Ian Malcolm wrote:

Eeyore wrote:

Ian Malcolm wrote:


and that is *TIN* foil in the caps.


TIN ? Not aluminium ?

Graham

Well I remember (from about 30+ years ago, when I was an impoverished
hobbyist obtaining *nearly all* my components out of any ancient TVs,
radios gramaphones etc. I found dumped + a few treasured parts I'd
inherited from my Grandfather or been given by a few generous hams and
techs) dismantling a few waxed paper caps that were too damaged or
dirty
or faulty to use. The leads were *SOLDERED* to the ends of the rolled
foils . I really doubt that over 60 years ago, leads could be
soldered reliably to thin *aluminium* foil.

I am not saying there weren't *any* Aluminium foil waxed paper caps
with leads spot-welded to the foils, but surely the common use of
Aluminium came in with the phenolic cases and phenolic impregnated
dialectrics followed by early polystyrene and Mylar film caps?

Remember Tin was a lot cheaper back then and Aluminium was still
pretty
expensive and mostly used in the aircraft industry. I was also not
favourably impressed with the durability of 40's Aluminium. All the
light weight utensils I saw or handled from that period when I was a
kid suffered from serious 'tin worm' with tracks of corrosion often
right through the metal, yet aluminium utensils from more recent years
that are now just as old are usually still servicable or have failed
with localised pitting, not wriggly 'wormtracks'.

If you have any evidence to the contrary, I would be quite happy to be
corrected and extend my knowlage.

I too remember melting the wax from those old capacitors and
re-soldering the connecting wire after I had broken it from rough
handling. So I suspect that they were probably tin foil. I'm going
back nearly 50y. I'm 65 in Feb. Soldering irons like pokers !

--
Best Regards:
Baron.