Potting the NB or PC assembly, has anyone tried this?

[Chris Fields]

I am a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry, and we typically pot any small circuit cards or assemblies to increase reliability for vibration and shock, etc.... I was thinking about possibly doing that for the NB or PC, and give the potting compound a good shape that would fit into a frame in the hilt. Just curious if anyone has tried this already. Thanks!

[Silver Serpent]

To the best of my knowledge, no. The closest to potting that I've seen involves hot glue over the wiring connectings to provide extra strain support. These boards do generate a decent amount of heat, so any potting compound you use would need to be thermally conductive. You'd want it easily removable as well, in the event your board requires repairs.

[darth_chasm]

How would this affect access to the SD card? Sorry if a dumb question, no real knowledge of potting.

[Silver Serpent]

A smart person would avoid putting the potting compound over the SD card holder. ;)

These boards are fairly robust. The majority of damage to sound boards is done during installation, wiring, or from accidentally inserting the battery backwards. Impact/vibration is not a significant cause for failure here, especially when a chassis is used.

[Chris Fields]

Thanks, yeah, leave a keep out around the SD card :) . We'll be using the blades a lot for shows and performances, so good to know about the chassis and low impact/vib Silver. I figured potting is quick and easy, but a chassis can be even easier most likely. Thanks!

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

This board generates heat which needs to "breathe". Chassis is the way to go.

[Chris Fields]

About the heat issue... heat is a very problematic issue in aerospace... so many of the potting materials we use actually aid in heat dissipation. Air is pretty bad thermal path, especially air in enclosed spaces with no fans.... so we have special thermal potting compounds that have a better conductivity than air, and are able to conduct and spread the heat to the metal chassis parts much more efficiently than through an air path. This seem to fit these saber applications quite well.