Restuffing can caps, one more way to do it...

[dcastor]

Any chance you can show a picture of Olfa blade you use? Appears that Olfa makes several types of cutters, heavy duty utility style blades to rotary cutters for arts & crafts. I've got a cap that I would just bypass, but it's looking like re-stuffing might be easier.

Dave

[dcastor]

Curious if anyone has used a pipe cutting tool to open up the capacitor cans we use...seems like that would provide the cleanest cut...if you don't get greedy and tighten it down so far that it bends the can.

Dave

[Ron Ramirez]

I've considered trying a pipe cutting tool, I just keep forgetting to buy one when I'm in the hardware store...

[Glenn Roberts]

I use a pipe cutting tool frequently, IMHO it will crush the aluminum. The wheels aren't very sharp, even new. Even if they were, the cut would be 3/8 to 1/2 inch from the end you were cutting on because of the opposing rollers.

Glenn

[Arran]

glennpr Wrote:I use a pipe cutting tool frequently, IMHO it will crush the aluminum. The wheels aren't very sharp, even new. Even if they were, the cut would be 3/8 to 1/2 inch from the end you were cutting on because of the opposing rollers.

Glenn

It's an easy enough thing to try, just test it on a junk twist lock can or an old aluminium cased tubular electrolytic, one where you can't destroy anything. The biggest problem I have when cutting something round with a hacksaw is getting a straight cut.
Regards
Arran

[james1095]

What I did was carefully load the capacitor into a lathe and then use a grooving tool to cut up into the bottom around the threaded stud until I could pull the bottom out. From the outside it looks untouched. I used hot glue to hold it back together, then epoxied the groove but that does make it difficult to open up again. This has me thinking it might work to epoxy something tubular to the base that would allow the can to slip on over the assembly. Next time I'll also extract the center terminal prior to cutting open the can because it's hard to get a grip on the mounting stud with that nice sharp disk of aluminum on the end.

[morzh]

I am obviously being stupid here, but what purpose does the plastic spout serve when glued inside?
Does it simply make gluing of the cut-off cap easier? Or does it do something else?


Another question:
There's some tar inside the cap. How do I remove it with minimum effort, preferably no stinking up the house, and with no damage to the aluminum cap tube?

[DeckApe]

I keep checking the spouts on my milk cartons, but they're all too big for Philco capacitors. Do different brands have different size caps?

[LASJayhawk]

You need more vitamin C.

Use the top from a cardboard OJ container with a resealable spout.


60 years from now when sombody rebuilds a cap in a radio Syl did, they will cut the can THEN find the cool twist top.

[DeckApe]

I'll try the orange juice option. The trick is finding a store that carries Tropicana--apparently not all do!