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What Double Sided Tape do you use

Kevin Douglas

Plastic
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Location
UK
Years ago we used 3M Double Sided Tape with great success then it disappeared from the UK market. We then used Duck Carpet Tape (strong fixing with future lifting). Now that has disappeared.
Both of these products never left any residue on the two surfaces we were sticking together. We have used loads of different types since but none come up to the same standard.
All leave some of the glue on both surfaces which takes a lot of time to remove.

Do any of you use Double Sided Tape to stick flat components to the bed of the mill and not get residue stuck to the component and the bed when lifting.
 
foam tape

i use 0.030" thick foam tape to hold thin parts. depending on cutting oil and how hot part got some glue residue needs to be cleaned off. i use a hot razor blade decal remover and then use a spray citrus based adhesive remover. Some adhesive / glue will dissolve with alcohol or other solvent. But many strong tapes are designed to be solvent resistant.
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some double sided tape is called re-positional tape. it sticks not as strong but normally can be removed with little residue.
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Gaffer tape is a tape that is not suppose to leave a residue and it is usually expensive. it is used on stages and movie sets and is easier to use than duct tape. it comes with glue on one or both sides depending on what kind you want.
 
Doesnt the tape affect machining precision since it can deform easily. So if you are milling, the part can be pushed down a little, etc.
 
I thought that Google might return a manufacturer suggesting its tape for this purpose, but the results were mostly various discussion boards (PracMach, Chaski, etc.).

3M does have a broad spectrum of industrial "bonding tapes":

3M


The Stanford Products Realization Lab has this document, which mentions "double stick tape" in passing; if you wonder what academics say about entry-level machining processes, this would be a candidate document:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/prl/documents/html/gnrlmill.htm
 
double side tape

Doesnt the tape affect machining precision since it can deform easily. So if you are milling, the part can be pushed down a little, etc.

i use 0.030" foam double side tape when i cut out the outline of a sheet metal part so depth is not critical.
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i find thin foam tape is better than thinner tape. it allows for part changing length as it heats and cools but still holds.
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try using hot melt glue to hold aluminum to steel. i found it strong BUT when i put the slightly warm part under cold water in the sink it fell apart. i prefer using something that will hold and if it fails that it does it slowly and a slight side ways shift giving me a warning. Having a part break free with no warning I find is far more dangerous.
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Rarely have i measured a part more than 0.005" off because the tape allowed the part to move under cutting forces
 
Years ago I used the 3M double sided tape to hold thin aluminum on a magnetic chuck on a surface grinder to grind it thinner with coolant and it worked out pretty good.
 
I use Bron double face tape. Its really uniform in thickness. Down side its a major PITA to get it off. I have no idea what it costs but its probably not cheap.
 
Ditto for Permacell. It peels off easily and doesn't leave any residue. No idea where to buy it now, but the roll I bought 15 years ago is only half gone.

Neil
 
Old post, I know, but I figured this was better than starting a new thread. Someone in the HS robotics world suggested putting 3M blue masking tape on the part and sacrificial substrate, and then spreading superglue over one side and sticking the tapes' back faces together. I tried it with 1/8" 6061 Al plate on MDF, and it worked really well. I was running a 1/4" 2-flute EM at 4000 RPM (max for the machine) full depth at 10 ipm on nested parts. I did include small tabs widely spaced. I was using coolant, which wrecked the substrate for reuse, but it held well for the job and was easy to separate afterwords. The superglue seemed to soak into the tape and disappear, but it was still effective.
 
I'm going to be the sissy here. If you use two sided tape or glue, always be prepared for the entire sheet of material to break loose suddenly. We had that happen with about a 12" by 12" by 1/8" sheet of aluminum. This had sufficient force to completely penetrate the stock Plexiglas shield on a Haas. It would have eviscerated the operator of he had been standing there. I'm not saying don't do it, just be aware that this can happen.

A couple of keys that I have found is to completely clean the base plate and material with a fast drying solvent before sticking it down. Then, I use my spindle and a 2x4 as a clamp to hold it down until it sets (1-5 minutes). I just watch my z axis load until it starts coming up to ~25%.

And since I'm a self described sissy, I try and add some sort of mechanical hold down as soon as I can if I am running a large endmill with any sort of authority.
 
stone off the table real good...wipe with acetone or isopropyl alcohol....use this tape or tape that is smooth and not bumpy holds better....take a mallet and maybe a 3x1x12 parallel and smack it down using the parallel so each smack is flat on and smaknker entire stock down....this will not come off unless you soak in coolant or acetone again...using a small endmill will not break the piece loose...never go over about 1/2 endmill for any shape....and I usually cut about .005 above material and then .0005 into tape on last pass or leave .003 and stamp them out....you can cut even the hardest material but you gotta go only .01 deep per pass or use a 1/4 endmill...less forces....and I hold the air gun aimed at cutter entire time WOT to eject glue balls and chips...its scotch #410M

double_sided_tape1.jpg
 
Like John Welden and Johnny Larue we used the 3M 410M double sided tape, 2" width, in the Kodak prototype shop I worked in. We primarily machined various plastics and aluminum using air or a light mist so we didn't have to worry about coolants softening the glue. As others have noted, if you properly flattened and cleaned the surfaces you would have a bigger problem getting the part off the table than having it come off while you were cutting it. This was by far my primary method of holding a part for machining.

Every mill had a squeeze bottle of alcohol (don't remember the exact formulation but it wasn't denatured or isopropyl) and an artist spatula to help release the parts. As mentioned, you didn't want to leave the part taped down for any length of time or it would become very difficult to remove.

Like Johnny said we would typically leave a .003" - .010" web at the bottom which was easily removed with a sharp blade and light filing. By not cutting through to the tape we avoided having the glue get wrapped around the cutter and also prevented any cutting fluids from getting to and softening the tape.

We did have a pretty serious accident one time using the tape to hold down a 1/4" x 12" x 12" aluminum part. Our machinist had cut around the perimeter of the part leaving a .010" thick web of material to help keep it secure. He then drilled a 3/16" diameter hole near the corner of the part. He hadn't 'lipped' the drill so when it broke though the bottom of the plate the helix on the drill lifted the corner of the part up ripping the .010" web and releasing the tape. The spindle was running about 3300 RPM and the plate traveled up the helix and started spinning very fast. After only a second the force broke the drill and sent the plate flying across the shop. Our supervisor was standing about 15' away and the part hit him in the arm between his elbow and his shoulder. The force shattered his bone and pushed part of it through the skin on the other side of his arm.

It could have been much worse. The guy he was talking to was sitting down at his bench and if it hadn't hit Gene it would have hit the guy sitting squarely in the back of his neck at the base of his skull.

Sooo anyways, I tried to locate a source for this tape a few years ago and couldn't find any. Just located some at Zoro Tools and ordered a roll for $59.77 (Zoro #: G6910607) + NYS tax with free shipping. (Don't really want to give Bevos more money than he already has.) I suspect it will last me most of the rest of my life and I'll have to struggle to find it again.
 
stone off the table real good...wipe with acetone or isopropyl alcohol....use this tape or tape that is smooth and not bumpy holds better....take a mallet and maybe a 3x1x12 parallel and smack it down using the parallel so each smack is flat on and smaknker entire stock down....this will not come off unless you soak in coolant or acetone again......its scotch #410M

double_sided_tape1.jpg

EXACTLY Johnny Larue !!! Same tape and processes we used in my shop !
 








 
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