You know, the stuff that's on Klon boards and Pete Cornish pedals.  Can you actually buy that stuff...or is it like, caulk?  I don't know how they can bring themselves to pour goo all over a circuitboard.  I'd be afraid it'd ruin all my hard work!  It'd be impossible to repair too.

So...what is that stuff and where does it come from?

Quote from: bobbletroxYou know, the stuff that's on Klon boards and Pete Cornish pedals.  Can you actually buy that stuff...or is it like, caulk?  I don't know how they can bring themselves to pour goo all over a circuitboard.  I'd be afraid it'd ruin all my hard work!  It'd be impossible to repair too.

So...what is that stuff and where does it come from?

It is epoxy potting material.  It is mixed from two parts, resin and hardener.  It is also non-electrically conductive.  I guess that goes without saying.   :wink:

The above mentioned effects use it to conceal the components, making it hard to reverse engineer the pedal.  It is also used to ensure that the components are permanently secured to the board.  Yes, the boards are impossible to repair should anything happen.

This should fill you in on the rest of the story:

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/832tc.html

I hope this helps,

Derek

Advice for anyone who wants to "pot" stuff in epoxy: dont have wires coming out of the mess, because if you do, one day they might flex & break, and you will be very :cry:
What the pros do, is to have metal tags sticking out. You see these on encapsulated transformers, for example. Something else: potting something makes it harder for the heat to get out.

Potting with *anything* also affects circuit operation. The potting goo has a dielectric constant higher than the air it displaces, and that increases the parasitic capacitances by the change in dielectric constant, which can be 2-3 or so.

This usually doesn't matter for audio stuff, but it *does* matter in things like tube output transformers, where doubling the wiring capacitance can hose up that silky high end you worried so much about when you designed the sectioning of the windings.

I doubt many people shell for an ultra botique-er, then expose it to temperature extremes.. but
 I wonder what the expansion rate difference is between cured epoxy, copper, etc.
 With long spans of 'Goo' and transistors legs, seems like some tugging and pulling could go on in there when different matierals responding to temperature extremes and expanding/contracting at different rates..
 The Danthng is buried alive...maybe what's underneath is so hideous to look at it's best that it's kept veiled.

Quote from: R.G.Potting with *anything* also affects circuit operation. The potting goo has a dielectric constant higher than the air it displaces, and that increases the parasitic capacitances by the change in dielectric constant, which can be 2-3 or so.

This usually doesn't matter for audio stuff, but it *does* matter in things like tube output transformers, where doubling the wiring capacitance can hose up that silky high end you worried so much about when you designed the sectioning of the windings.

Oh great, you just opened up another can of worms - the goo is actually the secret tonal mojo magic that makes the pedal what it is  Hmmm, black goo obviously sounds better than blue or grey goo.  Of course only '70s NOS black goo is acceptable, anything else is fake and sounds like garbage.

But seriously, I remember reading something about a stainless steel screw in a soldering iron being able to remove epoxy?  Does that actually work (more importantly, who's tried it?)

Here at work I have a solder rework station with a high speed tool similar to a Dremel that is designed to remove what they call "conformal coatings"

I'd guess you could use it to take this stuff off... but you'd run the risk of damaging the parts underneath, just as you would weilding a super-hot screw attached to a soldering iron!

My Prunes And Custard has this goo in it...  I'd imagine so do Hot Cakes.

I think we should start a

JUST SAY NO TO GOO!

campaign. Screw the goo!

I'm surprised more schems for goo covered pedals haven't surfaced.  After all, all it would take is one person willing to sacrifice their pedal, just rip up all the goo, whittle it away slowly with a Dremel, etc. and trace the whole thing.  Even a Klon isn't that expensive (or replaceable) that if you had the $$, you couldn't rip one up.  Especially considering it's been around since what.. 1995 or so?  Even the Fulldrive was cracked a long time ago.  Now if I had a great sounding vintage Vox AC30, I would definitely think twice before unwinding the transformers... but a modern boutique pedal, there's only ethics in the way (FLAME SUIT ON!)

Treat it like pedal archaeology, you never know what you're going to find inside there so you have to brush it all away grain of sand by grain of sand... :-)

I decided long ago to not goop my gear. If someone really wants to reverse engineer your stuff they will. Deal with it. Instead of wasting time trying to protect your gear spend time getting your gear in the shops and making more new and cool things.

/rant

Andrew