DealExtreme Kapton

Has anyone purchased the kapton tape from dealextreme recently? I heard they were selling faulty/fake kapton; are they still selling this bad tape or have they stopped?

Not sure what you're talking about. I bought mine back in May and other than some rips that occur just after cleaning when pieces get stuck to the bed like glue I haven't had any problems with it. I wind my nichrome with it too.

Make sure to check when it arrives. Mine was fine.

That said, also make sure to check the specs on their page suits what you're doing.

For covering a heated bed, 260 Deg C "should" be fine, but I wouldn't use it for a heating element. DX also have 10mm wide stuff that goes to 300 Deg C that so far lives up to all the expectations I've put on it.

That said, the thing that separates most cheap Kapton from the good stuff is the quality of the adhesive on the tape. Many of the cheap tapes (Deal Extreme included) do not use a proper high temp grade adhesive. I must admit that the 10mm DX stuff at least stays stuck to itself after going above 200 Deg C, which is better than some I've seen.

Note: Remember, the tape is a plastic, and as such it expands a LOT faster than metal or ceramic as it gets hot. As such, it will lift off surfaces when it heats up if the adhesive isn't up to the job. Even then, it can still crinkle.

Bruce Wrote:
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> Not sure what you're talking about. I bought mine
> back in May and other than some rips that occur
> just after cleaning when pieces get stuck to the
> bed like glue I haven't had any problems with it.
> I wind my nichrome with it too.

Quote
http://reprap.org/wiki/Kapton_tape
WARNING: Some of the tape from this company is fake. It cannot handle the temperatures needed for the RepRap project.

Also here: [www.dealextreme.com] .

That's what I'm referring to. But, if they're not shipping bad kapton anymore, it's all good.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2010 07:50PM by An Original Name.

I have three rolls of different kapton widths from dealextreme, they all pass the soldering iron test. The PET and PTFE tape they have is also good. Of course there's always a possibility of a bad batch, though for me the price is worth the "risk". But this worry is blown out of proportion as you will most probable get a refund if you ask politely.

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-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic

I use DX PET and Kapton tape and use tons of it, but I ONLY use it for my heated build platform surface, not for any thing where I need 'real' kapton.

instead of buying from Dealextreme you can try a better one , online shop from china !

its Chinabuye which has better service and verified suppliers !!

akshar102 Wrote:
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> instead of buying from Dealextreme you can try a
> better one , online shop from china !
>
> its Chinabuye which has better service and
> verified suppliers !!


lol - sorry for being cynical but someone that signs on today and his first post is to plug a sales site?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2010 01:45PM by AgeingHippy.

And a site which doesn't even have any kind of tape for sale.

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-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic

Well, here's an update.. I was dumb enough not to test DX kapton with a soldering iron first! I put it on my extruder thinking it would work (rated at 300C), but it melted at less than 200C! In addition, as soon as I tested it with a hot soldering iron, it melted instantly. What's weird is that my other roll (which I think was rated at 260C or 200C) actually withstood the soldering iron. Maybe I could use that instead. I'm still upset about having to replace my thermistor (one of the lead wires broke off while I was trying to salvage it from the mess), and I really do hope nothing on my Gen6 board fried because of this!! I turned the heat off pretty quick after I noticed my nozzle smoking, but I'm not sure if anything else was damaged until I can get another thermistor.