[Ron Ramirez]

Fun(?) with Restuffing Electrolytics

A few years ago, I attempted to open up a Mershon electrolytic following directions I had read online. Only, the top cap would not come off. That project ended in disaster as the top of the Mershon ended up crushed.

Until now, I have not made another attempt to to open up a Mershon or early Sprague.

But reading of how some Phorum members had successfully restuffed these, I decided to try it again.

I ran into some issues with opening up the first electrolytic can that I removed from the chassis. You can read about those woes here. Since these electrolytics are part of this 70, I'm presenting a condensed version in this thread.

Attempting to wiggle the bakelite base from the electrolytic can resulted in a breakage:

[Image: https://philcoradio.com/images/phorum/70mod/70_005.jpg]

Then, trying to get the rest of the bakelite base removed resulted in more breakage as seen on the left in the photo below.

[Image: https://philcoradio.com/images/phorum/70mod/70_006.jpg]

I set the electrolytic with the broken base aside while I concentrated on the second electrolytic. I discovered that, by carefully cutting the old rubber seal away from the perimeter of the bakelite base, that the base could be removed fairly easily as you can see at right in the photo above.