Have you guys seen this tape stuff??

[vwbill]

http://www.tommytape.com/ Pretty cool stuff!! They had it on one of the shopping nets and it is good for like 4000 volts...That was the household stuff...Bill,jr. WOnder if the other spec stuff would be useful???

[Piledriver]

Mmmmmmmmmmm F4 tape. Has it's uses. Usually expensive.

[MGVWfan]

Interesting. That Nitro Tape may be good for repairing rotten air box flexhoses...

[raygreenwood]

Man we need a sticky for finding and posting cool AND useful stuff like this.

Piledriver...I found something very cool on a very cool site
http://www.smallparts.com/
This is a site for electronics and electromehcanical R&D developers. It has everything from micro parts abd screws to teflon, scale metal and plastic engineering extrusions and engineering plastic.

AND....they have this......actuator wire

This is precision titanium nickle wire that when heated or current appllied.....temporarily shrinks in length by a uniform amount with millions of cyles available.....and about 25,000 psi tensile or higher.
Its called Nitinol wire.

Product Description
Nitinol Super Elastic Wire ASTM F2063 Annealed, Straightened, Cut, Light Oxide Finish gets its name from its elemental composition and the discovery team who first recognized the potential of this powerful alloy (Nickel Titanium Naval Ordinance Laboratory). Nitinol alloys have the intriguing ability to recover a preset shape, even after drastic distortion. Composition is typically 55-56 percent Nickel and 44-45 percent Titanium, but slight adjustments of this ratio can significantly impact the properties of the material. There are two primary but overlapping categories of Nitinol. Our Nitinol Wire is a SuperElastic alloy which can be strained at least eight to ten times more than ordinary spring steel without permanent deformation. It can be rather severely compressed, bent or otherwise distorted, but snaps back to its preset or trained shape with considerable force that can be used as work. A new memory is imparted by restraining the material in exactly the shape required and heating to a temperature above 932F (500C) for a minimum of five minutes. The shape will be set upon cooling and will exhibit the same flexibility and resistance to deformation as the original wire. It can be repeatedly retrained to achieve new shapes. Prosthetic devices routinely utilize Nitinol alloys. Excellent corrosion resistance and biocompatibility contribute to Nitinols continued growth in the medical device world.
ASTM F2063
Straight, Annealed Temper
Super Elastic Alloy
May be Strained 8-10 times More Than Spring Steel
Superior Corrosion Resistance
Specifications
Exterior Finish:
Light Oxide

Outside Diameter:
0.025 inches

Outside Diameter Tolerance:
+/-0.0005 inches

Length Tolerance:
+/-0.5 inches

Item Shape:
Round

Temper:
Annealed

Specification Met:
ASTM F2063

It comes very fine or thick. For about $20 worth of this wire wrapped around a capstan.....and hooked to a simple 12v switch that starts when the ignition does...with a resistor in line to slow heating.....I could make a replacement for the type 4 bellows thermostat that would bever wear out.

BUT.......the more important thing is THIS product or version of Nitinol wire. Its called flexinol.
Read this....and think about what I just said about maing a thermostat:

Flexinol(R) Nitinol Wire .0150" OD, Nitinol Actuator Wire, 70C Transition Temp Product Details
Part Number
NAW-70-0150

ASIN
B001DEGUOC

Brand Name
Small Parts

Material Type
Nitinol

System of Measurement
English
Availability: In Stock
Shipping Information: This product will ship within 1 day. Image is representative of product family and may not exactly match what you will receive.

