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The death of the through-hole capacitor
I was fixing an old Kenwood receiver from the late 70s last week. Everything inside was those big through-hole caps you could actually read the numbers on without a magnifier. It got me thinking about how much the boards have changed in 40 plus years. Now everything is surface mount and you need a microscope just to see the values. Does anyone else miss the days when you could work on circuit boards with just your regular glasses and a good pair of needle-nose pliers?
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the_drew5d ago
Big through-hole caps you could actually read the numbers on without a magnifier." Yeah, I remember those. Now I spend half my time trying to figure out if that tiny speck on the board is a resistor or just a piece of old coffee. My grandkids laugh at me when I pull out my magnifying visor, but they'd cry trying to recap their phone with tweezers and a prayer. At least with the old stuff, if you dropped a part in the carpet you had a fighting chance of finding it.
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williams.luna5d ago
Oh, I hear you on that, @the_drew! What worked for me was getting one of those cheap lighted magnifying lamps with a clamp, it's been a lifesaver for spotting those tiny parts and I don't feel quite so blind hunched over the bench.
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rowanr885d ago
Dropped a part in the carpet" brings back memories of finding a tiny spring three weeks later.
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