A new way to restore smoothing capacitors

[pwdrive]

It can be done without a joint line showing, follow the can down from the top to where the bottom of the chamfer meets recess, cut at that point, restuff etc etc, push can back on to the recess by a couple of mil, light filing to get a perfect fit, if happy then pull can off the recess and apply some superglue then push can back on a couple of mil, clean any liquid glue off immediately (not with fingers)

Lawrence.

[Joe]

I un-peen the metal and then hammer it back afterwards.

   

- Joe

[Refugee]

The idea I will be testing is meant to be quick and quickest of all if the existing tags are bypassed avoiding the need to dig around inside the can.
The one I will be testing first has picked up a fair bit of electrolyte in the bung and it has gone conductive as a result. The other advantage is that there is very little clearance between the chassis and a tag strip that is situated directly below the capacitor in the actual set I will be testing it in.

[Alan Douglas]

I un-peen the metal and then hammer it back afterwards.

If the aluminium is soft enough you can un-crimp it with a burnishing tool and then gradually re-crimp it so there are no wrinkles. I had some photos on the Antique Radio Forum showing the process. It doesn't work on all capacitor designs though.

[Old Sparky]

I have seen those.
They do tend to look a little out of place in bright blue or red.
Doing them without removal from the chassis is also attractive due to a cramped layout on the top side.

I guess I approach these things from a service engineers poin of view - i.e. if a newr part, be it capacitor or anything else is/was produced, this would be used to replace the older type whenever a radio, etc., came in for service.

[Refugee]

Here are the photos.
I had to drill pilot holes first and then follow on with a 10mm drill.
It may be better to open the holes out in more stages as the drill grabs and lurches especially if you have to drill through the old terminals due to lack of area on the bung.
You must not use the old terminals as the drilling operation will make the old part go short circuit.
Try the new parts in carefully and do not push them in fully until all the parts fit into the holes as the internal parts of the old part shift and will damage the new parts if they are fitted while you are drilling.
A spot of epoxy is needed to stop the new parts falling out and shorting.
They are on test in a big set with 25W audio that had to go to the workshop with an erupting smoothing can. The other one had also quietly gone open circuit so I did both in the end.
The chassis on the trial set is not deep enough to accommodate anything else being tacked on especially with there already being a fan doubler in there.