Cheapest place to get AAA (Arctic Alumina Adhesive)?

I am in the process of building a bike light. My idea was to combine JB Weld and Arctic Thermal Compound to make a thermal adhesive. It doesn't work. JB Weld by itself is smooth and creamy and sticks to everything. Arctic Thermal Compound is oily and smoothes out evenly. Combining the two made a substance that immediately turned to clay consistency and would not stick to anything. I used a toothpick to apply it to an aluminum tube. It wouldn't come off the toothpick and when it did it just balled up and fell off. I finally got enough material to "lay" on the surface and I was able to install my bracket with pressure to secure the two together. I was able to clean up the material that oozed out of the sides because it didn't stick.

Instead of going through this hassle again, I am going to just get some AAA and do it the right way. Cutter didn't have the AAA in stock when I purchase the other components for the light.

Sandwich Shoppe has it for $6.80 with $3.XX shipping but that is a little pricey IMO. Any other places to check?

you can make your own by mixing epoxy and some thermal grease

You can get Arctic Silver Adhesive at http://svc.com/arsiltherad.html for $9.24 shipped 1st class mail. They don't seem to have the AAA, though.

Joel

Edit:

Also check here:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/85330

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250088696882
though a few days ago it was
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150082730554

ScottV

AAA is expensive stuff. The Sandwich Shoppe has a lower price than most and very reasonable S&H compared to some places (that I've found anyway). I got a couple extra syringes of AAA last time I ordered some Seoul P4 U-bins from them.

As it always seems to turn out when I'm doing a bike light project, I end up having to order stuff from about 3 places, and shipping really eats me alive. Probably the same for you. Before it's over, I've typically spent over $20 in shipping!

Side note: cheapest places are not always the best

Since the Shoppe is out of stock, you can try it here:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=85330

Best regards

_____
Tom

Minimum order of $10
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=85330
I just need AAA. Nothing else.

Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250088696882
~$10

How about this?
http://www.bestbyteinc.com/TIM-ARS-AAA.html
$5.90 for the AAA
$1.29 shipping for less than 13oz via First Class Mail.

Hey. Good find Lumbee. I'll have to bookmark that lastone.

directron.com - $7.99 (I didn't check shipping but it's typically standard UPS rates unless other shipping requested). They've never overcharged for shipping but I typically order more than one item, so hard to tell what they'll do with a tiny package like one set of that (just got some recently myself, with thermaltake BGA copper heatsinks for bike-light-cooling on my Cree homemades).
I've used them extensively over the years for computer equipment (my job), they are in Houston (I'm in Dallas, a couple hundred miles). Anyhow, they've gotten me every order next business day (not a long shipment to be sure) and are great with their packing and shipping and customer service (one time they sent us 6 USB "A" cables and we needed "B" cables, they said not to worry, just keep the others and sent the right ones, for example).
Anyhow, a first-hand recommendation, price isn't as cheap as some listed already though.

nightrider said:

Hey. Good find Lumbee. I'll have to bookmark that lastone.

Click to expand...

Total $7.19 shipped. I used a credit card instead of my debit card just in case some issues come up with the order. Everything else appeared to be legit.

Frys has it cheap.
Yaesumofo

UPDATE:
Shipping was FAST! Received the package on Monday. So far so good. When I went to use it though, the PART B was hard. PART A came out smoothly as expected but PART B had a dried plug in it. It was also yellowing towards the tip. I pushed/pulled the plug out (BTW I did mix some material with the plug but it was very chunky) and was able to get to the material that was still moist. I mixed it with the wand and mounted my Cree's.

So the shipping price and time were great; the product was not in the best condition though. YMMV

For people in the UK, this is the cheapest I have found it via the internet. You can find it cheap, but there is usually a hefty postage and packing fee.

£3.99 + £1.50 2nd class postage

http://www.thecoolingemporium.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=21_23&products_id=34

Ordered mine yesterday. Paid using PayPal

One thing I didn't like was the fact that they use a generic order form that asks for your date of birth. I don't like the idea of typing that much detail into a form. I just copied the default date example it give, didn't seem to affect the order

Lumbee1 said:

UPDATE:
Shipping was FAST! Received the package on Monday. So far so good. When I went to use it though, the PART B was hard. PART A came out smoothly as expected but PART B had a dried plug in it. It was also yellowing towards the tip. I pushed/pulled the plug out (BTW I did mix some material with the plug but it was very chunky) and was able to get to the material that was still moist. I mixed it with the wand and mounted my Cree's.

So the shipping price and time were great; the product was not in the best condition though. YMMV

Click to expand...

Sounds just like the one I got from the shoppe - dried plug in Part B. I guess it's just how it is.