Introduction: Converting an Old Mobile Into a Steampunk Deskphone

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A couple of month ago I received a headset from a vintage phone as a gift.
The first idea was to attach the handset to my Android phone and use it there.
To find out what quality is possible with such a headset I bought a Nokia handsfree.
Than I started some experiments.

Step 1: The Headset

I removed the coal microphone from the vintage handset and replaced it by the whole handsfree set from Nokia.
Then I replaced the original earphone of the handsfree set by the speaker inside the vintage handset.
The sound was loud and clear.  :-)
The keyboard of the Nokia mobile was a bit damaged. So I changed my mind and decided to build a new keyboard by my own.

Step 2: The Keyboard

I removed the whole keyboard from the front of the cell phone.
Than I polished the small contacts there are located under the keyboard an soldered two wires on each pair of contacts.
From the Internet I bought a couple of push buttons.
I redesign the keys on my computer and printed it on glossy photo paper.
With a 14 mm hollow punch I punched them out and covered them with plastic film.
With some brass washers and silicon glues I glued them on top of the pusch buttons.
After this I started to solder evrything together. (See photos below)
The Nokia headset was connected back to the cell phone.

The small lever on the right hand set is for switching the phone on and off by its original
push button on top of the phone.

Step 3: The Case

The case was made from wood and coloured with stain.
On the front case you can see the display cover, the keyboard and switch to power the phone on and off.
I placed the charger inside the case.

The phone works very well and I use it one steampunk conventions to take phone calls via the Aethernet ;-)

Have fun,

JnEn