PVC Electrical Tape
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 11:08 pm
I need to use PVC tape for a wiring harness project, so here I document my observations.
The application is for wire bundling/securing.
What I dislike the most about cheap hardware store PVC tape is that the ends peel off the harness over time, and it turns into a sticky gummy mess. My objective is to find tapes that are less prone to this sort of mess.
I selected two candidate tapes:
Tesa 4173 (because of good experiences with 51036)
3M Super 88 (seems to be a standard)
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/20927/T ... re--Tape-/
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/21008/3 ... cal-Tape-/
2020-12-02
I wrapped four 3" long strips of tape around a piece of welding wire. I did no special prep to the wire (no alcohol wipedown, etc). My hands were clean.
I cut the tape with scissors.
On the inboard tape strips, I was pulling on the tape with quite a lot of tension (tape was being stretched).
On the outboard tape strips, I was pulling on the tape with a small amount of tension.
Toonie for scale: 3M initial observations:
Glossy black finish
Very stretchy
Pretty thick film thickness
Very sticky/gummy. The roll of tape was stuck to the plastic package, simply with the adhesive that is on the side face of the roll.
Tesa initial observations:
Satin black finish (looks more like Fiero factory tape)
Less stretchy, will break with some amount of (reasonable) elongation
Thinner film thickness
Adequate, but not high stickiness
I left the wire+tape assy on my desk at room temp.
2020-12-05
The assy has been hanging around at room temp.
The highly-tensioned (inboard) 3M pulled back from its initial position. The 3M adhesive residue was quite tenacious, though it did wipe off after many (perhaps 20) finger strokes.
The highly-tensioned (inboard) Tesa pulled back too, but less. The Tesa adhesive residue wiped off easily.
The low-tension strips are mostly staying in place. Of course, best practice would be to leave the last half-turn or so untensioned, but that would not be a very severe test.
So far, I think I prefer the Tesa as a wire harness bundling tape, since it's less gummy. The thinner film thickness also adds less bulk, and keeps the harness more flexible.
However, if you're bad at planning splices and must seal a splice with tape, I think that 3M will work better.
I will keep the assy at room temp for a few more days before adding some hot/cold.
The application is for wire bundling/securing.
What I dislike the most about cheap hardware store PVC tape is that the ends peel off the harness over time, and it turns into a sticky gummy mess. My objective is to find tapes that are less prone to this sort of mess.
I selected two candidate tapes:
Tesa 4173 (because of good experiences with 51036)
3M Super 88 (seems to be a standard)
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/20927/T ... re--Tape-/
https://www.waytekwire.com/item/21008/3 ... cal-Tape-/
2020-12-02
I wrapped four 3" long strips of tape around a piece of welding wire. I did no special prep to the wire (no alcohol wipedown, etc). My hands were clean.
I cut the tape with scissors.
On the inboard tape strips, I was pulling on the tape with quite a lot of tension (tape was being stretched).
On the outboard tape strips, I was pulling on the tape with a small amount of tension.
Toonie for scale: 3M initial observations:
Glossy black finish
Very stretchy
Pretty thick film thickness
Very sticky/gummy. The roll of tape was stuck to the plastic package, simply with the adhesive that is on the side face of the roll.
Tesa initial observations:
Satin black finish (looks more like Fiero factory tape)
Less stretchy, will break with some amount of (reasonable) elongation
Thinner film thickness
Adequate, but not high stickiness
I left the wire+tape assy on my desk at room temp.
2020-12-05
The assy has been hanging around at room temp.
The highly-tensioned (inboard) 3M pulled back from its initial position. The 3M adhesive residue was quite tenacious, though it did wipe off after many (perhaps 20) finger strokes.
The highly-tensioned (inboard) Tesa pulled back too, but less. The Tesa adhesive residue wiped off easily.
The low-tension strips are mostly staying in place. Of course, best practice would be to leave the last half-turn or so untensioned, but that would not be a very severe test.
So far, I think I prefer the Tesa as a wire harness bundling tape, since it's less gummy. The thinner film thickness also adds less bulk, and keeps the harness more flexible.
However, if you're bad at planning splices and must seal a splice with tape, I think that 3M will work better.
I will keep the assy at room temp for a few more days before adding some hot/cold.