Hi all, of all the brands of Kapton tape you’ve ever used, are they essentially all the same? If not, which is the best you’ve used so far?
Background: One of my older Novatac is activating intermittently, and upon disassembly it appears that the negative solder blob is exposed and shorting to the reflector. I need an inexpensive but quality kapton tape to apply after I clean off the contacts.
Seconding this question. I’ve been hoping to find some kapton tape on aliexpress, but there are many reviews revealing they are fakes, being very weak and melting easily. Luckily, my local makerspace has some that should be reliable, but I don’t know the brand.
Wonder if vinyl electrical tape suffices for your needs. Probably just any old tape would work as long as it’s hard and thick enough–presumably the Novatac won’t be producing extreme temperatures. I’ve even used duct tape in the past for insulating solder joints from reflectors, with success, but don’t recommend it as it’s too soft.
I would, but the residue would be a PITA to clean off in the future…also, I’m not convinced that the reflector wouldn’t just shred through the vinyl.
One key benefit that kapton has is its transparency, so I’d be able to tell at a glance if the joints/components are burning etc.
I’ve used regular black electrician’s tape to isolate solder from reflectors and never had an issue that I’m aware of.
So…i tried the etape, it does NOT hold onto the electronics when the reflector makes contact, the adhesive becomes more like dense sludge when tightening the retaining ring. Spent a while cleaning off the gunk in prep for Kapton tape…
Still looking for recommendations!
Interesting topic, since I’ve also wondered about this.
I’m currently using a couple of unbranded/random rolls of Kapton from Aliexpress, being fully aware that it might (probably) be inferior quality, but so far I’ve never actually taken the time to test any of them properly.
I could maybe do a simple test with my hotplate (and an external thermocouple), but I should come up with propper test procedure first. Unfortunately I don’t have much time the coming weeks, so it’s something for later I gues.
In the meantime I’m interested to read other people their experience!
I purchased this legitimate Kapton for $9.99 from Amazon.
I have used this
It does not stick very well at all, but it does work when trapped in place…
but instead of adding tape over the blob (or to the reflector), I would try to make the blob smaller (solder wick or dremmel)
I tried, lol…any less solder and the leads won’t stick, I could remove material from the reflector instead, but don’t want to risk an unseated/unsecured reflector bouncing around…maybe I could source a super thin plastic insulating disc instead…
Thanks! I’ll give that a shot
I found Kapton tape from Mechanic on Aliexpress and there seem to be quite a lot of positive reviews, including some with test results with photos:
Personally I’ve got good experiences with stuff from Mechanic, so I ordered a 15mm rol to test.
The one and only time I bought some Kapton tape was from Mountain Electronics, so it should be legit. I’ve used it a couple of times and it worked well. It appears Richard no longer has it in stock though: 2/5" (~10mm) Kapton Tape - 1 Mil - 33 Yards
That multipack worked great! No sliding, plus it didn’t peel off when dissassembling/reassembling the head/pill