[Amps] Air variable pitting - repairable?

[Carl]

No amount of filing and sanding will completely restore that plate to its 
original mirror finish. Microscopic rough edges will be the first place it 
arcs again.

Simply remove the plate and realign the remaining plates. One less isnt 
going to matter much anyway, even on 160 much less 20.

TT has had arcing problems since day one due to the configuration of the Pi 
L; early caps even used Teflon sheets between plates.

Carl
KM1H



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Maass" <jmaass at k8nd.com>
To: <amps at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 4:59 PM
Subject: [Amps] Air variable pitting - repairable?


>
> We have a TenTec Titan III at PJ2T which is currently unusable because of 
> serious arcing
> on 20 meters. It is so bad that the amp will only run 300 watts.
>
> The problem is clearly in the loading capacitor, an air variable. There is 
> an area on one
> of the rotor plates that is burned and broiled so badly that it has 
> fattened up the rotor
> and it is nearly coming into contact with the stator at the spot where 20 
> tunes up best.
>
> Can this be fixed by sanding it down (and perhaps coating the plates with 
> something) or is
> this always going to be a "weak spot" on the capacitor that will start to 
> arc again?
>
> 73,  Jeff  K8ND
>
>
>
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