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Electronics => Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff => Topic started by: nike9307 on November 13, 2024, 09:26:08 pm

Title: "Foam" holding displays.
Post by: nike9307 on November 13, 2024, 09:26:08 pm
Hi all,

I'm designing a project with a screen and i was looking for ways to hold it in place. Fortunately i stumbled into "EEVblog 1650 - Sequre HT-140 SMD Desoldering Tweezers REVIEW" and at around the 6 minute mark i saw that they were keeping the display pressed up against the front glass using some sort of foam material that had double sided tape on both sides.

[attach=1]

I've seen this being used on other products and i was wondering what this material is called and where can i get it. I was guessing it would be made by tape manufacturer, but i was unable to find anything similar on 3M's website.
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Title: Re: "Foam" holding displays.
Post by: reboots on November 13, 2024, 09:49:58 pm
I've had good luck holding glass OLED panels and other items with 3M VHB foam tape. It doesn't look exactly like what's in your photo, but it comes in a variety of formats and performs very well.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/vhb-tapes-us/ (https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/vhb-tapes-us/)
Title: Re: "Foam" holding displays.
Post by: nike9307 on November 13, 2024, 10:02:06 pm
we've used VHB tape to hold displays displays at my day job. It is very strong. While that worked great in that context, in this project i need something that is way thicker, but springier (if that's a word). The distance from the board to the display will be around 7mm and i'd like to hold it with just the foam. If i can't, I'll design a 3D printed frame to hold the display close to the glass and use the foam tape to keep it pushed in place. But i'd like to skip the 3D printed parts, if possible.
Title: Re: "Foam" holding displays.
Post by: nike9307 on November 13, 2024, 10:08:19 pm
Actually i just found a good 10mm foam tape from RS PRO - https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/foam-tapes/2050906. Its 10mm thick and it has 30% Compression Set so it should get me the desired 7mm. Your suggestion led me to this. Thank you.
I'll look a bit more and post the final tape i end up using.
Title: Re: "Foam" holding displays.
Post by: Analog Kid on November 14, 2024, 12:40:44 am
I'm pretty sure that stuff is called "mounting tape", for attaching things to walls, etc. (I used to work in a hardware store and we stocked that in our 3M sticky-stuff display.)
Title: Re: "Foam" holding displays.
Post by: Nominal Animal on November 14, 2024, 11:23:16 am
I'm pretty sure that stuff is called "mounting tape"
Agreed.

I have examined half a dozen different 0.91" to 3.5" display modules on PCBs, and they all used thin (typically 3mm wide, 2mm thick) "mounting tape"  strips on the edges for attaching the display to the PCB.  I've only taken one apart, but I could swear the double-sided foam tape felt exactly like the 3M foam tape I've used to mount mirrors on a wall.