Gummed Tape

[sambo]

Really frustrated with the difficulty in finding affordable gummed tape to use with my WASP here in the UK. I can find the larger sizes, but not the widths I need ( 15mm / 20mm ) for 3 inch and 4 inch shells. Does anyone know a cheap source, apart from the usual and can a larger roll be cut with a bandsaw or a table saw effectively?
thanks in advance.

[Pyro-Gear]

Don’t think you will find it in the UK Sam but a 200 meter roll is around £2.30 plus shipping from a guy I know that’s 15mm and 20mm I have some in the shop but not a lot at the moment.

[richardh08]

I wouldn't bet on any kind of saw doing the job neatly enough. Splitting the tape with a sharp knife mounted in a guide-way might be a better option. It would mean running the whole reel and winding the cut pieces onto new bobbins, but I'm sure a machine could be devised to do it reasonably quickly and efficiently.

[Fulmen]

It might be possible to cut rolls with a rotary cutter: http://www2.fiskars.com/Products/Crafti ... tter-60-mm

[sambo]

Thanks Fulmen, i'll take a look. I know they do this in industry, they cut the rolls down somehow !

[Fulmen]

The simplest would probably be to split it while un/respooling it. The rotary cutter will still be a good choice since it uses the entire edge (almost 20cm for a 60mm wheel), preventing it from dulling too quickly.

[Lloyd]

Most of the 'slitter' rigs I've seen do just that, Fulmen. It would impractical to cut more than just ONE width off the end of a packed roll; and even then, it would tend to make a slightly conical roll that would have to be re-compacted to 'flat' before market.

But if the individual strips can be spread JUST a few thousandths of an inch wider than the thickness of the cutter blades, many strips may be cut from a roll at once, as the wide sheet un-spools, and the narrower rolls spool up.

Lloyd

[Fulmen]

I'm pretty sure I've seen video of long rolls being cut into multiple sections, but it might have been soft paper (toilet rolls). Either way it should be far easier to build a rig for cutting while re-spooling, so that would be my first choice. With rotary cutters the width of the blade should be negligible.

[Lloyd]

Yeah... well... "Negligible, yes; Tangible; yes". If one were cutting a 6' wide roll of material into 1/2" wide strips, one would need 143(?) blades. If each blade were 0.010" thick (darned-thin), then the total thickness of all of them would be 1.43".

That would mean the two outside strands would have to divert left or right by about 3/4", with each strip toward-center somewhat less.

It's very 'negligible', yet significant when dealing with tracking of rollers and sheet goods.

Lloyd

[Boophoenix]

One key factor to consider might be the physical blade diameter. Finding a blade that would cut to a significant depth to spilt a roll and not snap without some aids to support it until it was sunk into the material should be considered.

[richardh08]

Sam,
There's a recent post on FW in Tools and machines: How I cut gum tape, by NeighborJ. It seems simple and effective.