AF117 Hacker Sov 1

[Osiris69]

Had the whisker fault appear on my sov1 around Christmas 2015, confined temporarily to the case in the shed with a few of its brothers and sisters.
Well, the reason I am posting, I think I may have a permanent fix. After experimenting on a few donor set 117s, using caps to fry the shorts, I cut one across the diameter around 1.3mm above the base. (tried four previous and ******** them up)
Blew air across the internals then pushed the uncanned 117 into a car dust cap, soldered in, works perfect. (Labelled 117) I'm still waiting for it to fail, not a problem at all, saying that I recanned using black plastic dust caps.
I did trash maybe six 117 to Get one working.
That was 2013, set still ok now. Is very fiddly to do, but worth it.

[DigitalNoMore]

I've got a few 'tyred' AF117s so maybe I should try that!

[Boater Sam]

I have de-canned many by heating with a soldering iron, cleaned the silicone grease out and put the can back dry, they work too.

[Tractionist]

Makes you wonder whether they ever did require screening - given that their pre-decessors were glass enclosures and Osiris is using a plastic dust cap ...... in fact, introducing the grounded fourth pin usually only ultimately served to exacerbate matters!

I suppose that the use of stamped-out malleable thin metal [in this case unfortunately a tin alloy] was [and is/remains] much cheaper than the production of glass envelopes

[Maarten]

What does such a dust cap look like? I have no mental image available.

[paulsherwin]

It is the cap that screws onto a car or bike tyre Schrader valve to keep it clean.