Re: Warning Desasterous MMC failures, Rotton caps from Mouser.

[Mddeming-at-xxxxxxx (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-xxxxxxxxxx>)]

Hi All! 
       This is my first letter to the List. I am an "Oldphart" returning to 
Coiling after a 33-year absence in which I pretended to be an engineer 
instead of a physicist. Being retired with 4 lightning-loving grandchildren 
and a modest pension, I too, lack a lot of financial resources to waste on 
disasters. I have had some modest results in improving capacitor performance 
by the following: 
1. In my "hippie days" I moonlighted as an assistant candlemaker, and found 
that many old caps, wires, etc., could be given improved life by 
dipping/soaking in 4 to 6 coats of wax, allowing an hour between coats. I 
could dip an entire capacitor-bank board IF I remembered to solder everything 
FIRST! 
2. Submerging an entire board in a fish tank of mineral or transformer oil 
works well too. Again, IF I remember to solder everything FIRST! Wax and oil 
seem to be able to get into some of the tightest twisted joints and between 
threads of bolts, etc., but of course, only when you don't want them to. 
3. I am starting to play around with casting stuff in clear acrylic. I looks 
great, but it's a little too pricey for me to do anything large scale. It 
also makes replacement very difficult if several components are cast in the 
same block (e.g., an entire MMC board). (They do make interesting paper 
weights though.) 

Lux et Pax, 
Matt Deming