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Old 28th Oct 2009, 9:22 pm   #1
retrotelecom
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Default 700 series cases and plastics

A simple one really, but I suspect no simple answer. Does anyone know where to source new or as new 700 series cases and handset plastics?
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Old 28th Oct 2009, 11:45 pm   #2
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Hi,
New cases and cosmetic parts for 700 type phones occasionally crop up on eBay.

Also try asking at the THG site or the ITN Forums

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Old 29th Oct 2009, 12:55 pm   #3
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Hi
Thanks for that. I'm trying all three of your suggestions. Somebody out there is producing them, but finding out who is proving hard.
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Old 29th Oct 2009, 3:26 pm   #4
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

I was under the impression that the ones that Andi refers to were New Old Stock, i.e. unopened spares that have lain in someone's stock cupboard for a few decades.

Does anyone know when production of the full range of coloured 746s ceased? My parents certainly had a new 8746 (in boring ivory) installed in 1987.

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Old 29th Oct 2009, 3:32 pm   #5
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Yes, I think that's right. But they're getting harder and harder to find as you know. I just have a feeling that someone out there is using the original BT/GPO tooling to produce new/old stock. A valuable resource if it can be traced.
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Old 29th Oct 2009, 7:30 pm   #6
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Quote:
Originally Posted by retrotelecom View Post
'I just have a feeling that someone out there is using the original BT/GPO tooling to produce new/old stock. A valuable resource if it can be traced.'
India? - or are they still using the moulds for the type 300 seies? Pedlars
Xmas catalogue advertises 'type 700 telephones, fully reconditioned in Cambridgeshire' at £67.50 a pop; sheesh! Some of them are non-GPO colours, so are most likely sprayed.

Some aren't, however, and perhaps they use new mouldings?
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 1:56 pm   #7
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

FWIW I've purchased a 746 (converted with resistor etc. to 8746) for my other half, who likes purple. The phone case is purple. It's a new mould, not sprayed. The plastic appears to be slightly softer, maybe PVC? (wasn't the original diakon or something like this?).

If I remember I will whip the case back off when I go over there and see if it has the moulding numbers (3/DCO/703) on the inside of the case. The only part that is purple is the main case, the other parts (dial surround, button dummy, handset) are all black. If you notice, the ones over at Pedlars are also using GPO standard (N.O.S?) colour parts for everything BUT the main case. So somebody out there is re-moulding them. It's likely to be difficult to find out who, as dealers are going to play their cards close to their chests on this, but we'll find out eventually!
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 2:27 pm   #8
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

I used to have one of those common transparent-cased ones (the originals are rare and valuable) which are for sale all over the show these days. When I acquired it, new, I understood the cases were supplied from Australia from a mould which began life in the UK. The possibility, therefore, is that both these and the non-authentic coloured ones originate in the far east. That's the self-coloured ones, not those resprayed originals, obviously.

I really can't see it as being viable to reproduce these cases here in the UK, unless someone with the professional know-how has a 'garden shed' business somewhere.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 3:59 pm   #9
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Did I once see a 'Geemarc' branded telephone for sale in ASDA that looked like a 706 but with DTMF push-buttons arranged like the dial lay-out?

It would be three years ago; never seen once since. The case and handset looked so authentic that re-moulds in the far-east would be a possibility.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 7:03 pm   #10
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Quote:
Originally Posted by russell_w_b View Post
Did I once see a 'Geemarc' branded telephone for sale in ASDA that looked like a 706 but with DTMF push-buttons arranged like the dial lay-out?
Well, I wasn't imagining it!
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 7:29 pm   #11
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

And a fake 756 too: http://www.geemarc.com/eng/product/prodspec.asp?id=210
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 10:28 pm   #12
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

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Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
I saw that one: looks strikingly similar (as the picture goes) to my 8782. All other 'fake' or 'repro' telephones I've seen (232 and candlestick imitations usually) have been so way off the mark for authentic case-styles that they could be picked out immediately.

Now, I've never seen one of these 'Geemarcs' in the flesh, save for a quick glance whilst passing through ASDA one time, but the profile of the case made me look twice, hence my thoughts that the mouldings may have been produced on ex-Plessey, GEC or whosever presses.

The handset cords are thinner and probably not to the same standard, so perhaps there is an outfit who will reproduce 700 series mouldings to be sent onwards for filling with modern electronics? Surely some sort of bona-fide trade or company magazine would enlighten?

Come on, chaps, think hard! You've set up a repro-telephone company. To whom would you turn for manufacturing the parts? For what the 'Geemarcs' cost, I might be tempted to buy one myself and open it up for a peep!
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 10:44 pm   #13
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

I've got a Direct Line telephone, these also being a Geemark product. Those other Geemark 'phones, as per the links in the above posts, look like the 746 but are actually slightly smaller in overall dimensions. Same goes for the DL 'phone; it looks like a 756 (wheels excepted!) but is slightly smaller overall.

As amusing (interesting?) as this is, let's remember that retrotelecom asked "where to source new or as new 700 series cases and handset plastics?" so let's stick to that as best we can without going off on a tangent too far.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 10:58 pm   #14
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

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Originally Posted by Darren-UK View Post

'As amusing (interesting?) as this is, let's remember that retrotelecom asked "where to source new or as new 700 series cases and handset plastics?" so let's stick to that as best we can without going off on a tangent too far.'
We're not going off on a tangent too far. If Geemarc can source plastic cases, then it's possible that anyone else can, too. That said, I didn't realise the Geemarc stuff was smaller.

