The Telephone on Prince Edward Island - Converting an Northern Electric QSD3A 3 Slot Payphone for home use

This is my third 3 slot payphone conversion project - restoring and converting a Northern Electric QSD3A payphone for home use. These phones were a semi-postpay type of phone. This is a more complex conversion than that of the Automatic Electric LPB 82 payphone, but similar to the N233G. QSD3A's in their natural state had no internal network, and were used with an external 685A subset. The phone would be connected to the subset via a wire exiting the phone, and the subset mounted below. In order to work on a phone line, a subset and/or network must be provided.

This phone was in poor shape when purchased, which led to quite a saving in the purchase price. Its handset was missing, as was the vault door and lock, the upper lock was rusted beyond use, the paint was in poor condition, and the dial surround's ceramic had been severely damaged. It apparently had been in storage for many years.

However, it did have one saving grace. It had not been converted, and no non-telephone company alterations had been made to it. It was 100% original, which to me was great news.

First step in working on the phone was to find a schematic for the phone, which I did through the help of fellow collectors. Next chore was to find a replacement for the damaged dial surround and for the missing handset. Luck prevailed, and I soon had a new dial surround on the way from another collector. It was green - not really a problem as I had hoped to change the colour anyway. These phones had originally been manufactured in three stock colours, black, beige, and moss green. My N233H was black, and my Automatic Electric payphone was beige so this turned out to be a fortunate coincidence, as this would give me the third colour when I refinished it in green. I had a junked Northern Electric 565 set with a matching green handset, so decided to use its handset with the payphone. A original outer instruction card frame to replace the missing one was located through the same collector who provided the dial surround. I was fortunate enough to have a 685A subset already. Finally with everything gathered, it was time to get to work refinishing the phone.


QSD3A as Purchased	Refurbishing in Progress (dial and surround not yet on) Missing front card frame, coin door borrowed from my N233H for photo	Completed Phone!

Refinishing:

First on the to-do list for this phone was to clean it thoroughly, then refinish it. With telephones unlike furniture, a well done refinishing job will increase its value, especially if it is in as rough shape as this was. This is due in part to the fact that it is normal for a telephone to be refurbished. Most payphones suffered hard use, and many were refurbished several times by Telcos during their life-time. Refurbishment could include refinishing, replacement of damaged parts, and upgrading wiring and components.

I spent several days completely disassembling the phone, taking notes as I went, then removing the old paint with paint stripper and sanding the phone back to clean metal with emery paper. This included the interior, and particular attention was paid to the the upper and lower housing and any other area which had rust or scratches in the metal. The backboard also was stripped, preserving the Northern Electric model stamp which was masked off carefully. All components which could be removed were removed, and set in a safe place.

Immediately prior to repainting, all parts to be refinished were blown off using air from a compressor and a blow-gun, then a tack cloth was used to remove any remaining particles. Nothing would be more frustrating than to find flaws in your new paint job due to failure to take this step. When refinishing your phone, pay attention to detail; time taken in preparation for refinishing is never wasted time, and will be rewarded in the quality of the finished job. I have received other metal phones whose previous owners had skipped this step and achieved truly dissappointing results for the amount of labour they must have put into them.

Paint was a bit of a problem. Few of the local paint stores had a paint colour closely resembling the Northern Electric 51 green. I finally located one paint, and brushed it on. No amount of brushing could produce good results - brush strokes were inevitable. I finally gave up on this and stripped it down again to bare metal.

After an exhausting day searching for another solution, I came across a local automotive paint dealer who sold a very high quality acrylic automotive enamel, and went through his colour cards. After searching many colour books, I did find one colour which was similar, but much brighter. It was a non-metallic paint colour made for a 1984 Hyundai, named Jade Mist. Now, as this paint was a custom made paint, we added 3 grams of carbon black to tone it down. Then it was made up into two spray cans by the dealer. It turns out that the colour could have been toned down more for a better match, perhaps 8 to 10 grams of the black added, as this paint didn't darken much as it dried. However the quality of the paint was superb, covering with a blemish-free mirror finish in one coat. A second coat was applied inside and out to ensure 100% coverage.

