Kapton tape and soldering

[alex_santos]

Today I was watching a really interesting video on extreme engineering.

The heat shield used on the James Webb is primarily based on kapton tape because it delivers on the requirements related to heat reduction, a must which prevents infrared light from bleeding out to the sensor use by Webb. It then dawned on me that perhaps it could be wrapped around a soldering iron to prevent the neck of an iron from damaging nearby plastics that might come dangerously close to plastic parts on a motherboard that one might be repairing. A recent video of another James, James Wages highlighted a moment he tried to use a tweezer iron to remove an electrolytic capacitor. He succeeded but came very close to melting some nearby plastic parts. I wonder now if kapton tape could have been perhaps wrapped around the neck of the soldering iron to reduce any potential damage.

So I google imaged, https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=kapton tape soldering iron&tbs=imgo:1#imgrc=SHBWHWNKvMvA7M and came across the usual but some other interesting uses came up, such as using kapton tape for drag soldering. This came up https://hackaday.com/2011/04/03/kapton-tape-aids-in-drag-soldering-surface-mount-parts/

I don't see kapton tape often used when it could be so when soldering try to remember the incredible qualities of kapton tape in mind. It can act as a very good heat shield.

Well I will let you find more uses but here is one

Then again, the gentleman who put this video together found that kapton tape doesn't do a good job at protecting some components from a heat gun

Well the point of this little post was not to find an end all be all solution to every problem but you might want to consider problems and potential solutions. Maybe kapton tape can find a good use in your arsenal of techniques.

 

[This Does Not Compute]

I've used Kapton successfully many times as a way to protect SMD components from accidentally getting desoldered when I'm doing rework. However, that's usually when I'm putting the replacement components in place, in case I slip with the soldering iron. For hot air work I'll use pieces of ordinary aluminum foil as shields, with Kapton tape to hold them down. Kapton can indeed hold up to some hot air, so if you're quick, the foil may not be necessary.

 

[Stephen]

I've often used aluminum ducting tape or copper tape, both seem to work just fine.

 

[davidg5678]

In my experience, Kapton tape can do a reasonable job of insulating components on the PCB from excess heat, as can tinfoil.; however, I would probably not wrap the tape around the soldering iron itself. After a few minutes of soldering, I would imagine that the tape will eventually reach the same temperature as the iron tip. Placing the tape directly onto the PCB helps protect against slips and mistakes with the iron by acting as insulation, but I really don't know if wrapping the tape around the iron would accomplish anything.

Perhaps, the Kapton tape would reach the same temperature as the iron, but it would be worse at thermally conducting the heat away from the iron and into the plastic? I guess testing this theory on a junk circuit board would be a good way to find out...