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Vintage Telephony and Telecomms Vintage Telephones, Telephony and Telecomms Equipment

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Old 10th Oct 2006, 1:42 pm   #21
Tazman1966
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

Hello all.

I've restored a number of 746 series phones and have found that "T-cut" is excellent for cleaning these up after they have been washed in mild, warm soapy water. I'm always careful to remove the traces of T-cut afterwards. When that is done, buff them up after applying some non-wax furniture polish. They come up a dream.

All the best,

Tas
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Old 25th Nov 2006, 1:55 pm   #22
plumbweiss
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

When I was at school we were shown an educational video showing the GPO refurbishment department, rows of women sitting at buffing wheels grasping their 700 covers, bringing them back to as new condition. Fascinating stuff!

I wonder if BT do that with their cordless handsets?!?
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Old 7th Jan 2007, 1:21 pm   #23
gpogal
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

Carefully dismantle the telephone as much as possible. Then

Clean the Bakelite with a good non abrasive chrome cleaner such as autochrome. Working the cleaner into the telephone in a circular motion.
The next stage and most important stage is to use "paste polishing number 5" from greygate chemical products specifically designed for cleaning Bakelite telephones.
Finish with a good quality "carnauda" car wax (that containing no silicones)
At each stage use plenty of elbow grease and patience. For the final polish use a clean cotton duster

Please let me know if you ever find a better way to clean bakelite phones. or have any useful information about old British telephones.
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Old 3rd Feb 2008, 11:49 am   #24
Majicou
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

I have "restored" the colour to a grey case ( a real nasty green colour ) and an Ivory one ( gone all yellow ) The trick is very fine grades of wet and dry, but it takes ages. After all the sanding you will really need a mechanical polisher to put the final shine back and then hard beeswax to give it a good shine. Avoid at all costs silicone based products

Cheers

Andy
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Old 18th Apr 2008, 8:55 am   #25
gpogal
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bc312 View Post
Graham

The cleaning stuff you are thinking of is Paste Polishing No.5. I have an original tube from my days on radio and line transmission in BT (Post Office). Excellent for cleaning plastic and bakelite finishes without scratching, and is available as Bakelite Polish from Old Time Supplies - http://www.oldtimesupplies.co.uk/ £5.50 for a 60g tube, and I also think it's sold under the name Baykobrite. Certainly made a good job of my black 232.

Regards

Mike
Oldtime Supplies has dissapeared off the net, however there are a few other sites that sell Paste Polish No 5 . In fact you can buy it off eBay for less than £5.50. Regards Karen
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Old 23rd Apr 2008, 12:45 pm   #26
Darren-UK
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

I've a 700 series 'phone which was very mucky. I cleaned it with Maplins foam cleaner, gave it a buff, then wrapped it in bubblewrap prior to shoving it on a shelf for storage.

I unwrapped the 'phone again after just a couple of weeks and there was an odd smell, difficult to describe other than to say it was a rather rancid, 'chemical' type smell.

Does anyone know if foam cleaner has any adverse effect on the plastic used for the 700 series (I think it's acrylic?) which may have caused this? Or perhaps a bit of foam cleaner residue which remained reacted adversely to the bubblewrap?
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Old 6th Jul 2008, 6:04 pm   #27
Mike-repairman
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by darren-uk View Post
I've a 700 series 'phone which was very mucky. I cleaned it with Maplins foam cleaner, gave it a buff, then wrapped it in bubblewrap prior to shoving it on a shelf for storage.

I unwrapped the 'phone again after just a couple of weeks and there was an odd smell, difficult to describe other than to say it was a rather rancid, 'chemical' type smell.

Does anyone know if foam cleaner has any adverse effect on the plastic used for the 700 series (I think it's acrylic?) which may have caused this? Or perhaps a bit of foam cleaner residue which remained reacted adversely to the bubblewrap?
I've been using foam cleaner on a variety of consumer equipment for over 15 years. You have to be very careful which brand you use as some will attack certain types of plastic; sometimes taking off the gloss surface completely.

I used to use one distributed by ARD but that company was gobbled up by CPC and now they only sell their own brand which is not so trustworthy. I don't really know of any good trustworthy one that is suitable for all plastics now, unfortunately. You have to try them out on a small section out of view, and then leave it a while to see if it reacts.

Your problem had nothing to do with residue or bubble wrap; you were simply unlucky to have used an unsuitable foam cleaner.

Mike.
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Old 6th Jul 2008, 9:45 pm   #28
BGmidsUK
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

Re: Foam Cleaner - I have always used the Servisol 30 variety (the one in the blue can with purple label) and have never experienced any problems with it. I thought the product supplied by Maplin was the Servisol variety?

As for telephones, I have an old cordless which looks decidedly more yellow than I believe it did when new. This may be a candidate for some experimentation. I can't remember where I got it from but it has to be of 1980s vintage

I also have a "yellowing" issue with an old B/W portable TV and a few old monitors - the monitors, despite being much more recent, are decidedly more yellow than the telly! And powder-coat paint used on light fittings seems to suffer the same effect too.


I wonder what these plastics will look like in another 20-30 years


BG
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Old 7th Jul 2008, 9:32 pm   #29
Dickie
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Default Re: How do you clean telephones.

I know it's a bit OT, but this chap isn't very impressed with bubblewrap...
http://earlywireless.com/bubblewrap.htm
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Richard, BVWS member
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