'The Tackifier' Blog by FindTape

The tape converters we work with have started to get letters from all the major adhesive tape manufacturers announcing upcoming price increases in the next month. Below we've included links to copies of each letter which includes details about the percentage increase and which of that manufacturer's product line it will affect. The prices on our web site will typically be changed the business day before the manufacturer's increase goes into effect so please use this information to plan accordingly.

• Intertape letter - their effective date is November 1st, 2010 (it is now reflected in FindTape.com pricing)
• Shurtape letter #1, Shurtape letter #2 - their effective date is November 22nd, 2010 for the first category for tapes being increased (it is now reflected in FindTape.com pricing) and January 1st, 2011 for the second category of tapes being increased
• Scapa letter - their effective date is December 1st, 2010 (it is now reflected in FindTape.com pricing)
• Berry Plastics (Polyken/Nashua/Ludlow/Patco) letter - their effective date is December 20th, 2010 (it is now reflected in FindTape.com pricing)
• 3M - we've heard an increase is coming in February, but we haven't received details on it yet (once we've received information we'll update this blog entry)
• Pro Tapes - we've heard a 6.5% increase is coming within the next month
• JVCC - since they source a lot of their material from the manufacturers listed above we can assume they will be increasing pricing also in December

Even UPS has announced rate increases effective at the beginning of the new year - here is information regarding UPS's rate increase for 2011.

* 1st posted 11/1/2010, last updated 12/19/2010

3M 9415PC is a translucent polyester film differentially coated with a removable/repositionable, low tack, adhesive on one side (back/liner side) and a permanent, high tack, adhesive on the other (face/exposed side). Unlike the other differentially coated tapes on the web site the removable side on this tape is also repositionable so its good when you need multiple openings and closings. Also its removable low tack side offers only nominal adhesion so its good for paper mailings since it will not cause delamination from most paper stock.

Scapa S301 is a clear UPVC film tape coated on both sides with an exceptionally high tack, high peel, acrylic adhesive system. It offers excellent adhesion even to demanding surfaces such as sports jerseys. It also meets the compositional requirements of FDA regulation 21 CFR175.105 (adhesives) for indirect food contact.

3M 4952 VHB tape is a closed-cell firm acrylic foam which is coated on both sides with a low-surface energy synthetic adhesive. This is the tape in the 3M VHB family best suited to bond to many lower surface energy substrates including many plastics and powder coated paints. The tape offers excellent adhesion, durability and solvent and moisture resistance.

Besides the standard retail-packed 5/8 inch x 10 foot size of 3M SJ4570 Low Profile Dual Lock; 50 yard rolls of 5/8 inch, 1 inch and 2 inch wide are now available for purchase on the web site. For the 1 inch and 2 inch wide sizes our converter is also offering those for sale in 10 foot pieces which they custom cut from the 50 yard rolls. Please note that unlike Velcro which has two different types of sides (hook and loop) which are mated together dual lock mates to itself so typically the roll received by the end user is cut in half and then connected together.

Some gaffers tape manufacturers have recently announced that they are discontinuing colors in a few product lines.

Berry Plastics will no longer be providing dark blue and green in their Polyken 510 product (olive drab and burgundy had already been discontinued). Limited inventory in a few sizes of dark blue and green are still available on the web site. For gaffers tape in those colors please see Pro Tapes Pro-Gaff.

Scapa will no longer be making Scapa 225 in blue, brown, burgundy and green. Limited inventory in a few sizes of blue and burgundy are still available on the web site. Scapa has also discontinued Scapa 200N (fluorescent gaffers tape) which comes in four neon colors - green, orange, pink, and yellow. Our converter currently has a good supply left in all four colors so it should remain for sale on the site for several months. After it runs out Polyken 510 will then be available for sale in those 4 fluorescent/neon colors.

Shurtape will now only be offering P-672 Professional Grade in standard colors: black, grey and white (similar to what they did last year in their P-665 product). However, inventory still remains for the non-standard colors. In the future for 2 inch red you can see Shurtape P-68 and for the other colors see Pro Tapes Pro-Gaff.

We've recently launched a redesign of FindTape.com's home page and page navigational elements. In the top navigational there is now a 'Shop By Category' button which opens up to show an expanded category listing including the first few subcategories belonging to a category. Hopefully this will allow customers to see the full breadth of tapes carried on the site and also allow quicker access to the subcategory level on the site. In the bottom navigation we now show you images and provide links to your most recently viewed products. On the home page another larger keyword search tool is included in addition to the one shown along the top navigation. There is a promotional area on the home page which rotates items we think could be of interest. We also now show product thumbnails for our main categories in case you know what a specific type of tape looks like, but may not be sure what category it lives under. Once you browse it to the site we still provide a left-side navigation bar to allow you to switch between categories and subcategories. In addition a link is provided there to information regarding our partnership with Bongo International Parcel and Mail Forwarding which services our international customers where we do not ship direct. We hope these changes make the site more usable and we'd love to hear your feedback. Thank you.

