[ARC5] Those Big Bakelite-Insert Connectors

[David Stinson]

Those big Bakelite-insert connectors- you know the ones.
They fit the GF / RU, the SCR-183 / -283, BC-375 and others.
They have names like 121, 37 and PL-64.
The inserts stick.  Hard.

This was discussed several years ago.  But since my current project
uses a pile of them (some provided by the kindness of 
some of our members), it's worth repeating.
The Bakelite inserts have been slowly sipping atmospheric moisture
for 70 years now.  It makes them swell and they become tightly-
wedged in their metal shells, nearly impossible to remove.
Some of the Army PL-series have swollen so much 
they crack the hardened metal outer shell.
Most of the inserts in those connectors I'd set aside 
for the current GF/RU project would not budge at all.  

I piled about a dozen of these connectors into a ceramic baking dish 
and put them in a 200 degree oven for three hours.
After cool-down, all but one of them comes apart 
and fits back together smoothly.  
That one is just a little "snug" but still easily workable.

73 DE Dave AB5S

P.S. Does everyone already know the "easy way"  
to get the insert back in over that spring-clip thingie?