AE 81

[bushman]

So I was able to clean-up the AE-81. I am still struggling with the handset. Seems to be made of bakelite and won't take a shine. I got some hints from here on other things to try. I am ready to get the dial retainer parts and number card ring and parts. Where do I find these and how do I know I am ordering the right ones?   Thanks

Bushman

[LarryInMichigan]

Bushman,

The phone is looking nice.  the dial center rings, retaining clips, etc. are easy to find.  They are all the same for the metal AE dials (like your new AE40).  There is a bit of trick to installing and removing the ring.  Steve Hilsz can probably provide you with the parts, or you can buy them from phonecoinc.com or oldphoneworks.com.

Larry

[Dennis Markham]

It looks like you're also going to need one of these escutcheons in addition to the dial card retainer ring.

http://tinyurl.com/2724494

The seller, Adele Vaverchak.  If you contact her she will more than likely have a retainer ring, complete with all the pieces, including a card in the $10 price range.  I'm sure she will sell you just one escutcheon too...along with one of the screws to hold it in place.  Maybe you can replace the one that is on the phone.  I've not seen one like that before.  They may not be interchangeable, but I'll bet they are.

Here is her e-mail address:  acurbrider@yahoo.com

I have purchased many vintage phone parts from Adele.  Her father is a long-time collector and she is very very helpful.

Good luck.

[LarryInMichigan]

The screw and thing in the middle of this finger wheel looks like somebody's makeshift solution for the holding the finger wheel in place.  I expect that the proper parts will fit without any problems.  Somewhere I found a page which explained how to adjust the escutcheon to hold the ring or to release it, but IO don't remember where it was.

Larry

[Dennis Markham]

Here is the diagram for removing/replacing the dial card ring.

http://www.telephonecollectors.org/library/aeco/metaldials.pdf

[JorgeAmely]

BMan:

Can you take a few pictures of the button and associated hardware inside the phone? I am very interested in seen how it connects to the network and would like to see if there is any special hardware associated with the button.

Thanks.

[AE_Collector]

You are definitely going to want the correct screw to hold the escutcheon in place. The present screw, even with a washer won't keep the escutcheon properly centred.

BMan:

Can you take a few pictures of the button and associated hardware inside the phone? I am very interested in seen how it connects to the network and would like to see if there is any special hardware associated with the button.

Thanks.

Hi Jorge:

It is a pretty simple thing. An extra contact set is mounted on the hookswitch frame and the little chrome button in the case operates the contacts.

Terry

[bushman]

Here is some pictures of the additional switch. There is a red and a white wire on it. The screw driver is pointing to where they hook up. That is on the front of the phone on the printed circuit board.

Bushman

[bushman]

And here is one of the bottom of the phone. I think it is readable.

Bushman

[JorgeAmely]

bushman:

Thank you for the pictures. Excellent documentation.