List Of Adhesive Tapes
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Another missing tape type is water-activated or self-adhesive gummed brown-paper (Kraft) tape. It’s the fibre reinforced stuff that applies like wallpaper to Amazon packaging.
Here is an example:
https://venuspack.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/water-ac...
It’s supposed to be better for recycling. You can write on it. It also just looks and feels nicer than brown plastic cellophane packing tape.
Registered Mail is their most secure product - chain-of-custody, stored under lock-and-key at each hop along the transit path. So at least according to the USPS, this stuff is as good as gold.
(A slight pain to apply what with water activation and all, but man does it hold!)
I paint the Kraft paper with a PVA glue and, when dried, cut it into strips.
I'll definitely second that it is really useful stuff, I almost always prefer it over duct tape.
I used to think this, too. Then I used it on shitty Ikea "melamine" "tables" and now my CTO has to stare at tables that look like they're missing patches of fur. At least both tables cost less than the roll of tape!
(To be clear, these tables are very low quality.)
This sort of comment is why I read HN.
"at the same time"? Is this equivalent to removing the tape from the floor, then detaching it from the cable? I'm not sure how you can remove the tape from them both at the same time.
Technically, sure, the tape is likely in contact with one of the cable or the floor for a fraction longer than the other, but you get the idea.
I've been looked at (and treated by) staff at Home Depot et al as a complete idiot for asking for 'repair tape' (which, of course, in US-English is 'duct tape', or, 'duck tape' if you really want).
One good thing about the Internet (yeah!) is that US-English terms for such items are now more or less commonplace. So, at least, if I ask for 'duck tape' (in English, in my native language it would still lead to much confusion...), I get the repair tape I need. Progress!
There is something called gaffer's tape which I feel like might be more similar to the original duck tape.
Fascinating how words drift over time
https://www.chicagotribune.com/redeye/redeye-is-it-duck-or-d...
So the phrase "Duck tape" is fine, if you capitalize the first word and use it to refer to tape made by the Duck brand. Likewise, "Duck Tape" is fine, if you capitalize both words, since it is the name of the specific product line made by Duck.
In fact, if you call store-brand adhesive bandages "Band-Aids," and you call store-brand acetaminophen "Tylenol," you could argue that it makes sense to call store-brand duct tape "Duck Tape." And if you don't always capitalize "Band-Aids," you could argue that it makes sense not to capitalize "Duck Tape" either.
So I would argue that using the phrase "duck tape" to refer to duct tape is fine, provided you accept that it is effectively a genericized trademark.
“Duct tape” (with a T) is in fact the retronym and was coined when duck tape started to be used for ducting.
All of this doesn’t explain how Duck-brand tape managed to get a trademark on an existing generic term.
However, if you use the phrase "duck tape" not in its original sense, but as (effectively) a new word--as a genericization of "Duck Tape"--then you would (IMHO) be quite correct to call duct tape "duck tape."
I guess this depends on whether you think that this use of "duck tape" is actually a new sense of the phrase, or just a continued misusage of the preexisting sense.
I would argue for the former, since IIRC the phrase "duck tape" actually fell out of popular usage for a while before the time when the Duck brand emerged.
This suggests that the phrase "duck tape" was effectively resurrected with a new meaning--that of a genericized trademark derived from the "Duck Tape" brand.
Google Ngram Viewer seems to partially back this up--note that "duck tape" declined in popularity from 1943 to 1963, slightly reemerged around when the Duck Tape brand got its name in 1975, but only really took off between 1987 and 2007: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=duck+tape&year...
I can't explain why usage increased slightly between 1963 and 1975, though. Hmm...
On a tangent to the topic of adhesive bandages, as a bit of a connoisseur of tapes myself, I want to mention that the best band aids I've ever found are Nexcare Waterproof Bandages[1]. Even if you don't care about waterproofing, they stay in place massively better than any other type of band aid I've tried. Years ago, Consumer Reports rated them as the very best as well. Most other adhesive bandages, especially cheap ones, are ridiculously awful, coming undone within minutes.
