dave wrote:
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

Those are standard ceramic caps. They have bare wire leads run inside
insulating sleeves. As long as the wire leads are still attached to the
caps they should be OK. Now if the wires pull out easy then they are bad.

From the schematic, they look like they are simple filter caps.

--
Steve W.
Near Cooperstown, New York