Replacing the kapton tape on the hot end

[Bryon Miller]

I can't get my kapton tape changed on the hot end.  I followed the youtube videos to take it all apart, that's not the issue.  THe problem is I ordered insulation and the tape itself from mcmaster car or some site like that I think.  The insulation appears to be identical, so does the tape.  But the tape I bought is too thin so I have to make several strips to cover the insulation.  I've made the cuts in the insulation for the hot end and the bold, but I can't get the damn tape to stick properly to the felt and it always comes off.  HOW do you get this to stick?!  I am afraid if I use super glue it could catch on fire.  I don't want to order through MBI because they take forever, I might as well walk to boston from arizona, I'd get there faster.  If I just run it without the insulation, I'm sure that will damage the prints and also the plastic carriage.  I have the ALU Carriage upgrade that I never installed, if I switched that out, would this thing be ok to run without the insulation?

Trying to put the tape on the insulation is a frustrating ordeal, and I can't find this tape locally ANYWHERE!  Is Kapton tape something that no home depot, ace hardware or any other similar store would carry?  I couldn't even get it from Radio Shack.  This is just very frustrating because my machine is down because of a simple issue and I can't go anywhere to buy material to fix it quickly!  I got the wrong girth tape months ago, now I can't seem to get it to adhere to the felt.  AAAARRRRRGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bryon Miller]

I order from ULINE all the time for my online business, they get supplies to me within 24 hours. 

Would this Kapton tape work?  I don't understand the film and total thickness fields.  It looks like the 1" x 36 yards would provide the proper girth for the insulation.  PLEASE someone let me know if this will work for these printers.  I don't know which to get, if one of these is compatible, would the thickness be the 1 mil or the 2 mil thickness version?

[James Long]

Kapton sticks pretty well to kapton, and it doesn't stick well to the insulation.  When I've had to do it, I've: 

1.  wrapped a thin piece of kapton all the way around the width of the insulation to serve as an kapton-kapton anchor point. That gives something for the long strips of kapton you're going to wrap it with to stick to while you're working. 

2.  left two long "legs" of kapton dangling off on one side, and wrap them around so they connect to more kapton.

-James

[James Long]

And no, you probably won't find it locally, unless you otherwise have a 3D-printing store nearby.  The main uses according to wikipedia are:  Space shuttles, aircraft, X-rays, and 3d printing. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapton

[Wingcommander whpthomas]

After about 1000 hours the insulation on my Replicator 2 hot end started to deteriorate, and was crumbling out and onto my build plate, so I disassembled and re-applied the ceramic insulation and then rapped it in kapton tape, which I purchased locally from BilbyCNC in Australia.

[Gregory Sullivan]

I put it in a small machinist vice and cut my tape strips and stick them to the cabinet above the counter. have an Xacto ready and forceps or tweezers. After wraping the felt put the tape down in the direction you wraped the felt and hold the tape with the forceps/tweezers and wrap it once to hold. if you get that far the rest is easy. being clean and having the tape at 80-100f (leave it in the sun) is critical.

[CreativeDaemon]

Be careful where you get your Kapton.

I ordered it from one of the larger 3d printing suppliers and it turned out to be "fake" Kapton. This junk melted, ruined a print, and put my machine out of commission for a few days while I waited for a new reel of tape to be delivered.

You can get the "real" Kapton tape, in the size you need, from McMaster-Carr for a decent price.

On Tuesday, September 17, 2013 1:17:48 PM UTC-4, Bryon Miller wrote:

[Dan Newman]

On 19 Sep 2013 , at 1:16 PM, CreativeDaemon wrote:

> Be careful where you get your Kapton.
>
> I ordered it from one of the larger 3d printing suppliers and it turned out
> to be "fake" Kapton.

Did they actually advertise it as Kapton tape? Kapton is a trademark of Du Pont's
and they're usually pretty protective of their marks. I'm not suggesting
that you report them to Du Pont; however, you might ask for your money back
if the supplier did indeed advertise it as Kapton tape when it isn't.

Dan