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Western Electric D97464 (field trial 302) project

Started by WEBellSystemChristian, February 01, 2015, 07:06:30 PM

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Jim Stettler

Christian,
Congrats on finding this housing.  I have handled one of these sets in the past. It is a great find. The set I handled had a tag stating return to  Bell labs for service.

I suspect that your best source for "proper" parts will be from some "small plunger" 302's .

Here is the link for Hal Beldon's  page about small plunger 302's (from PaulF.'s site)

http://vintagephone.com/HB302.htm

I suspect that if you research your model and the small plunger sets that you will discover an overlap of parts as well as dates. I think this is your best bet for finding the parts/dates you need to create your example .

As Always,
JMO,
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Doug Rose

Christian.... I would no anything to the housing, I would modify the base. Use a newer one until you get the correct fit. Leave the shell as it. Great find...5302 plungers....all right!....Doug
Kidphone

WEBellSystemChristian

#17
Quote from: Doug Rose on February 05, 2015, 05:39:09 AM
Christian.... I would no anything to the housing, I would modify the base. Use a newer one until you get the correct fit. Leave the shell as it. Great find...5302 plungers....all right!....Doug
I'm planning on using a junker base to do all of the modifications to. The housing won't be touched at all for modifications. After I grind down the edges, I think I'm going to sandblast it and powdercoat it with a satin black. That will take care of any edges that look like they have a 'sanded look to them, as well as remove any excess paint and rust. That's why I want to use a really rusty or really beat up 302 base, preferably from the postwar period.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

TelePlay

Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on February 03, 2015, 09:21:59 AM
USPS, where are you taking my housing?!? :o

It's supposed to be going to Chicago, and then Waukesha. Nope, USPS decides to take it to Iowa, and it's been there for a day now!

Frustrating...

Caution -- Topic Hijack Here: 

Someone might know for sure but based on a few things I've sold recently on eBay and shipped, they went from Milwaukee (Oak Creek) to Des Moines and then on to where ever the final destination was. That mid-stop added 2 days to the delivery process. Does the USPS have a large, specialized sorting/examining facility in Des Moines. Or is Des Moines a "new" central USPS hub? Are they checking all packages for content? Anyone know?

WEBellSystemChristian

Quote from: TelePlay on February 05, 2015, 08:45:19 AM
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on February 03, 2015, 09:21:59 AM
USPS, where are you taking my housing?!? :o

It's supposed to be going to Chicago, and then Waukesha. Nope, USPS decides to take it to Iowa, and it's been there for a day now!

Frustrating...

Caution -- Topic Hijack Here: 

Someone might know for sure but based on a few things I've sold recently on eBay and shipped, they went from Milwaukee (Oak Creek) to Des Moines and then on to where ever the final destination was. That mid-stop added 2 days to the delivery process. Does the USPS have a large, specialized sorting/examining facility in Des Moines. Or is Des Moines a "new" central USPS hub? Are they checking all packages for content? Anyone know?
My dad thinks my housing was sent there to avoid the snowstorm that was in Wisconsin/Upper Illinois. A lot of parts that I bought from the same seller were labeled as shipped two days after that housing was labeled as shipped. Yet they arrived the same day. The parts came from one location, went to the Chicago area, Oak Creek, then Waukesha. The housing went from the exact same location two days earlier, Des Moines, Chicago area, Oak Creek, then Waukesha. Kind of strange if you ask me...
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

WEBellSystemChristian

Here is a map showing the locations of each box. Red is the housing, blue is the parts:
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

unbeldi

Such rerouting should be no surprise or puzzle.  The delivery networks today are much alike the telephone network, or even more like Internet routing. It is a dynamic system in which paths are determined in real time based on route and resource availability.  If local conditions present bottlenecks in one direction, alternate routes exist and are taken despite looking inefficient from the 30000 feet above.

