Gutting Sprague cans

[Findm-Keepm]

Years ago, there was a Geocities website a Ham in Texas put up showing how he re-stuffed can caps. From the pictures, he appeared to be elderly, so no surprise that with the demise of Geocities, the website disappeared.

http://www.geocities.com/siliconvall...stom/index.htm <- from my 1998(ish) Netscape (4.0) bookmarks.

He used a lathe and/or a larger tubing cutter (like the ones for larger diameter copper pipe) to cut the can off as close to the base as possible. From his pix, the cut was about 3/4"-1" up from the bottom (mounting surface). A sharp twist then separated the two halves, and after cleaning up the base, the upper part was chucked in a lathe and bored out. The caps were installed on the base, and he slipped the cover back on using silicone rubber and a jig to support it while it cured. He then slipped an aluminum sleeve over the old cap, concealing the joint, and giving him a blank slate upon which he put a label.

I wonder how Hayseed Hamfest manufactures his - over on ARF (and in a thread on AK) the question was somewhat answered that his caps are NOS can caps that he emptied and populated with miniature electrolytics, and then placed a a deep-drawn aluminum or plated brass tube over the guts with a paper sleeve if needed.