I have these in use for more than 10 years now and no one has given up yet Mike. They are vented and the size to capacitance ratio is large, as is the weight to volume ratio. Maybe not an edged surface?
Leakage of oil you mean? In my cellar I have oil filled caps in storage and they spread a sweet aroma. Kind of like it
Casteroil perhaps?
Leakage of oil you mean? In my cellar I have oil filled caps in storage and they spread a sweet aroma. Kind of like it
Casteroil perhaps?
Why? If the tyres are off the car they needed replacing. If they are on the car they are still working.
So did I, but it was the 1960's and the stuff I got from the trash then was 5 to 15 years old. I would go to the trash dump with some tools and boxes. I went for the tubes, transformers and sockets first, since they cost the most.
After I had filled a box or two with the "good stuff" I would get out the cutters and start collecting small parts. Selection was based mostly on lead length, I could sort the stuff out and test it later.
I did my parts shopping in an outdoor landfill trash dump west of Miami Florida. I also grabbed dead radio and TV chassis from behind the two TV repair shops near my house. Carbon composition resistors, paper caps that were coated or sealed with wax were often bad. So were most of the black "bumble bee" caps with the colored bands on them. The transformers of the day used paper insulation. Paper absorbs moisture and this can lead to some shocking experiences, especially in the days of two wire line cords.
I usually tested the resistors with a meter and tested caps by charging them up and seeing if they would hold a charge for 20 minutes or so. Not foolproof, but it got rid of the read bad ones.
At the time I was a young kid with plenty of time and zero money. I really didn't understand a lot of what I was doing, but I did successfully make several guitar and HiFi amps from these junk parts.
Today these old radios and such are 50+ years older. A lot more of the parts will be bad. Some parts may test OK, but fail to function once power and heat are applied. This makes this route likely a lot less successful today than it was for me 50 years ago, but if that's your only option, and you have plenty of spare time, try it.
have to agree with others, parts are not expensive...not at all.....go check out eBay and other vendors, there is plenty of good quality parts to be had for relatively low expense.
Stay away from old vintage parts, there is a reason why when restoring vintage gear a lot of the parts need to be replaced, especially capacitors, both film and electros. As well, old carbon comp resistors would have drifted in value.
Spend some time doing searches on the net for parts, you'll find a ton out there that will not break your bank!!!
Stay away from old vintage parts, there is a reason why when restoring vintage gear a lot of the parts need to be replaced, especially capacitors, both film and electros. As well, old carbon comp resistors would have drifted in value.
Spend some time doing searches on the net for parts, you'll find a ton out there that will not break your bank!!!
Well, I won't be advocating the re-use of that old parts now, especially not wax paper or oil paper capacitors. Despite of visually intact sealing, they're prone to absorb moisture from the air which makes them leaky and increases their capacitance value almost dramatically. In 2001 I bought a Hammond A-100 organ, most probably from 1961, and had to replace all tone wheel filter capacitors due to this phemomenon. Their cap. readings had increased to three to four times their nominal values (which made the organ sound dull and tired)!
Best regards!
Best regards!
Without knowledge what parts were talking about here, no specific advise could be given.
Advise which has been give here in general rules of thumb is nearly worthless, as component technology differs heavily. There were foil and paper caps made with sealed metal housings since the 1950s and those can last a lifetime. There are dry capacitors which even can last a lifetime. So to say in general, all former radio parts are crap is as wrong as to go to your dentist and say that its no matter which teeth he is pulling this time. If the parts question is more specific, we can look at the production technology and measures of this part and then it could be said to use for rebuild or swap it.
Advise which has been give here in general rules of thumb is nearly worthless, as component technology differs heavily. There were foil and paper caps made with sealed metal housings since the 1950s and those can last a lifetime. There are dry capacitors which even can last a lifetime. So to say in general, all former radio parts are crap is as wrong as to go to your dentist and say that its no matter which teeth he is pulling this time. If the parts question is more specific, we can look at the production technology and measures of this part and then it could be said to use for rebuild or swap it.
Old consumer electronics made in the USA used the very cheapest parts. Even the better grade stuff, like
Dynaco and Marantz, still used carbon comp resistors and paper caps. Their chassis were of much
higher quality than the parts inside. Maybe European stuff was different.
Attachments
Last edited:
Only in 1976 in their last production run, did Dynaco upgrade their tube audio from phenolic
to fiberglass pcbs, and upgrade to carbon film some of the carbon comp resistors. Of course,
Marantz tube gear never did upgrade any parts, nor did HK Citation tube, due to shorter product cycles.
to fiberglass pcbs, and upgrade to carbon film some of the carbon comp resistors. Of course,
Marantz tube gear never did upgrade any parts, nor did HK Citation tube, due to shorter product cycles.
Last edited:
Those very cheapest parts you show are Sprague Bumblebee caps and other finest electronic parts that cost nearly a fortune today. You may be astonished, but the preamp you show is a legendary Marantz model 7 that even cost a fortune amongst collectors.
If you think thats all cheap stuff, look at Dr. Google:
Luxe Bumblebee Capacitors | Historic Makeovers
The first Bumblebees were paper-in-oil (PIO), but after a few years they may have changed them to polyester or paper/polyester. Those caps can last a lifetime if they are still intact with a good housing.
And thats what I wrote, much of the folks out there have no clue which technology was used to produce the stuff in the old times.
I can assure you that even the resistors you show are highly sought after today and still play very good.
Of course, there were better parts quality those days, but this so called uber quality was used with military or measurement stuff, I will call it rocket science stone age tech. Its nearly indestroyable and was used in such projects like the Saturn V rocket.
Those were the legendary times when US builds its golden age analog components, famous in the whole world but, as it seems to me, not too famous amongst DIY audiphiles here in this forum.
So always try to search for the parts specific to justify if its crap or gold what you hold in your hands. Ebay is a good place to sell those gold to other collectors for big cash today.
http://www.iequalscdvdt.com/Reliability_1.html
Last edited:
And I can assure you that they were often build with much better parts quality than today. It was reality that a tube radio could easily outperform any computer based technology in lifetime when it still played music after some 50 years.
Most of the parts today are cheap asian low budget quality. Thats the reason why those gears often show problems after the guarantee period is finalized. And that means right some years after the purchase. They often have weak links build inside to let them break after a specified period of lifetime because companies need to sell new gear. Thats commercial audio business today, nobody is interested in products that last a lifetime anymore.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.