How long should thermal epox be left to set?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

My dad reckons epoxy glue takes 24 hours to fully set, however after an hour its usually bonded to a useable state..at least thats his thinking.

Just womdering if the same thing applies to thermal epoxy? How long should the HS and glue be left to 'bond' before attempting to use the machine. Theres a label on the glue itself which says '5 minutes', does this mean 5 mins to mix before applying or sets in 5 mins :eek: :confused:

Cheers

--Jakk:t

[Giblet Plus!]

Is this the stuff that came with a Zalmann northbridge sink?

Mine set up in about 5 minutes, but I'd give it at least 30 minutes before I used whatever was glued. :D

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Nah its Artic Silver: Artic Alumina Epoxy, by the instructionsi found on the net i should clamp/pressurize the bond for at least half an hour and then leave for several hours to ensure the bond sets well, mamma mia, several hours without my computer, i'll go cold turkey :eek:

--Jakk:t

[ichorid]

how you sposed to clamp somethin in a pc ie mosfets, nb, sb or cpu???

:rolleyes:

[Bigjakkstaffa]

i'll just rest a couple of breakfast weights on it for a couple o mins from my mums kitchen scales, its not like she ever uses em

--Jakk:t

[GrowingSlowly]

Place it carefully in the oven and get it good and hot. It will harden very quickly like this.:r :eek: :rolleyes:

[2penguins]

Jakk,

better safe than sorry....clamp it and give it 24 hours.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Yeah, gotta tidy my room this week anyhows, that'll be at least an all day job, so im gonna let it set while im doing that

--Jakk:t

[causticVapor]

With arctic silver thermal epoxy, heatsinks have a habit of falling off if you run the system 2 hours or so after you have let them set.

My policy is to wait at least 4 hours. The official curing time is 24 hours.