Any really high heat adhesives?

[bigarm]

I had an a-ha moment today, well maybe. Anyway since my PID is finished I was thinking of some way to hold the probe in the pot. A person told me that they loosened one of the screws and wrapped a piece of wire around the screw and then to the probe. So I figured I would do that, but was sitting around today and thought I had a small piece of aluminum. So I drilled a hole in it to fit the screw and a bigger hole to put the probe through. The probe was still a little long, so I put a nut that was large enough to go over the probe and that raises it off the bottom of the pot. Now it would be nice if the nut could be permanently affixed to the bar of aluminum. Any adhesives that would survive that heat. Didn't know about aluminum so googled it and it melts at 1221 degrees F, so that should be good. If not let me know. It is usable as is, it just would be nice to be a little more stable and less likely to be lost when the probe is stored.

[VHoward]

JB Weld is good to 575 degrees F. Measure the tempurature where the nut sits and see if that would work. Another option would be high heat silicone sealant for making gaskets on engines I don't know the temp range on that though. Probably the same as JB Weld.

[Beagle333]

Mine is held in place by two overlapping pieces of plumbers strapping, bent into sort of a square "S" shape and secured with one of the pot screws.
This was the fastest pic I could find of it at the moment.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/cast%20boolits/Mikes006_zps36d36ff3.jpg

[el34]

With a picture archives as big as yours I'm surprised you can find anything!
Is your tc probe a long one?

[Beagle333]

With a picture archives as big as yours I'm surprised you can find anything!


Sometimes it takes a minute or two! I think with my new pot, I'm going to get a piece of flat aluminum bar from HD and make the same thing, only better looking. ;-)

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt214/shutupandjump/pot4_zps856bffcf.jpg?t=1412380991

(No, the condiment cups aren't in there to melt.... the pot is stored, in the photo)

[el34]

Beagle, do you prefer a long tc or is that what was handy?

[Beagle333]

At the time, I was ladle casting, so I preferred a long one so most of it would be up out of the way. With my Pro-Melt, I think that a shorter one would be more practical and less subject to snag damage when transporting/storing the pot. I won't be doing much dipping and accessing the pot from the top (I hope!).

[jmorris]

A compression fitting works pretty well. I use and old battery clamp on mine so I can pull it out when I turn the pot off.

[Mike W1]

1/8" aluminum - get a lot of use out of that stuff. I used the 6" probe, doesn't get in the way any more than a short one would.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u310/Mike4245/007_zps5fca2944.jpg

[country gent]

There are some High heat epoxies available to industry ( Tool and Die forging and especially Die casting) but finding them is going to be a problem. The other issue will be since they are available to industry mostly it going to be larger quantities than can be used. We had some at work came in a 2 pint kit to make a full quart when mixed. We used on at campbells that was good to just over 800 degrees but was a pain to use.

[jsizemore]

Alligator clip on a piece of coat hanger makes for an adjustable probe bracket. I use my PID for 3 different pots so my probe bracket is separate from the pot. Makes it easier to stir and scrape the pot too.

[dikman]

My T/C's are all 4" probes, but I made sure that they were threaded with a locknut on them. I just made small brackets out of (you guessed it) 1/8" ally, fitted under one of the existing screws. The T/C fits into a slot in the bracket, rather than a hole, so that I can easily remove them if I need to once the lead is molten.