Carriers / Cut Tape
Short strips cut from tape & reel for prototypes and small runs.
| Standard | EIA-481 (cut from reel) |
| Machine feeding | Yes — automated feeder |
| Also known as | cut strip, sample tape |
Cut tape is a short length of the same EIA-481 carrier tape, snipped from a reel for prototyping or low quantities. It keeps the identical pockets and orientation as tape & reel, but is too short to auto-feed reliably — so it is usually hand-loaded or run on a short strip feeder.
On the machine
Fine for hand-loading or strip feeders; too short for continuous reel feeders.
Orientation & placement rotation
EIA-481 fixes how each component sits in the tape pocket, so the machine always picks it at that angle. That orientation rarely matches the footprint's 0° in your CAD tool — the difference is the rotation offset a job needs before it will place correctly. The converter applies that correction →
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