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Help getting my WE 1D2 up and running

Started by Steve911, October 16, 2014, 11:09:30 AM

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Steve911

Hello all,
Recently became a member to the  forum I am looking for some guidance on resurecting my paytelephone. Im a novice to the pay phone world but am willing to learn. Now on to the phone from my research I think what I have is a WE 1D2.  I aquired it about 20 years ago from a site that was going to be demoed next to my house. Seeings how I had no prior knowledge about pay phones and was just grabbing because it was "cool"  it has basically been sitting in storage all this time. I do not have any keys to it except a tkey that one of my friends gave me in 1994 when I got it since he had payphone throughout the city at the time. Fastfoward 20 years I was going through some stuff that has been in storage at my parents house and came across this gem. My daughter saw it and was instantly facinated with it having never seen anything like it LOL. So Im here at the forums trying to bring my phone to life and have found some barriers that are holding up the process.

1. Since I have no keys I cant get to the inners to see what I have. That is my first problem and question what is the best method to getting the upper opened? I have emailed haralsonlock@aol but have not heard back so moving foward should I begin to start thinking about drilling it out?

2 . As for the lower I think it is a model 30 c crytolock which from what I read is a (expletive deleted) to open. how should I approach opening the lower? drilling or cutting the front of coin box ( it has alot change in it if I flip it around a couple times coins come out of the shoot mostly from the sixties ).

3. Since it is a coin first model then tone  will it work if I connect the wires exposed at the rear(see pic)?

4. Coin drop seems to be blocked from putting in coins (I see metal blocking it from the inside) is this normal for a disconnected phone?

5. Will this work on a cable phone ;line or will it need a POTS line to work?

Sorry for the barrage of questions but I had not found resolve to these issues with searching hence I am here any help would be greatly appreciated by me and most of all my daughter LOL.

Regards Steve

WEBellSystemChristian

Removing the lock requires a lot of patience and time-consuming work. The lock is made up of many brass 'slides' inside that control the main latch that opens the upper housing. The outside of the lock has to be drilled first, so you can access the inside of the slides. Each of these slides have to be pulled forward and then cut out from inside the lock using a tweezers. My dad and I must have spent 4 and a half hours trying to remove these slides!
Christian Petterson

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

poplar1

It will probably work just by splicing into the red and green conductor of the wire stub. The phone company probably just abandoned a working phone, though usually they would have sent someone out to remove the coin box.  Whether or not it will dial out depends on the type cable modem you have. You might want to try another rotary phone such as a WE 500 on your modem just to see what happens.

I'm trying to recall whether the coin slot is blocked when the phone is disconnected. This may be the case, in order to keep someone from inserting coins, which in some models would become stuck without the central office equipment (coin trunk) to send out the 130 Volts DC to operate the relay.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Steve911

Thank you for that responded poplar1 I gave the red to red and green to green a shot but nothing all I could here was a little static from the wires rubbing. Since it a 4 wire is there another configuration that I can try?

Christian, yeah I have read about how much of a PITA these locks can be to open I also read that some just cut the front coin box plate then replace with another.

dsk

The only locks I have drilled out are the ABLOY locks on my Norwegian payphone.

A friend and locksmith has told me to drill about like what you may see here
http://tinyurl.com/7u2c43m
but this one are not bad either.
Googeling drill lock may be a hint  :)

dsk


Steve911

Hey dsk that was a very informative video and may come in handy if my current career doesnt work out lol all joking aside I have done my due dilgence in searching and have come up empty in respects to cracking a 30c lower lock as for the upper lock I may just give it a go with the drill considering I dont have the key. I fiqured that i would try this forum because it seemed to be the most informative about these type of issues and since others my have come across this situation and have come up with a definitive method of handling this. Thank you for your insight.

HarrySmith

#6
If you check the paystation topic here you will find some educational and informative posts about drilling and opening payphones. He also has info for Judy Harralson who is a locksmith and very helpful.

I meant to say "posts by DavePEI about drilling". Also the locksmith is Jody not Judy.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Steve911

Hello Harrysmith, its funny you say that I was just starting to sift through some of the topics I fiqured I stay in the WE forum since well its a WE lol but I guess I have to explore the entire site. I did reach out to Judy but no reponse  :-[

Steve911

Hey popular1 by a stroke of luck my friend heard me talking about this an he laughed and walked into a back room and pulled out you guessed it a ITT rotary 500 series phone LOL i connected it and it worked fine but unfortunatley when I hooked up my red and green on my 1D2 no love.

poplar1

Good to know that rotary phones are recognized by your cable modem.

Originally, red and green were connected to the line, and yellow was originally connected to ground.  I don't know whether switching polarity of the red and green would make any difference. Perhaps Dave or Eric will chime in, or anyone else who has a single slot pay phone working, especially if it's on a cable modem.

From what I've read on the forum, the bottom lock (30C) is much harder to defeat than the top lock (29-type). In any case, it's not necessary to unlock the vault unless you think the spare change inside is worth the effort. You don't need to open the vault lock to get to the wiring.

"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Kimball321

Thats not a D type its either an A or most likley a C type
A=coin first only
C=coin first or dial tone first
D=dial tone first only
I collect payphones :)

Steve911

Hello kimball,

I summized that it was a 1D2 from another poster who had same phone. Once I get inside I will have my answer. ;)

Steve911

Harrysmith, I knew it was jody took it from a post on here verbatim was being polite. I emailed him a couple days ago hoping to here from him soon or Im going to have to do this the "Hard"way.

ESalter

Ok, it looks to me like a 1C1 set up for coin first.  The instruction cards look like it, and that's consistent with you not being able to get dial tone.  Put a dime in it, see if that makes a difference.  It probably won't, but you never know.

There shouldn't be anything blocking the coin slot unless the validator is jammed or stuffed full of coins or some other contaminant.

Locks...  the upper lock can be removed fairly easily.  They're harder than rock, so drilling isn't very much fun.  I usually carefully cut the outer face off with a small cut-off wheel in a dremel tool.  Here is a link to a thread showing a phone I cut open that way along with photos of the resulting lock pieces.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=9382.msg100514#msg100514

The lower lock can't be removed that way, sadly.  There isn't enough of the lock face visible.  Pretty much the only way to get into the vault without destroying the actual phone is to use a bigger cutoff wheel and cut the vault door off.  If you decide you want to take the time to do that, let me know, I can provide you with some more information and measurements on where to cut.

---Eric

Steve911

Hello Esalter,
Thank you for instruction and your confirmation on what type of phone I have I guess I will give your method a try on the upper and please foward any information on removing lower as I have had a couple people look at lock and say they can not get it open. One of my friends is sure he can pick it lol I will let him try and bet 50 bucks so at least I have money for bits for drilling lol. question so cutting off the face of the lock is best but did you mess with the esthetic of exterior? Just trying to picture a dremel tool getting in to that area an wondering how much damage occurs if I slip.