Clear app tape – Hi tack

[Lynn Normington]

John R Tape do clear Cherwell stock it 01280 840297 don’t know what it’s like though, but somewhere to start from

Lynn

[Jason Davies]

John who do you currently use for clear? We use quite a bit of this but try to avoid it whenever possible, awful stuff.

Regards

Jason

[Otto Peltonen]

R Tapes clear (AT 42) is not hi tack.

[Mathew Gibson]

Hi john ask jill from william smiths they have some good deals on at the moment

[Peter Normington]

I used to avoid clear,
but..
recently applied graphics to a Snap On van,
I dont know the vinyl used, (no clues on the backing paper) it was very good quality, and clear app tape which was very "soft"
does anybody know what it was? Could be exactly what John is looking for

Peter

[John Childs]

quote Jason Davies:

John who do you currently use for clear?

Can’t remember. 😳

I’ll ask in the morning. 😀

This problem cropped up about eighteen months ago and at the time I enquired of our normal suppliers, but nobody could supply a high tack. Lots of lows, and a few medium tack, but that was about it. I didn’t worry too much at the time because we were only doing new vans, so it was only us fitting them, so it didn’t matter too much.

Then the customer changed their livery to all print so, as there was no laying up, we went back to paper and the problem went away.

Now, however, we are getting phone calls from bodyshops for repair parts for the old livery and, although our current clear tape does the job, it doesn’t look very professional and, to be honest, I’m ashamed to send them out.

So ,the search for a high tack goes on. 🙁

[Paul S Martin]

quote Peter Normington:

does anybody know what it was?
Peter

Hi Ya Peter

I have used the Metamark Range of Clear High Tack and that was soft and very good

Paul 🙂

[John Singh]

Can’t remember where I got my clear tape from but same problem……
hardly any tack and awful to use

Only use it when I’ve got some tricky matching up and I can’t see the other work underneath

Sorry I can’t help

[John Childs]

quote Paul S Martin:

I have used the Metamark Range of Clear High Tack and that was soft and very good

Nice one Paul. We’ve got the Metamark rep calling in tomorrow, so I’ll see if I can get a sample.

I’ll also have words with William Smith.

Keep the suggestions coming folks

[Lynn Normington]

John so have we 🙄 or may be thursday

Lynn

[Phill Fenton]

Instead of using clear application tape I use the "X" ray glasses I bought in 1972

They never lived up to expectations – but I’m determined to get some use out of them 😕

[Peter Normington]

😀 😀 😀

[Gordon Forbes]

The Oracal one sticks pretty well

[Stuart Taylor]

quote John Childs:

I could do with some suggestions for sourcing high tack clear app tape. Our usual suppliers seem to be falling down in that area. 🙁

The normally available stuff doesn’t stick to the vinyl very well. It’s alright for stuff we apply ourselves, but anything we have to send out looks horrible and I’d like to improve the presentation.

Hi John

Most people seem to use the clear app tape for internal manufacture and multi colour lay ups and therefore low tack is very popular – I wouldn’t necessarily suggest going straight to a high tack as this can sometimes cause release issues and potentially lift your graphics back up when applying to the substrate (especially if large detail or significant areas of vinyl) – I would normally recommend high tack only for very small detail/text – As someone else suggested RTape AT42RLA may be a better solution, it has a medium tack adhesive which means this will remove fine from your vinyls but has the "Conform" adhesive technology that is designed to lay flat on your liner without lifting or rippling, therefore looking more presentable when sending out to clients.

Stuart

[John Childs]

Our clear app tape stock seems to comprise of some Doro 903, which they describe as a medium tack; and some with Q Tape printed inside the roll. I’ve no idea what that is, but the girls say that the Q Tape is better and lies flatter when applied.

Stuart, I take your points on board. It’s all a compromise though isn’t it. For general use with paper tape the girls making the graphics here prefer low tack because it’s easier for them to unroll the tape, whereas the lads fitting them prefer high tack so it’s easier for them to pull the backing sheet off. We have overcome the girls concern to a large extent by buying them a Sheeter machine, but tend to stick to medium tack tape to keep both groups happy.

Back to clear, I think my problem might be in the sales blurb, and that something that one manufacturer describes as medium tack might only be considered low tack by another. Are there any definitive specifications for the various grades, or is it all perception and guesswork?

So, I think my only solution is get on the phone this morning and blag as many samples as I can, test them all, and pick the one we like best.

[John Childs]

A picture is worth a thousand words………

This is the better of the two materials we have in stock. The tape is well squeegeed down but, as you can see, it’s absolutely useless.

I know that on this board suppliers recommending their own products is frowned upon, if not absolutely forbidden but, in this instance, I would welcome any suggestions and, better yet, a sample for us to try.

[Shane Drew]

quote John Childs:

A picture is worth a thousand words………

This is the better of the two materials we have in stock. The tape is well squeegeed down but, as you can see, it’s absolutely useless.

I know that on this board suppliers recommending their own products is frowned upon, if not absolutely forbidden but, in this instance, I would welcome any suggestions and, better yet, a sample for us to try.

John, that looks like polytape application tape. Its useless. Its sold as medium tack but is low tack at best

I like the Oratape Clear, and the R tape clear.

One of them is designed for graphics that need to be shipped. Can’t remember which one though 😳

[Stuart Taylor]

Hi John

Out of interest do you know how old the clear tape is ? With app tapes there is a definite reduction in adhesion levels as the products age as the adhesive type used on app tapes in generally different to that used on vinyls.

For the application you are showing I would recommend either RTape AT75 which is a high tack or AT42RLA which is a medium tack but with Conform technology that is better for adhesion to liner during shipping as stated by Shane.

Both products available for sampling – Just contact our sales office with your preferred option (or both versions if you wish)

Our details are in the suppliers section of the toolbar

Stuart

[John Childs]

quote Shane Drew:

John, that looks like polytape application tape. Its useless. Its sold as medium tack but is low tack at best

I like the Oratape Clear, and the R tape clear.

One of them is designed for graphics that need to be shipped. Can’t remember which one though 😳

I don’t know what polytape is Shane. 😳

The stuff used in the photo has Q Tape printed inside the tube. Again, I don’t know, but think it might be a re-branded R Tape from Robert Horne.

[Debbie Astle]

Hi John,

I have organised for samples to come out from us.

Have a nice weekend.

Debbie

[John Childs]

Thanks for the reply Stuart.

I can’t be certain of the exact age of our stock. Absolute maximum twelve months, but likely to be a lot younger than that.

As luck would have it, I’ve had a phone call from Jez this morning, wanting to come and visit us next Wednesday. He’s going to put some samples in the post tonight. 😀

[John Childs]

Thanks Debbie.

I’ll certainly have a good weekend thanks. We’re leaving this afternoon for a friend’s wedding, returning Sunday afternoon. That’s going to be a serious drinking session. They’re a great bunch of people and I know that I’m going to have serious stomach cramps from laughing too much. 😀

I hope everbody else’s weekend is going to be as good as mine.

[Martin Cole]

quote John Childs:

I’ll certainly have a good weekend thanks. We’re leaving this afternoon for a friend’s wedding, returning Sunday afternoon. That’s going to be a serious drinking session. They’re a great bunch of people and I know that I’m going to have serious stomach cramps from laughing too much. 😀

I hope everbody else’s weekend is going to be as good as mine.

What a gorgeous weekend for a wedding! Have a nice one John.

BTW, I accidentally ordered a log of clear med R tape from Grafityp and it’s not bad would certainly pick up the lettering as in your pic I would say.

Being by the water I do a lot of boat names, seems perfect for those.