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Old 21st Mar 2023, 6:29 pm   #1
pmmunro
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Dundee, UK.
Posts: 1,797
Default Texturing of Bakelite/Phenolic Resin Panels

I've started this separate thread not to take the post about Avometers which inspired it too far off topic.

The Model 2a Avometer, introduced in 1927, must have been one of the first electrical/electronic products of their size to have a Phenolic Resin front panel. The designer was a Senior Officer at the Post Office Telephone Factory in Holloway and it is possible that he was aware of the properties of the material by that means.

This early Avometer's front panel was scribed with a fine diagonal pattern of shallow cross hatching, very possibly to hide small defects. It did however have borders at the side and around the movement window which were plain sooth theromset plastic.

It would seem that demand grew to require bigger premises in Douglas Street and the move coincided with a change in the panel moulding (Model 2b) which was then smooth all over.
The first Universal Avometers have a patterning like fine sand texture and this later changed to what looks like the impression of fine wire mesh. If in fact this is how these patterns were reproduced it would not have been too difficult.

By the 1950s, this had changed again to the pattern most people will know which I think was intended to look like grained leather. That would have been a real challenge. If anyone's interested enough, I can post some pictures of the different textures.

Has anyone any knowledge of other Bakelite products with a similar pattern, and how and why they were produced?

PMM
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