Product Description
Flexinol(R) Nitinol Actuator Wire: Flexinol(R) is a trade name for shape memory alloy actuator wires. These small diameter wires (made from nickel-titanium) contract like muscles when they are electrically driven. This ability to flex or shorten is a characteristic of certain alloys, which dynamically change their internal structure at certain temperatures. The idea of reaching higher temperatures electrically came with the light bulb, but instead of producing light, these alloys contract by several percent of their length when heated and can then be easily stretched out again as they cool back down to room temperature. Like a light bulb both heating and cooling can occur quite quickly. The contraction of Flexinol(R) actuator wires when heated is opposite to ordinary thermal expansion, is larger by a hundredfold, and exerts tremendous force for its small size. Movement occurs through an internal solid state restructuring in the material that is silent, smooth, and powerful. This effect can be used in many ways. A safe assumption is that any task requiring physical movement in a small space with low to moderate cycling speeds is something that most likely will be better done with actuator wires. Many of the tasks currently being done with small motors or solenoids can be done better and cheaper with Flexinol(R) actuator wires. Since the actuator wires are small in comparison to the work they perform, new products and improved design on existing products are readily accomplished. As a rule of thumb the material will contract with approximately 25,000 pounds per square inch. Sample Applications: Actuators, Latches, Micro Circuit Breakers, Temp. Control, Micro Clutches, Medical/Surgical Instrumentation, Prosthetic limbs, Motor protectors, Camera manipulators, Ultra light remote controls, Robotic limbs, Micro pumps, Blood pressure test valves, Automotive: Door locks - Mirror controls - Environmental controls, etc.
Shape Memory
Actuator Wire
Superior Corrosion Resistance
Non Magnetic
Miniature Foot print
Specifications
Exterior Finish:
Oxide

Outside Diameter:
.0150 inches

Item Shape:
Round


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Part Number Length Units Price Available Quantity
NAW-70-0150-05 5 feet 1 / pack $14.40 1
NAW-70-0150-25 25 feet 1 / pack Out of Stock
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Ray

[MGVWfan]

Hmmm...I just put a Mexican FI T1 thermostat in my T4, working good, but Ray's idea is very appealing...

[raygreenwood]

Yes...I need to order a section of wire to test it. Basically I need to find out how many mm per inch of wire the "shortening" or conracting force is. The amount of pull force will be no problem. But the mechanism I am thinking of is a simple plate....the wire being connected at a bolt. A simple torlon or tefzel capstan mounted to stud on the plate. Maybe 8-10 wraps of wire. The end of the wire terminating at a fat spring connected to the plate as well. On the end of the capstan roller a lever arm will be mounted. That lever arm connects to the regular wire that connects to the flaps. The object is that as current is applied to the actuator wire and it contracts....it turns the capstan. The spring and anchor point is simply a counter balance to keep the wire tightly wrapped on the capstan.
All of this can be acuated by a simple one wire temp switch screwed into the CHT area of the right hand head. Say...when head temps hit 140 or so.....12V gets sent to the actuator wire. Flaps open in about 10 seconds against normal spring pressure. I have to see what configuration will allow fail safe. Ray

[Piledriver]

Leave it to Ray to be the first person to finally find a practical use for memory wire!!!
The stuff is supposedly good for millions of cycles, I wouldn't let "fail-safe" drive design.

If it switches at 70C, it could be used in place of the stock setup, hot-air powered.

Considering the cost of a stock early (fail safe) thermostat, it sounds reasonable.

[raygreenwood]

Yep...they have two different alloys. The first is as you note..."memory wire". Its closer to spring steel in that as the text mentioned you can precisly heat it into shapes at a fairly low temp. The more intrigueing one is the "flexinol" alloy. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Yet agin...2nd time in two weeks....I am in the middle of record breaking snowfall (i'm in Oklahoma city). Ray

[MGVWfan]

Gonna get to know your snow shovel very well, eh Ray?

[raygreenwood]

Yes....I have.

[Piledriver]

Whatchadoin back in OKC?

[raygreenwood]

Visiting mom and dad an niece and nephews....and shoveling snow.....just like DC

[wildthings]

http://www.tommytape.com/ Pretty cool stuff!! They had it on one of the shopping nets and it is good for like 4000 volts...That was the household stuff...Bill,jr. WOnder if the other spec stuff would be useful???

I have tried a couple of these tapes over the last few years and do not feel they have lived up to their hype. One roll of tape was bought through an electrical warehouse and very expensive while the second was through a local hardware store and fairly cheap. As far as I can tell the more expensive one was no better than the cheap.