Heat Stick/ JB Weld Question

Hey Guys,

I made a heat stick tonight following the guide at cedarcreek. Here's a quick summary and two questions. After wiring and grounding I coated the connections with liquid electrical tape making several coatings. I then coated the connections with JB Weld, Applied JB Weld to the threads of the slip nut and tightened it. I filled in all gaps above the slip nut and below with JB Weld and then covered the grounding screw with JB weld.

Two Questions:

1) Should I have coated so much of the OUTSIDE of the slip nut with JB Weld? Or was that supposed to be applied only to the threads? I have quite a lot of JB Weld on top of the slip nut to fill the gap between the 1" heating element and the 1 1/2 inch pipe.

2) Is it mandatory to use acetone to thin JB Weld enough to pour into the pipe and create a layer several inches thick inside the pipe? I can still do that if necessary. Not having acetone I just applied generously to the connections and the grounding nut.

Thanks for the info. Cheers!

I did up a slightly modified version of the cedarcreek build for a recent Basic Brewing episode that keeps the JB Weld 100% away from the wort. Might give you some ideas.

Thanks. Good ideas there.

I used the new method above but i didn't pay enough attention to the wording. I just added acetone till I got the consistancy I wanted. I probably used 2 tablespoons of acetone instead of the 1 teaspoon that jb weld calls for. 8 hours later and it is still wet and tacky. Do you think it will just take longer to cure or did i ruin the batch of jb weld? I haven't checked it in 10 hours. i will check when i get home from work tonight. If it is still tacky I guess i can try adding some heat to it so it cures faster.

JB weld takes well over 8 hours to cure even when you don't thin it down.

Yup. Just be patient. May take a couple days but it'll harden.

yup, 12 hours later and it is hard as a rock