Howzit McDing, I have been known to just rip 1" tape down the middle to make it more flexable. I do this if I am out of 1/8" or 1/4" and only where I need curves then I blend 1" into the ripped tape for the straight lengths, Aloha,Kokua
There are 3 different types of 3M blue tape. 3M blue has become a sort of industry standard for painters, the adhesion is for quick removal on woodwork and walls...not exactly suited for foam work. If you can find the old blue tape (it has a crepe texture, that's the good stuff...the new stuff has a smooth almost wax texture to it now. Not so good for foam work. The blue tape has taken the place of regular tan in the 3M 10xx series.
3M green is a much better buy, but more expensive. There is the 223 and the new and improved 223+, and the 20xx series of tape, all of these are good choices for cutlaps and color work. The 20xx series tape, and the Fineline series is what you'll find at auto paint shops.
3M 2060 general purpose masking is not to bad either, but you have to burnish it down with a bit more finess.
Rachel,
check you mail
even with 233+ i have still had a lot of problems trying to get tape to stick to Ice9 blanks especially the CANE formula. Blow the thing off several times and make sure the temperature is not too hot in the room when you are pulling your tape line. After you get it down work fast and get the laps pinned down ASAP. Just my 2 cents
Speaking of 3M tape #'s, 3M separates their products into Divisions that distribute to resellers, so some of their tapes are only available through what division the reseller belongs to. For example, 231 is very similar to 233, but only the Marine Division resellers are allowed to carry it. Same goes with 232 and 234 - Marine and Automotive respectively.
Lot's of divisions at 3M There are some tapes in the aerospace division that would freek you out. There's a two sided tape out there that's made for bonding dis-similar materials like aluminum to plexiglas or Fiberglass to plastic,...or plexi to plexi.. it's used in the aerospace and marine divisions......once it's bonded between the materials, it's never coming up, you'll never get the two parts apart unless you break it. It's great in applications that once needed a rivet to hold the two parts together, but vibration would make one side fatigue faster than the other....not to mention dampening squeeks, and sounds that go bump in the night.
Mr. Head knows about this tape because he puts it between his feet and his surfboard. Now he doesn’t need a leash… but he does surf some waves upside down.
Buying online after the shipping costs for a few rolls dosen’t save much money than buying at FGH ($8 for a 1/2" roll). Anyone on Oahu want to split costs to buy a case or couple sleeves?
I find myself doing that too on occasion.
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Like Rob said, 233 green at Walmart is $2.97/ roll. Go to Walmart. It’s with the bondo in automotive section
Atomized,
Whats your take on the 3M 2727? The car paint places as well as some of our East Coast surfboard materials suppliers sell this. I have had no problems with it. BTW got some Nova Color paint so I'm going to pm you for some mixing advice.
regards,
Dave
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Mr. Head knows about this tape because he puts it between his feet and his surfboard. Now he doesn't need a leash... but he does surf some waves upside down.
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And I never need to buy shoes...................
I haven’t had a chance to try it. I looked up some info on it at 3M’s website (see attached). It looks good. How’s it compare to 233 price wise?
I’m currently using 233 and 233+ for pulling curves and pinlines. 232 for masking over painted areas. 2209 (it comes in a 4" width) for masking a large area to razor out a design
Atom,
Its pretty close to the same price or maybe a a tad cheaper than the green 233. I had issues when airbrushing with the green 233 when 3M first switched over. I asked the airbrusher at WRV what he was using and he had started using the 2727 for the same reason. He said that WRV carried it so I bought some that day and have used it ever since. Atlantic Surfing Materials carries it and they supply a lot of the major players up and down the East Coast and especially in Florida so I must not be the only one using it.
