[sdiy] Tube amp cap discharge tool?

[Gene Stopp]

Built a power amp once and got the power supp caps at good ol' Apex surplus,
big as coffee cans (adolescent testosterone I guess).

I used some random ceramic, probably 10 ohm 10W. Little spark, fast
discharge, but it got pretty hot. Bottom line is that you can use anything
with a resistance low enough not to spark too much, high enough not to take
too long, and big enough to not burn up as the cap bleeds out.

One time I forgot to discharge... lost a whole exacto knife blade in a cloud
of molten metal. Better than a box wrench on the battery in high school auto
shop!

- Gene

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of
sasami at hotkey.net.au
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 4:59 PM
To: harrybissell
Cc: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Tube amp cap discharge tool?


>Might be a bad idea at 300V...
>
>(what voltage you got in AU ?   Our light bulbs are 120V)

Our mains is 240V. Even so, using a light bulb is still a bad idea. Filament
resistance is too low when it is cold, so I'd expect you'd still get a heck
of a spark (the sort that blows away a chunk of your terminal)

Ken