I think I've found the ideal tape for retaping film holders after searching locally for something that would do the trick and coming up empty. It is Fastape book repair tape from Demco (a library supply house). It is a cloth tape with a heavy plastic coating (15 mil, I believe). It is opaque, does not stretch, and the adhesive (which is not gummy or viscous) allows repositioning for 24 hours before making a more permanent bond. It is made for repairing book bindings so it is made to flex and therefore is good for taping filmholder hinges. Its texture is very much like the original tape on my holders. It cuts easily with scissors or with an exacto knife. It also comes in colors besides black so one could use it to color code holders if that seemed like a good idea. The smallest width is 1 1/2 inches, so after it is applied one needs to trim with an exacto knife. It is also available with a peel off backing so that pieces can be cut to size easily (I bought the cheaper plain roll). Demco is at www.demco.com. They had a roll to me in two days.

I realize that Calumet sells tape for this purpose, but from the catalog description it seems to be cut to fit holders that have a single 1/4 " strip of tape on the end (my newer holders are like this). With the Demco tape one can repair holders that require the tape to wrap around the end and fasten to the sides of the flaps.

I hope this is useful.

-- Tony Galt (galta@uwgb.edu), May 03, 2002

Answers

Tony,

Sounds like a product I can make good use of. Some . . . err MOST of my holders could use this.

Do you know any retail locations that sell this? Maybe craft suppliers?

Thanx.

-- Steve Feldman (steve@toprinting.com), May 04, 2002.

I found it here.

-- Jim Galli (jimgalli@lnett.com), May 04, 2002.

Well as usual that didn't work. It's not the scotch 845. You'll have to do a search on Demco's page for "book binding tape" to get to the cloth cotton stuff. Jim

-- Jim Galli (jimgalli@lnett.com), May 04, 2002.

Search was a little trickier than that. "Fastape high quality" will get you to it. Inch and a half by 15 yards worked out to $11 with shipping.

-- Chauncey Walden (clwaldeniii@attbi.com), May 04, 2002.