Lesson for the day: Don't force it! The receiver cap on my recent acquisition, the green/blue AE, was on so tight I almost got a hernia trying to twist it off by hand. I made the mistake of using a strap wrench on it with a lot of torque. Yeah, it finally budged, but only because the threads were frozen together and they broke.
Anyway to fix the threads? As it is now, I can get it on part way before encountering some resistance. If I play with it a bit, it will eventualy go all the way on, but it's a real bit** to get back off. The damage seems to be on the handset part of the threads, the cap looks ok.
My other alternative, and it's probably the route I'll go, would be just to leave it for now and when I get it all sanded and buffed up, work the cap back on with the idea of never taking it off again.
Brinybay;
Where is the damage, I don 't see any.
You can use Novus, or Brasso, and coat the threads keep it wet, and turn the cap back and forth pushing and pulling as you turn it, the will widen the threads and make them looser.
D/P
I've put Vasoline on some messed up threads to make them smoother, which works nicely.
One more thing, in the photos, it appears they haven't been cleaned yet. Usually a good warm soapy water bath, and clear water rinse will remove any imbedded dirt that can make threads very stubborn. Use a final COLD water rinse, as warm water tends to made plastiic threads grab.
D/P
The cap looks like the part that survived. It also looks like the previous owner jammed the receiver element in against the supports and did not let the element properly seat nice and easy before forcing the cap on. This is apparent by the bunged up supports in the handset shell. You might take a known good receiver cap off another AE handset and repeatedly put it on and off the damaged handset shell, trying to finesse some new threads back onto the hanset shell. If you force it, you could also screw up the known good cap. Also run the blue cap onto a known good handset.
The whole idea is to try to get the threads back to where they should be on each piece before trying to put them back together again.
Good luck!
It appears that the receiver element being placed incorrectly, then forcing the cap on, may have forced the handset threads to become oval shaped. Possibly if you put them both into hot water and let them set awhile, maybe they will retain their original memory and go somewhat back round again.
D/P
It's a little hard to see in the pictures, the flash in one picture creates a glare, and the non-flash one is grainy, but part of the top thread ridge on the handset is gone, the cap is ok. I'll try the suggestions youse guys mentioned, clean, soak, lube.
I just tried Phonesrfun's suggestion swapping caps with the other AE's I have, the AE 90 wall phone, the 183 spacemaker, and the AE 80, with mixed results. On the 183, no problem either way. With the wall phone, the wall phone cap will fit on the green handset, but not the other way around. Same with the AE 80. Keep in mind none of these phones have been cleaned yet.
In the future, should one encounter a very tight cap, what's the best way to loosen it?
Brinibay:
They all come off when heated with a portable hair dryer.
Vote #2 for the hair dryer. On plastic and even Bakelite handsets it works very well. There has only been one occasion, with an E1 that I needed a strap wrench. Let the hair dryer blow the hot air from 3-5 inches away until it's just warm enough to touch. They almost always come off with little effort. If still stuck, warm it some more. No freezing, no boiling, no struggle.
One thing I really think needs to be done, is cleaning the threads first, before trying to put the caps back on.
D/P
Quote from: Dan/Panther on October 11, 2009, 08:56:24 PM
One thing I really think needs to be done, is cleaning the threads first, before trying to put the caps back on.
D/P
I have some time tomorrow morning, I plan to do it then.
Thanks for passing along the hair dryer tip. I never thought of that.
What I use when the cap is really dirty and has crud in the crevice, so to speak, is spray on some window cleaner and try to get all the crud out with a paper towel and my thumbnail. Then I spray more into the crevice and wait for it to penetrate a little and then the cap will come off. I haven't wrecked one yet. Sometimes it needs a few applications before it comes loose. I deal mostly with soft plastic and don't work on many AEs or Bakelite handsets, so those could need more effort and the hair dryer.
As part of cleaning the entire phone, I clean the threads of the cap and handset, and the handset threads get a small amount of Novus 2 and some light polishing. It works fine after that.
