[Sam samuelian]

Well, I know young boys like to play with their toys(like blocks)--but do men? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. For example my radio restorer seems very hesitant to "play" with the blocks on my Philco 38-690 even after I told him people on the Phorum say they are often bad. He's got my radio playing pretty well from what I can hear over SKYPE but is that good enough? He told me: "IN YOUR RADIO ARE 3 BLACK BLOKS : 32-2752 , 6287 SU, 3793DG". I would appreciate opinions from my learned members before this radio gets shipped to me! Thanks much and hope all have a Happy Easter or Passover.

[Ron Ramirez]

Sam

There is one block in the upper chassis of the 38-690 that absolutely should NOT be touched! It is part (97), and does not contain any capacitors, but instead a coil which is the set's 10 kc audio filter. Unpot that, and you may destroy that coil. That block is part no. 32-2752.

The other two are conventional bakelite block caps, and should be unpotted and the inside replaced with new caps.

[Art Hoch]

Those bakelite cap blocks will test your patience, but if I can do them, anyone can. Just takes time.

Here are the 2 links you need to know about:

http://www.philcoradio.com/tech/blocks.htm
http://www.philcorepairbench.com/capbuild.htm

[DeckApe]

The bakelite block in my 40-190 was the very first thing I did in the re-build. Heck, haven't gotten much farther than that because nice weather's been taking me outside. Bakelite blocks are not complicated critters, but they do require patience.

And a nice handy guide like the two listed above, plus:

http://www.philcorepairbench.com/bblokcap.htm

Which is essentially the same info but with larger pictures. ;)