Originally Posted by
NeoNot
I have used thermal compound on my RC's but never my nitro motor.
The to the best of my knowledge the thermal compound is meant for the electronics. I have replaced the thermal compound between my ESC's FET's and heat sink as well as applied it between my motor can and heat sink on my electric oval cars. I have also taken the time to lap the heat sinks for my ESC and motor. They now have a nice mirror finish to them which is can be just as, if not more important, as thermal compound. The reason you use thermal compound is to fill in the voids between two surfaces so heat will transfer from one surface to the other with less resistance. By lapping the heat sinks it removes the imperfections so there is less need for the thermal paste to fill the imperfections in that part.
In any case I dont think I would recommend it for a nitro mill as you would need to put it between the head button and piston sleeve, as well as the heat sink. There is to great of a risk of the compound getting down into your mill and trashing it, but that is my thoughts.
Thanks for the reply. If I were to do it I would not put it on the underside of the head button but just the flat service that cooling head touches. The item on Amain said thats where "the people" were applying it. In theory I can see it helping as applying thermal paste to a CPU between the heatsink can easily lower temps by 10-15C. The area between the head button and cooling head in no where near as smooth as a CPU and the mirror like smooth heatsink. So it could really help move the heat from the head button to the cooling head. But I am sure someone has done it and if it really helped out that much everyone would be doing this. If I have a chance I may try it with my old Losi 454 motor and see if there is a real difference. Because of the higher temp of a motor compared to a CPU I can see having to reapply the thermal paste a lot more often. The stuff can work up to about 270*.
If someone has tried this please post up.