Hi Joseph!

We build assemblies that use adhesive preforms for just the reasons you've
stated, and process them exactly like you do...

The vendor is AbleStik at: http://www.ablestik.com/

I hope this is not the company that you're talking about that's raised their
prices so much...

This preform that we use bonds two assemblies to a aluminum heatsink, one to
each side, and this is the adhesive pre-form that is called out by our
customer...we can't use anything else...sounds like a change of scope if the
prices have increased a bunch!!!

-Steve Gregory-


> Our supplier for epoxy sheet adhesives has significantly increased
> prices, and I'd like to look at alternative sources.
>
> We use this stuff for bonding ladder-style aluminum heatsinks to
> PWB's.  The types that we use are either glass cloth or Kapton
> film covered with epoxy, total thickness from .004" to .009".  We
> cut material on a programmable x-y machine that looks a lot like
> a plotter, but with a blade instead of a pen.  Cure is with heat and
> pressure, either in a fixture and oven, or with a vacuum bag and
> platen press.
>
> We like dry film better than screen printing or dispensing liquid
> adhesive because it's a lot less messy, bondline thickness is very
> repeatable, material doesn't squeeze out when fixtured, and there
> is no smear when aligning the heatsink with the board.
>
> Anyone use Arlon materials for something like this?  Other sources?
>