I was going to set up a practice field at home for the new VEX Clean Sweep game and I had a couple of questions about the 3/4 inch white tape used to put the lines on the field.
I was wondering if it was just white electrical tape or something else? Also, does anyone know if the tape will hurt the surface of my foam tiles when I pull it off? (I don’t want to damage my tiles)
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Not sure about the width of the tape but from experience i can tell you that your better off using high quality electrical tape on the foam instead of the cheaper stuff. In New Zealand i can get Nitto branded tape and its alot nicer on the foam, most marks seem to come off after time anyway but if you leave very sticky tape on for long periods of time it will pull tiny tiny bits of foam out of the tiles so you can see a darker line across them.
Be careful. Once I was using electrical tape for a line tracking bot. I put the tape on the floor. When I pulled the tape back up, it had taken off the finish.
Thanks to both of you for the advice and information. That’s exactly what I was afraid would happen. That’s why I wanted to post my question on the forum before I just went out and tried the electrical tape.
My only question now is what other kind of tape could I use for the lines? Does anyone know what kind of tape IFI uses for their field setup?
I don’t know what they use, but the tape lines on the practice fields at Dallas were peeling off pretty frequently (the tape didn’t leave any marks on the mat though).
I know that for the goals specifically (and possibly other places) they tell you to use gaffer’s tape. For the field they just say electrical tape, so I would just see if you can get a small piece of foam and test the tape on it (that way, the large parts aren’t ruined forever and you can see if gaffer’s and other tape works in addition to electrical tape).
For Elevation we used white electrical tape from the local electronics store. You can see marks on our tiles where the tape was, but it didn’t leave residue and didn’t pull up the foam. I’m pretty sure, though, that this particular store only sells good stuff.
Thanks for all of the additional information! I really appreciate everyone’s help. I read the official information on the Clean Sweep Field setup and it said to use white electrical tape.
There is a local supply company here in Kansas City called WW Grainger and they sell Scotch white electrical tape at about 6 a roll and another brand at .69 a roll. I will try the Scotch electrical tape - it should be the good stuff for $6 a roll! We also have an electronics supply store here that I can check with.
I’m not sure what gaffer’s tape is, but I will check on it too. One of my foam tiles is a little scuffed up so I can use it to test the tape on.
“Gaff tape” or “gaffer’s tape” is sort of super-deluxe duct tape. It’s what duct tape would be if it cost $20 a roll instead of $4. It’s worth every penny – I use a lot of it in theater (it’s really made for the movies, theater, and television) and it’s really useful. It sticks when it’s supposed to and pulls off when you need it to, and it is plenty strong. It’s what IFI shipped with the the official Elevation competition kits to tape the goals together.