Worth my time?

astrosim

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Donor 4 years: 2019, 2023-2025
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Is it worth going thru/testing an old operator stash of new/used electrical component parts? Mostly capacitors...
 

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I couldn't even think of doing this on a remote planet for a few years. If you're single with no kids, go for it. A wife, a newborn, and a toddler mean that is a NO NO project for me lol
 
Where's the new stuff? The most I would do is dump it on a trash can lid and do a slight inspection. Then, turn over the lid in the trash can.
 
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Nope. The only thing those would be useful for would be for emergency replacements until you could order a new one (provided they test good with an ESR meter).
I wouldn't throw them away as an average collector (although i do nearly every day when doing repairs, but i have new stock). I'd not spend a minute on testing them unless i was trying to replace a known bad cap and didn't have a new one in stock, and wanted it up and running right then until i could order a new one.
 
I wonder if that operator was more into jukes or old radios, as some of that stuff is not common arcade-era stuff. There are some higher-voltage caps you'd be more likely to see in a tube amp or radio. Though it's a pretty mixed bag. I see some paper caps, and some more modern junk as well.

The only people who might be interested *might* be exceptionally OCD vintage radio guys, who might looking for original caps to do radio restorations.
But for anything in this hobby, it would be easier to just buy new.

Anything else in the stash besides caps? Some vintage amp folks also look for stuff like NOS carbon comp resistors.

I wouldn't toss it. But I don't toss anything. Especially if you don't know what it is, you might not know what you're tossing.
 
Hard no. Stored like that, some may have shorted and gone thermal runaway. It isn't worth your time.
 
Vintage radio guys do not keep wax caps. Do you want it to actually work?


I was referring more to the molded caps.

But yes, I still have the original wax caps in my 1954 Heathkit O-10 scope, which I restored, and kept original. And yes, they still work.

I also still have the original paper caps in my 1966 Fender Princeton Reverb amp, which I also restored.

Age alone does not make caps bad. There are also different ways to do restorations, depending on the goals.
 
The relays might be worth saving if they fit pinball machines. Any mounting hardware/clamps might come in handy. Used caps I'd probably toss.
 
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