On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 03:36:40 GMT, tesnow@whidbeyDOTcom (Eric R Snow)
wrote:

Last week Ernie Leimkuhler held a mig welding tutorial at Grant's
place ( Thanks again Grant and ernie!). Ernie told me that the high
voltage caps in the high frequency circuit go bad and it is hard to
find replacements for them. I had noticed that something was dripping
on the floor underneath the Miller Goldstar welder. I searched in
without success for the source of the drips. Then yesterday I found
the source while wiring in an extra relay and receptacle. The relay
connects the receptacle to 115 volts which then powers up the water
cooler for tig welding. The source is the high voltage capacitors.
some kind of oily substance is coming out of them and dripping down
the red phenolic mounting board. Ernie was right, these caps are hard
to find. In fact, using google tonight to find these caps was
fruitless. They are mica capacitors. Can types other than mica be
used? And can they be paralleled to increase the value? Is there a
better type than mica? And finally, does anybody here have some to
sell?
Thanks,
Eric R Snow

You'll need to know working voltage and capacitance. Then google on
"transmitting mica". High voltage mica caps are routinely used in
radio transmitters. Yes, they can be paralleled to get the required
capacitance. If size, performance and cost are the measures of
"better", I doubt if there's a better cap for this app than mica.