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Benderthe.evilrobot

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 18 Feb 2017 09:18:23 -0800, John Robertson
wrote:

On 2017/02/18 3:43 AM, wrote:
I have been looking at the caps in my Eico 320 signal generator. I know
I need to recap it, but the thought of removing all these old paper/wax
caps that say "Made in the USA" and tossing them in the trash is going
to be very painful. Especially when I know all the new ones will be made
in China, coated with some lifeless plastic, totally lacking any charm.

And they are all brand name Aerovox, except one called Tiger, (Those are
rare). And the electrolytic is a Cornell Dubilier. Great American names
from the good old days, and I hate tossing history in the trash.... (not
to mention that the wax ones are clean and still look brand new).

But I know that once I put the case back on the chassis, I wont see the
ugly words "made in China" on them.....

Ah Hell, I'll replace them, but I know they wont go in the trash. Maybe
there is some form of art that can be made from them....

What hard core old radio restorers do is remove the guts of old caps,
insert a new one, then melt beeswax on the ends to seal them in. They
then look like originals...

That sounds like a lot of work, and I doubt I will do it. However, how
would someone remove the guts from an old cap like that? The only thing
I can think of would be to use a drill press, (at a very low speed). But
maybe there is a better way.

There's a *VERY* faint possibility you could spiral the foil out from the
middle. Done carefully enough, you might avoid wrinkling the outer cardboard
sleeve.

If most of the wax/paper caps look reasonably clean; I'd consider checking
them with an earth leakage tester such as a Megger, but you have to watch
voltage ratings.

Disguising new caps with old cases is hard work, so any old ones you can
save..............