10ml Cow-Formal Silicone Conformal Coating

Product Description

Cow-Formal Silicone Conformal Coating 10ml

Real waterproofing, no shortcuts.

Cow-Formal Silicone Conformal Coating is the industrial-grade coating Holmes Hobbies relies on in-house to waterproof their own electronics. It's not available anywhere else, provided only to CowRC.

Most conformal coatings are acrylic-based, and acrylic turns brittle and cracks under the vibration and stress an RC vehicle sees every run. Silicone stays flexible, maintaining its seal exactly where it needs to, adding real durability on top of the protection you'd expect. This is a genuinely thick, industrial-strength formula, not a cut-down, thinned-out multi-coat product like so many alternatives out there. One proper coat is typically all it takes.

Applying Cow-Formal starts with a clean board. Even a brand new one carries flux residue and soldering splatter, so clean it first with MOO-Kleen Cleaner and Degreaser, denatured alcohol can work too if that's not on hand.

Where applicable, hang the board by its wire rather than laying it flat. That lets you coat all sides in one pass, instead of doing one side, waiting for it to cure, then flipping it for the other. As the coating flows downward, it also naturally coats the wire-to-board solder point along the way, sealing that connection too. Avoid coating directly over pins or exposed contacts, and any buttons that still need to move freely. If a button sits under a plastic riser, push the brush to its base on all sides so the coating wicks underneath and seals around it without gumming up the mechanism.

One coat is usually enough for boards you can easily access. For electronics buried deeper in a build, like inside a scale truck body, two coats gives you insurance against missing a spot, since it's easy to overlook an area on a single pass. You don't need to wait for a full cure between coats, just until the first one flashes past tacky, typically an hour and a half to three hours. To check your coverage, run a finger across the lowest point of the board, where contaminants tend to pool first, if it catches or feels sharp, you need more coating. A magnifying glass can also help you spot any bare patches the eye alone might miss.

If you get excess somewhere you don't want it, a fresh coating wipes away easily with acetone or paint thinner on a toothpick. Once it's cured, usually around three days, it won't wipe away anymore and needs to be scraped off carefully with a hobby knife blade. Skip sandpaper on the board itself, a fine nail file or polishing stick is about as abrasive as you want to risk. When boards are stacked in layers rather than sitting as one single board, separate them and coat each one individually when you can, rather than trying to coat straight through a stack.

Available in two sizes. The 10ml bottle is the better fit for treating a handful of ESCs or receivers here and there. The 50ml bottle is built for anyone going through it regularly, enough to treat an entire army of ESCs or receivers.

Now you can waterproof your electronics the right way.

Some tips from the team:

• Keep the bottle sealed tightly between uses on either size, any exposure to air at all will cause premature curing. Tight isn't good enough, it needs to be fully sealed. On the 10ml bottle specifically, when the lid is properly torqued down, you'll see the bottom of the lid compress and bow out slightly where it meets the glass, that's your visual cue you've got a good seal.
• Coating can drip while you work, so it helps to protect the surface underneath. Lay down a shop towel, or stretch a strip of removable tape across it that will peel away clean afterward without damaging most surfaces.
• Wires are often protected with heat shrink, but heat shrink and tubing can trap moisture rather than keep it out. If a wire end is exposed, like an antenna tip, coat it directly instead of relying on the shrink wrap alone.
• For a deeper dive into proper Cow-Formal application, check out CowTech Episode 58, featuring Jeremy Kilburn of AtEaseRC, who brings extensive hands-on experience with conformal coating application.

Features:

• Provided to CowRC exclusively via Holmes Hobbies
• Flexible, non-acrylic, silicone-based formula
• Full strength industrial grade, one coat
• Available in 10ml and 50ml
• Applicator brush included

Ideal Applications:

• Receivers
• Electronic speed controls (ESCs)
• Motor sensor boards
• Battery elimination circuits (BECs)
• Servo circuit boards
• Gyro circuit boards
• Any other non-waterproof RC electronics that will see water exposure

⚠ Contains toluene. Flammable. Harmful if swallowed or inhaled. Keep out of reach of children. Avoid breathing vapors, and wash thoroughly after handling. Do not eat, drink, or smoke while using. Use only outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. If swallowed, call a poison center or seek medical attention immediately.