07-03-2016, 09:11 AM
Generally speaking I buy components from CPC and other reputable companies, including, from time to time, Maplin, though i have occasionally bought capacitors from eBay sellers. As a former ICE (Car Stereo) Repair engineer, I , and this may be sacrilege to some, don't restuff capacitors, or worry overmuch about maintaining original appearances, unless I'm dealing with a particularly rare piece of kit. I do, on occasion, hide a modern small capacitor inside the cardbord tubes used on some old ones, but mostly I just discard the old, faulty item, and fit the nearest equivalent modern device. I prefer to use axial capacitors, rather than radials, since it's easier to use them on hand wired chassis, and even some early PCBs. For the same reason I use 1 or 2 watt resistors, even though, in many cases, 0.25 watt ones would be OK. Maybe the foregoing is because I still regard myself as a repair engineer rather than a restorer, and put reliability, safety, and availability first!
