87 Replacing capacitors
Description
This article is from the Antique Radios And Phonographs FAQ, by Hank van Cleef vancleef@netcom with numerous contributions by others.
87 Replacing capacitors
Replacing all those capacitors is a lot of work. Somebody told me
that I could just clip the leads and solder new caps to the old leads.
That sounds a lot easier. Should I do that?
Going back to Frye's "Mac's Service Shop," a column that appeared in
the old "Radio News" in the 1940's, a proper repair is to make the radio
"like new," using the methods that were used to build it originally.
The Yiddish term, "schlock," was invented for folks who do things like
clip out old parts and solder new ones to the leads. Yes, removing
solder from terminals and prying the ends of tightly-wrapped leads open
so that you can remove an old part is hard work, and it will take a
while to learn to do it with any ease. Take those old components
completely out, clean off the terminals, and install the new components
neatly. In many cases, particularly if you are replacing wax paper
capacitors with axial-lead mylars, you will find the old leads bent
around quite tightly to connect one end of the capacitor to the nearest
ground that could be reached. The new capacitors are much smaller, and
may install much more neatly, particularly if an appropriate ground
point is nearby for bypass caps.
If you take pride in good workmanship, you'll end up with a set that
works well, isn't a fire hazard, and doesn't have mysterious squawks and
squeals. Sloppy workmanship is a red flag to anyone who looks at the
radio---it says that there is probably extra trouble installed by
whoever did the poor work. And, most of the time, investigation shows
miswires, wrong-value components, and a host of other problems.
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