SMT leader tape extender?

Walter Harley · electronics forum Guru Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 367

I'm searching for SMT leader tape extender, the stuff you stick on the end
of a partial reel or cut piece of SMT component tape so it can run through
SMT placement machines without wasting lots of parts. I only need a small
quantity (a single box of 500 will do me for a long time), but I need it
fast. I need the 8mm/12mm size.

So far I've found only two US vendors: http://www.smartsplice.com and
http://www.tapesplice.com. But they both feel like fly-by-night operations:
expired web site security certs, no published phone number, no callback from
messages, contact email address not at the company name, prices not listed
on the web site, and so forth. So I'm reluctant to do business with them.

I didn't see any products like this at Mouser, Digikey, Allied, Newark,
Futurlec.

Do any of you guys use this stuff? Where do you get it from? Is there some
other name I should be using to search?

Thanks!

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