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Post subject: Soldering Ceramic Disc Capacitors
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:50 pm
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Roadie
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Hi All-

I had to replace a ceramic disc cap in my 72' Super. It was cracked. It's the one on the reverb input jack-.002 mfd/1k. I found an NOS American made one at a antique radio store. It is large in diameter and really thin. I had to cut the leads short. After soldering, I could see the leads bulging out of the cap a little more than before. It sounds OK. Is this normal?


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Post subject: Re: Soldering Ceramic Disc Capacitors
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 1:36 am
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Rock Star
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Maybe the disc's angle is a bit different, in the amp --- than before. Since solid ceramic is very hard and non-compliant, I really doubt that you caused any bulging. By the soldering iron.

BTW... for ceramic discs, small electrolytic caps, diodes, transistor, & IC's I place a small, weak alligator clip on the body of the component while soldering. This helps to dissipate heat away from the business portion of the piece.

Think that you'll be ok. This is the reason to use 1KV or higher rated disc caps. They withstand heat much better. Keeping their nominal spec values for a long time.


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Post subject: Re: Soldering Ceramic Disc Capacitors
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:44 am
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Roadie
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It was a real PITA to solder that sucker-not much room to work. It sounds a lot better now. I've never soldered ceramic dics, never had too. I read that the heat from the solder gun has an effect on ceramic discs. There is a 24 hour settling-in time after they're soldered due to the heat. I have used alligator clips before on other caps, but it was so delicate, I just got it done as quickly as possible. Thanks as always.


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Post subject: Re: Soldering Ceramic Disc Capacitors
Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 11:20 am
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BMW2002Ti wrote:
BTW... for ceramic discs, small electrolytic caps, diodes, transistor, & IC's I place a small, weak alligator clip on the body of the component while soldering. This helps to dissipate heat away from the business portion of the piece.


All competent amp techs keep a few of these on their bench......

Image

Smooth-jaw vascular clamps (ie: hemostats) can be used in their stead.

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Soldering Ceramic Disc Capacitors
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:53 am
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Roadie
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Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:27 pm
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I usually use an alligator clip. I have several sizes. They seem to work well. In this case I was working in a very confined area with a a delicate old ceramic disc and 1/2" leads at most. If the leads were any longer, it would have been an antenna. I just soldered as quickly as possible-2-3 seconds on each side. I was lucky to find an NOS Mallory. They sound much better than Asian crap. Thanks Arjay. Your an man of infinate wisdom.


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