Hacker caps?

[Nebogipfel]

Hello all,

Life has been getting in the way but I am finally thinking about tackling one or more of my Sovereigns.

Complete beginner that I am I thought I'd buy a mixed pack of 25v Electrolytics from Ebay. I'm not worried about them not being axial but I am somewhat surprised at how tiny they are!

Does anyone know a good source of inexpensive cap's which would look a bit more appropriate in a Hacker?

Thanks, John

[Mark Hennessy]

I use something like this:

http://uk.farnell.com/vishay-bc-componen...dp/1165423

They're not exactly inexpensive, but why worry - it's your time that costs. Hacker sets are worth the attention to detail. Seeing tiny modern radial caps in a Hacker or Roberts is one of my pet peeves.

Because of the improvements in design, capacitors have shrunk over the years. I normally buy caps with a larger operating voltage than is required to get a physically larger unit...

Sadly, Vishay have changed the design of the sleeve. The picture shows the classic Mullard-style translucent sleeve, but they have moved over to a royal blue solid sleeve. What you receive depends on what Farnell have in stock.

Having said all that, what have you already got in your sets? Certain caps are "change on sight" (e.g. blue "Daly" and red "Electromold types), whereas others are almost certainly OK, even after all this time. Especially the blue Philips/Mullard types - they lead an easy life in these set. The same capacitors in the broadcast picture monitors I used to repair didn't last as well, but that's down to the heat and ripple currents. Some people do "blanket" changes of caps, but on Sovereign IIs and later, that's rarely necessary.

[Nebogipfel]

Thanks Mark,

Unfortunately I am on a very tight budget at present which is why I'm not looking at axials.

Sensibly sized radials would be OK, cap's often look to be vertically mounted in Hacker sets anyway.

What voltage would give a sensible package size?

[Mark Hennessy]

You just have to look at the manufacturer's data to establish case sizes, etc. Easily available on the big suppliers like CPC, Farnell, RS, etc. Perhaps not so easy if you're using eBay...

If eBay is your preferred source, please be aware that there are a *lot* of sub-standard fake components out there. A tight budget is understandable, but beware of "false economy". If you can only afford cheap radials from eBay at the moment, I'd wait until finances improve rather than doing a sub-standard job.

Just my personal opinion

PS: You didn't respond to my question about the existing caps. You might not need to change them at all...

[Nebogipfel]

You didn't respond to my question about the existing caps. You might not need to change them at all...

I'm just trying to collect a few parts together at present so I have them to hand, I have two Sov's and a Sov'2 which will require attention so I haven't looked at the cap's in detail yet.

I have also got some Russian transistors in transit (I hope)

I know you will not approve because I'm not concerned about total originality. I just thought the cap's I've bought will look very tiny. I suspect they will work OK ....

I'll have a look at the dimensions quoted by the bigger suppliers, Thanks.

[Mark Hennessy]

Hopefully the Sovereign II will be OK, but yes, there's every chance you'll be changing caps in the RP18s.

Remember, the blue Mullard/Philips types (translucence sleeve, normally blue but sometimes off-yellow in very old sets) will probably be fine. I have seen RP18s with the Philips/Mullard types, and they were all good.

One day, I'll write an article about the capacitors found in these old transistor sets - a companion to my transistor and potentiometer articles. Just need to finish the time machine first

The RP18s have a lot of AF11x types to sort. I'm still waiting for a comeback from zapping them - never had a complaint, and I've been doing this for many years now. The 2 transistors inside the Gorler front end are reliable types - no need to go in there... I've no experience of the Russian substitutes, but I'd expect them to be fine in the AM sections. The FM IF amp might be more fussy about transistor types - let us know how it goes.

Good luck

[Nebogipfel]

One day, I'll write an article about the capacitors found in these old transistor sets


I'm still waiting for your book Mark

[Old Sparky]

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!

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
For caps I use Just Radio in Canada, I order once a year and find that is ample. I too don't restuff unless asked to do so. Again I agree Sparky, we are engineers not so much restorers, safety is paramount and if a modification is required to improve it I will just go ahead.