Has anyone found a good solvent that allows you to remove the LED strips without trashing them? I was thinking of the conventional ones in the USA, e.g. Goo-Gone or Dis-olv-it etc. The technique I had in mind was to gently pry one loose using a razor blade or scalpel and then apply the solvent using a Q-tip or something like that and gradually work my way along the strip. Once I get them off, I'll use some spray on contact cement to re-mount them. Thanks Andy.
Andy I just peeled them off, gently. Even though they were under shrink wrap it was no problem and they all worked fine.
Oh...that's good to know. I tried tugging at one and it seemed to be resisting. I might try using a little gentle heat from a heat gun -- that seems to work for removing self-adhesive labels. Andy.
I like that spray on adhesive idea. I'm gonna do that to my currently zip-tied lights that I attempted to peel off. hehe
My plan was to use low tack (green 3M in the USA) masking tape to mask the LED side of the strip and prevent the spray on adhesive from getting on the the LEDs. The adhesive I had in mind was 3M Super 77. Andy.
What about spraying the adhesive in a small plastic dish and then painting it on with a qtip or the equivalent?
That would work too, but knowing my ham-fisted brush technique, I'll still get adhesive where no adhesive should go. Andy.
Tried that thin double-sided tape on my leds, Andy. Worked like a charm! Flown a lot of flights without them ever coming loose. Hopefully it's worked for you too!
Turned out that I could do what I wanted to do (replace the florescent tape with a different tape) without removing the LEDs, so I never needed to figure out how to remove/re-attach -- but now I know! Thanks Andy.
Most stickon adhesives are very easy to release with just a bit of heat. Keep in mind that all carbon fiber plates, tubes contain cured epoxy and if the good quality epoxy is post-cured in an alclave they can tolerate some heat.... but be careful..... Ofcourse LEDs don't like heat either....
Peel them off carefully, set them aside, and then stick them back on. Since I put clear shrink wrap over everything isn't an issue in reuse.