I could definitely see the mojo way more inside the bumblebee cap😉

If anyone was wondering, since it wasn’t shown here, the yellow Astron caps look like the Bumblebee but the dielectric film is Mylar instead of oil/paper. Same two aluminum foil/plates separated by Mylar film.

Good demo of the construction of film capacitors. The inside and outside foils are connected to their respective leads by a portion of each folded on the ends. Each end has dielectric under the fold to ensure that they don't short. Each foil has an equal amount of connections to their respective layers within the body.

This demonstrates the progress of plastics - from pure paper dielectric of 1920's to oiled paper of 1940's to metallized paper of 1960's to mylar and polypropylene metallized film of 1970's to multilayer ceramic SMD of 1980's and after. Since the dielectric thickness is smaller and permeability is higher, the same capacitance/voltage is now much smaller cap. Better contacts to foil/metal gives lower ESR and lower non-linearities. Now you really know that there is only improvements from antique capacitors.

Always surprises me how low-tech the basic building blocks of electrical components are. The bumblebees were made with such basic material you could almost make them in your kitchen

Interesting. Smart idea using the gloves. Oils used in electronics like transformer oil contain PCB's, a cancer causing substance. Seems the casings are a phenolic resin compound, like the handles on a cooking pot. Very heat resistant and durable.

Great demo - thanks man!

When I was a grade-schooler, I made my own capacitors a couple of times, by rolling foil and waxed paper. They were disappointly “mushy” .. I couldn’t achieve that solid roll like the factory made ones 😁

...THAT WAS VERY INFORMATIVE-!!!

if u put the plastic in the inner part of the jaws youll get alot more force and control over how deep u go, im talkin about the jaws on the inside of the pivot, not the inner part of the jaws where the cutter is, on the outside of the pivot u could also use the cutters to it works pretty well

Very insightful. Thanks

Great patience in sharing! Ah, the craptastic BumbleBombs, laced with PCB’s, ok for small voltages but usually become “leaky” and explode in real power circuits :(

Might be best to hide this all from your local hazmat department.

I've ALWAYS wanted to do just that!!

On the practical side the Orange caps have much sturdier legs, the wire is a bit thicker so it is difficult to break them off accidentally. Working with the paper in oil types the legs are flimsy and snap off easily.

I've skimmed over old circuits thinking these were resistors. I've never heard of a bumble bee capacitor until this very day. So, if I may, for the average layman who's never even heard of these, just by looking at them, how do you tell the difference between a bumble bee and a resistor ? I mean, geez, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a resistor.

Good video, though no surprises. I don't understand why people buy (on eBay, etc.) old Bumblebee caps as if they were precious. First, they were made by the millions so they're not. Second, after at least 50 years if they're not BAD they're on their way to going bad. I don't even bother testing them, I take 'em out and replace.

What's interesting is the astron is solid and not mentioned for a guitar circuit far as I've seen. But both the orange drop and bumble are highly recommended and both of a spiral construction..

could see on the tone in the bumblebee ..

WOW《☆》Amazing how much foil was in the orange drop & how tightly wrapped it was🤓👍🏾I would venture to say the orange drop would give better performance for a longer period🤓🗣🔊☮✌👍🏾

Determine the one whose foil has the highest coefficient of reflectively, using appropriate optical instruments. The higher the reflectivity of the foil, the more articulate and bright the treble notes will be.

Thanks so much, interesting find!

Thank you ! Just understood that premium price they ask for BB's is just snake oil ! Lol

1st of all great informative video, thanks. I cant believe the uneducated Bumblebee disciples, they just don't understand that a cap value is the same whatever the material its made from, if they do happen to notice a difference in tone its most definitely a tolerance issue. Most caps have a tolerance of 10% which could make a difference.

