reforming capacitor tutorial/walkthrough

It has mostly been a lot of smoke and no fire, actually. Actually, no smoke, either. Amongst the serious electronics restoration and repair folks I deal with, reforming caps is pretty much a waste of time. The only electrolytic caps that seem to really require careful handling are those made prior to 1950 - the kinds that we never encounter. Even the caps from the 1940s are of little concern. Yes, they go bad, but reforming them mostly does not work. If they are going to blow, the are going to blow. It is probably best to apply the power just as normal, and have the ability to kill it in at an instant, under controlled conditions. I use a foot operated switch, so at any time, I can cut the power hands free. The caps from 1960s seem to be of little concern, and those from past 1970 are of no concern. If the cap decides to die, its going to die. Think about it - of the zillions of powerups and reformations some of us have done, when has there been clear evidence that somehow all the reformation processing has actually worked? Time to move on. -- Will, the guy that (I think) originally mentioned reforming caps on this list years ago.