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Tell me your secrets, NE-233QF

Started by Fushigi Ojisan, July 12, 2018, 07:40:56 PM

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Fushigi Ojisan

This is the other phone I picked up at the Lancaster show, I saw it on a table for $135 and had to ask about it.   So here is the story:

It had come from the estate of a collector who happened to be a former airline pilot, it was apparently put to use as an outdoor phone, and had been jury-rigged to work without coins.  The seller bought it and had intended to flip it to a local restaurant that wanted an "Americana" display on their walls.  However, when it came time to mount it, they discovered there was a mirror on the other side of the wall and so they couldn't mount it properly.    So there it was on the table for $135, and I bought the phone not the story.

As it just so happened, another seller also restores phones, a guy on Long Island named Mike.  He told me that for a fee, he could update it and make it "plug-and-play" for home use (which goes with my "resto-mod" vision.    A few other people commented that it was a good deal all around.   Long story short, Mike emailed me when it was ready and I paid shipping back.   Then I finally got a good look at it.

Here we go...

Photo 1:  Overall shot, its about the way I remembered it

Photo 2:  Upper housing.  The dial looks to be in good shape, the instruction card has a 1969 date

Photo 3:  Lower housing.   Uhm, I don't remember it being all that pitted, or having that lock thingy

Photo 4:  My guess is that the handset is original to the unit, its pretty well beat up. 

Photo 5:  Part of the "plug-and-play" modifications were a modern RJ11 connector

Photo 6:  Another part was putting a network in the coin vault, ugh, I didn't see that rust in the bottom originally, I think I am going to try and hit it with some neutralizer.

More photos later


Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

Fushigi Ojisan

#1
More photos

Photo 1:  Unlike the other one unit, this was came with functioning locks and keys

Photo 2:  It also came with a mix of screws holding that lock on, fortunately Ace is the place with helpful hardware folks

Photo 3:  Back of the unit, the model number is legible, but a 1973 rebuild label hides the original date of manufacture. 

Photo 4:  Part of the "plug-and-play" modifications, some of the wires lead to the network in the vault

Photo 5:  Coin mech looks great despite the overall condition, the stamp indicates it was made in 1970

Photo 6:  Yep, gotta go to Ace
Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

Key2871

I have had to deal with rust in payphones as well. What I have done is use oil, and like a cat litter pan set the phone in and pour in some oil, vegetable works too. Let it sit a while. The oil will penetrate the rust and go to bare metal.
After a day or so. Take it out, drain the oil, then let the phone drain for another day, then using paper towels, stuff those in and they will absorb the rest of the oil. You could use absorbent like kitty litter, to get any you can't get with paper towels. Then using a wet dry vacuum, suck that out. It's some what messy, but the results are the rust stops, a lot will wipe up with towels. No chemistry to sit and smell bad. It works great. I've even done it working on metal work for my truck. It gets rid of the moisture, and coats the metal so it stops rust.
But maybe I should offer this for a suggestion, because no doubt John will make an issue out of it.
KEN

Fushigi Ojisan

#3
To be honest, one of the ideas I was pondering was pouring in some Evapo-Rust which will easily remove the rust.  The problem is getting it back out, suppose I could go the paper towel route since its non-toxic. Then that leaves me to figure out how to preserve the metal.

The other idea is to get some Permatex rust converter, don't have to do anything, just spray it in and the chemicals neutralize the rust and leave a black finish.   

Also keep in mind, my "workbench" is that dining room table, can't do anything to smelly or toxic.

--------

More photos

Photo #1:  Rebuild tag in the upper housing, Google tells me there are a lot of companies named Precision Communication, also, the last digit is not on the tag

Photo #2:  Tag on the back, given its April 1973, I wonder if the front is December 1972, it would also make sense to have 1970-dated parts.  Still, is there any way to find the original manufacture date?

Photo #3  I'm guessing that is a part number and not September 1961

Photo #4  & 5:  Went to Ace hardware and they had screws that were just a hair long, the lock washers fixed that, its not going anywhere.  The original screws had been cut short and were barely holiding the lock on.

Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

Fushigi Ojisan

#4
Decided to start tackling some of the exterior

Photo #1   Another pic of the door

Photo #2  The plastic components were cleaned with Zaino Z-14 Plastic Magic, it brought new life and shine to the dial and clear plastic instruction cover.  The chrome was handled with Meguiar's NXT All Metal Polish.   

Photo #3  The good news is Meguiars removed the haze and brought out the shine, the bad news is that the chrome pitting is still there, just a lot less noticable

Photo #4   The top was a real mess, the trick was to apply the polish with an old toothbrush to get around the edges and in the nooks, then a second old toothbrush to buff it out.   The dial housing turned out better than I expected.

