I am in what feels like a no-win situation. I've got a number of silver tantalum capacitors.
I have the choice of going direct to nitric acid. This works, but it makes a huge mess between the rubber o ring that's in there as well as the plastic overcoat.
I figured out that if I tumble the tantalum anodes after the fact with a little excess of water, the thin plastic overcoat sort of floats to the top...but then I'll also find the occasonal capacitor that didn't get touched by the nitric because the plastic coating was so tight.
The other option is a light burn. This makes these little guys pop like angry sulfuric acid spitting popcorn. I did this once and only once.
Final option and one I really don't want to do is mechanically cut the plastic overcoat. I really really don't want to do this.
Just curious if someone has a shortcut on these. I've done a lot of them already, but I've been putting off the rest of them for a while.
Any suggestions?
I have the choice of going direct to nitric acid. This works, but it makes a huge mess between the rubber o ring that's in there as well as the plastic overcoat.
I figured out that if I tumble the tantalum anodes after the fact with a little excess of water, the thin plastic overcoat sort of floats to the top...but then I'll also find the occasonal capacitor that didn't get touched by the nitric because the plastic coating was so tight.
The other option is a light burn. This makes these little guys pop like angry sulfuric acid spitting popcorn. I did this once and only once.
Final option and one I really don't want to do is mechanically cut the plastic overcoat. I really really don't want to do this.
Just curious if someone has a shortcut on these. I've done a lot of them already, but I've been putting off the rest of them for a while.
Any suggestions?