Opinions on thermal tape

[Elevator Dude]

What's the go to brand for thermal tape?

Do you want to cover the entire width of the strip vs just the width of the LEDs?

With 4' strips getting them stuck straight has me worried and considering using artic silver. Does anyone consider this a better option.

[DaveJonesFan]

https://www.amazon.com/Aikenuo-Adhesive ... B075FRPXQ5

I used this stuff. Not quite as wide as the EB Gen 2 strips I used it with, but you'll have to consider your own application since you left it kind of vague.

[Elevator Dude]

Thank you for the link I apologize for not giving more details

I am mounting twenty 3000k samsung f-series double row strips to 2" heatsinks driven by two hlg-600h-48b drivers. They will be run very softly, hopefully around 25%.

Just trying to figure out what is the best way to go about it. I hear people say the tape is so sticky that they have damaged strips trying to remove it and one crooked strip out of twenty would agrivate me enough to have to fix it.

I am going to be drilling and tapping the sinks anyway. I just want a clean looking finished product. I have used thermal grease on smaller PC heatsinks but never anything 44" long, tape seems like it could be the best way to go.

[alienfarts687]

I think I saw on RIU that some people get better heat transfer with thermal paste.

You can also use thermal grease, not adhesive, along with screws. That should make them easier to remove while still providing thermal transfer.

[DaveJonesFan]

The tapes I've seen usually have a thermal conductivity of around 1.5 w/mK which is similar to the Sur-Seal pads commonly used with COBs. It's not great compared to good pastes but it's fine for any common sense strip builds that I've seen, as they don't have all that much concentrated heat to begin with. You could use two strips of the tape I posted or similar for a 2" and just build the light to last as it is, it'll have a long life anyway. Removal could be done with scraping tools safely I'm sure if really required. You could also look for a 2" wide tape and see what thermal ratings are available. I've seen some extensive options on ebay, alibaba.

Here's one I found in 50mm but the conductivity is 1.3 w/mK and it's only 20M long roll for not as economical as buying multiple rolls of the Aikenuo.
https://www.amazon.com/Adhesive-Thermal ... B07CVLTZWR

If you want something high end in the paste realm, you could go for the large 65g tube of the Artic MX-2 and you'd be getting overkill 5.6 w/mK stuff. Who knows how far it would go. You could probably just put a nice bead down each line of LED diode stripes.
https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-MX-2-Comp ... B004YITI5M

I use Artic MX-4 for high power COBs, it's slighty newer, better, at 8.5 w/mK, but more expensive and even more overkill for your use, but it's rully nice.
https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-MX-4-Comp ... B004ULZITS

The Artic Silver 5 you had mentioned is another brand, great performing no doubt, but I don't know that I've seen it sold as economically as the aforementioned Artics. 8.9 w/mK rated.
https://www.amazon.com/Silver-AS5-12G-T ... B077S95FNP

There is a whole selection between those and some other high end ones, down to some cheap stuff like the Cooler Master Ice in a bigish tub available as well. This stuff has you back at a slightly worse thermal conductivity than the tape, at 1.22 w/mK. Cheap as cheap cheap. Would also work for your application just fine as well and you could probably have enough to slather.
https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Ic ... B003AVMRR0

I didn't do a whole lot of math on the glue, but it seems fairly expensive for the adhesive component, as it only sports 1.2 w/mK like the cheap paste, but it's pretty small 10g tubes that I've seen for not that cheap. I'm sure there are other options out there if you search around in this realm too.
https://www.amazon.com/Conductive-Silic ... B072MSXHJD

Here's a pic of how straight I got my strips on without really fussing too too much about how straight I was getting them and I used 4 footers. The tape was super easy to roll straight, then precision hover and drop strips. Tape was so strong I didn't use screws anywhere for this light.

[Elevator Dude]

Thank you for the very detailed reply, it is exactly what I was looking for. Nice looking light by the way.

I ordered enough 20mm tape to do 2 runs down each strip and a tube of the mx-2 you recommended. I am going to try the tape and if it starts getting unmanageable I'll switch to the paste.

Hopefully the rest of my parts will be here this week and I can get started on the build. Then it's a waiting game on the 660nm samsungs to become available. Hopefully they are more affordable than the xp-e series monos.

[Sativant]

My light uses the double row F series strips. I used the 30mm tape- only needed to use one run down each heatsink, as the leds don't go to the edge of the strips.
I had the same thoughts as you- but in the end it is so much easier to use the tape, rather than drilling and tapping holes in the heatsinks or messing with the adhesive.
Since you're going to be running them so soft, you really don't need any more thermal conductivity.
By the way- if you haven't ordered your heatsinks yet, you might want to consider the narrower 1.813"extrusion as it is a little thicker at the base, with taller fins. It is much more suitable for drilling and tapping to attach to a frame: .300" vs .098". I regretted going with the 2.079" heatsink for that reason. The double row F series strips fit with room to spare on the narrower heatsinks.
https://www.heatsinkusa.com/1-813-wide- ... -heatsink/

When using the tape, just go slow. remove the backing as you go, keeping the strip aligned properly. It is very easy to ruin a strip if it gets stuck in the wrong place.

[Elevator Dude]

I already have my heatsinks and 20mm tape, two rows are going to be 2mm wide or so but I figured it wouldn't hurt anything being a little wide.

I am going to make a jig to align the strips to the heatsinks. Your making me consider getting 30mm tape. It would be a cleaner looking job I think.

[DaveJonesFan]

My bad i was going off a 2" to mm conversion not thinking those double wide strips aren't actually as near the real 2".

I think the 2.079" looks plenty ideal, if that's what you got. Lower cost and lower height profile and plenty of sinking ability, it's like a double wide + version of the 1" profile I use, but I didn't mess with drilling any of it on my applications. The 1.813" looks pretty beefy.