Anyone Mod or Rebiuld Their Own Machines?

[Slingshot]

Electrolytic capacitors leak with age, as there is an acidic liquid separated by a thin non conductive membrane, one side is positive and the other is negative, eventually the acidic liquid wins and finds a way to get through the membrane whether the device is actually used or not. Then you have a dead short in your circuit, which can cause harm to other components also. I have a 50+ year old Whites CM2 BFO machine which has the original electrolytic caps in it, and the machine still works. I've seen other E caps in other devices blow out that aren't even a year old, so it's a crapshoot on how long any electronic device will continue to work, which means that if you have a detector you need to use it as much as possible and Dig Baby Dig!!!

 

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[chub]

Electrolytic capacitors leak with age, as there is an acidic liquid separated by a thin non conductive membrane, one side is positive and the other is negative, eventually the acidic liquid wins and finds a way to get through the membrane whether the device is actually used or not. Then you have a dead short in your circuit, which can cause harm to other components also. I have a 50+ year old Whites CM2 BFO machine which has the original electrolytic caps in it, and the machine still works. I've seen other E caps in other devices blow out that aren't even a year old, so it's a crapshoot on how long any electronic device will continue to work, which means that if you have a detector you need to use it as much as possible and Dig Baby Dig!!!

Thanks! good info

Chub

 

[Nitric]

Electrolytic capacitors leak with age, as there is an acidic liquid separated by a thin non conductive membrane, one side is positive and the other is negative, eventually the acidic liquid wins and finds a way to get through the membrane whether the device is actually used or not. Then you have a dead short in your circuit, which can cause harm to other components also. I have a 50+ year old Whites CM2 BFO machine which has the original electrolytic caps in it, and the machine still works. I've seen other E caps in other devices blow out that aren't even a year old, so it's a crapshoot on how long any electronic device will continue to work, which means that if you have a detector you need to use it as much as possible and Dig Baby Dig!!!

I've wanted to build a tester for electrolytic caps. Haven't gotten that far yet. And really haven't learned enough yet.

Just like you've said, I've seen them leaky in some places then in others they are 40 years old.Even though they claim the life is 10 years. No clue if that is in use or sitting. I do know in things like pinball, they start allowing AC Ripple(?) to go through(?) and starts making the DC (filter)unstable. Still new and really don't understand all that much yet. All I know is when they become so called unstable things start working funny.

In other stuff, I've also had diodes leak "not literally", 1N004 type, rectifier (?), And I looked all over online trying to find that. Most all articles say...They work or they don't........... They will leak back sometimes. Again still learning...... Leak might be the wrong word...Acting slow is a better word maybe...I don't know the terms. I shotgun things then try to figure it out later.With no background or structure to what I'm trying to learn.

Here slingshot....Perfect example of my shotgunning I'm still working on this machine off and on.
It's to a pinball site so I think it's allowed here? No real schematics, and I have to try to learn as I go...My son will probably be 20 when I figure it all out.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ice-flintstones-repair

 

[TheGreenBoy]

Hi, this one is definetly off shelf.....

 

[Slingshot]

That's pretty cool. There is a guy on YT who repairs old TV's & radios, shango066. Amazing at what he can bring back to life, a radio thatwas run over by a car, and an old black & white Zenith TV from back in the early 60's with a cool commercial from back then when they dropped a Zenith TV from an airplane in a parachute and get it turned back on after impact. In another one he repairs a TV packed with dirt from where it was in a flood and left abandoned in a falling down shack. He repairs stuff I would be afraid to plug in.