16 Aug
1998
16 Aug
'98
4 p.m.
I'd not worry about anything on the low voltage side of the machine - the
boards etc. While tantalum capacitors can short out and catch fire,
they're no real problem. They look a little spectacular, but that's it.
At a former company, we made DEC interface cards. We had a tantalum
cap fail on one of our boards - it blew a 6mm hole in our board and the board
next to it. The board to the other side in the chassis was also damaged,
but not perforated. I'm told that the operators were quite upset at the
noise when it blew.
Normally, 'though, caps do not penetrate 6-layer boards.
-ethan