Vultee Use Of Alternate Materials

[fannum]

I have bought some phenolic sheet for use in fabricating various electrical components.

Phenolic sheets were used as insulators in pre-'60s electronics, even inside vacuum tubes. Also, Bakelite panels/moldings and thin wafers of ceramics. Often times components and soldering posts would be mounted on those insulator sheets, and if someone got ham handed soldering to a post, those resin based materials gave off pungent, noxious stinks ... distinctive to the type.
It was common for a while to have copper coated phenolic boards that could be masked and etched to make prototype quantity printed circuit boards at home or for small labs. These kits were available via Edmunds Scientific or Tandy/Radio Shack.

 

[MIflyer]

if someone got ham handed soldering to a post, those resin based materials gave off pungent, noxious stinks

At a house I owned in Torrance, CA, I found the old radio and intercom center that had been removed and put in the garage. I hooked up power to it, tuned in a radio station. and went back into the house to do some work. A while later I came out into the back yard and at once was hit by the telltale odor of an electrical disaster. I ran into the garage to disconnect the radio before it burned down the place, but found that all was fine there. Turned out there was a plastics manufacturer on the other side of the freeway.

 

[SaparotRob]

When I worked West Side tower, we would frequently be evacuated due to unknown fumes. On the other side of the Hudson was a heliport. No matter how many times I said "Mmmmmmm. Kerosene!", they'd do this safety stuff anyway. Buncha' pansies. Made me look like a Teamster.