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Restoration work on 1965 TT dial buttons

Started by TelePlay, March 29, 2015, 05:19:20 PM

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compubit

Cool tool!  Gonna hunt some down this weekend.

Seem to get some unusual looks of late when visiting the drugstores: mass quantities of peroxide hair products, makeup applicators, etc... 

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

Russ Kirk

#16
Looks like the star (sextile) on the older TT pad is 90° off.
- Russ Kirk
ATCA & TCI

TelePlay

#17
Quote from: Russ Kirk on April 03, 2015, 06:22:20 PM
Looks like the star (sextile) on the older TT pad is 90° off.

Hah! Good eye. It is. I took those one at a time using a high mag USB camera and assembled them in Photoshop. They were all 90 degrees off. Looks like I forgot to rotate that one. All fixed . . .  ;)

The dial pad on the far right (with a few buttons missing thanks to my computer) is what the keys look like after the process I used, after the "EDIT" line at the bottom of this post:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=14088.msg146825#msg146825

You can see a major difference between the keys on the left and those on the right, especially #'s 3, 6, 7 and 9.

The second photo below is a close up of 6 buttons with the worse crevices showing what they now look like with the SSS. You can compare "3, 6 & 7" in the pink with "3, 6 & 7" in the orange to see the difference in wax in the crevice vs. oil in the crevice. Will the SSS stay over time? Time will tell. Id it doesn't, it will be back to the ammonia to clean the buttons and then try something else.

TelePlay

Finished dial, on the far right.

TelePlay

Quote from: compubit on April 03, 2015, 06:19:56 PM
Cool tool!  Gonna hunt some down this weekend.

Seem to get some unusual looks of late when visiting the drugstores: mass quantities of peroxide hair products, makeup applicators, etc... 

Here is another use for those flocked applicators. They work great as a miniature sanding pad. Here I cut a thin strip of 2000 grit sandpaper and used a thin strip of electrical tape to tightly mount it over the tip of the applicator. The angled part of the sandpaper works great (wet or dry) for surface areas while the "back" flat side works well as a "file" sander. You can use whatever grit you need. I needed the high grit for a finishing application.

And while in the beauty section, take a look at these. I posted these in another topic some time ago but since I just used them today. These are nail stick files. They come in everything from 100 to 600 grit (maybe higher. One side is one grit, the other a slightly different grit. These work well as a small sanding block, either wet or dry, and the nail sticks are washable so they last a long time. They are about a dollar each.

TelePlay

#20
Speaking of tools, while I'm at it, thought I'd show how I clean cords, handset or line.

Bought this fishing bate box, about 8x8x6 for about $9, took the partitions out and use it as a sealed bath box for a variety of things.

For cords, I bought a 6" diameter round foam block, about an inch thick, from the fake flower/crafts department at my local Walmart. Drilled two 1" holes in it. I secure the space lug wired with tape and then shove the ends through the holes using small clamps to hold them in place. I just float the foam pad in the bath solution of my choice  to soak the cords. The open ends are never exposed to moisture.

Simply remove the block, spray off the wet cord with a water hose, remove the cord from the block and use a towel to clean the remaining softened crud off.

Seems like a lot of work but with a lot of cords to clean, it was well worth the cost and time to put it together. That's how I do it.

Each probably has their own way. Posted here in case anyone may be interested in this design to clean cords.

Contempra

Quote from: david@london on April 03, 2015, 01:53:55 PM
teleplay -

your clean up of the keypad looks v good.
to save effort, i found that an electric toothbrush can be very effective at cleaning these buttons - with just a little novus polish.  forum link

I use this kind of toothbrush for cleaning
Quote from: TelePlay on April 05, 2015, 12:15:59 PM
Finished dial, on the far right.

Nice clean up Teleplay, what do you use ? I am sure i missed something ;)