Reshaping aluminium cans

It's been a long time since I've replaced any of those.

The cans are drawn or extruded, so probably not work-hardened at all due to the grade of alloy needed, they crush easily. You can probably ding them out with rounded dowels(broomstick end?), if you want oval, get to whittling. Want two domes, whittle a rounded end onto a small dowel and ding the top twice. You'd probably get better results using something for backing up, standard panel beaters accessory was the shot bag. Or whittle a cavity and smooth it up in a piece of hardwood.

Stan

New caps come packaged in perfectly good cans, why do you have to stuff them into the old one?

jsw

New caps come packaged in perfectly good cans, why do you have to stuff them into the old one?

jsw

I agree, if it was mine I'd replace with 2 separate capactitors as plenty of space . But others have a thing about original parts especially with the date July 1975 on it, probably adds monetary value to these things , modern stuff reduces value apparently

form

It's been a long time since I've replaced any of those.

The cans are drawn or extruded, so probably not work-hardened at all due to the grade of alloy needed, they crush easily. You can probably ding them out with rounded dowels(broomstick end?), if you want oval, get to whittling. Want two domes, whittle a rounded end onto a small dowel and ding the top twice. You'd probably get better results using something for backing up, standard panel beaters accessory was the shot bag. Or whittle a cavity and smooth it up in a piece of hardwood.

Stan

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I will try making a "shot bag" and round ended broom handle/dowel

For appearance. A lot of the older stuff (I mean 40's and 50's vintage record players and radios, not stuff since the 60's) had phenolic or Bakelite outer cans on electrolytics. A new aluminum or vinyl shrink- wrapped can just wouldn't have the same look and feel.

I fully re-built a 1958 Wurlitzer juke box. Aside from the mechanicals, trying to completely re-do the electronics to OEM spec was quite a challenge.

(Hint -- the changer carousel from an old Wurly fits nicely in a large- load dishwasher )

LLoyd

LLoyd

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Oh, this is like old cars and airplanes that can be either functional or original, but not both. Rather than mangling the original can why not save it intact and fabricate a replica cover for the replacements?

jsw

Jim Wilkins fired this volley in news:14e63de1-24db- snipped-for-privacy@l38g2000pro.googlegroups.com:

Jim, one need not "mangle" the old cans. The plastic ones were generally mounted with either two bolt tabs or by a clamping ring assembly from the bottom side of the chassis. At the worst, only the phenolic bottom disk of the old cap need be damaged to "re-stuff" it. With care, even that may be preserved, and only the guts changed.

LLoyd

The OP wanted to reshape some of them oval to fit two new caps in. I would keep the can intact. In other well-developed collecting areas like firearms -any- modification including refinishing reduces value. I think the practice is to save the original parts for show if you want to make the device functional. That's what I do based on museum exhibits.

Here are examples of the compromises necessary to operate old equipment:

jsw

The OP wanted to reshape some of them oval to fit two new caps in. I would keep the can intact. In other well-developed collecting areas like firearms -any- modification including refinishing reduces value. I think the practice is to save the original parts for show if you want to make the device functional. That's what I do based on museum exhibits.

Here are examples of the compromises necessary to operate old equipment:

jsw

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That is before safety issues come into play. Where carbon resistors have failed I always replace with metal oxide resistors . Some people even tone down the modern colours. Likewise rubber sleeving perishes and modern replacement is too vividly coloured.

Snip

Snip

We run into the appearance/ functionality/ safety argument regularly at the museum where I volunteer as restorer of old machinery. Steam powered stuff is a real problem as old boilers weren't built to codes and are difficult to get registered. Riveted boilers are a real problem if the barrel isn't covered with lagging and cladding. I know of one boiler on a replica steam boat that has rivet heads attached to the boiler with high temperature adhesive. The boiler is of all welded construction and the rivet heads are just for appearance. I have been known to slip in stainless steel components occasionally to reduce the corrosion and maintenance. They aren't authentic, but they save a lot of maintenance time. We have a significant steam traction engine to restore in the near future but the boiler is beyond repair to the extent that it could ever be safely operated. We have accepted the fact that it will never operate on steam so we will bypass the boiler and operate it on compressed air.

What is the safe replacement for asbestos lagging these days? I have seen it "flowing" like water out of rusty holes in an old boiler external cladding and getting airbourne glistening in shafts of sunlight coming through holes in the rusty shed around the boiler

To retain the look of the original rig.

Getting outside of your box for a second, what about using more than two caps, in whatever parallel arrangement is needed? Three, four and seven caps will all pack into a circle much more efficiently than two; that may give you the volume you need. For that matter, some searching may find you some short wide caps that can be stacked.

Just a thought...

Good point!

Luckily, we don't have that problem as the cladding had rusted off it and the lagging had dissapeared long before we aquired it. If asbestos is detected in a peice of machinery, it is either removed by professionals or sealed in place if it is impossibel to remove. If its removed it is usually replaced with rock wool. It can handle the relatively low temperatures that older steam stuff generates without problem. If you do need higher temperature rateing use Kaowool. Its a ceramic wool and really good!