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Building from Spares: GPO 232 King Pyramid

Started by FABphones, February 10, 2019, 02:12:22 PM

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FABphones

Sorting through the spares boxes with a view to starting a totally different project, the corroded cradle on this 232 body caught my eye. Once I had spotted it I couldn't leave it be, so it came out of the box and building a GPO 232 King Pyramid from spares became my next project. Putting together a King Pyramid has been on my to do list for a while.

I thought I would share this build with you so those who have never worked on a GPO 232 can follow the process of taking apart, tidying up, and putting back together.

The first job was tackling the corrosion, which had taken hold well. The plunger had seized, no movement whatsoever. I liberally applied WD40 to the plunger and screws and left them to soak awhile. Later, after carefully scraping away at the corrosion, the screw heads began to appear.

The plunger is removed from the inside by removing a metal clip. It took a bit of time as not much room to move in there, but it eventually came out ok. As I had sprayed WD40 on the plunger shaft at the same time as the screw heads, by gently 'wiggling' the centre top of the plunger it came free. Once out, I had access to the two corroded cradle screws. They took a bit of persuasion but they freed up so the cradle could be removed. Both parts came away from the body without damage. The next job was to remove the build up of corrosion.

I then removed everything from inside the phone, putting the too modern handset and line cables into a spares box. These will be replaced by original woven cords (also from a spares box).

A couple of loose screws fell out, no idea as yet where/if they belong in the phone.

The body and cradle parts are all marked 'PL' (Plessey). I found a 1945 164 handset (I do have rather a lot of spares), also marked PL, which will match in nicely with the other parts of the phone. I found a #10 dial (guess where...), which will need a bit of tidying up but is right for this phone.

The cradle, plunger and body of the phone have received an initial clean with 000 wire wool and Brasso. The cradle screws have been left to sit overnight in a puddle of WD40.

And with that I lost the good natural light of the day and my attention was needed elsewhere...

Photos of progress so far:



A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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FABphones

You will notice on the photo below, the body of this phone has a nasty long crack on a corner.

Tomorrow I will be putting my experimenting hat on as I attempt, for the first time, a repair using resin and pigment. Wish me luck!  :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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Owain

Quote from: FABphones on February 10, 2019, 02:12:22 PM
A couple of loose screws fell out, no idea as yet where/if they belong in the phone.

Mounting brackets for the  Coil Induction No. 27?

FABphones

 ;D I noticed that too after adding the photo and wondered if someone would spot they were already off... No, I started to remove the coil then remembered I hadn't done a photo first.

The two (mismatched) screws remain a mystery...  :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
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Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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HarrySmith

Thanks for posting the detailed progress, this will be interesting to watch. I am surprised those cradle screws came out, that was a lot of corrosion. I thought maybe the entire phone got wet at some point, maybe with salt water but the inside does not appear to have that much corrosion on any parts. This is a good example of why you never throw anything away, you never know what you might need in the future.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

FABphones

A quick update on the handset, with pics. Before and after it's clean with 000/Brasso.

GPO 164, marked PL and dated 1945. I got the Spitcup separately from my spares but I may change it if I can find a closer match, this one not quite right. Later.

Closeup pic of the cradle screws. The corrosion is lifting, they are spending another night in their WD40 puddle.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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Doug Rose

CJ....wire brush on a drill will help those screws shed the corrosion and shine them up....Doug
Kidphone

FABphones

Quote from: Doug Rose on February 11, 2019, 02:38:34 PM
CJ....wire brush on a drill will help those screws shed the corrosion and shine them up....Doug

:) I was wondering how to remove the corrosion from between the threads without chewing them up. The screws are tiny so I'll see what Dremel type attachment I have that isn't too fierce.
Thanks. :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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HarrySmith

#8
I usually throw all the screws and small metal bits into a tumbler. A few hours in there and they come out looking brand new.

I have some pictures here of hardware after tumbling:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=17268.msg181861#msg181861
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

FABphones

#9
Quote from: HarrySmith on February 11, 2019, 02:58:06 PM
I usually throw all the screws and small metal bits into a tumbler. A few hours in there and they come out looking brand new.

:) I like the sound of that.

ETA: Just seen your pics... Shiny!  Now I want one, but yikes... super expensive.  :(



A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

FABphones

Quote from: Doug Rose on February 11, 2019, 02:38:34 PM
....wire brush on a drill will help those screws shed the corrosion and shine them up....Doug

These were next put into a anti-calc cleaning fluid and left to soak a further couple of nights, then had the wire brush treatment on a Dremel type mini-tool.  Big thanks to Doug for that tip.  :)

I had no idea what metal was under all of that corrosion.
One shown 'before' and the other 'after'.
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
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FABphones

#11
The crack on the body of this phone is long - from the bottom corner to about 1/2 cm from the top.

In order to (hopefully) get a better bond for the resin I used a mini-tool to grind the inside and roughen up the surface a little. I experimented with a few different bits as some barely scratched the surface of the Bakelite.

Although the Bakelite was cleaned I didn't shine any of it up first as I didn't want to add anything to the surface that might prevent a good adhesion.

Photo shows the damage midway through the prepping, prior to adding the resin. I've shown it through a magnifying glass. I like to work whenever possible using a convex lens in order to try and get a good close look at what I am working with.

After taking this photo I finished the prep, gently prised open the break and added the coloured resin, working from the inside. This was then held tightly together leaving the resin to harden (cable ties are good for this). No photos as yet of that stage - a little pigment goes a long way. Literally. Hands, working area, fabric, everywhere and onto anything. I didn't dare reach for the camera.

The longer I can leave the resin before sanding and working on it any further, the better.  :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

FABphones

Whilst I was searching through my Spitcup spares I took a few photos for comparison.
Photos show five #15 Spitcups.

On the photo of two Spitcups, they are both marked S (Siemens) but carry different codes.

On the photo of three, the one on the left is the PL (Plessey) Spitcup I chose for this project, the centre Spitcup has no manufacturer mark (and the holes are slightly smaller), and the one on the right is made by Indian Telephone Industries.

Manufacturer ident codes:
http://telephonesuk.co.uk/ident_codes.htm
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

FABphones

I'm not happy with the set of my resin, I suspect I added too much pigment, so today I removed and reapplied.

Meanwhile, I need to find three matching cords: handset, line, and bell to phone.
There's a matching set in there somewhere...

This truly is a project made from spares.  :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************

FABphones

#14
Leaving the new application of resin on the phone body to harden for a few days, I made a start repairing the Spitcup, which was missing a piece (you can see this on the photo of three Spitcups on page one of this thread). I reverted to my preferred epoxy putty for this as it hardens nicely and has a good strength. Just to throw in a twist I experimented by adding black pigment to further darken the 'shade' of black.

Here it is after a light sanding. Am very pleased with this little repair. On the photo I have pointed it out with an arrow, photo a bit dark. Lighting for photos is high on my agenda!  :)
A collector of  'Monochrome Phones with Sepia Tones'   ...and a Duck!
***********
Vintage Phones - 10% man made, 90% Tribble
*************