I'm building a piece of furniture that is to contain a hard drive. This hard drive will be inside a small round depression in the top, and have a glass cover over it. It will essentially be a sealed box with a glass top. The hard drive is to remain operational, so I will remove its cover and install the glass in a clean environment.

Just in case my clean environment isn't perfectly clean, I'd like to place something sticky in with the drive to catch any stray particles. I need something that will remain sticky forever, won't release any particles it captures, is a solid, and won't outgas anything harmful to hard drive internals.

Things that have come to mind:

carpet tape
those sticky hand toys sold in vending machines
under-cured polyester resin

I have also seen this clear goop that covers the electronics in VW ignition modules. Does anyone know what that is or where to get it? I think it's probably in there as a moisture barrier, but it's very tacky, yet still a solid.

And just to head off the "Why would you want to do such a thing?" questions... Shut up! It's art!

How about those sticky mouse trap things

Butyl windsheild tape is my "sticky mass" of choice.

Tack rag used for wiping down stuff before painting?

Why don't you just give it to one of your friends who work in the microelectronics industry and can take it into a clean room and do it?

-Tony

fly strip comes to mind.

I think almost all of the "candidates" so far will out-gas especially the tackrag, the flypaper and the partially cured resin, not sure about the butyl but if its like the butyl in caulking it will out gas...my best guess is the foam mounting tape by 3M. Easy to get, stable adhesive and easy to apply....just my .02

Lots of good suggestions! Outgassing is ok, as long as the gas isn't harmful to the hard drive. The hard drive only cost $30, so it isn't the end of the world if it dies.

Tony: that sort of sounded like you were volunteering...

How do you get something clean enough to take into a clean room anyways? It seems like you'd need a clean room to do that... but then how do you keep THAT clean room clean if you keep taking dirty things into it?

Good question!

I had a strip of sample clean room entry mats, but I threw it away. PM Mike Mueller and ask him for the name of a company and order a sample. These mats are things you stick to the floor in the entry way to a clean room and as you walk across it the adhesive pulls the dust off your shoes! The sample pads contained about 30 sheets and were large enough to set a HD on.

Ooh, we just bought one of those to keep the cat from scratching at the door! I didn't realize they were used in clean rooms. That probably means it won't outgas anything harmful. I think we might have a winner!

Well, I don't know what you do for objects, but probably the same thing you do for people. You suit up and then walk into an air shower where you are sprayed from all sides with pressurized air which knocks off anything on the surface of the clothes, then sucks it throuh giant air filters.

I don't have routine access to clean rooms per se.......... but......

-Tony

Ooh... would they look at you funny if you walked in with this?

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Also, do you have access to a screwdriver that fits this screw? (the head is about 1.75mm in diameter)

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