I've seen two dramatic failures of duct tape in the past two days. In
our rented, park model trailer there was a metal framed, glass covered
print about 16x20" hanging on the wall. As I was sitting here at the
computer the print suddenly started vibrating loudly. I hadn't realized
that my wife had the washing machine running and the spin cycle
imbalance was shaking the lightweight walls causing the print to
vibrate. Blissfully unaware, I removed the print from the nail it was
hanging on to investigate the cause, discovered that the wall was
vibrating, realized the cause was the washing machine and proceeded to
place the print back on its nail. As I tried to do so the hook on the
back of the print which had been sticking through a slot in the
cardboard backing slid down inside the backing. There is no way to
retrieve it. The cheaply built metal frame is a press fit (and maybe
glued as well) and can't be removed without high risk of damage to the
backing or something else.
On the next trip to Wal-Mart I looked for some suitable stick-on hangers
but found none amongst a moderately large number of different design
choices. So I resolved to design my own. Once back I located a sturdy,
spring-wire key ring. I used some white 2" wide duct tape, tore off a
strip about 6" long, cut it into three narrower 6" long strips. Stuck
them together front-to-back to make a stronger 3-layer 6" long strap
which I passed through the wire ring and folded. This gave me a hanging
hook/ring attached to the end of a 3" long multi-layer duct tape strap
with a loop at the end. I then taped this strap to the cardboard
backing with two pieces of duct tape about 2x4" and proudly hung the
print back on the wall. But, much to my chagrin, the strap slid out
from under the two pieces of duct tape about 8 hours later and the print
slid down the wall and hit the floor with a thump. Fortunately, onto
carpet and no damage done other than my pride.
Upon inspecting my failed design I concluded that the failure was due to
the backing side of the tape having a very slick plastic surface.
Looking around I found another roll of duct tape, this one with the more
conventional gray fabric backing with a surface not so slick as the
white tape. So I constructed a new strap around the ring with this one
having a finished length of about 5" vs. 4". I also formed a long loop
with the adhesive side out and taped this loop firmly to the backing. I
pressed the new strap onto the adhesive and then retaped the whole thing
down again with even more tape than used before. Much to my chagrin,
about 12 hours later the strap once again slid out of its duct tape
confines and came crashing to the floor. Fortunately, once again there
was no damage done except double damage to my pride.
Now I'm contemplating design attempt #3 before I have to turn this place
back to the owners. Suggestions accepted.
Chuck Norcutt
Ken Norton wrote:
>
> 2. If it moves and it's not supposed to, use Duct-Tape.
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|