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Vintage threads from the first ten years
The problem with being a newbie is....
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 4/15/2003 6:41 AM |
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Mike S |
The problem with being a newbie is.... The problem with being a newbie is that sometimes you do REALLY stupid stuff. In this installment of newbie retardation I was drilling a hole in my chassis to install a switch next to a switch I had just wired up. When I finished drilling the hole I took a look at it and noticed I hit a cap that was wired to the other switch. Doh! So here is the question: I basically just pulled a very small amount of the covering(epoxy?) off the cap and exposed a bit of metal underneath. Is this cap toast? I heat shrinked it and threw some elec. tape over it, and everything seems to be working ok. Should I worry about this, or is it no big deal? Thanks! Mike |
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| 4/15/2003 7:08 AM |
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| Enzo |
Everyone makes mistakes. Replace the part. Look at the voltages around that cap, might they be 120VAC or maybe 500VDC? Do you really want to take chances over a dollar part? Even if it is only the bright switch and there is nothing but signal voltage on the switch, replace it anyway. We never have time to do it right, but we always have time to do it twice. Don't let that be your motto. It works now, but who knows if you damaged the dielectric making it more likely to arc over or otherwise fail sometime soon. Of course the man who used to drum the line about doing it right into our little heads also used to say, "Don't build your walls with putty full of goof-off sand." SO take it for what it is worth. He did have a great necktie with a big parrot on it though... |
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| 4/15/2003 10:57 PM |
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| Mike S |
Sounds like an interesting guy... It is a cathode bypass switch, but I'm sure you are right about replacing it. The part that bugs me is that I had just wired the switch up, put heat shrink on it, and mounted it to the chassis and now I have to pull it all apart again. Its not that big of a deal, though, so I guess I just need to go buy a cap and do it. I guess I should be more careful!! Thanks! Mike |
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| 4/18/2003 2:28 AM |
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| KB |
Hey Mike, If you only know how many times I've had to pull off and put back on again because of my dumnass mistakes you would feel good about it. Hey it comes with the territory and it's only time but it's all good in the end., KB |
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| 4/18/2003 4:16 AM |
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| John T. | Mike, I am NOT a newbie and I do incredibly stupid stuff! I'll tell you about a mistake I made once... and then repeated it! Twice now I've wired up the power tubes in an amp, and then decided I wanted to check the plate voltage, since its obviously much higher when there is no load. OK, so I had the plate, screen and cathode circuits wired (cathode resistor in place) so I thought I was good to go. Powered up the amp and saw the plate voltage dive steadily down, the rectifier and the power tubes start to glow...yikes..well I forgot to ground the grid resistor...duh!!! So there, I've made this mistake twice so now you don't have to  |
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