bmmeadors
Newly Enlightened
Hello, fellow CPF'rs!
I thought I'd share my method for making a ring to insulate an LED from the reflector in a P60 assembly. In this case, we are working with a DX 1-mode XR-E R2.
I use Kapton Polyimide tape for several reasons. It can withstand very high temperatures. It is dielectric (doesn't conduct electricity). It has a decent amount of thermal conductivity as well, better than PTFE (teflon) from what I understand. So a minimal amount of heat should transfer to the reflector.
Here are some of the supplies laid out:
Supplies used:
-Kapton Polyimide Tape 3/4" wide
-Razor or X-acto knife
-Compass Circle Cutter
-Hammer
-1/4" Hole punch
I stick the bottom side of two strips of the tape together, trying to avoid air bubbles. So we'll effectively have two layers of tape. This will hold up a bit better and isn't a pain to work with since the sticky sides are covered.
Here is the strip of tape, prepared to cut the outer circle:
The base for my compass cutter happened to be an almost perfect template for cutting the outer circle.
Here is the cut-out ring next to the hole punch:
Some excess may require a bit of trimming with a razor blade.
I simply center the hole punch on the circle as best as I can and hammer it down on a hard surface.
Here's the ring after the hole punch does it's work:
The hole punch typically doesn't cut a perfect circle, so going over the lines with a razor will probably need to be done.
Here's the finished ring next to the drop-in:
And installed, here is the result:
This is a crucial but seemingly often over-looked part of a drop-in. The drop-in came with an insulating ring that appeared to be made of some sort of cheap soft paper foam material, which really didn't seem suitable for this application. This new insulating ring should work well in this application though. :thumbsup:
I thought I'd share my method for making a ring to insulate an LED from the reflector in a P60 assembly. In this case, we are working with a DX 1-mode XR-E R2.
I use Kapton Polyimide tape for several reasons. It can withstand very high temperatures. It is dielectric (doesn't conduct electricity). It has a decent amount of thermal conductivity as well, better than PTFE (teflon) from what I understand. So a minimal amount of heat should transfer to the reflector.
Here are some of the supplies laid out:
Supplies used:
-Kapton Polyimide Tape 3/4" wide
-Razor or X-acto knife
-Compass Circle Cutter
-Hammer
-1/4" Hole punch
I stick the bottom side of two strips of the tape together, trying to avoid air bubbles. So we'll effectively have two layers of tape. This will hold up a bit better and isn't a pain to work with since the sticky sides are covered.
Here is the strip of tape, prepared to cut the outer circle:
The base for my compass cutter happened to be an almost perfect template for cutting the outer circle.
Here is the cut-out ring next to the hole punch:
Some excess may require a bit of trimming with a razor blade.
I simply center the hole punch on the circle as best as I can and hammer it down on a hard surface.
Here's the ring after the hole punch does it's work:
The hole punch typically doesn't cut a perfect circle, so going over the lines with a razor will probably need to be done.
Here's the finished ring next to the drop-in:
And installed, here is the result:
This is a crucial but seemingly often over-looked part of a drop-in. The drop-in came with an insulating ring that appeared to be made of some sort of cheap soft paper foam material, which really didn't seem suitable for this application. This new insulating ring should work well in this application though. :thumbsup:
