels that was commissioned as a marketing thing by a UK car insurance company.   Is that what you lent them?

BTW, the red one with wheels has a ringer that sounds almost identical to a WE C4A from a 500 set.  One wishes they'd kept the original correct bell tones because it's highly strange to hear a GPO telephone ringing with the same sound as a 500 set.

I once gave someone an Ericofon they admired, and then later found it sitting in a storage bin in their bathroom, apparently no longer in use.  I should have recovered it at that point ("hey if you don't want this any more, can I have it back?") but as that would have been awkward, I didn't.  Later the guy did a few horrible things that basically betrayed both his prior biz partner and myself, and I lived to regret not having retrieved the neglected Ericofon and possibly saved it from some unpleasant fate or another. 

Which brings us to: wouldn't it be nice to have a "come home" module you could stick in phones you lend to people but want to get back at some point.  It might work like this:  Upon detecting an Autovon digit (4th column DTMF tone), it starts a timer counting down.  When the timer runs out, the transmitter goes open.  So then you call the person from your Autovon phone (or modified WE 2500 set; there is a way to do this) and press FO and say "oops, sorry, I pressed a button while moving the phone".  Ten minutes later, *click!*, "Hey Bob, I can't hear you any more, sounds like your phone needs to be fixed or something.  Bring it on over and I'll take care of it."   And then later ... "Sorry but this one's toast.  I don't have another around for you but if you want one you can find one on Ebay..."

[gpo706]

GG its a Geemarc "Mayfair" looks like a 746, but has buttons on the fake dial, the star/hash keys cleverly incorporated on the lower two halves of the dial lable.

http://www.geemarc.com/eng/product/prodspec.asp?id=52

Mayfair and GG's Park Lane: