Cap's

[Lacrim]

What is the difference between a Tantalium cap and other cap's(perhaps an ceramic)?
What is an film cap? I can't find an polish word for it. Becouse I don't think that it is an nonpolarizated cap, I think that it is an foil cap, but I don't know... can somebody help me...
Thanks

[niftydog]

the main difference between caps is the material that they are made of.

Generally, only electrolytics and tantalums are polarised. All other are non-polarised.

some info in the DIY FAQ, the link is above.

heaps on info like this out there on the net.

[sir_modulus]

why do some schem's call for specific caps to be solid tantalum? I've always wondered this. Hey Lacrim, hope you don't mind me adding a question to your thread.

Film caps are made of metal film and thin layer of paper of film (non-conductive substance) to seperate these. .1uf is a common value for film caps. and those orange drop caps in tube amps are polyester film (same sort of aproach). These are nonpolarized

tantalum I don't know about except they appear to be very small for their capacitance/voltage. Tantalum can be polarized (large values), but the small ones are usually non-polarized.

You choose different caps for different tones. Ceramics are usually a bit harsh, but are commonplace in vintage effects.

Hope that helps,

[niftydog]

Few people realise that the key to making some of these very tiny capacitors is found deep underground in Western Australia. It is the rare mineral tantalite, a complex oxide of iron, manganese and tantalum, and the principal source of tantalum metal.

Two mines in the state supply more than a quarter of the world's annual tantalum requirements. One is outside the small town of Greenbushes, 250km south of Perth. The other is at Wodgina in the remote Pilbara region, 1500km north of Perth.

Australian gold mining company Sons of Gwalia owns both and together they form the world's largest known tantalum resource. Fifty eight million kilograms of tantalum (as tantalum pentoxide) has been found, enough to give both mines at least 25 years more life.

Another good article here

Tantalums have very low ESR and a high capacitance in a small package. There are also obvious advantages to unreliable electros. Some people rabbit on about their "sound" and some prefer them to the "electrolytic sound". Personally, I could care less about such minute changes.

Carl Thompson (famous luthier) has a whole rant on his web site about how most of the "sound" of an instrument comes from not the wood, not the pickup, not the strings, not the amp... but the FINGERS!

[sir_modulus]

hey, thanks for the link. It's very informative.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

The Sons of Gwalia company went into recievership (ie bankrupt) last week (incompetent gold hedging contracts) but, the tantalum mine will keep going, no problem there. The only time I use tants, is when I need a high capacitance with low leakage. I try to avoid needing this, but if I have to, then it's a tant.

[niftydog]

beggers belief how you can go broke digging up gold... but hey, Australia is great at making incompetent/corupt CEOs, just look at OneTel, Skase, Bond etc etc.