Worldwide DX Amateur Radio Forums - Ham - CB - HF - VHF - UHF

Dont you hate it when you get one of those metal can capacitors go out in your nice boat anchor rig? Some are next to imposible to find or the replacement is old new stock that has or may be dried out.
Or you can put new axel leads under neath but that takes away from the original loom.

Here is one remedy I have been doing for a few years.

In this case a tram D201A has a bad 10uf x 4 at 450volt capacitor. 2 of the 4 legs were shorted.

The fix.
Order some 10uf at 450 from mouser. Part number 871-B43827A106M000.
These caps are very small in diameter.

Put on some rubber gloves.
Take the old metal capacitor and with a fine blade hack saw cut it at the bas where it goes from large to small. Remove all the insides and the thick cardborad and tar at the bottom. With a dremel clean out any aluminum around the edge of the base. When done correctly the top half will slide into the bottom have. Makes it look like it was never cut.



Next align the 4 capacitors together with the negative sides faceing one another. Solder the grounds and cut off leads leaving about 1/8 of an inch.



You can see how the capacitors fit right inside.



Solder the positive sides of each capacitor to the bottom legs. They will be a little loose but that is ok for now.



For the ground this is where you need to drill a small hole next to one of the mounting legs on the base. The case is aluminum but the n\mounting legs are tin. Insert a piece of hook up wire in the hole and solder to base of leg. put heat shrink around the wire and connect ot ground on capacitors.
After this is done grab the hot glue gun abd glue all the legs down and filling the void between the capacitors and base. Do not fill the entire base because the cover will need to slip inside.



What I did next was take the cover and lay on a piece of wood. I made dimples from the inside out 1/16 for the edge every 1/ inch around. This makes for a press fit and holds togeter pretty good.

Now re-install your new old looking capacitor back in and injoy have a new part that looks like it is original.

As soon as I read this part "Dont you hate it when you get one of those metal can capacitors go out in your nice boat anchor rig? Some are next to imposible to find or the replacement is old new stock that has or may be dried out." I thought about your idea. I did that once,thankfully it was just the one time, and it worked out very well.I was cringing all the time I was putting it back together and turning the power on for the first time after. GREAT STUFF!

__________________
Front/back ratio comes from the antenna. Forward gain comes from the wall socket.

I know what you mean. It is a pain when that happens.
I really particular about replacing parts in a old rig. I lke everything to look original. One thing I can not stand is when someone drilles a hole to mount a switch or something. Drives me up the wall.

Gald that one you did worked out for you.

Thanks


BTW
Sorry about the picture quality. Wife took the good camara with her today so I am using the "ghost hunting" camara with night shot. Very had to focus in a bright setting.

Nice idea. What a pain to do, but if you're trying to restore an old rig, it sure pays to have it look nice. I bet your customers love it when you do stuff like this.

The guy that owns the rig for this cap came over while I was building this one. He sat there and watched me do it. When I was finished he said someone is going to be happy.

I said, "You YOU will be".

He was amazed.