[Milsurplus] [ARC5] Those Big Bakelite-Insert Connectors

[J. Forster]

Hi Dave,

This is just a gut feeling, but I'd be inclined to bake them longer at a
somewhat lower temperature. The moisture migration is a diffusion limited
process, and giving it more time is better.

FWIW,

-John

==============



> 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?
>
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