Each of the major sections of the phone were placed over hot air registers in our home once they had dried to the touch for a day before re-assembly was begun. Using notes taken during disassembly, the phone was then re-assembled. The difference was incredible!

This phone was designed to be, and will be used with a 685A-3 subset, rather than modifying the phone and adding an internal network and ringer.

Now, at this point it is time to discuss the differences between this phone and the N233H. The case castings, and many of the internal parts are identical. But that is where the similarities end. The N233H is a prepay phone. It has a coin relay mounted on the coin hopper. This phone, the QSD3A, a semi-postpay phone, has no relay on the hopper, and its coin vane is fixed in the direction of the coin-box. Replacing the coin relay, is a small relay mounted beside the coin hopper. A micro-switch, activated by a trigger lever to the coin channel signals when a coin is dropped. No provision is made for the return of coins, except that those deposited in the wrong slots are returned automatically.

This phone requires few modifications to work on home lines. When hooked up properly to a 685A-3 subset, you will have two options when you hook it up: 1. Connect it as shown in its schematic, tip to tip, ring to ring and it work as a standard phone. 2. Connect it reverse battery, i.e. tip to ring and ring to tip. The transmitter will be muted when you go off hook and you have to deposit a dime to dial or talk.

The handset was missing from this phone when purchased. A handset from a 500 series set may be used with these, with slight modification. The exposed length of wire on the phone end of the cord has to be 19 centimetres long. It is a simple matter to cut back the insulation on the phone side of the handset cord to make it suitable for use on the phone. One of the white leads will be too long, and will need to be tucked out of the way (the one going to GN on the switch assy.) See David Massey's "233G site" for a detailed photo of the needed modification. The handset cord enters the outside hole, loops around and passes through a large hole in to the phone, then over to and under the brass handset cord retainer, the insulation ending approximately 1 centimeter to the right. It is held in place by a setscrew at the point at which it enters. The handset is connected as follows:

The only modification which was made was one I do to all of my payphones, and that is to set them so that any coins inserted fall directly to the coin return, rather than the coinbox. This makes it much easier to retrieve coins inevitably deposited by visitors and family. On this phone, this modification is a little more difficult than the same on the N233H, Centurion, and on the Automatic Electric. The vane which redirects the coin to either side is fixed in position towards the coin box by means of a small screw, which prevents the vane from falling towards the coin return side. To move it over to the return side, one must first remove this screw, flip the vane then re-insert the screw. Once this is done, there is still enough movement in the vane that some means must be used to keep it over on the right hand side. One could re-drill the hole the screw is driven in to a bit to the right, but this is a major modification, and I don't recommend it. One could, as another collector suggested, bend a small wire held by the original screw which would hold the vane over to the right. I chose a simpler expedient - a very small dab of clear silicone sealant over the arm coming from the vane, which performs the same task - that of keeping the vane all the way to the right.

Note: you may have to make the following changes inside your 685A network depending upon its former use:

A standard 425A network from a 500 type phone can also be used. In this case, the L1 and L2 connections are made directly to the phone's L contact at the top, and the Y transfer contact. All other connections (R, GN, B, C, RR) are shown below. The network should be insulated (use your imagination, i.e. a sandwich bag, and located in the coin box area). A small ringer and capacitor could also be hidden in this area. As above, I suggest you set the phone so it shunts all coins to the coin return to keep coins away from the network.

As pointed out by Stan Schreier in a recent article on the ATCA (Antique Telephone Collectors Association) site, a more modern network may also be used, e.g. one from a Contempora phone, or an ITT 427 or 1427. These are smaller than the 425A and will fit nicely into the coin box area. In his article, Stan shows a close-up of my phone and a close-up of its relay, and the connections to Contempora, ITT 427 or 1427 networks.

Dave Hunter and The Island Register: HTML and Graphics©

Last Updated: 10/5/2006 10:07:49 AM

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