[Boatanchors] Cheaper than an Orange Drop Capacitor?

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 5:29 PM, Carl <km1h at jeremy.mv.com> wrote:
> Whats an Orange Drop?  Just kidding however I refuse to use those unless
> requested by a customer, as they are nothing but an overpriced alternative
> to other choices.

They used to be more reasonably priced and a very reliable
high-quality cap that was hard to beat if you could deal with the
radial leads (the bigger hassle to me) and bright color. Best of all,
they were made right here in the good ol' USA so it was a great
opportunity to support a business that provided something we need
going forward.

Sadly, when I was up in Barre VT in August I was informed that the
owner of SBElectronics (Ed Sawyer, also a ham) had decided to shift
the bulk of his manufacturing to China. So there's little benefit if
any to choosing them over any other Chinese product. You think that
the price would drop as a result, but I think demand has also dropped,
hence the higher prices.

The only good news is that SBE still manufactures custom cap runs in
Barre, so if you need a small run of something special, they can make
it up for you on the same equipment used to make Orange Drops for
decades, and also in pretty much any shape - including axial leads.
IIRC, those awkward radial lead packages were developed for mounting
on circuit boards and terminal strips.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4