Hi Doug!
Reforming capacitors is definitely a thing but it sounds like your
skepticism comes from the allegation that capacitors can reform themselves
in-circuit.  I think this is also 'a thing', though probably not
recommended in the way shown in the video (dumping full line voltage across
the equipment and waiting).  I recall hearing a common suggestion for
working on older (vacuum tube) radios and such; that it was a good idea to
bring them up slowly on a variac to allow for precisely this (capacitors to
reform themselves).

Another thing that rubs me the wrong way about the approach shown in the
video:  If there's a question about a piece of equipment (whether old or
new) it would be wise to open it up and check some things out first, even
if only a visual inspection to look for bulged, vented, or leaky caps.
This is doubly a concern due to the industry-wide problem of 'capacitor
plague' from the 90's to the early 2000's.  The general public may only
have tangentially been aware of this due to significant fallout in Dell
computers, but many manufacturers were affected.  The story behind it is
actually quite fascinating:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/jun/29/dell-problems-capacitors

-Ken

On Fri, Jan 17, 2020 at 8:22 PM Doug Powell <doug...@gmail.com> wrote:

> This is somewhat off topic but still I feel it can be relevant to
> equipment reliability.
>
> My daughter found this article on Facebook and successfully got her sewing
> machine running again, after a fairly long period of storage. The link  has
> an interesting theory about old electrolytic capacitors restoring
> themselves and I'm not sure I buy it. I've never heard of this before sort
> of thing before. What do you think?
>
> https://m.facebook.com/DrDavesSewingMachines/posts/1273259472698687
>
> Have a great weekend. ~Doug
>
> --
>
> Douglas E Powell
>
> doug...@gmail.com
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougp01
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