A vintage 20 kOhm carbon resistor from a Metrix oscilloscope measured about 0.843 MOhm despite showing no visible exterior damage, helping isolate a persistent fault after the board was recapped.
Sanding away the body exposed a glass-tube-like core filled with carbon material, letting CuriousMarc and TubeTime inspect how the decades-old part was built.
Their teardown pointed to degraded contact between the lead terminals and the carbon element as the likely failure mode, rather than obvious burning or discoloration.
Many thermal cycles and possible mechanical shocks over the resistor's long service life likely caused fractures, while the internal construction appeared more elaborate than typical carbon resistors TubeTime has opened.
Can modern scanning tech predict when vintage electronics will catastrophically fail?
Is recreating obsolete parts more viable than forcing expensive system-wide upgrades?