Photo #5  Did a small experiment:  I applied the polish with an actual towel (paper towel is incorrect) and then did another area with some 0000 steel wool.  While the look similar, the steel wool cleaned away more of the pitting and it felt smoother

Photo #6  So that is what I went with for this side.

I am thinking of getting a buffing wheel to put on a drill and see if that will polish out some of the pitting, it doesn't seem particularly deep.   

Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

Key2871

You might be surprised to find that it will look rather nice when cleaned up.
I've used rust converter once, didn't really like the result. The evaporust that you were talking about, that might give better results. The rust converter I used left metal very rough and lumpy. I tried and tried to sand, grind the unsightly lumps down, and nothing doing, it stayed like that. So I never used that. But the trick with oil came from a mechanic friend of mine, and it worked! I ended up stuffing paper towel in the back office phone, tilted to the back, for about a week. Got it out! And it didn't rust again, because the oil coated the metal to protect it.
KEN

Key2871

#6
The buffing deal might help more. And no paper towels isn't what you want to use to polish the metal. Cloth is most definitely the way to go.
My AE chrome was a grubby mess when I bought it. But after hours of TLC, and a few towels, it looked nice. Yea I had some putting too, but it was old, and anything less than a rechrome would make it look perfect. It's part of old phones, unless their NOS their going to have little imperfections.
I had mine on the wall for years, dusted it with a cloth, and every once and a while I'd see a pit or two, but it didn't bother me.
In fact, I had to get a new coin Bucket for it, and it was NOS. It actually showed more imperfections because it was so shiny.
KEN

Sargeguy

Another product to try on rust is called "Iron Out" which comes in a spray.  It doesn't smell too bed but it is caustic.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Key2871

Would it damage a finish, such as chrome?
KEN

Dan F

Please tell me if I'm wrong.

The grey dial ring without the daisy looks like it's from a newer single slot phone. They were different. The older rings had 3 studs on the back and the grey single slot rings had 4.


RotarDad

Northern Electric used this type of number ring on their 3-slots in the latter years of production (early 70s?), but Western Electric always used the traditional daisy on their 3-slots.  WE stopped 3-slot production many years before NE as well.
Paul

Fushigi Ojisan

Key,

I want the rust gone, but from a practical standpoint, if I use Evapo-Rust, I would have to get it out of the vault afterward, then prep the surface somehow (probably denatured alcohol) then apply something else to keep it from rusting, I have some black high-temperature paint left over from another project so I would use that.

On the other hand, its in the vault, it will not be seen.  I'm not going to paint or polish if I use the rust converter, just spray and forget it.   

----

RotarDad,

I don't know how old this phone really is, but the rebuild tags state 1973 so it probably got a new ring at the time.   It cleaned up nicely and its in better shape than the handset and the chrome, so I would go with it being updated.   

------------

One of the web searches suggests using balled-up aluminum foil instead of 0000 steel wool, I might give that a try.   But it seems the only total cure for pitting is a re-chroming, and thats now where I want to go with this.
Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies

Sargeguy

Before you re-chrome I would try wet sanding the effected portions in the following sequence 800-1000-1200-1500-2000.  Don't sand too much with a single grit, rinse between sandings and alternate directions between grits.  Then switch to a polish like Simichrome. Re-chroming is expensive, and if you do that it will look brand new, but then you need to upgrade all the other parts to match.
Greg Sargeant
Providence, RI
TCI /ATCA #4409

Key2871

Steel wool and some light oil. Will remove rust very well, four ought is what I've used before with surprising results.
But again, I think you're looking for the phone to come out to brand new look. But it's fourty plus years old, if you spent that much time in hot sun, rain, snow you wouldn't look anywhere near like new compared to time spent indoors, dry and taken care of.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist my self, and I also like my phones looking real nice. But Greg said it, re chrome is going to be expensive..

I think after a good cleaning, the pitting will fade into the background.
As for wet dry sanding, geese I don't know if I would got that route, if I were to try it do it on the bottom or something.
And I wouldn't start with anything less than 1000 to 1500 to start with.
I had a black WE 233G that had rough paint, so I tried fixing it up using 800, ending in 8000. Then some polishing, and it came out nice.
Personally, I'd go light on the pressure, really light.
But I'd try the four ought steel wool first.
KEN

Fushigi Ojisan

I'll post pics later, but here is what I ended up doing.

I did one side of the upper with 0000 steel wool, it came out pretty well.

The other side, well, I Google'd on chrome pitting, and one suggestion was to use aluminum foil.  As luck would have it, I had eaten some Hershey's Kisses and so I had nice little pads to work with.   I think the results came out pretty decent actually.   

The lower case sides have actual damage to the chrome its hard to describe, its like its peeling back from the copper.   I did the aluminum foil trick, not sure if I want to try and go more daring on it.   

Very much liking Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish, well, except for how much black/gray gunk it leaves on my hands and on the buffing cloth. 
Fushigi Ojisan
Otaku with interesting hobbies