Good point -- clear acrylic would look really pretty, until it melted.

If you insulate the transistor with nylon shoulder washers rather than nylon
screws (this is recommended for large temperature excursions, buy the way)
then you could use an aluminum shield, for that matter.

"Avery Fineman" wrote in message
...
In article , "Tim Wescott"
writes:

Active Electronics (www.future-active.com) has a good line with some
stuff
that Digi-Key doesn't carry. Same goes for Mouser Electronics
(www.mouser.com).

How about whomping up your own, with spacers from the mounting screws
going
up to some sort of plastic (1/8" acrylic comes to mind)? This is a
_homebrew_ list, after all.

I'd suggest using pieces of Vectorboard (composite glass stuff
normally used for prototyping) instead of acrylic on hot power
transistors. Acrylic melting/softening point is rather low.

There was a neat little touch on the Circuit Specialists ready-made
power supplies (I just got a triple unit, excellent buy). There is a
conventional finned heat sink on the back for the power-handling
series regulators. The manufacturer (Chinese) added a simple U-
shape of black anodized aluminum that fits in the "slot" of the
heat sink. That covers the power transistor cases and doesn't
appear to lessen the heat-sinking. Very simple addition to the
standard big extruded aluminum heat sink which has been used
for at least 4 decades. Nothing more than a U structure whose
width is cut to fit the heat sink center area. An aluminum strap
with two little legs at the ends.

Len Anderson
retired (from regular hours) electronic engineer person