Dan/Panther

Christian;
awhile back I had two rubber stamps made, one says, LOUD, with the arrows, and the other is CD 500. Both are identical copies of the originals. I think I paid $7.00 each. From an online rubber stamp company. I can't recall the name right now.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

WEBellSystemChristian

#23
Okay, this is about halfway through the project, and the progress had been fairly smooth so far!

First off, I want to thank Doug Rose for sending me the base and hookswitch parts that I used on this phone. He sent me a '39 base, early metal lift and hookswitch set, and a later hookswitch assembly! Thanks Doug!!! ;)

So far, I've heavily modified the base to fit the housing. Because the ribs in the housing were preventing the housing from being seated on the base properly, I used a Dremel to carefully create notches in the base to fit the ribs in the housing (tongue-twister sentence, eh?).
For some reason, the screw inserts were ever so slightly closer to each other on the field trial housing than the corresponding holes on the base. In other words, the base would not attach to the housing properly. Using a drill press, the holes were slatted so the screws can easily move around in their place, and so that the screws fit with the housing flawlessly. From the bottom, the slats are impossible to see.

The lift hasn't been installed yet, because it can't be. The top 'step' will have to be removed, because it won't fit in the housing. I will also have to have different plungers created out of a different type of plastic, since the 5302 plungers are too short. Right now, the plungers and lift aren't in the phone, but you can see how it will look what it's finished!

I polished a November 1935 E1 and installed it on the phone. Don't worry, guys, the repro cord will be replaced with an original eventually! The dial blank will stay in the phone for as long as it will take for me to find a reasonably-priced #4 dial from '36.
All I really have to do left is powdercoat the housing and dial blank, replicate the plungers, and modify the lift. Right now, it still looks great!
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

baldopeacock

Is the paint on the housing original?   It looks pretty darned good, if it is.

Not that I don't get the objective of powdercoating, but....  maybe this housing, being what it is, should keep its original paint.   If it's been painted, that's another kettle of fish.   

It's kind of like "survivor" old cars.   Original only happens once.   There are old cars that are more desirable, more valuable, with presentable yet flawed original paint than they'd be with the nicest, most expensive refinish possible.

Maybe that applies here?

All of that said, Christian, you're doing a very fine job with this.

WEBellSystemChristian

Quote from: baldopeacock on February 17, 2015, 07:54:52 PM
Is the paint on the housing original?   It looks pretty darned good, if it is.

Not that I don't get the objective of powdercoating, but....  maybe this housing, being what it is, should keep its original paint.   If it's been painted, that's another kettle of fish.   

It's kind of like "survivor" old cars.   Original only happens once.   There are old cars that are more desirable, more valuable, with presentable yet flawed original paint than they'd be with the nicest, most expensive refinish possible.

Maybe that applies here?

All of that said, Christian, you're doing a very fine job with this.
Thank you!

No, if this were the original paint, I would never even think about removing it! But this was repainted with some really flat spray paint somewhere along the line. There is no evidence of any original markings inside, so this is definitely not original. The powdercoat will be much glossier and much more resistant to wear and scratching, so it will be much better!
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Dan/Panther

Good work, it takes me back to my 48 set. What a ball that was.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Doug Rose

Christian.....looking good.....really good. I like what you did to the base to make it fit and not damage the integrity of the shell. You do meticulous work. You should be extremely proud.......as Mom and Dad should be of you....which I am quite sure they already are. Real nice job.....Doug
Kidphone

Doug Rose

Kidphone

WEBellSystemChristian

Quote from: Doug Rose on March 01, 2015, 11:55:24 AM
where are you at with the project?....Doug
Wow, what a coincidence, I was just thinking about that phone!

Right now, I haven't really progressed at all. I still need to modify the lift and add plungers. The problem with the lift is that it's several milimeters shorter than where it should be, and I have to have something in between the plastic lift and the hookswitch platform, to compensate for that gap.

The plungers will need to be much taller than the standard 5302 plungers, so I think I'll need to get some sort of cylindrical ABS in that diameter. That way, I can custom cut them to the height they should be.

I'll also have to get proper cloth cords from ebay and have the housing and dial blank powdercoated.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford