DIY Walker Audio SST Super Silver Treatment Contact Enhancer

[tom1356]

I made some of this from long grain silver flake and permatex dielectric grease. The .33 oz tube of grease was $2.00 at an auto parts store. the silver flake was made by sanding some 16 gauge .999 fine silver wire I already had on a stand mounted belt sander. The flake has to be very finely sifted. This is really really tedious. Add the grease till you get the right consistancy. I have not tried the Walker Product and I cannot vouch for it's usefullness but after making this I would say the SST seems to be a reasonable value.

[jcarr]

Tom, how would a silver-impregnated thermal transfer compound like Arctic Silver work?

No, I haven't tried it myself.

regards, jonathan carr

[tom1356]

Originally posted by jcarr
Tom, how would a silver-impregnated thermal transfer compound like Arctic Silver work?

No, I haven't tried it myself.

regards, jonathan carr

The Arctic silver is non conductive. It is only for thermal transfer. Although I have not tried it I imagine it would not work as well.

[autoexec]

arctic silver is electrically conductive
most other thermal pastes however, are not

[SY]

Tom, unfortunately, I don't have my old files with me here to give supplier names and part numbers, but as a general thing, I can recommend you use a mixture of flakes and balls. These come already mixed together with a thin coating of (usually) a stearate compound to prevent clumping and corrosion, and can be extended using either a nonvolatile oil or the sort of grease you used. The idea is that the two geometries together provide a more secure electrical path- these mixtures are commonly used for conductive inks, polymer thick film compositions, conductive adhesives and the like.

I think a quick search of the Thomas Directory will get you some supplier names.

[tom1356]

Originally posted by autoexec
arctic silver is electrically conductive
most other thermal pastes however, are not

My mistake The arctic silver 5 is non conductive.
The others might be an excellent choice.

"Not Electrically Conductive:

Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.

(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.) "

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/arcticsilver5.html

[tom1356]

Originally posted by SY
Tom, unfortunately, I don't have my old files with me here to give supplier names and part numbers, but as a general thing, I can recommend you use a mixture of flakes and balls. These come already mixed together with a thin coating of (usually) a stearate compound to prevent clumping and corrosion, and can be extended using either a nonvolatile oil or the sort of grease you used. The idea is that the two geometries together provide a more secure electrical path- these mixtures are commonly used for conductive inks, polymer thick film compositions, conductive adhesives and the like.

I think a quick search of the Thomas Directory will get you some supplier names.

Thanks for the tips. The SST description states it uses just the flakes. I wonder if the balls and flakes would be even better. I'm not going to explore DIY-ing this any further. I am very happy with the preliminary results of my paste.
When I run out I will probably try the Walker SST.