Deshrouding GPU using kapton tape instead of zip ties

[veiny biceps]

I'm gonna stick some 120mm fans to my gpu heat sink but I'm wondering if it's safe to use kapton tape instead of the zip ties most people are going with. Google says kapton tape should withstand temperatures of up to 250 degrees celsius and I actually have some, but I literally couldn't find a single example of someone using it for this purpose. Am I onto something or is there some advantage to using zip ties that I'm not considering?

 

 

Thanks

[IkeaGnome]

@LeventAny experience with this? I've never heard of this one before

[m9x3mos]

5 minutes ago, veiny biceps said:

I'm gonna stick some 120mm fans to my gpu heat sink but I'm wondering if it's safe to use kapton tape instead of the zip ties most people are going with. Google says kapton tape should withstand temperatures of up to 250 degrees celsius and I actually have some, but I literally couldn't find a single example of someone using it for this purpose. Am I onto something or is there some advantage to using zip ties that I'm not considering?

 

 

Thanks

With zip ties you can just feed them through existing mount points which you can line up and you don't need to worry about adhesion. 

In theory you can use kapton tape but it might not hold to well to support fans. You will also need to be careful of the type you have as it can be electrically conductive. If what you have is and is on components you will have a bad time. 

 

[Levent]

*sigh* 

• If your cards fans are working perfectly fine,
• If your cards temperatures are fine,
• If your card is not going to be used in a shoe box sized case,

You don't need to do this dumb process. I never had kapton tape that had good tape features. If you are still planning on doing this, use zip ties or some string.

[Slayer3032]

Unless you want nasty dusty globs of adhesive stuck to your fans and cooler, I'd avoid any sort of adhesive based mounting.

 

They do make ziptie style mounts for fans which make a little more sense, I'm not sure if most of the more readily available ones for automotive purposes would be small enough to fit. But I'm sure if you look around you could probably find some mounting hardware for a transmission or power steering cooler.

 

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/TEM982822?cid=social_blog_122017_zip_ties

 

If you're not concerned with hurting the cooler, you can also generally just run a self tapping screw between the fins. Older finned aluminum chunk heatsinks used to do that pretty frequently.

 

You could probably get away with cutting the heads off of zipties and using cut down chunks of the toothed section and ratcheting them down with pliers since the head is no longer attached to the toothed part. That would probably be the easiest to do with the least amount of special parts. Maybe slap some plastic washers under the cut off heads for better mounting pressure.

[Jurrunio]

This is not a smooth surface you're trying to wrap around, so there will be places where the adhesive is exposed to air. This is where it wlll start to peel off inevitably.

 

Honestly even strings are better than tape.

[veiny biceps]

Thanks everyone, I'll go get those zip ties