what do you use to glue together caps

[JOHNBOY]

I noticed in some power supplies the caps are glued together and glue to some other components. What do you recommend for this? Is there a brand or something. I didn't want to just pull out the hot glue gun.

[Toasty]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

Silicone caulk. Pick a favorite color and have at it.

I'm partial to "Melon Green"

[Topcat]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

^
I usually use the gray RTV high temp stuff. A hot glue gun is also suitable.

[Scenic]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

isn't that glue stuff just there to hold the caps or whatever in place during manufacturing..?!

PS: @ Topcat: your SAI2 dual Tuali board is up and running my NAS and other stuff

[JOHNBOY]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

In some cases it looks like it keep components apart from touching each other. I'll grab some high temp black RTV

Thanks
JB

[Topcat]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

PS: @ Topcat: your SAI2 dual Tuali board is up and running my NAS and other stuff

That's super to hear!! It was sitting here collecting dust, hated to see it wasted. May it live long and prosper!

[Toasty]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

isn't that glue stuff just there to hold the caps or whatever in place during manufacturing..?!<snip>

Actually it's in the last steps that it's applied.

IMO Its' purpose is twofold -

It keeps any oscillations from the choppers from being heard. The hissing and buzzing some folks can hear, a lot of times it comes from the coils and caps.

It also keeps the parts from moving during transport so they don't strike each other or the heat sink. The output coils have enough mass that striking the heatsink would badly damage them.

Toast

[kc8adu]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

get the permatex ultra.it has an alcohol cure rather than acid.

[CWB]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

in addition ... the "glue" also keeps the parts from vibrating and breaking off leads due to handling/shipping/normal use .

a fair a mount of mass on top of a couple of skinny legs that is free to move around is not a good thing .
think "pendulum" .

i use hot glue or silicone rubber (the acetic acid type) . a trade name is GE RTV type 1 .
the silicone rubber that smells a bit like ammonia is worthless in my book .

[kc8adu]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

not good for electronics.the right stuff smells like alcohol.
anything else can cause corrosion.
i still remember acetic acid crystals growing out of rtv on zenith tv tripler connections.

in addition ... the "glue" also keeps the parts from vibrating and breaking off leads due to handling/shipping/normal use .

a fair a mount of mass on top of a couple of skinny legs that is free to move around is not a good thing .
think "pendulum" .

i use hot glue or silicone rubber (the acetic acid type) . a trade name is GE RTV type 1 .
the silicone rubber that smells a bit like ammonia is worthless in my book .

[CWB]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

yes ... i remember those too .
do you remember the zenith triplers that would last for 1-6 months and fail ?
they pulled them and did a re-design . as i recall they had a clip-on cover for some leads .
then there were those four lead white tubular "buffer caps" ... they made a smart move going to the sprauge "orange drop" style .
the electrolytic cap and resistor in the horizontal drive to the HOT was standard fair for replacement too .

you are correct about the acetic acid crystals ... the method i use is to apply a thin layer , up off the board and only on non-conductive areas of components ... not just blobbed on .
thorough curing is important .
i do not recommend it for very high voltage areas (multi-KV range) .
although properly cured , it is ok for rf work .

hitachi sent out their version of HV silicone rubber with each replacement kine for their projection sets .
it was used on the second anode connector .
the stuff had a very light ammonia-like smell to it . it was great !
it was not at all like the caulking compounds one finds at home depot .

[JOHNBOY]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

So what are you guys saying , the red high temp RTV is no good ?

[CWB]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

you can play it on the safe side and use the high temp hot glue .
the reason i mention the high temp hot glue sticks is that i "borrowed" a stick from my girlfriend's artsy-craftsy stuff ... the stuff was still soft and tacky 5 minutes after i applied it !

the method i use with the rtv can be a bit exacting for some people , but i have had good results over the years .
something that is bad to use is "contact cement" ... mitsubishi and a few others had some bad go-arounds with the stuff over the years .

[Krankshaft]

Re: what do you use to glue together caps

Most RTV nowadays is alcohol based the vinegar smelling stuff can still be bought but luckily the selection is slim. Even on the tube it says for 80s cars. I know the orange Permatex RTV is acetic acid based.

Permatex Gray or Black would work fine. I actually had to remove and apply the stuff on a 27" Panasonic TV I repaired in 09 I think. The main IC had it applied across the pins on one side. I guess it was to prevent arcing? It was basically the whole TV on one SMD chip.

It was gray like RTV to I reapplied gray RTV after I replaced the IC.

For caps I use hot glue especially when a cap is bent over or if it's a large top heavy bent over line cap. I put a little bed of hot glue underneath and push the cap down in it. Unlike silicone the cap will simply pull off with a bit of force should it need to be removed in the future.

Hot glue creates a solid but removable bond.