Cautionary tale about vibration dampening foam
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 2:20 pm
Last night I fired up one of my neutron detector probes and was quite surprised that it pulled down the high voltage. Taking the probe apart I found that the foam that was near the C connector had turned in to a black sticky (partially conductive) mess.
I have seen this problem before; in bandpass filters for some radio equipment that was manufactured back in the 1950's.
The neutron probe has a manufacturing date of 1984. The foam died a pretty early death in comparison to my other experiences.
I would suggest that if you have any instrumentation that uses these types of foams to check and see if it has deteriorated before tossing out the gear.
Once I removed the foam and cleaned it off with a solvent the probe worked fine and the high voltage is not being dragged down.
Ms. Tisha Hayes
Lookout Mountain Alabama
I have seen this problem before; in bandpass filters for some radio equipment that was manufactured back in the 1950's.
The neutron probe has a manufacturing date of 1984. The foam died a pretty early death in comparison to my other experiences.
I would suggest that if you have any instrumentation that uses these types of foams to check and see if it has deteriorated before tossing out the gear.
Once I removed the foam and cleaned it off with a solvent the probe worked fine and the high voltage is not being dragged down.
Ms. Tisha Hayes
Lookout Mountain Alabama