what is a indian bead?

[coppercone2]

my hp meter has a 'indian bead' specified in the errata. It disintegrated during disassembly.

Is this just a insulator?  It says it prevents the ferrite from touching the case. But does it do anything RF wise?

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

Have not hear them called "indian" but I have seen small plastic beads used as insulators or spacers in some old HP equipment.  The ones I saw are hard and almost clear.  Definitely just insulators or spacers.

[Stray Electron]

my hp meter has a 'indian bead' specified in the errata. It disintegrated during disassembly.

Is this just a insulator?  It says it prevents the ferrite from touching the case. But does it do anything RF wise?

   It sounds like a plain plastic bead that was used to space the base of a part (such as a power transistor) up and away from the metal chassis or through the CENTER of a larger hole in a metal heat sink.  If so then it shouldn't have any effect on the circuit.

   I've never heard the insulators called Indian beads but I'm sure that that is a reference to the brightly colored European manufactured beads that the early Dutch, French, Spanish and English traders used to trade to the American Indians.

[floobydust]

That it disintegrated implies it was organic?
I go to the local hippy bead store if I need spacers. Most are glass.

[TimFox]

Sometimes the spacer beads are ceramic, if temperature is a problem.
Here is an Indian source for what are normally called "fish-spine" beads (because of how they stack for longer wires): https://in.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/222005942938/?HissuCode=RG-4#
These beads allow reasonable flexing for a wire inside them, as the curved surfaces articulate.

[coppercone2]

it looked like a blue doughnut and it cracked into many pieces is what I mean. I thought it was glass-like. Fell on the floor somewhere as usual

I can just cut a segment of teflon tube instead if its just a insulator. I thought it might have been a complimentary ferrite type

I never saw multiple materials stacked up together, but its possible

[Sacodepatatas]

Maybe nothing to do, but some months ago I'd read the english version of a chinese paper about a MCU core and then I saw SFR_Indian_Addr. Maybe it was a bad translation of the SFR_Indirect_Addr label in chinese.

[44kgk1lkf6u]

If it is not attracted to magnets, then it is not ferrite.