Thanks, nice to know

the Bumblebee is a orange drop with a wax paper with oil interesting . thanks for this it's making me think twice about dropping more money on caps . not too sure !!

what is interesting with these caps is that when you unroll them down to the centers....you are finding no evidence of a lead plate. There should technically be one in the center and then one at the end of the roll on the outside. When you broke them open.....the plates appear to be on the ends of the roll opposite each other. SO its like the length of the sandwich roll is the factor as opposed to the thickness of the roll between center and outside.......which is really odd considering the literature on capacitors. The eary era caps were labeled with a line to denote the outside lead.....and later assembly line caps like an orange drop didn't necessarily have that exact notation if it had the line. There are those that try to measure and determine the outer foil lead.......but this obviously contradicts that !! I can't visually tell if something is obscured with the lead plates. I would suggest that instead of breakig them open with a set of pliers......that you get a small dremel with a carbude disc to cut the caps in half for a sectional display......then do it with another set where you can break the surface capsule to get at the guts. BUT A GREAT INFORMATIONAL PRESENTATION. The real situation is the composition of the internal materials....the chemistry. You can't visually assume its all the same materials between manufacturers whether it looks like paper or wax paper or a film of plastic, and even the aluminum foil. The application of "electrons" in chemistry at the molecular/atomic level is different between Chemistry and Electronics

That Astron cap was interesting!

Cool video. Side note wear gloves! Those things can have lead and PCB!

Really interesting

Damn! I didn't expect all this xD

Liutopia sa vous parle bumblebee , je trouve qu'ils son bon .

Do more wraps equal tighter tolerance?

So capacitors are just tightly rolled up foil? I had no idea. How do they work then? What exactly do they do?

🔑 word today folks is CERAMIC! LmFiAo 🤣 💥🔨

Orange drop should be film foil not metalized one

Why didn't you wear a glove for the first cap? And what is a capacitor anyway?

What is missing from all of these caps is "tone". That's because there's no such thing as a "tone cap" that has a special attribute that makes magic sounds because of reasons. There's caps that meet specifications for the electrical circuit and those that don't. Listen with your ears, not your eyes.

You do know those bumble bee capacitors can fuck things up right?

Hi, my name is Emilio and I live in Brussels Belgium, I am a luthier and in my quest to do as much as possible myself, I would like to manufacture my own 0.047uf and 0.022uf paper-in-oil capacitors professionally, make one it's easy but one that gets a professional finish isn't. I would like to know if you can help me, what kind of machine I can use, how to give the correct coating that is hard like bumblebees, or has an aluminum can. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this message.

And here I am wondering how they can charge $10+ for paper and oil caps...

I was pretty concerned that your plier might slip and catch your hand....

Oil and paper have sweet spots on the tone control that others do not have....They mix better with the treble sounds without getting woofy. If you never use your tone control you are probably not aware of it.....Most people leave it on 10 bridge pickup with gain on 11 all their life....lol.... Holdsworth used his tone control on bridge pick up for his violin tone....Many clean jazz players use neck pickup with rolled back tone control for dark tones and softer music.....I vote oil and paper.

Bumblebee caps are prefered amongst guitar guys only because of its leakage! They were not the best seal as plastic would deform from heat and the capacitor would start getting moisture, thus accelerating paper degradation and later on leakage. They were one of the worst and most changed ones on old tube tvs and radios and they'll last 1/4 of a regular paper wax or ceramic tubular ones. Oil in paper is another crappy capacitor that was notorious for exploding on across the line or horizontal circuit filters.

So capacitors are kind of like Willy Wonka... Thanks Frank Olson Twins!

Thanks for the video. Damn that was a lot of foil in the orange drop. Is the organ music by Jimmy Smith?

Wow how can so much stuff be inside such a small cap🥴

Ótimo sempre quis saber o que tem dentro

Show Gostei Brother ☠🔱 .

Foil and a dielectric wrapped together for all. Two leads separated by an insulating material. So how could any current flow "THRU" it, DC or AC??? It can't ,That's why the only "tone" determining factor is it's value not how it's painted on the outside. 100 bucks for look like bumble bee's, your paying for the paint not the tone. A cap charges and dis-charges in an audio circuit, letting current flow in the circuit, not thru the cap. How long it takes to charge and dis-charge (its value) determines freq. Different constuction is for different enviroments.

📺

This video proves the well-known superior tonal qualities of the Sprague Bumblebee are clearly visible to the naked eye.

Depend original or fake?

I notice that everytime I open up one of those *Bumblebee* caps to dissect its materials, I find *Tuna Fish* in there..

rhey taste good with hot sauce

Like9🤩👍🏻🌸🌺☀️☀️🌺

Piece of doo doo inside

highly toxic oil and foil