Does anyone here have any way to read the color code on micamold capacitors circa 1930-1935? Most of every micamold component tends to be complete junk and it's annoying to painstakingly trace the schematic until I find a match.

Lots of links found with a google search. Here is one:

https://www.radioremembered.org/capcode.htm

It's too annoying to trace the schematic?

Micamold brand made a lot of paper molded capacitors which look similar to the mica ones, but are not. Those are the ones which are all bad. Micamold also made molded wirewound resistors in flat rectangular packages that strongly resemble capacitors, but aren't.

Another good reason for ;

- knowing how to read schematics
- always checking the component and it's position in the radio against the schematic

Most Micamold Bakelite cased paper capacitors have the values stamped on the cases. Color coded ones do exist, but the color codes were sometimes proprietary to the manufacturer that used them. It's always best to check the schematic to make sure. It's also possible they are real mica capacitors in which case they could still be fine.

Micamold was a very large operation at one time and made radio parts from the 1920s into the 1970s. They were also a large scale military contractor. While their Bakelite encased paper capacitors are usually bad when tested today, that seems to be the fate of almost any capacitor made of oil-soaked paper in a molded case. Sprague "bumblebees" and the paper "black beauties" didn't hold up any better. It also has to be remembered that most parts in consumer electronics including those Bakelite cased paper caps were designed to last 10 years; the fact that we are still finding original ones in equipment 80 years later tells you that lots of them held up much longer than expected.

Tracing a print -for a variety of reasons- is simply part of this game.

The good thing about Micamold caps that appear like actual mica units is that their name is on them, making them easy to distinguish for replacement.

Let us not forget that Micamold also made real mica caps, so not everything with that name on it is a paper cap.

And don't forget the Micamold wire wound resistors, which look a lot like mica capacitors, except they have slender bodies. Many manufacturers used them; Zenith, Midwest, Stewart-Warner, and Emerson, to name a few. They were made in both one and two watt sizes.

Good point, but how would you differentiate between a Micamold paper, and mica capacitor?

Generally values below 1000pf, or .001, are going to be mica. Above that value you have to start suspecting paper, and it would be rare to find a .01 that was mica in a consumer product.

If you put them next to each other, they are also usually a different physical size. But the only 100% certainty is to break them open after you replace them.

And a 90+% certainty by testing them for leakage.
And a fair guess can be made by what the capacitor is doing. If it's in an RF or IF resonant circuit, the odds are very high that it's mica.
But I'll say that in at least one WWII military radio, I've seen very small value paper caps used in IF circuits.
When in doubt - test it out.

My first experiences with "Micamold" was from a couple of imported Midwest's. Although I have seen a few sets with them since. I developed the same contempt for them and their resistors, as I have for waxed paper, several types of oil filled ones, which are rather like a sardine, with paper types in oil. One never trusts any of them.

I never test their capacity first. Often you do get good Mica Micamold's but don't get to blase' as I have opened up & seen some really low ones that are paper type. While I rarely have Mica problems here, 500VDC from an insulation tester (one end out of circuit minimum) does tend to weed out the duds.

Any non polarised cap that shows leakage here, will be binned.

Marcc

Micamold Resistors as already stated, are Narrow with an Arrow, one row of colored dots.

These are easy to read, brown, black, red for example.

One should not have to do a lot of hair pulling with "Micamold" if there is a circuit, & a parts list.

Despite some cap testers having big issues with low PF caps some will read correctly, for value. In both resistors & caps Micamold did follow convention with their colours. The majority will be in the RF, IF area and checking values is all part of the repair & fixing process.

Beware of anything without numbers on a coil, those are quite often factory fits to get specs. The oscillator & antenna coils along with the gang, are a matched set. Tampering with them can have serious ramifications.

Marcc