We often get asked how do different fluorescent tapes how up under a blacklight (and what do non-fluorescent tapes look like) so we took some comparison photographs to see. Below are some photos of different rolls of yellow tape and how they showed up for us (these were taken in a light tent with a blue background with a Streamlight 51010 UV Flashlight used as the light source against the rolls):

Regular yellow duct tape
(Shurtape PC-600)

Fluorescent yellow duct tape
(Shurtape PC-619)

Regular yellow gaffers tape
(Polyken 510)

Fluorescent yellow gaffers tape
(Polyken 510-Neon)

*** Our personal observation is that the fluorescent gaffers definitely showed up the best (especially outside of the light tent), but we did get the PC-619 yellow duct tape to fluoresce also. Outside of the light tent the effect on the PC-619 (polyethylene-coated cloth duct) was not as dramatic as it was on the 510-Neon (vinyl-coated cloth gaffers) though.

Due to customer demand we've recently added the Powerseal 808K bag sealing dispenser to the web site. It has a wide neck so it handles heavy mil bags better than the Powerseal 760K dispenser which we've had for a while now on the site (but which has a standard size neck). In general these bag sealers are used with UPVC film sealing tape like the JVCC BST-24 to seal produce bags, bakery products, candy items, floral arrangements, industrial parts, newspapers and hardware.

The primary tape converter we work with has just opened a facility in Las Vegas, NV which they are just beginning to stock. Not only will this lower the shipping costs for orders shipping to the Western United States, but it will also reduce the time in transit to those locations. Also in our checkout process we now allow you to choose "pickup" as one of the shipping method choices. This means that if you're shipping to the general Las Vegas vicinity you can defray shipping costs by picking it up yourself (the facility is located next to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway 15 minutes north of the Strip). Also, items shipping out of Las Vegas via UPS Ground take just 1 day to arrive to the Southern California area including Los Angeles and San Diego. To see if your items can ship out of the Las Vegas warehouse, just add the items into your shopping cart and then enter in your destination zip code and click on the 'Calculate' shipping button. Beneath each line item in your cart it will then tell you the state it will be shipping from. Also if the product you are looking for is not available yet to ship out of Las Vegas just use the Contact Us Form to inquire about whether or not they'll be stocking that product in Las Vegas and the potential time frame.

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We're only a retailer, but we work closely with different tape converters who supply us with the products we sell on FindTape.com. We often get asked what exactly does an adhesive tape converter do? Basically a tape converter uses various processes to modify adhesive tape products that they get from tape manufacturers. These processes include slitting, rewinding, die-cutting, printing, laminating, etc. They convert (change) master rolls of tape (similar to large rolls of carpet or newsprint in size) to usable sizes and forms for customers. For instance typically gaffers tape comes in a 56" x 900 yard jumbo roll and then individual rolls are converted from that source material into industry standard sizes such as 48mm x 55m on a rewind slitter that cuts the tape as it pulls it off the source roll and then winds it back up on smaller cardboard cores. Other products may be custom cut on lathes that are more flexible when different widths are required. Tape manufacturers also convert their own tape; but often times it is more economical for a specialized converter to do the work for them (also tape manufacturers typically have very high minimums for rolls cut to non-standard widths).

The following are some general recommendations or guidelines to follow when applying a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape:

1. Make sure the surface you are applying the tape to is completely dry and free of any debris before the tape is applied.
2. If any cleaning supplies were used recently on the surface please make sure no residue remains from the cleaning product (if so please use water to remove and then let it dry completely).
3. Unwind the tape from the roll (if the tape has a release liner remove it now). During this step be careful not to contaminate the adhesive by touching it at all with your fingers since it will transfer natural oils over to the adhesive side. Also try to immediately bond the tape to the surface without entrapping air between the tape and the surface it is being applied to.
4. Use some application pressure (it doesn't have to be that forceful) in order to achieve maximum bond strength. Make sure there is no gapping remaining between the tape and the surface it is being applied to which would allow water to come into contact with the adhesive-side of the tape over time. This would deaden the adhesive and shorten the life span of the tape.
5. If the tape has an acrylic adhesive the dwell time the tape needs to be in contact with both surfaces (before it reaches it maximum adhesion) is typically 1 to 24 hours. For best results during this dwell time try to provide some application pressure (e.g. clamps, tape over it, etc.); also if holding an item vertically against a surface try and support the weight if possible.
6. For even better adhesion you can also use an adhesion promoter or primer; can see some options at Adhesion Promoter/Primer on FindTape.com.