The "water pipe" as you describe it, is insulation, either polyester coated
fabric or shrink tube. If the cap leads are intact on both ends, I'll bet
they're ok.

"dave" wrote in message
...
I just bought an old miller dialarc HF "whiteface" vintage. while getting
ready to test it, and cleaning it out, I noticed some of the leads on the
tiny capacitors in the main rectifier bridge are loose, kind of like how
quarter-inch round rod would rattle around inside a piece of half-inch
water pipe. they're "probably" bad, because of that alone, I'd guess, but,
umm, what exactly is the electrical function of those four tiny things
supposed to BE? like "what're they doing for me?"

here'a an extreme closeup of one of the 'loose leads' capacitors, next to
one of the four "big honkin" diodes in the bridge.
http://www.image-upload.net/files/53...or_closeup.jpg

here's a page from the owners manual, where they're descibed...
http://www.image-upload.net/files/5385/parts_blowup.jpg

and here's the parts schematic, for the same machine.
http://www.image-upload.net/files/53...0schematic.jpg

electrically, I'm a "real slow learner", so, thanks for your help, guys
:-)

toolie