Breaking up cast iron structure

[CompoSimmonite]

I've a BT K8 phone box in good easy restorable condition and complete with all glass etc I've been trying to sell without success despite only wanting £100 for it.
Now it's destined to be weighed in as scrap where it's actually worth more than I was willing to accept to avoid it suffering this fate.
I can lower it onto it's back but am then wondering how to break it up into more managable sections. No point in messing around seperating the sides (the same was it was put together with bolts) and don't really want to spend ages cutting them up with 9" angle grinder.
What is the best way to breaking up such a large cast item structure ?
Would scoring it with the angle grinder help ? Would a point or chisel in an SDS drill on rotastop be any use ? Is it just a case of brute force with sledgehammer

Thanks.

Paul h

 

[pedrobedro]

Score it then beat it to death with the biggest hammer you can get hold of and still swing if you must destroy it. Personally I'd hang on to it for as long as it takes for them to become desirable. Grow some tomatoes in it for a while. Read this first.

 

[penfold]

I find it very difficult to believe you can't sell a phone box; BT flog theirs off for thousands.

 

[tigler]

It's a K8, not as desirable as the earlier designs.

 

[Robotstar5]

It's a K8, not as desirable as the earlier designs.

Might have guessed we'd have a phonebox anorak on here!

 

[Shox Dr]

A big hammer will do the job in no time.

(I always wanted a shower made out of an old BT box)

 

[brightspark]

A big hammer will do the job in no time.

(I always wanted a shower made out of an old BT box)

round our way they were allways used as a public bog after kicking out time

 

[tigler]

Might have guessed we'd have a phonebox anorak on here!

Yes, I do have a penchant for telecommunication stuff !

round our way they were allways used as a public bog after kicking out time

Haven't used a phone box in decades but they always did have a unique aroma !
There was a program on TV some years ago about phone boxes and I remember one thing in particular. There was a survey on the hygiene of phone boxes and the substances found on the handsets was quite disgusting, everything from seminal fluid to excrement !! Same for the dials and later, buttons !

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Mate is an ex BT engineering manager and bought it for £25. Whilst his wife was alive it was used for Bonsai trees. He was short of money to pay for car repairs and wanted rid so I gave him £100 and said if i ever sold then I'd split anything I got over £100 with him but intended to use myself as a garden tool store (after painting windows white or silver). My health has deteriated so have had a change of plans hence trying to sell. Twice on eBay without a single bidder so now it's weighing in time. At 700kg of cast iron plus 50kg of cast alloy (door) then I should easilly get at least the £100 I would have accepted from eBay buyer. It's making me have a further clearout and will be adding to the pile with load of car brake drums and several hundredweight of ungalvanised scaffolding pipes albeit short (1-2m) lengths.

Paul

 

[Robotstar5]

Yes, I do have a penchant for telecommunication stuff!

Ever been in a Strowger exchange?

 

[tigler]

Indeed I have, a mate of mine worked for GPO telephones, obviously a long time ago but I was quite young ! He took me on a tour one evening on his night shift, no staff to ask awkward questions ! I was so fascinated I almost decided to try and get a job there but I was in the middle of my electronics training ! Sometime later I had another opportunity to have a look around a Strowger exchange that was being converted to what was then System X, the first electronic exchanges. All really fascinating.
Someone I know has built a Strowger exchange in a shed in his back garden from salvaged BT equipment, every room in the house has an old style dial telephone, all routed through his exchange ! I bow to his anorak !

 

[Robotstar5]

I went round Ford's exchange in Warley, Essex, mid 80's. I was offered a job with GPO/BT but had already signed up for another apprenticeship

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Before I took early retirement work was a big goverment building and when I first started there it still had a PABX switchboard (leads and plugs for connections). The actual working were in a seperate room full of mechanical relays and was fasinating to watch. On one side was a huge bank of glass cased batteries for back-up power. The lot was replaced with something the size of a desktop PC !

Paul H

BTW at one time we had satelite telephone system at home. Dish on side of the house and small control box. Gave dial up internet at almost broadband speed. It was supplied by Ionix or similar sounding company. Brilliant system and free local phone calls before same offer by BT et seq. In the end they went into liquidation as no buyers when owners decided to sell. Sound familiar - better rival company / system that goes under. Also at one time I had a Rabbit phone - remember them ?

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Good job I checked before breaking it up. British Heritage say out of the 11000 made only around 55 are known to still exist !
Looks like it's now destined to end up at the bottom of my garden - saved at 11th hour

Paul H

 

[tigler]

Thats good to hear, I hate to see our technological heritage disappear ! In 50 years just imaging how incredulous people will be to know how we used to communicate, standing in a rank smelling iron box on a street corner, DIALLING a number and feeding coins into slots !! Actually, thinking about it, some kids now have never seen a dial phone !

 

[stuvy]

Good job I checked before breaking it up. British Heritage say out of the 11000 made only around 55 are known to still exist !
Looks like it's now destined to end up at the bottom of my garden - saved at 11th hour

Paul H

There was an old boy in the village i grew up in had an early phonebox and a mini converted into fishtanks, he died a few years back. I bet his kids had a field day moving that mini and phonebox

 

[CompoSimmonite]

There was an old boy in the village i grew up in had an early phonebox and a mini converted into fishtanks, he died a few years back. I bet his kids had a field day moving that mini and phonebox

When Alton Towers closed the Swan boat ride they offered them free to local people. A house near me has one of these Swan boats full of soil and flowers as a planter. This is it -
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z198/BereniceUK/UK travel/Staffordshire/Wetley Rocks/IMG_7925.jpg
I wanted one for use on local canals but wife said NO.

Paul H

 

[stuvy]

When Alton Towers closed the Swan boat ride they offered them free to local people. A house near me has one of these Swan boats full of soil and flowers as a planter. This is it -
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z198/BereniceUK/UK travel/Staffordshire/Wetley Rocks/IMG_7925.jpg
I wanted one for use on local canals but wife said NO.

Paul H

are they pedelow ones? That would be briliant!

 

[Engineer1964]

Some people are turning the K8 into a retro shower cubicle

and they are selling them for just under 6 grand

Only 12 K8 Kiosks owned & maintained by British Telecom remain on our streets!

so Yes they are becoming more rarer, than the old old traditional type

take a peek here http://www.redtelephonebox.com/itemsguide/?p=productsMore&iProduct=6

if you go to unicorn Kiosks, they are selling unrestored K8's for £750 http://www.unicornkiosks.com/red-telephone-kiosks.html

 

[CTB]

You'd be surprised at how fast you can cut through cast iron with a grinder. Almost like a hot knife through butter.

I once had to cut a cast iron bathtub into 3 manageable pieces with a 5" grinder in order to be able to get it out through the door. I was amazed at how fast it went, much faster than cutting mild steel, and you say you have a 9".