At 14:16 -0400 6/27/11, Britt Dodd wrote: >I seem to have a problem identifying different types of capacitors. The ones >I'm currently trying to find replacements for are surface mount caps that look >like tiny metal cans sitting on a black insulator with pads on the sides. I >guess those are tantalums? > >But yeah I've replaced the normal shrink-wrapped looking caps with the X on >them for quite some time. Although sometimes bad caps damage other components, >and I think I've found that the guy who asked me to fix his computer problemm >will need to buy a new motherboard. > ><SNIP>
Did you wash the board? Acid cleans best with hot water as opposed to dry alcohol which is commonly used. One assembly house for circuit boards around here actually uses a household washing machine with full hot water and no soap. It sounds dangerous but after flowing the solder at 200 deg C for a few seconds the water doesn't seem so hot. www.digikey.com is a good place to learn about capacitors and their shapes and sizes. They are now including pictures in their on-line catalog. The tantalums I use are black plastic with one end sloping and not nearly as tall as the aluminums. Solder pads are visible at each end after soldering. And those X marks on the aluminums are there to absorb a pressure build up when the caps are abused by the likes of a voltage surge. If the X isn't flat the cap needs to be changed. -- --> From the U S of A, the only socialist country that refuses to admit it. <-- -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to vintage-macs@googlegroups.com To leave this group, send email to vintage-macs+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
