The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Scotch Super 33 electrical tape

I have heard this is the best you can use. Time will tell. Also brought a soapstone marker...great for marking metal.

Back in the day when the US Air Force let anybody join, we had something called F4 tape. This was absolutely the very best electrical tape solution as well as the best insulating tape ever. At the time I could get it in various colors as well. No idea why since everything at the time was painted either SH&t brown, or olive drab, but it WAS pretty cool. It was plastic and it had a cellophane wrap in between each layer. We don't have F4's anymore, and the tape didn't do so well in the annals of history either.

You can step up to Scotch 88. It is a little thicker than the 33. I find it is more durable in automotive applications.

I gave that some thought. Maybe I will pick up a roll.

The tape that Deve was talking about was like a self stick rubber compound. Came in a metal tin with a lid. Smelled good and had no adhesive at all. It did have a stripe, yellow or green. That was how you aligned it as you wrapped. It was tapered to both outside edges and with some skill in the wrap it was smooth, water tight, and tough. We called it F-4 tape here in Utah as well. The tins made great parts holders or in my case...shop ashtrays. Just put the cover on and ..no fire hazard. Your lungs were still on their own for sure.

F4 self-fusing tape is still available (siliconized) from Harbor Products.

Thanks! I thought "F-4 tape" was just a local nick name.

Friction tape is another type.

http://www.f4tape.com/
dg

Good stuff. Once you use it, you will wonder why they make regular electrical tape. We used it in the AF on every type of aircraft they had in wiring the entire system.

Another thing that is great is safety wire. I use it a lot in the restoration of my trucks. I make hangers for hanging parts for painting. Safety wire and safety wire pliers. Really handy.

Thanks for the link. I ran outta the stuff years ago and its worth restocking.

What's the tape for? I feel that shrink sleeving is better for most electrical applications.... and loom.

The many uses of safety wire:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/156263499

DG

safety wire is fine in airplanes, cut up coat hangers make the best hooks for hanging things, electrical tape is most useful fixing garden hoses, but the best of it I've ever used came from a phone company installer, wider than any other I've seen and sticks better than any 'self fusing' stuff I've used

I don't recall using electrical tape much in my AF electronics work, but I did do an awful lot of cable lacing on B52s and still do it, way better for maintenance and future additions/modifications ... and like Bart sez, heat shrink is best for insulating connections, the best terminals nowadays have it built in

Bill

red58: Nice work. I still use string tie to put wires in place. Then zip ties and clamps. An old soldering iron with a small tip cuts right thru any ties you want gone.

The F4 tape bonds to itself when wrapped giving you a very nice and very thick insulator. It can be prohibitively thick. On things like 6v systems where lots of current is present, this stuff would help in preventing shorts on the larger wiring. Shrink tubing, although I use tons of it, is thin and works best in lower current applications. If you had a roll of F4 tape, you would use it. Sometimes the thickness would help act as a gasket for some custom app, another time you would just want to be sure you don't have sparks. If you don't have a roll, you wont.

I use safety wire in painting small parts. I can make custom hangers that aren't just shaped custom (like with a clothes hanger) but are designed to chain items together to stay in certain locked configurations so things don't flap around or wander when putting paint gun air to them. Once spun with safety wire pliers, you get a VERY strong system. I use 030 gauge the most but have used 040 for heavier items.

On my start cart which is basically a cart with a battery, gauges, gas tank, etc.. I used 3/8" heater hose (a 20 foot long piece of it) and ran all of my wires through it. Now if someone steps on it or something happens, the whole bundle is protected. They didn't even do that in the Air Force. When we wired whole airplanes, it was numbered, white wire with waxy twine to keep them together. (you have to be taught how to do this). Sometimes it was right out in the open so if someone was loading cargo and swung a crowbar or whatever, the wiring was toast. So, we wrapped F4 tape around the exposed areas as well as around every cannon plug to keep the wires tight. We didn't have zip ties in the day.

cable lacing is still the method used in aerospace, and it's not difficult, just basic principles .... I just happened to end my AF days with a full spool of waxed nylon lacing string in hand lacing and "good workmanship" suffice for me

Bill

You can always tell high quality elecritcal tape over the bs jap wrap junk- just look for the small inside hole. The junk has a large hole, high quality has the small hole... every time.

Is F4 that much better than regular electrical tape?

Never heard of it

Yes, definitely! It self-vulcanizes into a solid piece of rubber, and simply cannot come unwrapped. It's also several times thicker than vinyl tape, so multiple passes aren't necessary. Unless they've improved it in the past 30-something years since I was a USAF electronics tech, it's got a relatively short shelf life and needs to be stored in an airtight metal canister, however.
Jerry

Ive used super33 for more than 20 years as an electrical/hvac/plumbing contractor,I like it more than super88 myself anyway.
If you want something really bulletproof get a roll of 3m rubber splicing tape,thats what I use on split bolts for electrical service drops and 3 ph motor taps,then wrap it with super33.

I bought a sleeve of Scotch 33+ electrical tape and when I unwind the tape from the reel, the sticky stays with the tape on the reel and the unwound tape has no sticky.
I contacted 3M and they were only willing to replace 1 roll of the sleeve.
Cheap "Scotch Bastages"...

That's what happens when the tape gets OLD. I just threw out
several new unopened rolls that I'd had in the drawer for a
couple if not several decades that did the same thing. That's
what I get for over buying.
dg