4 ms·

I bought a roll direct from 3M a few weeks back. Was well over $40. It would also appear they don't call it kapton, but instead thermosetting adhesive. Checkou

by dapids 6y ago

I bought a roll direct from 3M a few weeks back. Was well over $40. It would also appear they don't call it kapton, but instead thermosetting adhesive. Checkout 3M 5413 AMBER. Larger rolls can cost upwards of $300, not cheap stuff.

dapids 6y ago
I should also warn, if you decide to take the risk buying this fake krapton garbage, you do risk an electrical fire. Unless you yourself have tested the resistance this tape provides versus the real deal, DO NOT assume it is an insulator!
LeifCarrotson 6y ago
Digikey is one of the primary vendors of 3M, and well known for reliability as a counterfeit-free distributor. https://www.digikey.com/short/zrz730 https://www.digikey.com/short/zrz730 Also, even if you've not used them before or have no need of kapton tape, take a look because their parametric search is one of the greatest I've seen, and makes Amazon's Choice system seem awful in comparison.
- dapids 6y ago
  Yes, I regularly order from them, but shipping via DigiKey hasn't been great lately where I live so I went with 3M. I also highly recommend digi-key for anyone's kapton needs. Edit: spelling
  - tonyarkles 6y ago
    > shipping via DigiKey hasn't been great lately where I live I'm super curious where you live, approximately! I'm in Saskatchewan, and Digi-Key reliably gets me parts next-day, even when shipped DDP (they take care of all of the duty for me). For crossing a border, that's pretty incredible!
  - bsder 6y ago
    I've been tending toward using Mouser lately. DigiKey seems to be playing games with low-volume prices on me lately as well as screwing up shipping.
    - exmadscientist 6y ago
      The only trouble we've had with Digi-Key over the last six months, with dozens of orders, has been coming too close to their end-of-day shipment cutoff. (It seems to be closer in practice to 7:30pm than their advertised 8 CT, but I'm not begrudging them that during this pandemic! This is avoiding restricted materials such as lithium batteries, flux, etc., as well as avoiding value-added items. Order those earlier in the day if you want them fast!) Most of our orders are overnighted, for what that's worth; I know the big distributors do treat overnights differently. We have never seen a single issue with pricing not as advertised at small quantities, or a shipping mistake not directly attributable to the carrier. Mouser has performed similarly well but is (and has always been) significantly worse with their cutoff. Again, they're nominally 8pm CT but 6 or 6:30 is more realistic if you're counting on it being here the very next day. Both are amazing if you're used to crappier distributors, but you do pay for it....
      - bsder 6y ago
        > We have never seen a single issue with pricing not as advertised at small quantities Ah. No, we haven't either. The issue is that we have caught DigiKey charging different prices based upon login status and cookie status on low volume order items. This would be fine if they were charging the returning customer less, but we caught them charging more. That made us very unhappy. Maybe it was a bug. Maybe it was an A/B test. However, if I have to scrutinize my order cart, we're done. We still use DigiKey. But we have significantly reduced our volume through them and we watch them like a hawk.
        exmadscientist 6y ago
        OK, now that I wouldn't have expected! Thanks for the heads up! (Not that I'd likely be able to observe it with our weird procurement flow....)
  - techdragon 6y ago
    I’ve had to dump DigiKey since they use UPS exclusively, since I’m in Australia, UPS has one facility in my city. It’s a real pain to haul my ass out there because UPS have zero alternative arrangements over here. It’s delivery to the person/address or hold at the facility out in the middle of no where.
    - TylerE 6y ago
      So, uh, why not just get it delivered to your address? What am I missing? That's how UPS works.
      - dmitrygr 6y ago
        USA != world 1. UPS do not leave packages at door in all countries 2. Some people live in apartments with nowhere safe for packages to be left 3. In some cities/countries in-person delivery does not exist at all. Only "collect at post office"
- metaphor 6y ago
  I like DigiKey, but sometime they're neither convenient nor competitive. Food for consideration: since 3M is a ECIA member manufacturer[1], if the source isn't direct from the cow's mouth or one of their authorized distributors, it's prima facie suspect in my eyes and cannot be trusted on anything with skin in the game. [1] https://www.trustedparts.com/en/manufacturers/3m https://www.trustedparts.com/en/manufacturers/3m
kurthr 6y ago
If it's not made my Dupont, it's not Kapton... it's polyimide (amber) tape.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- phaker 6y ago
  And the problem is kapton is just one of many polyimides, (pmda-oda) there are other others like P84 (btda-tdi/mdi). But nobody knows the generic name (the acronym isn't even in the wikipedia article) so fly by night vendors use 'kapton' wherever they can get away with it. (and as with teflon, iirc they sell other polymers under the name of kapton too)
mensetmanusman 6y ago
If it’s cheap, it’s not polyimide chemistry...

by dapids 6y ago

dapids 6y ago

I should also warn, if you decide to take the risk buying this fake krapton garbage, you do risk an electrical fire. Unless you yourself have tested the resistance this tape provides versus the real deal, DO NOT assume it is an insulator!

