Gap Tape? Electrical OK?

I know that this is going to generate a long thread but --- what is so
great about $10/roll super thin, super flexible, super-wide gap tape?

I had it in my mind once that thin was the important part to prevent
seperation of the laminar flow or something equally distructive.
However a friend of mine made perfect sense when he said that this
would only affect performance if it was cross-ways to the air flow.
Obviously the wing root seal tape is not cross-ways.

Maybe the adhesive is distructive to the gell coat? If you left the
tape on all season I could see that this might be a factor but we
generally only leave it on for part of a day. 3M tape's adhesive is
good but not like duct tape or something.

Let's me know what you think.

- John

Any tape that doesn't come off is just fine. On a painted metal
sailplane, the adhesive is a bit more critical, but on gelcoat, it's
not as much an issue.

Some tapes have better adhesive, so the tape doesn't come loose under
temp changes and start to buzz - very annoying if it happens at the
beginning of a 6-10 hour flight.

Some adhesive leaves gunky residue. Some tapes split in cold weather.
Some sailplanes have some compound curves that require a good stretchy
tape.

There's some "religion" in picking the right tape

I like Mike Bowlus' "Maxi Tape". Not the cheapest around, but it
sticks wery well, stretches and goes around corners very well, and
doesn't leave nuch residue when removed.

-Tom

Even masking tape can be used - best take it off the same day, though.
Chris N.

Hi,

This thread has been interesting.

I sell 3M gap seal tape so I have a biased opinion. But I started selling
it because I like it.

http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/mmm.htm

Why do I use and use and sell the 3M product? Because my experience is that
good tape is worth the money for several reasons. The main reason is how
well it comes of the glider when you try to remove it. It is my opinion
that the 3M product really shines in this aspect. It comes off cleanly
without leaving gunky tape residue on the glider - most of the time anyway.
Also the Polyethylene film tape is very stretchy so it follows the contours
of glider wing-fuselage junctions as well as possible. The Ventus b I used
to own had a right angle junction between the wing and fuselage which made
the use of very flexible tape necessary.

My aim is to serve the soaring community. If you can find other less
expensive tape that works well for you, great. If you want or need the good
stuff then give me a call. I stock it in 1", and 2" widths in white and
transparent. Unfortunately, 3M has increased the price of the tape
considerably in recent years.

I have also heard that the Bowlus Maxi tape is very nice.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"nimbusgb" wrote in message
oups.com...
Only the truly analy retentive will use anything but plain old white
electrical tape. Find the sort thats soft and pliable buy it 10 rolls
at a time once you are happy that it works ie: flexes for an entire
flight, doesnt freeze and crack, doesnt peel off and doesnt leave too
much goo. Get some 'sticky stuff remover' to get rid of any gunk once a
month or so. Electrical tape will not harm the gelcoat.

If 2 metres of '$10/roll super thin, super flexible, super-wide gap
tape' makes anything more than a phsycological difference to your ships
performance then I suggest your aircraft needs more than just tape.

If it helps phsyc out the competition by all means put the 10 rolls of
electrical tape in a box that you have made a nice label for on the
colour desk jet. Something like 'Moffat tape' or 'Reichmann fairing
tape'. Place a discrete price label on the box - say $35 / roll

Hi,

I have tried several brands of vinyl electrical tape. Scotch 35 White
(054007-10828) is the best. It is produced by 3M and exhibits many of the
characteristics described in Paul's post. The tape is 3/4" wide. There is
66 feet on each roll. My supplier is "Lows." I purchase it by the case and
3M stock holders smile every time I assemble my HP-14.

Wayne
HP-14 N990 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/HP-14/N990/N990.html



"Paul Remde" wrote in message
newsmq5g.710833$084.319763@attbi_s22...
Hi,

This thread has been interesting.

