cutting flexwatt

[bidden]

I know everyone asks about this stuff but....

I just got some from beanfarm and it says' in the instructions to only cut the 11" on the cut lines...

Is is safe to cut on the actual heated part?? if I make sure that the end is insulated with elec. tape or something.

[Tim_Cranwill]

I would follow their instructions.

[latazyo]

I believe with the 11" tape that you can only cut it on the lines, but with 3 and 4 inch tape you can cut it anywhere

[mykee]

I only cut the 11" on the lines, and the 4" wherever I need.

[crazyboy]

it hink he means can he cut the black poart. but not sure. jsut curious why do you have to cut the 11in. heat tape on the lines??

[bidden]

The tape is devided into strips just over a foot long and inbetween is a "cut here" line, the instructions say to cut on that line only. I don't need a full foot section so I was wondering if I can cut the full food before that line(in the middle of the "heated part")

[Stockwell]

You can cut the stuff anywhere along it's length. If you cut through he conductive ink (the black part) it is no big deal, it just means there is a little higher shock hazard because all the exposed edge will be live, since the black part is actually conductive graphite ink, so tape the entire edge up well, with two pieces of electrical tape. Put a piece on the top and one on the bottom overlapped so the electrical tape is flat. Trying to use just one piece and folding it over, will usually have it letting go and fallling off in a few months.
Cutting it on the black part will have no ill effect on the operation at all. It's cautioned against by some distributers merely because most people don't bother taping it at all, and if yo cut it on the clear part and use those clip sets, you are safe with no taping, because there is no exposed live parts.

The blank transparent lines are at regular increments mostly to make it easier to measure off and cut, for the convenience of dispensing long rolls.

[bidden]

That's what I wanted to hear

thanks.

ps. I know this stuff is not CSA approved so I will not hold you responsible if anything were to happen. Thanks for the advise all.

[elevation24]

I needed to cut a piece of 11" in half a few weeks ago and when I did, only the first half of it worked -- the side that would normally be wired to the cord. The other half was dead when I taped it off and wired it up -- should it have worked as well, or did I do something wrong?

[crazyboy]

did you connect the part you cut off to power? maybe you wired ti incorrectly or made some bad connections.

[mykee]

In my opinion, there is a reason that the manufacturer says to cut it only on the line. The manufacturer doesn't have a problem with cutting 4" wherever, then why not 11"? There's a reason for it. Sounds like a warning to me.

[bidden]

I know what you mean mykee, but on the flipside, why can you cut the 4" and not the 11". are they different? is it because of the higher wattage? doesn't a dimmer limit that anyways? Manufacture's warn about almost anything that could possibly cause a remote problem somewhere down the line....

I'm not purposely brushing off your warnings, I know this stuff can be very dangerious. That's why I am going to take every precaution to limit those risks

[bidden]

and just as I wrote that I though of a way to get around having to defy the manufacture, I thought of a way to keep the strips whole for what I wanted.

Thanks all.