Hi all,
We had quite a few leaks trough our penetrators on our BR2, since we have it (around 4 years now), last one being trough tether cable (first version, not the revised one).
We more or less solved problems trough communication with BlueRobotics, but tether is not something we can deal like that, so we decided to do the potting ourselves, since there really isn’t any other solution.
Since we are based in Europe, there are lot of restrictions considering chemicals so we can not easily get products used in USA - recommended by BlueRobotics. I’ve searched trough all topics but did not find definitive solution to the potting problem, as what component to use that is relatively easily available to us in Europe.
I’ve found that material of “old” tehter cable that we use is polyethylene (different that other current BR product, harder to bond with epoxy).
Product that is easily avilable to us that I would like opinion of the community:
It was recommended to me by Loctite engineer, but with pressure testing prior to use because of no expertise in this particular field.
The tips I saw on the forum and BR video are:
- very good surface cleaning
- use of higher viscosity potting material
- scouring on the cable that we want to pot
- milling of the penetrator so bare aluminium is exposed
I’ve wanted to start this topic so potting problem (present in the community and at BlueRobotics) solution/help can be more available to community both in US and outside US. As far as I see 3M 2131 and Loctite epoxy marine are used in US and expiriences on this forum are good, altough not many expiriences are shared.
3M 2131 is somewhat available in EU (still researching the right supplier and options, part of the problem is only big size package) but there maybe are better options and expiriences.
I thank everyone in advance for input on this subject.