I'm trying that Oxyclean stuff, see if it's all it's cracked up to be. Figures they say to use X scoops, but there's no scoop provided, so I used the "by guess and by golly" method for the amount. Added hot water, mixed it, tossed in the plastic parts and will check them Tuesday morning.
this product is great for cleaning everything. an old toothbrush would be good to clean out the threads after the soaking.
http://tinyurl.com/ykhsfup
Quote from: bwanna on October 12, 2009, 07:13:31 PM
this product is great for cleaning everything. an old toothbrush would be good to clean out the threads after the soaking.
http://tinyurl.com/ykhsfup
I bought a couple electric battery toothebrushes, for cleaning chassis with Brasso. It works pretty good, maybe they would work with the stuff you listed. How much is that big bucket, or is it a small one.
D/P
d/p good idea on the battery tbrush. i buy the gallon size. the last time i got it was $75(inc s/h) for 4gal. it is a concentrate, so goes a long way.
Bwanna;
Is that $75.00 for one gallon, or four gallons ?
Is it a green liquid thin or thick ?
D/P
d/p 75$ total for the 4gal. if you can find a local supplier, can buy in as small a quantity as a quart. the gal i buy from is a little ways a way, so i just ordered over the phone. it will take me forever to use up 4gal. but was cheaper in the long run to buy big.
it is a thin liquid. mixed 1part to 2parts water in a spray bottle, makes a good multi purpose cleaner. or a few capfuls in a tub for soaking the phone parts. i was told it will even remove some types of paint.
is that more than you wanted to know ??? ;D
Well, here's the pictures after about a 9hr soak in hot water and Oxyclean. The Oxyclean worked great, I'm hooked!
It looks like it's true color is more blue rather than green. I can't figure out how the fading occured. If the UV exposure turned it more green, and the body is more blue under the handset, which makes sense, then why didn't the handset turn green? One side of the main cover is green, the other blue. Must have had a strange exposure angle and sat in one spot w/o moving for many years.
Oh, and the cap only fits ok as long as I don't put that spacer ring under the receiver, otherwise it still doesn't go on right, even after I used my old electric toothbrush and lubed the threads with a bit of soap, but it's not as bad.
Quote from: bwanna on October 13, 2009, 07:39:49 PM
d/p 75$ total for the 4gal. if you can find a local supplier, can buy in as small a quantity as a quart. the gal i buy from is a little ways a way, so i just ordered over the phone. it will take me forever to use up 4gal. but was cheaper in the long run to buy big.
it is a thin liquid. mixed 1part to 2parts water in a spray bottle, makes a good multi purpose cleaner. or a few capfuls in a tub for soaking the phone parts. i was told it will even remove some types of paint.
is that more than you wanted to know ??? ;D
Bwanna;
It is always a pleasure to get a response from you. Never too much said. ::) ::)
D/P
Brinybay;
You used Oxyclean by itself, no peroxide mix ?
D/P
Quote from: Dan/Panther on October 14, 2009, 01:13:14 PM
Brinybay;
You used Oxyclean by itself, no peroxide mix ?
D/P
Yes, just Oxy alone. In a small bucket with just enough hot tap water to cover the main body of the phone. I guessed at 4 "scoops" for the amount, but next time I'll try to measure it. I did that just before leaving for work, then removed them when I got home, so give or take 9-10hrs. The fingerwheel came out good too.
Is the color really a even as it kooks ?
D/P
Quote from: Dan/Panther on October 14, 2009, 04:31:11 PM
Is the color really as even as it looks ?
