Potting compound for building a tank light

I use Stycast when it’s in the shop, but I also use MG Chemicals. Both work excellent. You have to watch what you use, some thermal epoxy can be electrically conductive, I bricked a Convoy L6 once.

This is what I use from MG Chemicals

Why don’t you just send an email to a “good” name torch MFG.
and ask them what. if anything they use. (Tech Services dep’t.)
They can only tell you to piss orft.

Then we ALL may just learn something new.
Most I’ve seen have been either grey or black.

The old “tar” chips we used to get from road laying crews
we used for everything.
Melted, it stuck everything together. and free hey.
It was great to chew on too. very tangy.

Stars-922 may be a nice option: https://www.ebay.com/itm/HY410-STARS-922-Thermal-Compound-Sink-Silicone-CGPU-Silikon-Grease-Glue/163170389586

Takes a little while to harden, it depends on volume to area ratio. No volumetric shift. Once hardened remains slightly fexible but has adequate stiffness. I used this compound to stick an Omten 1288 inside an SK98 pogo switch retaining part whose slot is for bigger switches, like this one: http://kaidomain.com/S024498-DIY-LED-Flashlight-Reverse-Clicky-Switch-14_8mm-x-9_6mm-for-LED-Flashlight. After hardening took the pogo retainer out of my vise and could easily sand down the protruding plaster excesses. Worked like a charm.

Can be removed later with a bit of patience and some spirits help: alcohol, white spirit, gasoline, etc.

Worth a try imho.

Cheers :-)

Well, I do know PFlexPro uses Stycast (can’t recall product number) which isn’t available in small quantities.

How about urathane that they use to put windsheilds in with ? Pretty tuff stuff

Thanks for the input. I work in Texas with heat, rain, humidity and things that fly across parking lots. Big fan of the P60 from SolarForce with premium Pflexpro dropins. These could spend two days in the pool with out worry of water getting in or parts breaking. I’m moving into 20700 and 21700 lights for better run time and output. Those USB style charging port are the new weak points. I’m looking at the Mateminco TK01/Astrolux FT01 as a possible replacement along with the Wuben A21. I’ve got no illusions that they might not make the grade. I think potting will give them a better chance. Once again thanks for the help.

I think Dale used Sugru to secure things in the driver cavity.
It is a self curing silicon.

So, I made another M1 with the exact same parts since I gave away the first one for the other guy to abuse. This time, I mixed some Fujik with some 8w/mk thermal paste and applied that onto the driver covering the components. On the solder joints, I just covered it entirely in Fujik. I’ll try to get some abuse footage to see how well it holds up when I have the time.

Nice, looking forward to it already :+1:

Yep, looking good.
I had no idea Duracell sold 18650’s. :open_mouth:

Hah! Just a little bit of Photoshopping and a clear wrap. Doesn’t look so good since my printer was low on ink but meh, close enough.

:person_facepalming: . :person_facepalming: . Well, ya’ got me!! :smiley: . Nice job…. :+1: . :wink:

oh… di sini rupanya perbincangan berlaku :smiley: :smiley:

nice work… waiting for the abuse footage…
the other one convoy s2+ is potted with the same compound?

Haha… Yeah I’ll pot the S2+ when I have the time.

Had some free time today so I decided to have some fun with the M1. Some abuse, and played some small sport with it, kick bowling, baseball, and miniature golf. Also worth mentioning, I actually did everything in the first clip 3 times because the first 2 clips sucked.

Aftermath:

This was most likely due to the stiff spring I had on the driver. It’s bypassed with 20awg and I cut it a little too short, but meh, still works… ¯\

Nice work (over) on the M1 :+1: Here is a vid from 2015 and the written review.

My Surefire M3 D36 XHP70.2 module fully potted, reflector, copper heat sink and driver, fully encapsulated in thermal potting.

Yeah, I’ve been inspired by that video and have always had a thing for overbuilt things which is why I decided to make one like that. Before that, I never knew lights could be waterproof even without the lens which was amazing to me.

Try restricting the battery movement, most real weapon lights have a shoulder in the battery tube anode side to keep the battery from impacting the spring/driver, protecting both driver and cell(s) maybe use o-rings to restrict movement. I also added extra shrink wraps to batteries that have oversize battery tubes, so they just slide in, now I size the inside of the battery tube and polish to fit specially in my 2S tubes. Just my 2cents.

I do actually want to add some Fujik to the anode side but it wouldn’t be removable. Or I could add Fujik around the spring avoiding the retaining ring but I absolutely hate working with it. It’s gooey and sticky and needs to be delicately cut to shape when dried. For now, I think a washer should work pretty well.

This.

Recoil will bash in the front (positive) of the cells. No point using a spring there, a stud, and a potted driver might survive.

Better though to design the front end to pass the the recoil back to the cell through the outer circumference. Not the +V terminal.

Never seen that done, though it is so obvious, and so easy to do.