[1] https://www.nexcare.com/3M/en_US/nexcare/products/catalog/~/...
As a British-English speaker, I refuse to call my quaint pathway ‘a sidewalk’.
I won’t ever refer to ‘sticky tape’ as ‘adhesive tape’ - or ‘scotch tape’ for that matter.
This is a cool tape to make handles and such - it sticks to itself but you can peel it off easily:
https://countycomm.com/products/self-vulcanizing-grip-silico...
Also for a different application - this Coban medical tape is very useful: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000095067/
It has a stiffness that holds its position without being tacky or sticky. doesnt slip like an ace bandage might. great for covering bandages or wrapping ankles, etc
And "Kinaesthetic tape" (KT) also nice when recouping from twists and sprains...
I have also heard that it's used in veterinary practices, as it will not stick to fur.
They didn't use to have Twitter or Facebook share buttons on their comments (did they even have comments?), they didn't have a "VIP" program, carbon fiber combs, glow-in-the-dark patches that say "operator", etc.
Good for them I guess, but oh well. I guess I'll never buy that Universal Cleaning Stick from them now.
Ours is slightly tacky, but can't really pick up hair (have used it on myself in a pinch).
Glass cloth tape, such as 3M 361 https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40068300/ , is remarkable stuff. It is, ironically, a much better tape for ducts than duct tape. It is also the only tape approved for use in Antarctic intermittent duty hot water systems, which have to swing from -40°C to +100°C and back. Daily. ("Approved for use" meaning here "doesn't fail right away".) It's not an all-purpose tape (especially not once you see the price), but nothing else can do what it can.
[1] https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/application-note/AN10778.pdf
Be the change you want to see.
You can names tapes by their intended use, or by their adhesive properties, or by the material of the substrate, etc. Depending on what naming scheme you use, you get different lists. Look at 3M's list of tapes [0], for example. Their tape names don't match those on the wikipedia page, because they're named after intended use. The wiki page uses all strategies simultaneously. For example, they have a category called "foil tapes", which includes the wiki page's "aluminum tape" as a subcategory. The wiki page has "scotch tape", ironically a brand owned by 3M, which doesn't even appear on the 3M page (presumably they fall under that page's "office tapes" category).
I'm not just nit-picking about naming. I'm saying the list is arbitrary because it resolve hash collisions arbitrarily.
Additionally, I categorically refuse to edit Wikipedia any longer. Its culture is toxic and I will not trade my precious sanity to further entrench it.
Duct tape was never meant for ducts.
The same-brand same-size roll of actual masking tape is $5: https://www.zoro.com/scotch-blue-masking-tape-blue-1-in-x-60...
Add your knowledge of tapes to the list and make this an excellent list by your own standards and add to the joy and collective success of the human species.
I can’t imagine there is some troll guarding the Wikipedia tape list who doesn’t want an accurate list.
1 hr later I've learned things I never knew I didn't know and this is how we fall down the Wikipedia rabbit hole... :-)
Safety first can be hard with these ;)
Edit: Oh, and get some good Trauma Shears https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_shears
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack
beats them all. I have about $100 of fancy tape that I'll probably never use left over.
It leaves a residue, can be hard to remove, and sometimes impossible to remove without ripping the poster!
It doesn't seem to age well either, and it's not particularly high in grip strength!
But it has its uses!
My kids ones mixes Blu Tack with Plasticine, and it makes a disgusting sticky goo!
Of course the prints were ruined, but who cared? I would never use it on anything important.
I use it to stick pictures, kids' drawings, postcards and random stuff to a cork board on my wall and to doors, and it worked flawlessly for years.
The only problem: my kids steal it to play with it.
These days my main side project is a frameless ‘decoration system’ motivated by that experience (and others) but you do have to be more careful in your materials choices if you don’t want in framed prints to fade quickly.
