WE 555 Switchboard

[trainman]

I wish this guy would just come down on his price. There is more stuff in the basement, but its probably more junk. There is a pile in the basement, where I can see at least one complete cord circuit, might be 3 that I can see. But stil, not complete. Unless someone does buy them, there headed for the dumpster, as guy is rehabbing house, and doesny want them.

[Jim Stettler]

See if he will include  in all the other phone stuff if you buy the boards. That way you can see what else there is.
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They following was a reply I started earlier:

I see cord boards offered at $1,000 to $1,200. They don't sell and can usually be eventually bought locally for $200-$350.00.
Most boards i see advertised are offered @ $1,000- $1,250 or $250-$350. If you really want a switchboard you should be able to find 1 locally and eventually buy it for $100-$200 ( within 6mo or a year). They are cool but in very low demand. The key is to check back every month or two. Eventually the space considerations outweigh the perceived value.

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The most interesting 555 I saw locally was priced @ $1,600 It was down to $350 last time I saw it. I don't know what it finally went for.

What made it interesting was that it was a 555 set up for a left-handed Blind attendant  (Talk about a scare set-up). it took awhile ( 2-3 weeks of casual research) to understand  what the set-up was. At the time I had a CO board, answering machine board and a hotel board and no spare cash or room.
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If you do buy the boards I can hook you up with a collector that has 555 parts and used to work on them as his job. He rebuilt my CO board a long time ago,( before I traded into it).
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JMO,
Jim S.

I would check back with the seller every month or 2. You should be able to make a reasonable deal within a year. Also craigslist is a good spot to locate boards, Ignore the high price and get a valid phone # keep checking back until the price is reasonable.

There are lots more switchboards  than buyers. If you watch you should be able to find a good deal on a nice board locally within a year or so.

[trainman]

I hardly see any this close to me. 45 min. Vs. A days drive. I already got the spiel from the inheritor of the boards. Hes going by the estate sale tags left on them. Almost 400 for the 555 and 175 for the 551?.  Theres stuff in the basement, but its probably junk, ir stuff probably used in a CO.  Some WE power supply marked 130v which I bet is for payphones,  some junked cards I think are for a key sytem, a junked key? System power supply. Some switches, maybe sxs, but I dont know. Stuff pictured, that he cant find. And a ring generator, and some rack mount stuff I have no idea what it is. 

[DavePEI]

As Terry mentioned, I got two boards from an antique dealer in Summerside area - they had been sitting out in a barn on a clay floor and the sides had rotted out at the bottoms on both, and each were missing parts. I was able to complete rebuild one full board out of what I had, and traded some of the unneeded parts with others. Alas, I only have one complete cord circuit left spare, and I want to keep that for a spare for the board.. I paid a total of $100 for the two boards. I re-made the sides out of oak plywood  using the old ones as a template, and it looks and works well...

[trainman]

Dave, is there any hardware or brackets used to mount the back cover or the bottom cover? I can make the wood panels.

By the way, ill get your cord reel packed tonight and hit the PO tomorrow. Overslept this am.

[DavePEI]

I never bothered to put a back panel on mine, as it is much easier to work on without one, and it is located against a wall so no worries about fingers getting into it. I did put 2" casters on the bottom to make it easy to move in and out from the wall,  and used an amphenol cable from the board to connect to a 66 block on the wall, where phones connect to it. Be careful if you decide to put casters on yours, and make sure you don't try to do it alone, as I made that mistake, and it came crashing down on my legs as I was trying to right it after putting the casters on....

There is actually no bottom cover, but what I did with mine, was drill the bottom frame to take a piece of plywood to mount a KSU power supply and ring generator inside the base...  Here is a photo of mine before I wired up the PS and generator, but with them mounted.

I laughed when I had a couple of know it all MT&T fellow who came over and told me I would never get it working without batteries. I turned it on - reng a few phones - it blew their minds - I guess they didn't think you could power them with a simple KSU power supply! I literally had to pull it out an show them the supply. Too used to the old installations where the power was fed from the Telco.

Dave, is there any hardware or brackets used to mount the back cover or the bottom cover? I can make the wood panels.

By the way, ill get your cord reel packed tonight and hit the PO tomorrow. Overslept this am.

[trainman]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/252280961444

Here is the ebay listing. Note. What is in the last picture, what is hanging on the wall probably has been trashed
Guy demolished that room in the basement, and cant find that stuff.

[DavePEI]

From what I can see there, it is a good price. What you don't need, you could sell, or use to trade for other items... I see now what you mean by the bottom panel. You could easily make a replacement. The other equipment would easily make it worthwhile, so long as you have room to put it until you can find new owners.

But.....

Now the big problem will be to find more cord circuits for it - it is possible you may find more in the pile of stuff. If you can inspect it in person, you may be able ti find out. If he only has the one cord circuit shown in the board, it probably isn't worth it.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/252280961444

Here is the ebay listing. Note. What is in the last picture, what is hanging on the wall probably has been trashed
Guy demolished that room in the basement, and cant find that stuff.

[trainman]

My front door is only 32 inches wide. The 551 is 34 inches wide. Plus I simply dont have room for two boRds. Why I really only want the 555, at 29 inches wide.  But this guy wont halve the price to take one. No, he wants 400 bucks even if I leave stuff behind. No way.

[DavePEI]

Try him again when the auction has timed out...  He may be ready then to sell the board by itself it no-one buys it all... Call him in 14 hours before he can get around to re-listing it.

My front door is only 32 inches wide. The 551 is 34 inches wide. Plus I simply dont have room for two boRds. Why I really only want the 555, at 29 inches wide.  But this guy wont halve the price to take one. No, he wants 400 bucks even if I leave stuff behind. No way.

[trainman]

I was already over there. I fished through and got some Test equipment, phone and antique radio
And assorted CO maintenance tools. Another reason im not paying 400 bucks. Already gave them 100 for assorted junk I got last weekend I went there.

[trainman]

Need any 66 block bridging clips? I can throw a few dozen in. White and blue, if color makes a difference.

[DavePEI]

Need any 66 block bridging clips? I can throw a few dozen in. White and blue, if color makes a difference.

Yes, I could use a few if you can spare them!

[trainman]

Will do. I probably ended up with 100 of them.

[DavePEI]

I might still have several cord circuit blanks still. But I won't be able to check until it is warmer, as they are somewhere out in my barn, and it will take a while to find them. One of my boards had six cord circuits in it - the other 5, so when I rebuilt the one, I put ten in it, so don't need the blanks. I do somewhere have the other blanks here.