Aluminium foil tape thickness

[WonderWoman]

Right, my head is doing backflips about the thickness of foil tape.
My bosses and the site Im looking at are going on about microns(represented a bit like a symbol, um)

I bought some tape that turned out to be the thickness of the silver bit of a kit kat wrapper(it didnt say on the site how thick it was)which is pretty but not as thick as i wanted.

My boss gave me a piece of thicker foil which I prefer but he didnt say how thick it was(and he wont measure it unless I take off the backing paper and get rid of the glue!!)

Ive found some tape which is 30microns, does anybody know if that is thicker/thinner than kit kat wrapping?

Modedit Gill: Moved to Off Topic

 

[tibbs]

Hi

I don't have any Kit Kats to hand (& if I did the wrappers would be long gone along with the rest of them ) but a quick & very crude check on some Tesco cooking foil folded over to give 32 thicknesses measures around 0.7mm (700um) so that makes it about 20-25um thick.

I'd say kit Kat wrappers are probably thinner than the cooking foil so very roughly your 30um foil is probably about twice as thick as a Kit Kat wrapper.

Richard

 

[nickson71]

hi


I thought kit kat wrappers where formed by depositing a very thin layer of aluminium on to plastic film (5um) over all thickness of about 10um .....

maybe totally wrong though


Ian

 

[WonderWoman]

The thin stuff was advertised as 0.075mm thick.
My boss has measured it and it ranged between 30-40 microns.

The thicker stuff which he gave me was measured and it was 150microns,5 times thicker than the thin one.

Im now on the hunt for 150micron foil tape which me thinks will cost a small fortune.

 

[WonderWoman]

Now,
Mr appropriate aluminium solder/flux does not want to adhere to Mr appropriate aluminium tape, despite it working rather well on the corners of her taped creation.

Miss Wonderwoman is a tad narked off.

I heard cleaning the area of grease/dirt would work, what should i clean it with?
For future reference, loo roll doesnt work.

 

[Woody Alan]

Boy have you picked a tricky task.

Aluminium soldering is not easy, the main problem being that aluminium forms an oxide layer immediately on exposure to air. In other words when you scrape the surface of aluminium what you see is not aluminium but an oxide. When our power guys at work used to joint aluminium busbar they "fettled"the bar with a wire card (wire brush) and vaseline, this exposed the fresh aluminium but it was prevented from oxidising by the vaseline. the crunch is I'm not sure how they did the next stage but it involved floating the aluminum solder and a straight edge to scrape whilst hot.
This doesn't help you directly I guess but it does give you an insight as to why you're having problems.

Cheers Alan

 

[Sailor]

Hi,

I had to do exactly the same some time ago and after searching round somewhat, found a method quoted which worked for me, (it took quite a bit of practice, but worked out fine in the end.

You can solder to aluminium foil if you provide a barrier so that the atmosphere can't oxidize the joint as you are heating it. Most types of oil will work for this including the common 3 in 1. Place a little bit of oil on the foil and begin heating the foil under the oil with the soldering iron while using a slight circular wiping motion and applying solder.

I also found the smoke/smell a hazard, so had to do it outside!

Regards,

Colin

 

[WonderWoman]

Thanks,I bought some tinning liquid at the weekend so Il see how that goes.

My boss told me about that oxidisation/barrier thing but it went over my girly head.
Il have to reread it and make it sink in.

 

[WonderWoman]

I used that tinning stuff tho I dont know if its helped.

Ive done some experiments.

Is I apply a layer of the aluminium solder to the aluminium surface, then apply the jump ring I want to attatch using the all purpose solder Ive had for ages, it works.

Im wondering why the alu solder wont attatch the jump ring to the aluminium surface?Maybe whatever the jump ring is made of is effecting it.

 

[Sailor]

Good evening,

What is the material the ring is made of?

Maybe it's not getting hot enough, (the ring,) to adhere. Have you tried tinning the ring first, before soldering them together, as that would help.

Regards,
Colin

 

[WonderWoman]

HI

No idea what the ring is made of, my boss had a go yesterday and surprise surprise, it worked for him.
It did have soemthing to do with the heat, tinning isnt essential and ive found the tin solder is just as usable as the expensive aluminium solder.
Tho I tried soldering to the thin aluminium tape and if I wiggle it a bit it tares away so I definately need thicker tape.
Ive found a place that sells 100 micron so Il call them today.

 

[WonderWoman]

Called them, minimum order is £150!!BAck to the drawing board.
ANother place has contacted me, they can doo 100micron tape.Dont know the cost yet tho.

 

[WonderWoman]

Ive just received a sample of tape from a company called seton.
I cannot for the life of me remember giving htem my address to send it to, especially as they emailed back to say they didnt stock it!!

Anyhoo, I think its too thick, must be 200microns, very difficult stick down.

 

[WonderWoman]

Found a place that can supply 100 micron tape but its a minimum of 20 rolls which will cost over £100!!!!!!

Im not making any decisions til Ive tried the samples.