LeifCarrotson 6y ago

Digikey is one of the primary vendors of 3M, and well known for reliability as a counterfeit-free distributor. https://www.digikey.com/short/zrz730 https://www.digikey.com/short/zrz730 Also, even if you've not used them before or have no need of kapton tape, take a look because their parametric search is one of the greatest I've seen, and makes Amazon's Choice system seem awful in comparison.

dapids 6y ago
Yes, I regularly order from them, but shipping via DigiKey hasn't been great lately where I live so I went with 3M. I also highly recommend digi-key for anyone's kapton needs. Edit: spelling
- tonyarkles 6y ago
  > shipping via DigiKey hasn't been great lately where I live I'm super curious where you live, approximately! I'm in Saskatchewan, and Digi-Key reliably gets me parts next-day, even when shipped DDP (they take care of all of the duty for me). For crossing a border, that's pretty incredible!
- bsder 6y ago
  I've been tending toward using Mouser lately. DigiKey seems to be playing games with low-volume prices on me lately as well as screwing up shipping.
  - exmadscientist 6y ago
    The only trouble we've had with Digi-Key over the last six months, with dozens of orders, has been coming too close to their end-of-day shipment cutoff. (It seems to be closer in practice to 7:30pm than their advertised 8 CT, but I'm not begrudging them that during this pandemic! This is avoiding restricted materials such as lithium batteries, flux, etc., as well as avoiding value-added items. Order those earlier in the day if you want them fast!) Most of our orders are overnighted, for what that's worth; I know the big distributors do treat overnights differently. We have never seen a single issue with pricing not as advertised at small quantities, or a shipping mistake not directly attributable to the carrier. Mouser has performed similarly well but is (and has always been) significantly worse with their cutoff. Again, they're nominally 8pm CT but 6 or 6:30 is more realistic if you're counting on it being here the very next day. Both are amazing if you're used to crappier distributors, but you do pay for it....
    - bsder 6y ago
      > We have never seen a single issue with pricing not as advertised at small quantities Ah. No, we haven't either. The issue is that we have caught DigiKey charging different prices based upon login status and cookie status on low volume order items. This would be fine if they were charging the returning customer less, but we caught them charging more. That made us very unhappy. Maybe it was a bug. Maybe it was an A/B test. However, if I have to scrutinize my order cart, we're done. We still use DigiKey. But we have significantly reduced our volume through them and we watch them like a hawk.
      - exmadscientist 6y ago
        OK, now that I wouldn't have expected! Thanks for the heads up! (Not that I'd likely be able to observe it with our weird procurement flow....)
- techdragon 6y ago
  I’ve had to dump DigiKey since they use UPS exclusively, since I’m in Australia, UPS has one facility in my city. It’s a real pain to haul my ass out there because UPS have zero alternative arrangements over here. It’s delivery to the person/address or hold at the facility out in the middle of no where.
  - TylerE 6y ago
    So, uh, why not just get it delivered to your address? What am I missing? That's how UPS works.
    - dmitrygr 6y ago
      USA != world 1. UPS do not leave packages at door in all countries 2. Some people live in apartments with nowhere safe for packages to be left 3. In some cities/countries in-person delivery does not exist at all. Only "collect at post office"
metaphor 6y ago
I like DigiKey, but sometime they're neither convenient nor competitive. Food for consideration: since 3M is a ECIA member manufacturer[1], if the source isn't direct from the cow's mouth or one of their authorized distributors, it's prima facie suspect in my eyes and cannot be trusted on anything with skin in the game. [1] https://www.trustedparts.com/en/manufacturers/3m https://www.trustedparts.com/en/manufacturers/3m

kurthr 6y ago

If it's not made my Dupont, it's not Kapton... it's polyimide (amber) tape.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
phaker 6y ago
And the problem is kapton is just one of many polyimides, (pmda-oda) there are other others like P84 (btda-tdi/mdi). But nobody knows the generic name (the acronym isn't even in the wikipedia article) so fly by night vendors use 'kapton' wherever they can get away with it. (and as with teflon, iirc they sell other polymers under the name of kapton too)

mensetmanusman 6y ago

If it’s cheap, it’s not polyimide chemistry...