I sell 3M gap seal tape so I have a biased opinion. But I started selling
it because I like it.

http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/mmm.htm

Why do I use and use and sell the 3M product? Because my experience is
that
good tape is worth the money for several reasons. The main reason is how
well it comes of the glider when you try to remove it. It is my opinion
that the 3M product really shines in this aspect. It comes off cleanly
without leaving gunky tape residue on the glider - most of the time
anyway.
Also the Polyethylene film tape is very stretchy so it follows the
contours
of glider wing-fuselage junctions as well as possible. The Ventus b I
used
to own had a right angle junction between the wing and fuselage which made
the use of very flexible tape necessary.

My aim is to serve the soaring community. If you can find other less
expensive tape that works well for you, great. If you want or need the
good
stuff then give me a call. I stock it in 1", and 2" widths in white and
transparent. Unfortunately, 3M has increased the price of the tape
considerably in recent years.

I have also heard that the Bowlus Maxi tape is very nice.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

Paul Remde wrote:

Why do I use and use and sell the 3M product? Because my experience is that
good tape is worth the money for several reasons. The main reason is how
well it comes of the glider when you try to remove it. It is my opinion
that the 3M product really shines in this aspect. It comes off cleanly
without leaving gunky tape residue on the glider - most of the time anyway.
Also the Polyethylene film tape is very stretchy so it follows the contours
of glider wing-fuselage junctions as well as possible. The Ventus b I used
to own had a right angle junction between the wing and fuselage which made
the use of very flexible tape necessary.

My test for flexible tape is whether it can be run in a complete flat
circle around an Astir fuselage hatch and won't lift by the next day.

Nikko electrical is one of the few I know which pass that test.

Graeme Cant







My aim is to serve the soaring community. If you can find other less
expensive tape that works well for you, great. If you want or need the good
stuff then give me a call. I stock it in 1", and 2" widths in white and
transparent. Unfortunately, 3M has increased the price of the tape
considerably in recent years.

I have also heard that the Bowlus Maxi tape is very nice.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"nimbusgb" wrote in message
oups.com...

Only the truly analy retentive will use anything but plain old white
electrical tape. Find the sort thats soft and pliable buy it 10 rolls
at a time once you are happy that it works ie: flexes for an entire
flight, doesnt freeze and crack, doesnt peel off and doesnt leave too
much goo. Get some 'sticky stuff remover' to get rid of any gunk once a
month or so. Electrical tape will not harm the gelcoat.

If 2 metres of '$10/roll super thin, super flexible, super-wide gap
tape' makes anything more than a phsycological difference to your ships
performance then I suggest your aircraft needs more than just tape.

If it helps phsyc out the competition by all means put the 10 rolls of
electrical tape in a box that you have made a nice label for on the
colour desk jet. Something like 'Moffat tape' or 'Reichmann fairing
tape'. Place a discrete price label on the box - say $35 / roll

Home Depot 3M ..$3.25 a roll, many different colors, including white.
Works fine, lasts all day. Biggest problem with tape is people stretch
it way too much,
and then when it shrinksup,itcausesittopeel off. I know several folks
who use it over and over and over again, they just don't
stretch it when they put it on. Xylene
will clean the area where the tape has been. #711

We were recently preflighting our club glider and decided to remove the gap
tape covering the hole for the rear wing attachment pins. We discovered
that one of the pins was not seated properly. This glider had been flying
like this for months. No one discovered this, because no one wants to
disturb a nice gap seal tape job.

We now use clear tape over the pin holes, preventing any similar problems in
the future.

Mike Schumann

"nimbusgb" wrote in message
oups.com...
Only the truly analy retentive will use anything but plain old white
electrical tape. Find the sort thats soft and pliable buy it 10 rolls
at a time once you are happy that it works ie: flexes for an entire
flight, doesnt freeze and crack, doesnt peel off and doesnt leave too
much goo. Get some 'sticky stuff remover' to get rid of any gunk once a
month or so. Electrical tape will not harm the gelcoat.

If 2 metres of '$10/roll super thin, super flexible, super-wide gap
tape' makes anything more than a phsycological difference to your ships
performance then I suggest your aircraft needs more than just tape.

