Re: Potting Compound for Small Heating Elements

Thanks.

Looks like the fiberglass tape won't go up to soldering iron temperatures (260C max from what I can find), but the muffler putty stuff looks good, even if it might not be all that thermally conductive.

I'll look for some next time I'm near a car parts place.

Wrap it on mica, probably another hard to get stuff

Have got some Mica, albeit TO-220 shaped. But I believe Kapton tape should be OK up to 400C or more, so I'll use that for thin insulation and hopefully this muffler putty to keep the elements in place (unless someone knows of something designed to be thermally conductive).

Might first try my Kapton-only approach putting a heating element in my new lump-o-copper desoldering iron, I tested it out heating with a blowtorch yesterday and it seemed somewhat promising. It cools down too quick to be usable like that though.

Old elements used to use sheet mica, which will split thin, wrap it round and wind a layer of nichrome the another thin layer of mica then another layer of nichrome etc.

probasbly just the adhesive. I think exhaust bandage is a fibreglass fabric, and some sort of plaster.

if you need hobbyist quantities collect some junk appliances. nichrome and mica are toaster elements, hair-dryer elements too. mica is also the ceiling in many microwave ovens

OK, easy to test by holding it against a soldering iron. Though the Kapton tape I've got should serve much the same purpose anyway.

I pulled apart a large (actually pretty giant) microwave a while ago, but I think I would have tossed the mica, not relising what it was.

Muffler putty / jointing compound is putty, muffler bandages are, well, bandages.

The muffler putty in the old days was some sort of refractory cement + asbestos.

If you can't justify a desoldering station low melting point solder (eg *Chip Quik*) makes it pretty easy if you're only looking to recover the IC's. Cleaning up the board can be a PITA though.

It's not particularly cheap but a small amount goes a long way.