Share tips you have come across

[larryd]

How 'workable' is it when solid? Easy Can it be cut, filed, sanded, drilled, etc. with ease?  Yes
How strong is it when solid? IMO, not bad Is it as hard as a piece of ABS of the same dimensions or is it more plastic? IMO, Yes, maybe not as rigid tho

Keep in mind, if left in direct hot summer sun, it may distort, however, at room temps it retains it's shape.

[Henry_Best]

Thanks, Larry.
I'm going to invest in some.

[TomGeorge]

Hi,

Tom...
PS. Your wife must be a very tolerant woman.

[Henry_Best]

Place "hot" Thermo-Loc into a 10ml syringe (without a sharp).
Immediately compress the plunger to create long small diameter filaments into cold water.
The syringe will probably need to be discarded after one use.

You can now have your own DIY manual 3D printer

A 'hot melt glue' gun might do the same and give you longer filaments. That would also be reusable, but probably not for 'hot melt glue' again.

[larryd]

Yes my wife is quite tolerant, good thing for me

The hot glue gun is a great idea.
They are inexpensive, you could have one dedicated to Thermo-Loc.
I have 3 variacs, one might be good to use for temperature adjustment.
The smaller filaments could be used as welding rods of a sort.  


Edit:
BTW, attached is a PDF discussing Thermo-Loc.

[Henry_Best]

Yes my wife is quite tolerant, good thing for me

The hot glue gun is a great idea.
They are inexpensive, you could have one dedicated to Thermo-Loc.
I have 3 variacs, one might be good to use for temperature adjustment.
The smaller filaments could be used as welding rods of a sort. 

Hot glue guns operate at 120^oC and above, so a variac will be necessary to prevent overheating the Thermo-Loc, unless you modify the gun to have thermistor control of the heating element.

If you're artistic (I'm not) you could use the extrusion from the gun to hand write signs, etc. or, as you said, hand 3D printing. It's a pity it doesn't come in different colours.

Another thing I thought of to produce filaments is a spaghetti roller, but the metal parts will probably cool the Thermo-Loc too quickly. You may be able to use one to produce sheets (Lasagne) of Thermo-Loc. These can be remoulded around a rod to produce tubes (Cannelloni). The possibilities are endless.

Another use could be for what I call reverse moulding. Make a wooden mould of a box and mould the Thermo-Loc into the inside in a thin layer. When the Thermo-Loc had cooled you have the base of a plastic box. Make the top in the same way. DO NOT USE TO STORE HOT OBJECTS!!! 

[RudiAhlers]

Came across this technique  while back, I do like it for adding things to PCBs.

Please explain. What type of pads are used for the components?

[RudiAhlers]

.

Why should I always use distilled water on my soldering sponge ?

[vinceherman]

Why should I always use distilled water on my soldering sponge ?

As non-distilled water evaporates, it leaves behind all the minerals dissolved in the water.  It does not take many cycles of this to create a buildup on the sponge giving it a crust that decreases the cleaning effect.

If you run a dehumidifier or window air conditioner, you have a free source of distilled water.

[Henry_Best]

As non-distilled water evaporates, it leaves behind all the minerals dissolved in the water.  It does not take many cycles of this to create a buildup on the sponge giving it a crust that decreases the cleaning effect.

If you run a dehumidifier or window air conditioner, you have a free source of distilled water.

Or a tumble drier.

[larryd]

 

Please explain. What type of pads are used for the components?

That circuit layout uses SQUARE PCB segments, from single sided FR4 material, for the pads.
See this web site:
http://www.qrpme.com/?p=product&id=MEP               

You can make your own pads by cutting segments of copper clad board at appropriate sizes, tin snips work for this.
Here I used a hole punch, it produces round plugs.
Glue the plugs in place, after the glue dries, solder components to the plugs/pads.




Here I routed a generic pattern to copper clad material.




You create a ground plane with the solid copper board that the plugs/pads are glued to.

[larryd]

As mentioned above.

Also, regular water contains salts and corrosives.
The heat from the iron's tip makes these attacked the metal.

The damp sponge soon has enough buildup to make the concentrations very high.


Distilled water is only water, no salts . . .
No dissolved salts will mix with your melted solder connections.

Your sponge will last longer also.

[polymorph]

Note: Purified water is NOT distilled. It has just had the living stuff in it killed. You need to use either steam distilled or reverse-osmosis filtered water.

Just get a gallon of the stuff meant for steam irons.

[RudiAhlers]

Just get a gallon of the stuff meant for steam irons.

haha. In my country it's called "tap water"

But I get the picture.

[allanhurst]

I'm building an inclinometer based on the measurement of the capacitance between several electrodes in a high dielectric constant fluid.  Deionised water at Er ~ 71 would do, though an old chemist friend of mine pointed out that HCN would be better  - Er of ~120.

Bit of a low boiling point, I replied, apart from other minor problems....

Allan