Restoration Commences on 1947 RCA Victor 721TCS

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by Penthode

I would also suggest you try reforming an old capacitor properly and then testing it for yourself.

I think you're assuming members of this forum haven't tried this. I won't speak for any other old timer here, but I have tried it as I mentioned in an earlier comment. What I discovered was that it was hit or miss, and therefore a waste of time when your name goes on a repair. Your example, although very interesting, won't change my experiences.

The Andrea I'm working on has a lot more hours than yours (I'd guess it's well over a hundred twenty five hours since February) and 5 of the cans are still good and operating fine, but history tells me that they're on bonus time. Using my own TV as an example, two cans were dead immediately, and two failed some 20-30 plus hours after it was running perfectly. The remaining 5 are still running fine at over a hundred hours. They're still coming out.

Sure, you can have capacitors work after 70 or more years, but proving a capacitor can work at 70 years and proving a capacitor can work for 15 hours a week for the next 10 years is another thing entirely.

I mentioned earlier that I'm restoring an 1850s reed organ melodeon. The leather exhauster is still working, but if don't replace the leather, how long will my wife be able to play the melodeon before the leather tears? 10 hours, 100 hours? Maybe she'll never put enough hours on it, but I'm replacing the leather anyway. Once this melodeon is finished, I don't want to ever take it apart again.

That's the point we're trying to make on this subject.

John