Anyone know about conductivity of adhesive magnetic tape?

[BonzaiDuck]

Maybe you'll ask anyway, so I'll tell the story of my very, very frustrated OCD day.

I was experimenting with the use of that brown magnetic tape cut to the size of contact surfaces to secure cold-cathode lights inside a case. I figured since DEMCiFlex filters use the same sort of tape (at least on the case exterior), and since my case uses magnets for the front-panel door just inches from the hard drive cage, I would only need to worry if a piece of this magnetic tape came loose inside the case. I could wonder "what could happen, though?" Couldn't I?

Well, it happened. I was adjusting the position of a CC light, when the piece of tape glued to the aluminum case came off. The adhesive wasn't strong enough, which I can fix. But somehow, my fingers lost control of the 1.5x2.0mm chunk of 2mm-thick magnetic tape, it flew from my hands, hit the heatsink or case somewhere and ricocheted. It could've gone into the room; it could've gone into the case.

I was all over the system with my flashlight, pulling out the HDDs, blowing air under the motherboard -- anything I could think of. And I must have inspected the motherboard and other components 10 times.

I'm thinking if I can't find that chunk of tape, I should maybe pull apart the entire system to look some more.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Use another adhesive like Pit Crew's.

 

[Mr Evil]

That brown magnetic tape is made of ferrite powder embedded in some rubbery material. The electrical conductivity should be very low.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

That brown magnetic tape is made of ferrite powder embedded in some rubbery material. The electrical conductivity should be very low.

That's reassuring. When I lost control of the magnetic chunk in my hand, it made one noise -- as if it bounced off the case bottom or the heatpipe cooler. Now that I think about it -- the sound was more consistent with hitting the aluminum case. There weren't any "noises" which followed. I can't see how it might have fallen behind the motherboard, which I've treated with my Metro 500 blower to dislodge anything stuck there. It's not attached to the HDDs. If it were attached to an SSD cage or drive and I couldn't find it, it most certainly wouldn't matter.

Darndest thing. When it comes to something like this, my "accounting principles" hold sway. That piece of magnetic tape is SOMEWHERE in this room: I'd only like the reassurance that it's not in the CASE which is in this room.

Otherwise, the CC lighting experiment was mildly successful -- it works. But you'd want the 2mm-thick magnetic tape. Further, you have to test the orientation of your little magnetic rectangles to assure the "optimal attraction" of the two pieces at any contact point. And especially, don't count on the adhesive of the tape, unless it is the thin tape -- which I don't recommend.

Here's the product I use for a wide variety of things -- notably for securing some wire or object to metal surfaces of a case:

https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-258...00ALBYUE?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top

I use this stuff a lot, having first bought it at an AutoZone or O'Reilly's. They stopped carrying it a long time ago. I found it at a motorcycle-shop's on-line store, and bought two tubes. I wish I knew which product is a good substitute, but if it's made by Permatex, it should continue to be available.

Somewhere.