Heat-resistant foam sponge

djspecialist

The valves in my amp are held in place by a strip of spongey material, fixed onto the plate which is screwed on to close the valve compartment.  This has now lost its springiness, so I need to replace it.  Depending on how springy the material, I reckon it needs to be about 5-10mm thick.

Neither Maplin nor my favourite local hardware shop had anything along these lines, so I'm trying to find it online.  The problem is I don't know what to search for.

So far I only found

• sponges for cleaning soldering irons (not very springy, but I think it might do the job)
• high-temperature silicone cord (not the right shape, plus it's shipped from the USA)
• this 3M tape (not thick enough by the look of it)

Does anyone know where I can get this?

Winny_Pooh

Afaik the soldering iron stuff is sea sponge? Worth trying to buy bugger strips? 

Sassafras

Neoprene foam will withstand temperatures up to 260 C.
Loads of different sizes on ebay.

djspecialist

@Winny_Pooh I'm not sure how "bugger strips" would help here

@Sassafras cheers - Neoprene sounds like what I need.

Winny_Pooh

Haha crap, I also wrote about Peaveys having the high temp foam holding in el84s but that got lost in posting. 

djspecialist

Winny_Pooh said:

Haha crap, I also wrote about Peaveys having the high temp foam holding in el84s but that got lost in posting. 

You're on the money: although I didn't say so in the OP, the amp in question is a Peavey C50.

djspecialist

Sassafras said:

Neoprene foam will withstand temperatures up to 260 C.

Do you have any links?  A search on eBay only returned foam rated to 85-100C (e.g. this and this).

Just did a quick google and found people saying they had measured surface temperatures above 200C on EL84s.  Obviously this will be vary depending on the type of amp and tube in question, but it suggests I need tolerances quite a bit higher than those in the links above.

djspecialist

Silicone sponge can tolerate higher temperatures - perhaps this is what I need?

Sassafras

No, sorry.
I've not used it but I read that neoprene rubber, the dense stuff, will stand up to high temps up to 260C but I don't know if it's a special type.
I remember I had a Peavey amp that used what looked and smelled exactly like neoprene to cushion the valves (EL84s).