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NST de-potting, my technique
Since this has come up in the past week, I though I'd share my NST depotting
technique with y'all, especially for those who cannot put NST's in their
ovens (like me, I have a gas oven... dangerous!)
Here's what I do:
1. Remove NST top cover plate to expose tar.
2. Wrap chicken wire around NST, covering over the exposed tar.
3. Turn the NST upside down, and use wood or bricks to
suspend it upside-down over a collection pan (I use
a foil turkey-cooking pan)
4. Place a portable electric burner upside-down on top
of the NST. The burner coil should be in contact with the
bottom of the NST case (which is now the top surface)
5. Let her cook! Do not leave this unattended.
I adopted this method, rather than right-side-up cooking, because it allows
the tar to drip down away from the heat source, into a cool catch pan
instead of into a hot pan where it can boil and smoke and eventually catch
fire. I use 2x4s and bricks to hold my NST a good foot above the collection
pan.
Note: Do not forget the chicken wire, or some kind of grill across the
opening in the NST case!!! This is necessary to prevent the large block of
tar from falling out in a single piece (transformer included) into the pan
as soon as the sides of the block melt.
[--------------] <-- hotplate, upside-down.
[______________]
____________________
| |+
| |+
| NST |
+--| upside-down |--+
+| | | |+
+--| |--+
|________________|
o - - - - - - - - - - - - - o <-- Grill/Chicken wire
\ / <-- collection pan
\________________________/
-Adam
adamsmith-at-mediaone-dot-net