Incidentally, I e-mailed them with an enquiry, but I don't expect anything back. Would Plessey or GEC furnish an answer to the whereabouts of their old presses, do you think?

From where do you understand that new cases were produced in Australia? Might that be a path worth exploring?
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 11:18 pm   #15
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

At my old Company we used to make a slightly peculiar product by installing new 'works' in a 700 case. About 5 years ago the supplies dried up completely and we had to abandon making it. The only alternative would have been to buy old 'phones and rip the guts out, but that wasn't realy practical as there was no continuity of supply.
If they realy are available again I'll tell tell them and maybe they can resurrect it.
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Old 9th Nov 2009, 5:22 pm   #16
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Quote:
Originally Posted by russell_w_b View Post
'Incidentally, I e-mailed them with an enquiry, but I don't expect anything back.'
Well, they kindly wrote back, and no: they use their own moulds and presses, so red-herring...

I have posted an enquiry as to the availability of new 700 series plastics on the THG website, so we'll see...
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Old 11th Nov 2009, 4:03 pm   #17
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

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From where do you understand that new cases were produced in Australia? Might that be a path worth exploring?
I obtained mine (the see-through) from an antiques centre at Sawbridgeworth around nine or ten years ago. The bloke selling them had acquired a batch and I recall him saying the case manufacture had been contracted to a firm in, or near, Cleckheaton who had an Australian subsiduary. That latter is where the transparent cases supposedly were moulded. That may just explain what was then an almost standard price of £89; rather high really but that's mere speculation.

I don't know if they're still being made, certainly there's a lot on the market, and the example I had used a bog standard 8746 chassis including the locating screw at the rear. It's thus fairly safe to assume the moulds were original and had been sent to Australia, unless an identical mould pre existed in that country for their own telecomms industry - I don't know.

Unfortunately I've been searching around over the last day or so to find some concrete information about these transparent 'phones to no avail whatsoever. Of course, it's possible the bloke at Sawbridgeworth was inaccurate with his information but I had no reason to suspect he was.

Re the Geemark telephones, many branches of Maplin stock these and it's quite obvious by just looking at them that they're smaller than the real 700 series.

Now, there is a twist to the tale. I have compared my Direct Line 'phone to an early 706 and external dimensions are identical. That implies Geemark used an original mould for the DL 'phone. Obviously the 'phones they now produce that immitate the 700 series have a different mould (being smaller), so what happened to the mould used for the DL 'phones? do they still have it? was it scrapped? That mould was modified anyway, there's no trace of the hole for the case-to-chassis screw, for example, but otherwise it's identical as far as I can tell.

Apart from the DL 'phone info, much of what I've said in this post is word of mouth and/or assumptive, but despite trying it's all I can come up with I'm afraid.
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Old 12th Nov 2009, 3:24 pm   #18
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

This may be of use, I remembered to open up my other half's telephone (don't tell her, she'll make me do the new handset cord for her other 746 then!)

The new purple moulding indeed does have proper part number stamps, and the codes are as follows:

3/DCO/703
KKA
IMP 1

According to Bob Freshwater's site, the code KKA is for E. K. Cole Ltd - Southend, Essex, so maybe they sold their moulds?

Edit: The same E K Cole as made famous by their EKCO brand... vintage radio recursion!

Last edited by Chipmunk; 12th Nov 2009 at 3:33 pm. Reason: Additional information
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Old 12th Nov 2009, 4:16 pm   #19
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

These people reckon they sell 700's with brand new case mouldings, although I get the impression they're NOS rather than current manufacture.

Regarding Ekco, yes it was indeed one and the same company. When did their works finally close down? or, more importantly, when was their plant, tooling etc sold off? If this was around ten years ago (But I suspect it was long before then) and it roughly coincides with the appearance of the transparent 746 then we may find an answer. This is all very much a shot in the dark though, probably won't lead anywhere.
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Old 2nd Dec 2009, 4:43 pm   #20
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Default Re: 700 series cases and plastics

Quite a few people on ebay are listing phones with new mouldings - some possibly NOS (ie authentic colours) and some obviously new (un-authentic garish colours). 'Telephone Lines' in Cheltenham is one of the sellers with the proper-looking mouldings, although I haven't enquired whether they are willing to sell any.

I've got a pink 746 at the moment which is in the latter category - the plastic is certainly not of the same quality of the original although IIRC the numbers stamped inside suggested it had been turned out of original tooling. I don't know enough about plastic to say what it's made of, but it doesn't seem as hard and glossy as the ABS mouldings are. (Fit for purpose though I suppose).

I've also had a couple of the clear mouldings, from Australia (or it may have been New Zealand, not sure).

As someone said earlier, it's likely that those with a source for new body/handset mouldings will be keeping it to themselves! In the spirit of openness though, an excellent source for most replacement plastic spares is Ray Sutcliffe (www.gpospares.co.uk). He doesn't make case/handset mouldings, but he does just about everything else. The quality of his workmanship is first rate, and the colour match is superb (not least because he grinds up and melts down broken phone plastics in order to mould new parts!). Last time I spoke to him he'd still got some of the aforementioned Australian clear body/handset mouldings as well.

His prices are very reasonable (I've seen at least one other website which appears to be buying spares from him and then selling them on at literally twice the price...).

Hope this helps.
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