Heat tape observation...

[Jon in Montana]

I posted this on another forum, too, but wanted your guys opinion.....

So I was testing out some home-made heat tapes this morning (Tattman's idea) - did a dry run (no glue) just to see if I got my watts right. Anyway, I noticed something -- I have a couple washers on the side to keep the lams from sliding side to side. After a few minutes with the heat tapes, I shot my laser temp gun to see what the temp was doing. Near the tips (where the wires/current starts) the temp was about 85 and climbing. About 6 inches in, it was only 70, though.

Then I noticed the washers near the ends were close to 85, but the temp dropped quickly right past them. Thinking they were acting as a heat sink, I rotated them down so they were not touching the stack. Immediately, the temp started to even out and rise.

So, was this a fluke thing that I just did at the right time, or do you think there's something to it? Seems like it would make sense, but I'm new to using heat tapes and wanted some input from others.

[arrowlauncherdj]

I've never rotated my washers out of the way, but I have always noticed my recurves were more hot in the curve and toward the tips. In fact, on my old Hi Heat strips I had to dial them back a lot after a few minutes bc on my first try, I burned my glass as it shot up over 200* in the curves like fast. Now I just use a dimmer switch with those and keep a light bulb hooked up to it so I can see its intensity. The ones Rob made for me, I have no trouble with, more even and slower to heat it all up. '

Dave