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Capacitor glue?

I build point to point wired units and my glue of choice is Elmers Stix-all
Reasons:
1) It is always available locally if you need more
2) It has high temperature and volatility properties
3) It does stick very well, almost too well if you expect to peel it off
4) It is a clear glue so my project that are in clear boxes if I can affor it look better
5) Cure is rapid at room temperature and even cures near freezing over night
6) Its from a brand name company and been on the market a long time and its proven
7) I think if I remember right it used to be packaged as a high tech solution - but that just could be a variation as I was paying quite a bit for it at the time. Anyway it can be removed if you can get access to the area well enough, usually.
8) Viscousity is not so runny you end up with half the tube on you. Not too thick either.
9) It has no ferrites and does not seem to bother inductors much - some say any insulator in the coils air / magnetic area can have huge effects but if thats true then it just makes it sound good.
10) Also I should say it insulates electrically but I do not like silicones because of the molecule geometry and density - they can shrink incredible amounts when eposed to heat even if they do not degrade or loose their adhesion - maybe thats not a concern for gluing down a component, but they don't alway age well or take UV well so you have to read the label and then read between the lines a bit too.
 
klancf51 said:
Here's how to read this study statement: it is 95% certain that the true percentage of capacitors that will fail at 1 year is between 0.02% and 99.7% and it is 95% certain that the true percentage of capacitors that will fail at 11 years is between 0.3% and 99.7%.

Think of it this way: imagine that you are a manufacturing engineer at Arcam and you have the above data, including the warnings from manufacturers. Would you select an adhesive that will (to a statistical certainty) induce between 0.02% and 99.7% failures at 1 year? Or would you select an adhesive that is statistically not known to cause failures?

There is no benefit in recommending a halogenated hydrocarbon adhesive. The downside risk is too great - potentially high enough to put a product line out of business :tears:.



This same decision-making process applies to members of this forum; only the stakes are a lot lower.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I know how to read statistical significances and I still think that statement is basically saying they haven't proven much. The actual failure rates in their experiments may well have been higher than 0.02% after 1 year, or 0.03% after 11, but apparently there was no clear trend at 95% confidence. At least I think between 0.02 and 99.7 isn't much of an indication.

Edit: In fact, the authors of that paper conclude the same in the last sentence of the paper: "Monitoring of capacitor
characteristics during accelerated life test shows that changes in
these characteristic parameters cannot be used to predict failure"
 
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Guys

There is no flesh left on this horse's skeleton.

We will all continue to use what we prefer and some will continue to harp on every little extremely rare supposed problem that NO ONE here has ever experienced.

Let's all grab a beer or coke or whatever and re-tin our soldering irons while we listen to some good tuneage.
 
Unless you own a wave soldering machine and want to pull the whole board out to replace some caps why would you need to glue them down?
 
merrylander said:
Unless you own a wave soldering machine and want to pull the whole board out to replace some caps why would you need to glue them down?
Click to expand...

So they don't rattle and jump around. For example - I recapped the crossovers in my big Marantz speakers. The original caps were big cardboard units with stranded wire leads in a radial pattern. They were held onto the crossover board with clips. The new caps are axial-lead Solens, one of which was much smaller than the original cap, so it wouldn't fit in the clip no matter how much I bent it. That cap got a bit of hot glue holding it to the board so it would stay put.
 
merrylander said:
A totally different situation than caps in a receiver or amp, of course they need to be held down.
Click to expand...

In most situations, I think it was done so everything could be stuck in place on the board, then it could be flipped over and soldered without anything falling out of place.
 
Interesting thread.

I've been using Goop, the household variety, along with double sided tape for stacking caps on xovers.

Looked up Goop and found out something interesting about it. Apparently Canada and the US have different formulas:

http://www.thistothat.com/glue/hgoop.shtml

Goop in the US has toluene, Goop in Canada has perchloroethylene.

Not that I'm a tree hugger or anything but after using Goop on the last crossover I was working on I noticed the next day, after being out for quite a while, that the smell was still quite strong when I opened my door several hours later. Made me think: "what's in this stuff?".

Think I will put out the extra cost to track down some 162 or maybe some translucent TSE397C.

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/397.html

Sometimes we have to consider the fact that there is more than one of us using a product and that even though the amount that we are personally using may be small and seem to do little damage to our environment when you add up what we all use it has a greater collective effect. :yes:

Cheers

Lar
 
davesnewTT said:
Edit: In fact, the authors of that paper conclude the same in the last sentence of the paper: "Monitoring of capacitor characteristics during accelerated life test shows that changes in these characteristic parameters cannot be used to predict failure"
Click to expand...

Do you think this means that the study concluded that halogenated hydrocarbon adhesive use can't be used to predict electrolytic capacitor failure?
 
Was the OP talking about gluing caps inside a speaker cabinet ie crossover or gluing components to a PC board ...Or both...:scratch2: Or none of the above..This thread is wandering all over the spectrum...:dunno::scratch2: Use plastic zip ties and call it done,,,
 
I'm the OP, and my question related specifically to gluing caps on a speaker crossover. This is rather funny. I had no idea I had caused such a fuss with my question. I stopping checking the post after I got the first 5 or 6 responses. I was looking for shortcut to my new post when I noticed this old one had over 50 responses. I just skimmed through the additional posts now. Wow, didn't see that coming. Thanks to everyone for the information. I hate to admit it, but I ended up selling the speakers before I finished them, so I never even got the chance to glue the caps down...
 
what do you guys think about useing (great stuff)
it expands to be a firm foam like material. and imo should do great justice vs vibaration..
idk what the chemical properties are or if it would conduct (i doubt it)
but the fact that it gently expands.. would be great.. you would just squirt alittle in a corner where the cap meets the board and call it done..
what you guys think?
 
Folks, Merrylander knows of what he speaks. In most amp/receivers there is little or no reason for using adhesive. This leaves the off gassing and cancer risk at 0%, and a moot point.
 
I have good luck with E6000 and it’s nonconducting. I think it’s similar chemically to the shoe goop. Stays elastic and can be removed or cut with a razor easily.
 
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