[Elecraft] KPA100 Thermal Pads

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

My KPA100 has been apart many, many times, documenting various mods and
upgrades for Elecraft. The first time I took it apart, the pads tore, with
some parts sticking to the transistors and other parts sticking to the
heatsink. It had been assembled and had many hours of very heavy operation
and testing often raising the heat sink temp too much to want to leave my
hand on it, so I wasn't surprised the pads were well bonded to the surfaces.
The tearing wasn't a problem. When the heat sink was fitted to the
transistors again, the sections of pads fit together to form a complete pad.


I guess it was after about dozen such separations and reinstallations that I
finally damaged the part of a pad stuck to a transistor while working on the
unit, so I replace them both. 

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----



  I need to replace the speaker in a k2/100, but it
requires that the KPA100 PA transistors and the board
be removed from the heatsink. 

  Anyone aware of any issues with reusing the thermal
pads? 

  I really like thermal grease better, but since this
is what it was built with, I'll stick with it. Just
not sure if their effectiveness is dimished when
reused.

Thank you,
Anthony, NT4X