Starting to recap a Philco 630 and found two terrible block repairs. Two terminals were CUT OFF of each block and the new caps tied on in the air without any support! Terminals were still attached to the components.

Only two???

Terry

He left the grounds.

The same guy must have worked on the Philco 60 that I just finished. Same technique.

Russ

Same guy was in a Philco 80 I am starting on. Components flying through the air all over the place.

Those blocks are a pain but make for a nice clean re-stuff job when done properly.

It is just hard to match to the schematic with airborne components.

And the sets worked for probably 25-40 years with these repairs... No real doubt, were good enough...

It must be a pretty common technique, even though I hate it, but I have seen it done that way in almost every Philco I have worked on. I suppose the Philco blocks were not readily available to anyone but a Philco dealer/service tech. Capacitor sizes of the Day were too large to restuff the blocks. Leaving them hanging with out tieing down is just poor practice, though. I have seen enough of that done too.

If speed and money are all that count, then he did it the right way. Sure looks ugly, however!

If you are fortunate enough to have unmolested blocks, it's not THAT hard to de-pot the blocks if done carefully. Could be done in an old toaster oven no longer used for food while watching closely. I have un-potted capacitor and transformer blocks in wax and tar on a gas grille, again, watching very carefully. If you are married, and your spouse doesn't share your enthusiasm for the hobby, don't try it in the kitchen oven LOL.

Early repairmen did not have the luxury of miniature radial lead caps that could be easily inserted into a cleaned out shell.

He could have drilled thru the rivets on the block and then added the caps externally. Did not have to clip the terminals.

They were paid to repair, not restore, back when those sets were daily players in homes. A lot of early repair work would be considered shoddy and lazy today.

Unless the sloppy work has been done with modern components, I would not be too critical of the repairs.

Fixing a chassis to earn your daily bread is something quite different than doing it as a hobby where time is not so demanding.

Joseph