[R-390] Urban Legend Cap

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 12:16 AM, Cecil <chacuff at cableone.net> wrote:

>
> The only magic the Sprague Orange Drop has is that it is the last of the
> really high quality, over built film foil caps being made and as you say
> that may be coming to an end....and that's no Urban Legend
>

A bit more to the OD story that newer members may not be aware of unless
they did an extensive search of the archives....

Audiophool nonsense aside (which seemed to come along after the R-390 usage
anyhow), a decade or more ago we had a very extensive discussion on cap
replacement on the list. Which type, which manufacturer, and why. At that
time a lot of list members were rebuilding their receivers. Aside from
Orange Drops the next best 'favorite' if you will were the little yellow
tubular ones which someone labeled "yellowjackets" at the time. There were
a few others too, but they escape me now.

One big drawback to the ODs was the radial leads - a real PITA in tight
situations. But there were two big pluses that canceled that out for most
folks: high quality and made in the good ol' USA. I recall Chuck and I
really beat the drum for Orange Drops then to support SBE. Our reasoning
was and I'm sure still is - if you have a top notch product available from
someone in your own country who is providing jobs and helping the economy,
why wouldn't you want to support them to keep them around? Most of us
figured we'd have additional needs well beyond the R-390 series.

A little history on SBE, or SB Electronics. When Sprague went piggies-up
and everything was split up, a couple local guys in Barre, VT (where ODs
were manufactured) bought that sliver and restarted the biz. Can't recall
who the S was, but the B was Perry Browning. I met him years ago at a
Christmas party with my ex, nice fellow. They continued to produce ODs for
(at that time) a number of customers, including AES in Tempe. Despite
rumors to the opposite, they also made and labeled the ODs for Vishay, or
at least that's what folks at the factory told me. One of the benefits of
living locally and knowing a lot of people was having friends at SBE who
kept me well-stocked with "aged" caps that were routinely removed from
stock. Nothing wrong with them, just policy and I suspect a bit of
make-work.

A few years back now, Perry got out of the business and it was bought out
by a fellow named Ed Sawyer, a ham whose callsign escapes me. I think he
moved to VT from AZ IIRC, and had a 7 Land call. He continued on with the
business while branching out into other areas as the traditional cap
markets began to dry up. One of the things they got into is the Power Ring
cap business. These are essential for electric cars. Ed was active in the
local club and always very generous about donating caps for sale at
hamfests etc to benefit the club. I seem to recall that he's an avid
contester too.

One of the things SBE offered was special run, or custom caps. A few years
back I came to the list to see if anyone had interest in a bulk buy of a
particular value, style, whatever. I was also working on getting some made
up in axial form (which they could and did do, I have a box full). The
response I got was 'why bother when you can get xyz from Mouser, Digi-key?"
or such. So that was that, a lesson well-learned.

Last year I was informed by a friend there that ODs were no longer being
made in Barre VT but had been moved to China. Think I mentioned it here. I
guess it was inevitable considering the lessening demand for older-style
components. Surface mount and smaller from here on out. Interestingly, the
manufacturing equipment for making custom runs is or was still in place.
(They could make them in other colors, BTW).

As to the fate of the Orange Drop line that so many think Vishay owned/owns
but were always owned and manufactured by SBE? Is it, as Perry's
aforementioned ad claims, no longer made? Find out from the horse's mouth:

Key Milestones

*2012*

   - SBE sells its Orange Drop® product line to Cornell Dubilier
   Electronics, Inc.


Maybe CDE just bought the line to fold it? Dunno.

Plenty of other good info on their homepage, as always:

http://www.sbelectronics.com/

Hopefully this clears up some of the mystery around the R-390/Orange Drop
connection. No magic or hype involved, just a desire to support a local(US)
business that made a superior product we needed - even if it cost a few
cents more. When you strip away the layers of misunderstanding and
misinformation from the intervening years and those who came along later,
that's all you'll find.

And for those lucky enough to have a stash - they're still damned good
caps.

de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ/4