Mallory BIG BRASS condensers

[cmbrucew]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

I have & had a few. About 1/2 of them were split. I'm assuming the gunk inside started to swell which causes the case to split open?

Charlie:

Have you experienced this as well?

Tim
I have some old kerosene lanterns, some with brass tops and founts and some of them have cracks, Maybe from age or stress. These lanterns are 80 to 90 years old, similar to the condensers.
Bruce

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Originally Posted by JSeery

Bubba, do you still have any, and if so, what is the price?

I dont have any perfect new ones anymore, just some cracked ones etc....I have thought having a metal spinner make me some new cases and installing our new vertex condensor etc. The big ole bras ones look great with a old ignition.....

[rotorwrench]

A condenser is a relatively simple device. A person could take the mylar and foil capsule out of another condenser of the same micro farad rating and find a way to contain it in a fabricated brass container or an OEM can that has been carefully disassembled and prepped for reassembly.

If you cut a bunch of average ignition condensers appart you may find out why there are so many problems with them. It's not the materials they are made with as much as it is the crappy way they are put together. Many of the late manufacture types just have the wire lead attached to a small plate that is just pushed into the top of the capsule and only held tight by the crimping process. There is no spring device to hold the two connections together. Some of the capsules are loose in the can and could vibrate around inside there until the connection is degraded. If they just made them properly, they would probably last a very long time.

It would be interesting to see how the new type Vertex mag condensers are put together. They may have done it right.

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

A condenser is a relatively simple device. A person could take the mylar and foil capsule out of another condenser of the same micro farad rating and find a way to contain it in a fabricated brass container or an OEM can that has been carefully disassembled and prepped for reassembly.

If you cut a bunch of average ignition condensers appart you may find out why there are so many problems with them. It's not the materials they are made with as much as it is the crappy way they are put together. Many of the late manufacture types just have the wire lead attached to a small plate that is just pushed into the top of the capsule and only held tight by the crimping process. There is no spring device to hold the two connections together. Some of the capsules are loose in the can and could vibrate around inside there until the connection is degraded. If they just made them properly, they would probably last a very long time.



It would be interesting to see how the new type Vertex mag condensers are put together. They may have done it right.

I have cut a couple apart, first and foremost they are sealed very well on the lead end, second the connections on both ends are soldered one to the lead the other to the case end.
These have to be very good construction as the primary voltage is very high in a magneto and the polarity changes every other cylinder. One is positive to negative then negative to positive. Honestly i have never seen a bad one !!!