D/P
On which part? The colors are as they appear in the picture, yes. Here's a shot of the dial bezel and before/after shots of the phone.
briny, do you think the discoloration was from UV fade or maybe nicotine stain? i use oxy clean in the laundry, never tried on phones. looks good ;D 8)
d/p flattery will get you everywhere :-[
Quote from: bwanna on October 14, 2009, 09:43:10 PM
briny, do you think the discoloration was from UV fade or maybe nicotine stain? i use oxy clean in the laundry, never tried on phones. looks good ;D 8)
Don't know, I assumed UV, but could be nicotine I guess. I got Oxy for the phones, never tried it in laundry. :D
Quote from: bwanna on October 14, 2009, 09:43:10 PM
briny, do you think the discoloration was from UV fade or maybe nicotine stain? i use oxy clean in the laundry, never tried on phones. looks good ;D 8)
d/p flattery will get you everywhere :-[
Bwanna;
One can only hope.... 8) :o
D/P
Great results!
Quote from: McHeath on October 14, 2009, 11:29:42 PM
Great results!
I'm happy with it, at least as a preliminary cleaning, of course it'll be sanded down and buffed later. I'm especially happy with the handset cord cuz I can't sand those. I've washed one other handset cord in the dishwasher with about equal results, but the dishwasher is very noisy and I can't listen to music while working on my phones (my "shop" is in my bedroom).
Hey, guess where I found the scoop? Buried in the Oxyclean! One scoop is about 1/8 cup, so I must have used about 8-10 scoops in 2 gallons of water, which is about what the instructions say to use.
Quote from: Brinybay on October 15, 2009, 12:07:53 AM
......which is about what the instructions say to use.
I would never admit to following instructions....
Quote from: Phonesrfun on October 15, 2009, 12:11:30 AM
Quote from: Brinybay on October 15, 2009, 12:07:53 AM
......which is about what the instructions say to use.
I would never admit to following instructions....
'Sokay, I only do so as a last resort, after the fact... :D
Oh good. You had me worried for a minute, there....
;D
I'm going to call the color turquoise since I now know the green is a discoloration. The ever-helpful Wikipedia has a good article on the color with examples of various shades: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise_(color) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise_(color))
And to REALLY confuse the issue of phone color, here's a list of colors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors)
There was another thread on another forum about what I believe is this exact color. It was called "forget-me-not" and I think there was a link to Paul F's website for it as well. So take that for what it's worth.
Quote from: Phonesrfun on October 15, 2009, 12:46:13 AM
There was another thread on another forum about what I believe is this exact color. It was called "forget-me-not" and I think there was a link to Paul F's website for it as well. So take that for what it's worth.
That's right, I forgot about that. The AE color chart: http://www.paul-f.com/AEcolors.htm (http://www.paul-f.com/AEcolors.htm) It's "Forget Me Not Blue".
Jorge made a posting here last week about Forget Me Not.....
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1576.msg20751#msg20751
Quote from: Dennis Markham on October 15, 2009, 08:29:44 AM
Jorge made a posting here last week about Forget Me Not.....
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1576.msg20751#msg20751
Hmmm, that "Forget Me Not" color looks more blue than my "Forget Me Not" color. Is it like the difference between white, off-white, and eggshell?
Oh wow, quite a difference. How about Seafoam green?
Quote from: Dan/Panther on October 12, 2009, 07:26:51 PM
Quote from: bwanna on October 12, 2009, 07:13:31 PM
this product is great for cleaning everything. an old toothbrush would be good to clean out the threads after the soaking.
http://tinyurl.com/ykhsfup
I bought a couple electric battery toothebrushes, for cleaning chassis with Brasso. It works pretty good, maybe they would work with the stuff you listed. How much is that big bucket, or is it a small one.
D/P
I've been using electric toothbrushes for years. I bought a new fancy-shmancy sonic one for myself and retired the other one for use cleaning phones and such.
Note to self: Don't leave them next to each other in the bathroom in case you accidently grab the wrong one and brush your teeth with a toothbrush dipped in Oxyclean and left-over phone grime. Ick, pa-tooey!
I started to give this one some attention again. Upon closer examination, the threads aren't that damaged, just a small section at the beginning on the handset threads of the receiver. The receiver cap is definitely out-of-round. The receiver element keeps getting wedged in the cap instead of sitting freely. I'm going to try the soak in hot water method and see if that works.