# My Vintage/Antique electrical collection



## Nick'sElectricLLC

15 years in the trade, 5 year apprenticeship turned out of in '11, started my own company almost 2 years ago to the date, and have saved all of the old cool electrical equipment I've replaced, whether resi, commercial, industrial or while doing service. The main panel above my desktop monitor with the colored lights was given to me, I restored it. Some, I bought. All of it, I like. 

Always in the market to buy old panels. 

These pics are not necessarily in order. If anyone has some cool old stuff on their walls, post it in the comments!

This will take multiple posts to get all the pics.


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

Few more


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

few more


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

some more


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

and some more


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

one more. There is more, but they aren't up on the wall yet. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do


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## MTW




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## J F Go

Thanks for sharing. Lots of that sort of stuff I tossed. Kinda wish I hadn't now that I look at your collection. Going to rethink the things I come into contact with from now on.


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## Navyguy

Love that old stuff... If I had a store front, I would make an effort to display that stuff...

Cheers
John


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## circuitman1

nice !!!!i collect old meters & such.old battery chargers, old electric motors, etc.:vs_cool::vs_cool::vs_cool::vs_cool:


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## MikeFL

Had a great time seeing it all. Thanks for sharing.


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## LGLS

Hook it all up and call for an inspection!


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## 460 Delta

Navyguy said:


> Love that old stuff... If I had a store front, I would make an effort to display that stuff...
> 
> Cheers
> John


A father and son SH I frequent has a small display case of old devices the fathers dad had sold and installed dating back to the 20's. In fact the SH is like stepping back into time when you go inside, small, crowded, with wooden shelves worn smooth from years of business.


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## Navyguy

I am sure it must be tough to find this old stuff now. I still come across K&T on a regular basis, but most of the devices and distribution was ripped out years ago.

Most vintage stuff now is bulldog breakers and commander panels... Pretty soon I think we will start looking at the FPE panels since they are not making AFCI breakers for them... hardly vintage though.

Cheers
John


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## CoolWill

Hide some contactors in a cabinet and use low voltage through some of the knife switches and fuses to control the lights.


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## joe-nwt

Exciter brush gear from a hydro unit early 60's. I refurbished it but haven't figured out what I should do with it yet.


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## gpop

In the show "big bang theory" on the wall in the apartment is that a old fuse panel. will see if i can get a pic


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## B-Nabs

joe-nwt said:


> Exciter brush gear from a hydro unit early 60's. I refurbished it but haven't figured out what I should do with it yet.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136312


Make a clock out of it! 

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## paulengr

joe-nwt said:


> Exciter brush gear from a hydro unit early 60's. I refurbished it but haven't figured out what I should do with it yet.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 136312


We still use those!

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## Signal1

Nice collection.

Thanks for sharing!


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## joe-nwt

paulengr said:


> We still use those!
> 
> Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk


Need a spare?:biggrin:


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## canbug

Great collection. 
Thanks for sharing.


Tim.


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## joe-nwt

delete


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## FishinElectrcian

Nice stuff, I especially like the meters. You don't see as much of that fun stuff anymore.


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## MikeFL

Nick'sElectricLLC said:


> 15 years in the trade, 5 year apprenticeship turned out of in '11, started my own company almost 2 years ago to the date, and have saved all of the old cool electrical equipment I've replaced, whether resi, commercial, industrial or while doing service. The main panel above my desktop monitor with the colored lights was given to me, I restored it. Some, I bought. All of it, I like.
> 
> Always in the market to buy old panels.
> 
> These pics are not necessarily in order. If anyone has some cool old stuff on their walls, post it in the comments!
> 
> This will take multiple posts to get all the pics.


What do you use to clean (and preserve) all that copper and brass?


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## Navyguy

I have never done anything like this, but have polished a lot of brass in the Navy. What we have had done is once it gets polished up good, a very thin protective coating of a suitable type of varnish seems to last and not affect the brass. The problem with polishing brass is that every time you do it you actually remove some of it, so over the years you can actually see engravings and such disappear.

Cheers
John


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

Thanks guys....got some new pieces coming in this week. 

I use exclusively Mothers Aluminum Polish (good for copper/gold/brass/etc). I use either a dremel or by hand. Thats it!


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

Mothers works better than any other off the shelf stuff Ive seen, and some homemade stuff Ive tried as well. Soaking in ketchup or bar keepers friend gets the worst of it off if its really bad.


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

Also, any brass pieces that have been painted, let them sit in boiling water for 5 minutes and the paint peels off. Then they can be polished with mothers. :smile:

Heres my newest piece! Crouse Hinds, Built Jan 1918, for Lorain Steel Co in Johnstown PA. Called a 6 circuit special, it's the only Ive ever seen of its kind. Cleaning it up now!


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

One more


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## B-Nabs

I pulled this panel out of a building in Gastown, Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood. It has 1912 written in the back of it in pencil. I took it out in 2012. The GC for the project made the frame for me in exchange for a little electrical work at his house. It has LED strips under the lip of the frame but they're not working at the moment.









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## zac

B-Nabs said:


> I pulled this panel out of a building in Gastown, Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood. It has 1912 written in the back of it in pencil. I took it out in 2012. The GC for the project made the frame for me in exchange for a little electrical work at his house. It has LED strips under the lip of the frame but they're not working at the moment.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


Maybe you should call an electrician! 

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## B-Nabs

zac said:


> Maybe you should call an electrician!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


Just lazy, other irons in the fire. 

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## Nick'sElectricLLC

B-Nabs said:


> I pulled this panel out of a building in Gastown, Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood. It has 1912 written in the back of it in pencil. I took it out in 2012. The GC for the project made the frame for me in exchange for a little electrical work at his house. It has LED strips under the lip of the frame but they're not working at the moment.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


Love it!!!


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

You should get you some glass fuses to screw into it


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## Nick'sElectricLLC

Well I got the Crouse Hinds panel cleaned up. It came out stellar. I decided to leave the patina, finer smudges and paint on the covers. I did however remove the paint from the brass panel schedule holders, and polished them, and added some fake "breaker labels" to them with a pencil and a sheet torn out of a 100 year old weathered book I had. 

I love the pearl push buttons, and I'm pretty sure they upper 2 porcelain fuse blocks were added after the fact. The copper buss is shoddily put together and you can tell it was an afterthought. The panel even says "6 cir Special", meaning the 2 up top wouldn't have been factory. I'd like to upload a video of it but not sure how to get it from my phone to the desktop.


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## joe-nwt

Looks great! If I had that I'd call for an inspection.


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