Is tape an insulating material?

[Rattlehead]

?

[KerryF]

Insulating to what?

Use electrical tape.  Its insulating...

[Rattlehead]

for LED tips and stuff like that

[KerryF]

Use Electrical Tape.  Its that black tape.  Its cheap stuff.  I use it for insulation in my pedals for some things.

[Rattlehead]

ok tnx a lot, i already have a blue electrical tape.

[KerryF]

ok sweet! 

[R.G.]

Here's a cool idea - you have a DMM, right? Hook up your DMM, set it to ohms, and go measure stuff. This will tell you a lot about what conducts and what doesn't.

You don't have a DMM? Then chances of getting very much effects building done are very, very slim indeed.

[The Tone God]

Electrical tape breaks down over time and the glue becomes just horrible if you ever need to work on it. Just something to take into account. Maybe you want to look into heat shrink tubing or "liquid tape".

Andrew

[Rattlehead]

Electrical tape breaks down over time and the glue becomes just horrible if you ever need to work on it. Just something to take into account. Maybe you want to look into heat shrink tubing or "liquid tape".

Andrew

I saw on SmallBear they have different ones.
which one do i need?

1/16
3/32
1/8
1/4
3/8
1/2

?

[idlechatterbox]

Rattlehead:
Tape is generally an insulator, especially at the voltage levels found in most pedals. But from a design standpoint, it's usually a last resort, since it usually make more sense to "insulate" things that you don't want electrically connected by putting space between them (like separating two components on a perf board or keeping the leads on two resistors from touching). If you tear apart something with a PC-board, you'll see little, if any, tape. Space is the preferred insulator, aside from the plastic or vinyl insulation on the wires. And in some of the pedals you see made by others on this forum, there's even a minimum of wires!

As a suggestion, if you must use tape in your projects, why play games with so-called "electrical tape"? As others have mentioned, it rarely stays sticky, and the sticky stuff can ooze onto your other components on the circuit board over time. Not only that, electrical tape has an annoying habit of unwinding just about the time you take your finger off of it. If you must tape, go for the real deal, which is called silicon tape. It is essentially a stretchy uncured rubber, and has no adhesive or sticky stuff. It binds to itself, and if you press hard enough becomes one big piece (as opposed to remaining layers of tape). It's not cheap, but a little goes a long way. It is extremely strong, stronger than the solder joint that it would be used to cover.

By the way, if you're wondering how reliable it is, in the USAF silicone tape is called "F-4 tape." Easily takes heat to about 5-600 degrees, never comes un-stuck (you have to remove it with a knife), and can take more vibrations than a guitar pedal will ever experience. Laughs at solvent and kerosene fuels too. Oh, and it's non-conductive 

http://www.autronic.com/page_files/silicon_tape.htm

Good luck with your projects, and be sure to check out some of the (no-tape) circuits that the experts have built for inspiration!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I saw on SmallBear they have different ones.
which one do i need?

1/16
3/32
1/8
1/4
3/8
1/2

?

You need the smallest diameter that will go over whatever you want it to cover.
Because, it shrinks by about 2 to 1......

[grapefruit]

It's best to avoid electrical tape for all the reasons mentioned above. I second what Paul said about the heatshrink sizes, but if you need something to shrink over weird shapes and still be tight at the smaller end you can get 3 to 1 heatshrink, though it costs more than twice as much and is not usually necessary.

On occasions, on site if no heatshrink is available I'll use electrical tape, or plastic tubing, or a bit of cable outer sheathing, all with a cable tie around them to hold it in place, but it's not something you'd do in a workshop if you want a quality job.

[puretube]

AND, never forget:

apply the heat shrinking thing before you solder the other end...

[3/4 North]

Electrical tape breaks down over time and the glue becomes just horrible if you ever need to work on it. Just something to take into account. Maybe you want to look into heat shrink tubing or "liquid tape".

Andrew

I saw on SmallBear they have different ones.
which one do i need?

1/16
3/32
1/8
1/4
3/8
1/2

?

If you want to cover wires on the LED I use insulation stripped off a 22g solid wire.

[mac]

Electric tape (black tape) is designed to isolate 110V - 220V, but as said above it is a pain in the tooth.
I never use it in the electrical wiring of the houses I build. I prefer the plastic packaging tape used for box sealing (don't know the name in english...). Or I just simply 'borrow' silicon tape to the plumber/gasfitter...

BTW, I never used tape in my pedals...

mac

[Paul Marossy]

You don't have a DMM? Then chances of getting very much effects building done are very, very slim indeed.

I have no idea how I did stuff before I got a DMM with a continuity checker that beeps at you!