regards,
Dave D
Here's the way I see it; 233+ Green will eventually replace 233 Crepe. Eventually (and arguably) the best solvent based adhesive masking tape of the day will go the way of the Dinosaur as 3M moves toward a more environmentally sensitive tape. Obviously as evidenced by this thread the 3m 233+ Green is thought well of by some and unproven to others. The weaker "natural" adhesive may result in fewer sales. As I stated in my previous post Shurtape makes some very good tapes as well. If one does a little research and product testing they will see that Shurtapes products are of equal quality. I prefer 3M as most do. The only reason for the Shurtape plug is to let others know there is an alternative should 3M stop producing 233 Crepe. An aside from all that; I use 3M233 Crepe for all my resin work. Cutlaps, hotcoats, gloss etc. Primary reason being that I know it will not leave adhesive residue. Secondly it adheres well with minimum effort. Pulls clean and lays down nice. The only time it bleeds is when I don't take a little extra time and make sure it is pressed down properly. When I am painting a blank either Surfblanks or US Blanks I sometimes use 3M 2020. If I press it properly and spray the paint I get good results with a cheaper tape. I see from previous post etc that alot of people use tongue depreeors and spoons to press tape. I really shouldn't give up this secret, but it's no biggie and many of you know this secret already; Use a thimble for pressing tape down. I bought a sewing kit a few years back at a garage sale that had three metal sewing thimbles in it. They work great for pressing tape. Wallpaper seam rollers also work very well. Lowel
My big complaints about 233+ are: I really hate the green color and it doesn’t tear as well as 233.
3M recently changed the crepe in 233 to thicker crepe which is a bit stiffer that the previous. The edge quality is significantly cleaner than the old crepe.
3m has switched to the metric system so 1" tape is not exactly 1" anymore. 24mm= 0.945 in.
A rep from ShureTape gave me some samples of their CP 27 blue tape to try. He said this is what …Lost is using for their sprayed graphics. So I gave it a try and this is what I thought: The edge quality was poor. It pulled OK and the adhesive stuck well to the blank. I wasn’t crazy about the dark blue color. I would compare it to 3M 2214, but stiffer.
If the ShureTape rep ever comes by again, I’d like to try their Hi Performace tapes.
I really do not like colored tape - green or blue. It’s just personal peave. The crepe is initially beige until they dye it a color. I guess I’m old fashioned when it comes to that.
I use those fake credit cards that come in the mail to burnish down the tape.
I only paint with water based paints and no longer do any resin work.
Our glasser uses 233+ for cut laps and 2214 for hotcoats and glosses.
Howzit McDing, I don't know if they will actually replace 233 with 233+. The reason I say this is in the days of yore 3m"s 2050 was the tape that we all used for resin work but now it is crap but it's still on the market. #m makes some tape in the US and some in Canada and since Canada has different EPA rules the tapes adhesive is different.Aloha,Kokua
Rachel… by now you can see there are a lot of people that know their tapes!
As Kokua calls “the days of yore”, and McDing and others mention “crepe”, many of us became familiar with the differences in crepe and ‘flat back’ masking tapes decades ago. And yes, some of us would rip tape to get enough flex like Kokua did and I regularly switch tape widths near the nose of a noserider or egg when the need arises. I was told the reason why 1/8" tape is so imperfect is because they cut 1/4" in half, it’s not actually made that way.
That 3M 2020 tape is the cheapie masking tape you can get in “Contractor’s Packs” at Home Depot. The stuff sticks okay, sometimes sticking to itself on the roll too much negating some of the savings. The stuff is real thin, and you have to pull it in advance to flashing UV resin in the sun or very soon thereafter or you may stand to have some nasty residue to remove. Sometimes I double tape a hotcoat line with it which defeats even using it. It doesn’t stick that well to surfboard foam, but that depends on who’s foam you are using and what your prep and paint or resin going on is, and even the temperature and humidity that day.
Ice Nine eh? You must be buying old stock or from a distributor that stockpiled them. To my knowledge both Cane and Mowses are gone. Please enlighten me if I am wrong. I did a lot of R&D and feedback for Ice Nine and in the end I came away with the conviction that MDI foam is both softer and heavier. I know there are claims to the contrary, but I just haven’t seen any evidence. If Ice 9 had started with Mowses, they might still be around.
The two great (PU) foams out there now are Surfblanks and U.S. Blanks. IMO, these are the blanks to use if you are in it for the long haul.
deadshaper
would you mind elaborating on how you seal the tape edge with the future polish? are you diluting or using full strength? and how do you apply, brushed on or sprayed?
thank you
brasco
deadshaper,
I got the ICE9 blanks from Brian at Greenlight a few months ago. Haven’t had a lot of time with school to shape them but I finished up one a couple weeks ago and I have another almost ready to be glassed. I’m a little bummed that ICE9 has gone bust, but it’s understandable these days. I mostly used them for their convenience since I could pick them up in Philly. I order so little that paying shipping just kills it.
Either way, the switch to good tape should make everything better and help my overall product in general.