Glass capacitor

[Leo_Gnardo]

On glass caps, real ones, for the record Peavey used them in some late 70's - 80's amps. Little guys that looked like diodes. They fit an unexpected amount of capacitance in a tiny package, the tradeoff being rated at low voltage. Definitely not electrolytic, I take it they were some kind of thin film technology. There were also caps in glass cylinders, film in oil, from the 1950's - early 60's. I have one, it's a work of art. About 1.5 inches long, half an inch wide cylinder. But I don't think I wanna know what kind of oil is in there - could well be polychlorinated biphenyl or some similar poison.

Back to the program already in progress...

[SoulFetish]

I have an assortment of Styroflex caps from the 80s (as well as databooks). Those were/are all labelled in plain pF values.

I love polystyrene capacitors. Unfortunately, they have 3 main disadvantages. First, like you mentioned, they can be damaged at relatively low heat. Second, they are often terminated with very light gauge lead wire (but not always). Lastly, manufacture of capacitor grade polystyrene largely ceased in 2012. So, much like polycarbonate, small runs of new production rely on stores of warehouse stock.

Plus, just between all of us,... I like the way they sound
But you'll never get me to admit it.

[pdf64]

Me too - LCR Components in Wales UK are a small UK manufacturer, I've been buying their 630V low pF polystyrene caps for decades, excellent spec, they're distributed by Farnell so I guess that Newark should carry them in North America.
The 630V range have nice sturdy leads
A company I used to work for needed a 0.33uF 50V high spec cap, LCR made a small custom batch (polycarb I think) at a very reasonable cost.
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/17...790.1537990594

[SoulFetish]

Me too - LCR Components in Wales UK are a small UK manufacturer, I've been buying their 630V low pF polystyrene caps for decades, excellent spec, they're distributed by Farnell so I guess that Newark should carry them in North America.
The 630V range have nice sturdy leads
A company I used to work for needed a 0.33uF 50V high spec cap, LCR made a small custom batch (polycarb I think) at a very reasonable cost.
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/17...790.1537990594

Newark was acquired by Avenet recently, but It looks they still are partnered with Farnell for inventory and distribution for now.
47-720pF @ 630V is pretty sweet. I could use those all day

[Helmholtz]

Some Styroflex caps demonstrating that even large nF values were labelled with pF numbers. An additional letter specifies cap tolerance. The huge 0.1µ one is probably a prototype or a special order sample:

[nevetslab]

Some Styroflex caps demonstrating that even large nF values were labelled with pF numbers. An additional letter specifies cap tolerance. The huge 0.1µ one is probably a prototype or a special order sample:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]54472[/ATTACH]

Now THAT ^^^^ is my idea of a proper capacitor!!

[SoulFetish]

I only dig this thread up because I had a question about identifying voltage rating. I have some ranging from 100pF-1000pF.



Helmholtz, do you know if the markings hold true across all manufactures? Do you know what the voltage rating is on these?

[tedmich]

I put polystyrene caps in my headphone amp, and ironically I recently listened to this vocalist

also Poly Styrene (RIP)
their best song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjVVhJ-INWQ
lots of polymers therein

on the caps those leads are incredibly weak, I think tinned copper

here's a nice breakdown of different PS caps.
https://www.tedss.com/LearnMore/Poly...ilm-Capacitors
(also a Ted)

[SoulFetish]

on the caps those leads are incredibly weak, I think tinned copper

Fortunately the most of the ones in I have (some in that photo) have nice heavier gauge leads than some of the other common polystyrene types. I wanna say, like, 20AWG or there abouts

Edit: just checked out that tedss link. Just what I was looking for

[Helmholtz]

Helmholtz, do you know if the markings hold true across all manufactures? Do you know what the voltage rating is on these?

German manufacturers used:

blue: 25VDC
yellow: 63VDC
red: 160VDC
green: 250VDC
brown: 400VDC
black: 630VDC
orange: 1000VDC

Don't know about other countries.