04-07-2018, 08:55 PM
While we're on the subject of re-stuffing caps, I ran across something today that I'd really appreciate some opinions and/or advice on.
While trying to re-stuff an Aerovox .01uf 400V cap, I found the ends sealed with a grayish, rock hard material I haven't seen before. The cap had some wax over the outside, and once I did get it un-stuffed, I found what looked like the original paper cap inside. It looks like there may be one more Aerovox cap in this radio that is the same way. The cap I did this afternoon says "Type 484" if that helps. Has anyone seen other Aerovox caps like this? It took a couple of hours with a Dremel tool, then successively larger drill bits to free the cardboard sleeve for re-use. Is there an easier way to do this little job?
Lastly, I found this cap soldered into the radio wrong - a wiring error. All of this makes me suspicious that someone has been here ahead of me.
The radio in question doesn't seem to be valuable, it's an Arvin 440T (Red) circa 1950 and seems to be an earlier production run. The SAMS Photofact I got for it doesn't match the circuit I'm seeing, so I found a Rider's schematic that is a lot closer. I'm using this radio to practice my restoration skills, as I am still pretty new to the hobby so any advice on techniques will be greatly appreciated!
My present method for cap re-stuffing is to wrap the new cap in black electrical tape (Scotch or 3M brands only, and stretch it a little as I roll it on), slide that into the cleaned out cardboard tube and seal the ends with bees wax. The last couple of caps I did I went a bit further (too far?), also cleaning off the original leads of the caps, until I had bare wire (coiled) where the leads were attached to the original capacitor.
I wire wrapped and soldered the 20 gauge leads of the new cap to the 18 gauge leads of the old cap, and the connections were hidden under the bees wax when finished. I put some of the original, darker brown wax over the very end of the caps. It's much harder to tell that this cap has been re-stuffed, as compared to my first attempts where the bees wax is a lighter color and the leads protruding from the cardboard body are a noticeably smaller wire gauge.
The original wax seems to have a somewhat higher melting point than the bees wax I'm using. Has there ever been a problem with the wax leaking back out of re-stuffed caps, due to the heat from the vacuum tube chassis?
While trying to re-stuff an Aerovox .01uf 400V cap, I found the ends sealed with a grayish, rock hard material I haven't seen before. The cap had some wax over the outside, and once I did get it un-stuffed, I found what looked like the original paper cap inside. It looks like there may be one more Aerovox cap in this radio that is the same way. The cap I did this afternoon says "Type 484" if that helps. Has anyone seen other Aerovox caps like this? It took a couple of hours with a Dremel tool, then successively larger drill bits to free the cardboard sleeve for re-use. Is there an easier way to do this little job?
Lastly, I found this cap soldered into the radio wrong - a wiring error. All of this makes me suspicious that someone has been here ahead of me.
The radio in question doesn't seem to be valuable, it's an Arvin 440T (Red) circa 1950 and seems to be an earlier production run. The SAMS Photofact I got for it doesn't match the circuit I'm seeing, so I found a Rider's schematic that is a lot closer. I'm using this radio to practice my restoration skills, as I am still pretty new to the hobby so any advice on techniques will be greatly appreciated!
My present method for cap re-stuffing is to wrap the new cap in black electrical tape (Scotch or 3M brands only, and stretch it a little as I roll it on), slide that into the cleaned out cardboard tube and seal the ends with bees wax. The last couple of caps I did I went a bit further (too far?), also cleaning off the original leads of the caps, until I had bare wire (coiled) where the leads were attached to the original capacitor.
I wire wrapped and soldered the 20 gauge leads of the new cap to the 18 gauge leads of the old cap, and the connections were hidden under the bees wax when finished. I put some of the original, darker brown wax over the very end of the caps. It's much harder to tell that this cap has been re-stuffed, as compared to my first attempts where the bees wax is a lighter color and the leads protruding from the cardboard body are a noticeably smaller wire gauge.
The original wax seems to have a somewhat higher melting point than the bees wax I'm using. Has there ever been a problem with the wax leaking back out of re-stuffed caps, due to the heat from the vacuum tube chassis?
