Here at gluegun.com, we’re committed to bringing you news and information about all things glue, and today we have got one for the electronics manufacturers floating around out there in the blogosphere. Here’s your executive summary: Stop potting with epoxy.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can stop sealing and protecting your products – that’s why potting was invented aeons ago, and it’s not like reality has suddenly gotten kinder to delicate electronic components. What it means is that it’s time to switch to a classic protection method that is experiencing a renaissance in the industry: It’s called low pressure molding – essentially, standard injection molding with hot melt adhesives, but at very low pressures, to encapsulate and over-mold the stuff you need to protect.
Here’s why you should stop potting with epoxy. It is, frankly, an inferior process. Full stop.
Low pressure molding offers all the benefits of epoxy potting – it is kind to your connectors and your wires stay safe in their cavities – but avoids the downfalls: Hot melt injection molding gives off no toxic fumes, cycle times are as low as 15 seconds, and the curing process is completely eliminated. Where you once had to wait 24 hours for epoxy to cure, you now have to wait less than two minutes for the hot melt to set. No more aggravating delays, no more lost productivity.
It’s not just curing that you eliminate from the process. With potting, you have to mold the case, palletize, settle and go through all kinds of steps just to get your components safe, stable and protected. With low pressure molding, you just insert the electronics, over-mold and test. That’s it.
Oh, and low pressure molding is cheaper, too. The process uses less material than potting, making it cost-effective over the long run, and you won’t lose any more money on waste, because there isn’t any. You also get to be a sustainability hero - because the hot melt is sourced from natural ingredients, all of your scrap material is recyclable.
It’s no contest – the era of epoxy potting is long since over. And since it’s our mission here at gluegun.com to bring you the best products at the best prices, we’d like to recommend Michigan’s own Lighthouse Molding – a proud American manufacturer with an unrelenting focus on quality – and we’re happy to have their hot melt available on our site.
If you’ve got questions or comments, or are looking for expert guidance in making the switch from traditional potting to low pressure molding, we want to hear from you! Call us at 855-437-7700 or contact us online.