If it helps phsyc out the competition by all means put the 10 rolls of
electrical tape in a box that you have made a nice label for on the
colour desk jet. Something like 'Moffat tape' or 'Reichmann fairing
tape'. Place a discrete price label on the box - say $35 / roll

Someone mentioned reusing tape. I've been doing so for many years. If
you're the kind of person who recoils at spending a lot of bucks for
exotic tape, try my two-step method: buy the cheap stuff (step 1) and
use it over and over again (step 2).

For the benefit of all the pundits who've given me a hard time about it
over the years, I'm not the only one! At the Sports Class Nats a few
years ago, we discovered that three of us who tied down next to each
other all reused tape. One guy rolled it back up on a roll each time.
That's too much work: I just stick it down on the inside of my
smooth-walled Cobra trailer. The "trick" is to treat tape as you would
your spouse: be firm, not gentle. Press it down on the "storage area"
so that no moisture or dust can get under it.

I just had my first flight of the season...and used the tape I'd
removed last Fall. Worked fine.

I usually replace tape after 10 or so flights, sometimes putting on new
tape the first day of a contest. Reuse works better when it's warm
outside than in cold weather. Another trick is to trim the ends off
each piece every few flights: the fingerprints build up there so the
adhesive loses its grip. But the tape stretches enough that you can
throw away the last couple of inches and it will still fit. You can
stretch even the cheap stuff a tremendous amount. Just don't stretch it
(a) in the last few inches of a strip, or (b) in a concave area (e.g.,
under the wing near the trailing edge). In both cases, the tape will
lift off fairly quickly (as new tape will often do, too). Stretching
only applies to tape covering a flat seam. When taping the 90 degree
intersection of a wing and fuselage sans fillet, for example, all bets
are off.

The worst part? When some helpful soul pulls the tape off prior to
derigging and crumples perfectly good stuff into a wad. It's like
watching someone light a cigar with a $20 bill. OK, maybe a $1 bill.

I realize I've now revealed a great secret, but after 40+ years of
soaring, I figure it's time to give something back as well as do my
part for the environment. I use much less than one roll of tape a
year.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

My method was to visit a local tape wholesaler who custom cut a bunch of 3M
electrical tape for me from a 48" wide roll. (Called a "log") I got it in
various widths. Cost, 29 cents a roll. I throw it away.

Bill Daniels


wrote in message
oups.com...
Someone mentioned reusing tape. I've been doing so for many years. If
you're the kind of person who recoils at spending a lot of bucks for
exotic tape, try my two-step method: buy the cheap stuff (step 1) and
use it over and over again (step 2).

For the benefit of all the pundits who've given me a hard time about it
over the years, I'm not the only one! At the Sports Class Nats a few
years ago, we discovered that three of us who tied down next to each
other all reused tape. One guy rolled it back up on a roll each time.
That's too much work: I just stick it down on the inside of my
smooth-walled Cobra trailer. The "trick" is to treat tape as you would
your spouse: be firm, not gentle. Press it down on the "storage area"
so that no moisture or dust can get under it.

I just had my first flight of the season...and used the tape I'd
removed last Fall. Worked fine.

I usually replace tape after 10 or so flights, sometimes putting on new
tape the first day of a contest. Reuse works better when it's warm
outside than in cold weather. Another trick is to trim the ends off
each piece every few flights: the fingerprints build up there so the
adhesive loses its grip. But the tape stretches enough that you can
throw away the last couple of inches and it will still fit. You can
stretch even the cheap stuff a tremendous amount. Just don't stretch it
(a) in the last few inches of a strip, or (b) in a concave area (e.g.,
under the wing near the trailing edge). In both cases, the tape will
lift off fairly quickly (as new tape will often do, too). Stretching
only applies to tape covering a flat seam. When taping the 90 degree
intersection of a wing and fuselage sans fillet, for example, all bets
are off.

The worst part? When some helpful soul pulls the tape off prior to
derigging and crumples perfectly good stuff into a wad. It's like
watching someone light a cigar with a $20 bill. OK, maybe a $1 bill.

I realize I've now revealed a great secret, but after 40+ years of
soaring, I figure it's time to give something back as well as do my
part for the environment. I use much less than one roll of tape a
year.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"