Restuffing Wax Capacitors

[vts1134]

I'm going to start another restoration on a set and will be restuffing the wax caps. On my last project I used hot glue to seal the ends which got the job done but didn't look like the originals. On this project I'd like to use hot glue to seal the ends but I'd also like to coat the whole cap in wax to make it irrecognizable from an original cap. I've been searching the net looking at other peoples techniques for restuffing and a lot of people use wax to fill the ends but I can't seem to find any techniques for coating the cap after its rebuilt. Does any one out there coat their caps in wax? What technique do you use? What wax works well?

[ChrisW6ATV]

Maybe you could simply melt a large candle or two in a pot on the stove, or maybe use a double boiler, and dip each cap in the wax?

[vts1134]

In the absence of first hand advice I planned on double boiling beeswax and dipping a restuffed cap in the wax. I'll share my results in case others would like to replicate.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

Maybe you could simply melt a large candle or two in a pot on the stove, or maybe use a double boiler, and dip each cap in the wax?

Delicious Capacitor Fondue!

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Delicious Capacitor Fondue!

I can imagine it now, the lineup of needed equipment for TV restoration: A soldering iron, multimeter, oscilloscope, and... a fondue pot?

[vts1134]

Well I gave it a go today, here's what I did.
I bought a block of beeswax at Michael's Craft Store.

It's a two pound block which cost me $20, but I think it'll last for quite a few restorations, if not the rest of my life. I chipped some wax off of the block with a screwdriver. Then to melt the wax I used what my wife calls a tart toaster. I just loaded all the chips into one section on the "toaster." You can see the fragrant wax in the background there. I had thought about using that wax, but I didn't want all of my TVs to smell like blueberry cobbler.

I removed the old cap from the set and removed the wax from the exterior and the old capacitor from the interior. I used hot glue to seal the new capacitor inside the old cardboard form. Then I gave the whole thing a quick dunk into the beeswax. Here's the result.

It still looked a bit off to me so I used the paper towel that I wiped the old dirty wax off of the cap in the beginning and I "buffed" the newly dipped cap with it. Here is a picture of three finished re-installed caps.

They aren't quite perfect yet, but I'm hopping that after a dozen or so more I'll make them indiscernible from the originals.

[jbivy]

Well i tried to do a few, they came out decent but it was way too labor intensive. I hollowed them out, used a plastic knife to scrape them cleanish. Then dripped grocery store parafin to fill the ends, then gave them a quick dip to recoat the outsides.

Again, they came out fair, not great.

[vts1134]

It's definitely labor intensive, but the way I look at it is if the set is worth restoring to me then it's worth every effort I can make to not only restore the functionality of the set, but every aspect of its aesthetics as well.
When I get back to the bench I'm going to melt the old wax off of the caps I'm replacing into the new beeswax I have so that I can get the color closer to the original.

[bandersen]

Nice job. Looks pretty authentic to me.

I use a heat gun to melt out the old insides. Then wrap a little electrical tape around the new cap so it's a snug fit. Then seal the ends either using high temp wax salvaged from the originals or brown hot glue. It goes fairly quick once you get a system down.

I haven't tried dipping then in wax yet though.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by vts1134

They aren't quite perfect yet, but I'm hopping that after a dozen or so more I'll make them indiscernible from the originals.

Those look good indeed. I hope you can put a note inside each set you restore this way so another collector in the future doesn't re-replace all of those "wax" capacitors!

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

I can imagine it now, the lineup of needed equipment for TV restoration: A soldering iron, multimeter, oscilloscope, and... a fondue pot?

LOL.
And after restuffing the caps in that CTC-4 you had in college during the 70's you can clean out the wax from your fondue pot (also from college) and enjoy a nostalgic (albiet waxier) fondue dinner alone in your walk-in-closet watching your CTC-4.

[Rusty34]

Nice work!!

Has anyone tried to rebuild a capacitor by winding new foil and waxed paper?

Rusty