[Jake Blake]

   
Ok  . . . so what's the next step?

The 12 mfd. wasn't too much problem to remove, but it took an act of god to get the 4 mfd. out of the chassis . . . you can see the marks and dents I left on the can. <sob>      When I couldn't get the nut below the chassis to turn WITHOUT a tool holding the top, I started grabbing the tip top of the thing with a 2nd set of pliers to get that chintzy nut to turn.  Usually, that type of nut is FALLING off after looking at them the wrong way ! 
With the grabbing of the can with a pliers, that top end didn't loosen like I thought it might have, . . . so if I have to take that end cap off, it ain't gonna come easily either.  

[KCMike]

Hi Jake your going to have to cut that can open. I would use a box cutter or hacksaw and cut it along the groove at the top. That way you can glue the top back on. Now fun starts, getting the guts out of the can.
I usually use a large lag type bolt and screw it into the can and heat the can up a bit with a bernzomatic torch and pull the innards out.
There are other ways to do this. It's what works best for me. PS if you have a vice put the bolt in the vice and then screw the can onto the bolt it will give you better leverage to pull the can just have to use a rag to hold it after heating it up.

[morzh]

There are two schools of cutting the cap:

1) cut close to the bottom, so that the cut line is somewhere withing the clamp holder. Then a plastic tube (plumbing pipe of the right gauge) is glued inside and the two halves are aligned and glued.
Advantages: easily restuffed as the access to the bottom where the new caps are located is unrestricted.
Disadvantages: 1) The plastic tube take space and gives less space to the new caps, 2) Good only for the clamp mount.

2) Cut the cap off. Then upon cleaning, restuff and re-glue the cap back on.
Advantages: looks good without clamp (good for both clamp and nut mounts).
Disadvantages: tall cylinder makes it more difficult to work on the bottom.

[Chas]

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Hand-T...5yc1vZc6f0.

Maybe too large but the concept can be used with small nylon webbing and vice-grips...

I have only stuffed the copper ones some 40ya. I have not done more. I use added terminal strips below chassis, leave the OEM caps fully disconnected...

IMHO stuffing is overrated, I have done well with tie strips and radial caps strategically placed. Never had an oscillation problem. None the less the Bakelite blocks have to be stuffed but that is an easy task...

YMMV

Chas

[rfeenstra]

Here's a photo of 4 cans.  The front 2 were cut at the top and glued together again - method 2. The back 2 didn't have the top crimp so they were cut and glued together again under the clamp and cardboard insulator - method 1.  Both look very original and the underside of the chassis also looks original, if that is important to you.

   

[Jake Blake]

KCMike

I do have a vice, so I'll remember that when I go to screwing the lag.  Wondering if a heat gun is adequate....have one of them also.    Thanks for the tip bud.

Jake

[Jake Blake]

morzh

This model uses no clamps to hold those filter caps in.  So that means option # 2.  Thanks.

Jake.

[Jake Blake]

Chas,

There is definitely something to be said for leaving the cans in physically, and clipping wires and installing under the chassis, as opposed to the extra work with stuffing....done that under-the-chassis-thing numerous times already, with good success.  I became curious about the stuffing idea after I viewed a few videos of some other restorers stuffing for originality's sake.  They even stuff cardboard ones, but I think that goes a bit far, . . . . I would rather get rid of that much more flammable material from these heat-producing appliances !  Decided to give it a try on this one's metal cans .  . . . and maybe on the 89-B when the time comes, if this time works out.  Thanks for sharing your ideas. 


Jake

[Jake Blake]

rfeenstra 

They look GORGEOUS!  What is that model? 
You are obviously a master at this. 
I just wish I could have gotten the nut to unscrew without the aid of a Channel-Lock around the one can!
I'll gonna give it a try.  The nut-and-bolt style of mounting that mine have, ( no clamp), I think, calls for cutting the top.   Thanks for the illustration!  I'll keep you posted .

Jake.  

[rfeenstra]

That's the 37-116 I recently finished.  Works great.  Everything I know I learned on this phorum, and trust me, I'm still learning from the experts here!!  The tubular caps are not hard to stuff with new film caps and I really don't like the looks of those bright yellow caps on the bottom side. So, I stuff those as well.  A little more work, but for me, more satisfying.  Here's the underside.  I like it better without all the yellow caps.  Just me, and a few others...

   

[Jake Blake]

rfeenstra,

You have your preference bud. Stick with it.  That is beautiful!!!

Jake.  

[Arran]

If the condenser cans have a rolled over top the chances are good that they are wet electrolytics, the only thing that will have to be removed is the rod with the anode plates attached to it which should pull out through the bottom once the mounting lug is removed.
Regards
Arran

[Chas]

I had bought a Hammerlund SP-110-X in '68, in very well used condition. At the time it was not the the project then to restore old commercial/military receivers. The term "Boatanchor" had not yet been coined. The separate power supply had a bank of four stud mounted Aerovox electrolytic capacitors as filters. All leaking electrically very badly to the point of getting hot...

Aerovox had a manufacturing facility on Belleville Ave., New Bedford and a local distributor just some 3 miles away. This type of capacitor was known as the "GL", stud mounted with exiting lead wires. It had long gone out of production, however, a phone call from the distributor discovered they could be made for a very reasonable "special" order. So, I did.  It has been some 15 years since I powered that old Hammalund. It did work just fine then in 2005.

I doubt Aerovox would build the "GL", the Belleville plant was torn down and excavated as a hazardous waste site, brown field. In fact I was next door to the "field" on this past Wednesday for a meeting. The nearby Acushnet River was being dredged that day by the EPA for hazardous waste  

Hayseed Hamfest does make twist-loc electrolytics. Reading of the episodes of restorers dealing with the Zenith Transoceanic 4-section twist-lok is like reading events in a torture chamber... There is virtually no room to mount external caps so the OEM unit gets the 'Iron Maiden" treatment. Hayseed has made that go away for the same cost as a steak dinner, some $35...

YMMV

Chas

[Phlogiston]

Pictures of a copper can cap about 1/2 way down.

Similar cut at the crimp on a aluminum electrolytic only it is not rejoined with solder, rather glue, or if you are really good at it, a press fit (one part slides into the other)

.https://www.russoldradios.com/blog/1000z...raudio-amp

[Chas]

Ya, when I refurbished a Philco 70, 40ya, I was able to knock the perforated top cab off the condensers. FWIR a Mershon wet electrolytic. I cut the body under the cap, such that the replacement of the cap covered the sins..

China yellow caps did not exist at the time. I used foil/plastic Sprague dipped caps inside the blocks. They were the most reliable at the time, I had used same type to make audio tuning circuits for a RTTY de-modulator.

I had no other motivation to stuff the filter caps other than leaving ugly holes and difficulty locating suitable terminals under the chassis.

Oh, I used Sprague electrolytics inside the cans, they looked so lost inside...

I still play the radio now and then...

Chas