0: https://www.quakehold.com/product/quakehold-museum-putty/
As far as I know (?) it's the only "adhesive" tape that doesn't use a chemical adhesive, instead taking advantage of the Van der Waals force.
Does indeed work like magic... I have an electronics enclosure that's been stuck to my front gate, outside, for at least 6 months without fail.
Another example is paper. And in the past, typewriter ribbons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_Stock_Number (which despite the name is used by USA and many other defence forces)
You can use it to affix (pretty much) anything to anything, without the mess and general annoyance associated with superglue--just put the VHB tape between two surfaces and squeeze them together until they stick.
The tape industry has an interesting structure. Companies like Bron and 3M create giant webs of tape and put them on very wide rolls. These rolls are sold wholesale to "converters" which are companies that slice up the rolls into smaller rolls and different shapes for different applications. Most converters will work with you to make a custom roll of tape - some will even package it for retail - but a company like 3M has no interest in selling you 20 feet of VHB when they can sell 20,000sf to a company that will package and distribute.
I love tape and I'm glad to see this post here.
I'm also calling BS on alcohol removing this stuff, I have tried that unsuccessfully. I did have luck with goo-gone and a scotchbrite pad, but that was very difficult and time consuming. This is a permanent adhesive.
It is pretty expensive, but Uline sells it by the roll.
But that might have just gone after the substrate.
Everyone wraps from the bar end to the stem but I was taught to wrap from the stem to the bar end. Stem to end doesn’t curl with use as your hand glides over the edge instead of lifting the edge as happens with an end to stem wrap.
Also a stem to end wrap requires no additional tape to hold it in place. The bar end button holds it together.
PTFE Film Tape https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40070573/ (don't let that picture fool you, it is a tiny expensive roll. Known as "millionaires tape" with good reason).
Preservation Sealing Tape https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40068317/ (a bigger roll but crazy expensive and quite necessary when you need it).
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/two-wingnuts-de... https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/testing-constru...
Long story short: acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives are very, very good. Huber Zip tape, 3M 8067, and tapes from Siga and Pro Clima tend to be very good when you care about weather/water resistance.
3M VHB tape (nothing can beat these but don't use them for delicate electronics like USB hubs, sometimes too hard to take them off)
3M Scotch foam tape but only if you use 2 layers, otherwise they fall off (okay for delicate stuff)
These saved me tearing up my wall so many times.
You can even say it saved the lives of three moon-traveling astronauts! It was used in creating an adapter for one kind of CO2-scrubbing filter, onto another, on the Apollo 13.
Also used to repair part of a moon rover in deployment, I think it was a front wheel protector thing.
The universal rules of DIY: if it moves but it shouldn't, apply duck tape. If it doesn't move but it should, apply WD40.
[0] https://www.command.com/3M/en_US/command/products/~/Command-...
edit: fix broken link
I'd recommend instead adding some screw hooks to the bottom of the desk. The mechanical fasteners can be entirely on the bottom of the desk, and are sturdier I'm general than the tape.
Not sure if its just a meme or there's something more to it. Seems like even cling wrap would be better.
No moisture gets in or out and it’s not sticky or clingy in the way tape and plastic wrap can be. It’s also reasonably stretchy so you can fit it over irregularly shaped openings if needed.
Kimwipes, on the other hand, are a common lab product I’ve never really understood. Seems like glorified lint-free tissue paper to me.
Adhesive in the printing industry is very interesting.
For ‘tipped’ in material
For book spines
And artists make their own adhesive such as wheat paste.
I don’t really want to out my IP address by posting anonymously. I don’t really want to link a Wikipedia account to my HN account by having you correlate content. I don’t really want to put the effort into writing something only to have it reverted by some jumped up weirdo who guards “their” page.
Reading Wikipedia is great. Edition on the other hand is, for me, a byline for hyper dramatic pseudonymous social media. I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.
If that’s not immediate disqualification for being a Wikipedia writer, what is?