Water proofing servos

Hey all, I am sure that most of you have seen the Servo Waterproofing video on utube, where buddy uses "Loctite Blue RTV". I have looked and am unable to find it locally, (although the data sheet on it says it doesn't mix well with water). Regular silicone is no good either since it is acetone based and is corrosive, not good for electronics. I called GE and was informed of their "All purpose silicone II". It is not based on acetone and is therefore not corrosive. It is also non-conductive and available locally. I bought mine at CDN Tire and an 83 mL (2.8 oz) tube is $4 and change. The stock number (located on the back of the tube) is SE2124 and there is a gold band at the top of the package, so there is no confusion.
Thought you would be interested,
J

 

[]Thanks Pamjay. I needed that info. I will be prepping my servos for Bismarck soon.

Curt

 

Jay is there any update on your tests?

 

Water proofing tests complete and they were successful. I submerged the servo, a Futaba 3003, for 1hr and 25 minutes. I ran it back and forth in its full range of motion for the first 5 minutes and then let it sit. I then took it apart and inspected it for water ingress and there was none. I put Silicone 2 in the lower section, giving the circuit board a coat top and bottom. I had to reinforce the limiting transistor with a piece of rubber eraser because it wouldn't click back into place. I also coated the bottom of the transistor. I then plugged the two access holes that are under the gears with silicone and put a thin coating of dielectric grease on the gears. After assembling the servo, I coated the screw holes and all seams with silicone and put one grease covered O ring on the "drive shaft" below the arm. Steve Hill and I looked the HI TEC servo and it is similar. The difference is that the HI TEC has a removable plastic bushing in the top cover. Remove that and add two greased O rings. You should notice a slight resistance when you shut the servo.
J

 

[]Excellent report! Good to hear it works. I am looking forward to starting mine tomorrow for Bismarck.

 

I too will try out this method this year to see how well it works, thanks to Jay for the R&D work.

 

Jay,

Good Work! This would make for a good technical article for folks in general. Got some pictures of the work in progress to mix into it?

Thx
Jeff

 

Can do, we will take some pics tomorrow and post some.