Re: Grippy material
 

We used 1" wide flat polyurethane the we got from McMaster-Carr this year.

Last year we used field hockey stick grip tape.

We have also used tool drawer liner material.

Re: Grippy material
 

One of our mentors has a prosthetic leg. For our 2011 gripper, we used some of the liner material that goes between the prosthetic and the stump. It is fabric on one side and very soft/grippy polyurethane on the other. It comes in sheet form and can be riveted or laced in place. It held up well and remained sticky all season long.

Re: Grippy material
 

Other options i've seen played with are:
-waterproof electrical tape, it adheres to itself and is pretty grippy
-plasti-dip "paint"
-work gloves
-tennis raquet grips
-bicycle handgrips

Re: Grippy material
 

I can't believe I forgot drawer liner/carpet grip material. Lower on the durability scale, but very cheap and easy to work with. It has been a staple material for 95.

Re: Grippy material
 

I have always wanted to try these: http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/114...tain-Grips.htm

When I got a new bike, they came on it. Before, I would wear gloves for cushion and grip when I ride, but these are far more squishy and sticky than any gloves I own. So now I ride without gloves and the grips haven't shown any wear in 3 years.

Re: Grippy material
 

I think 330 had to replace theirs about every competition or so in 2005--it was used to keep tetras from sliding around a lot (though it shredded--it wasn't the same pattern, but a weaker one). Might have been more often, and the drivers could tell the difference between a new wrap and an old one.

Re: Grippy material
 

The liner stuff does pickup dust, which is why I really like rough-top and wedge-top tread in certain applications. The treads' texturing is deep enough and radical enough so that dust doesn't linger on the surface. The liner material worked really well for us in 2001 and 2003 where we wrapped it many layers thick to get some compliance when picking up game pieces.

Re: Grippy material
 

We used 1/8" diam polyurethane cord loops (lengths were cut together, then melted together at the ends with a cigarette lighter) in our claw to manipulate the tube, and black friction tread (I'm not sure from where) on the rollers to pull in the tube.

I recall another alternative to the roller tread being rollerblade wheels.

Re: Grippy material
 

Another vote for polyurethane cord loops, we also tried http://www.dycem.com one year as an offseason material. Apparently its commonly used in clean rooms so it picks up fine particles really well, but its expensive and no better than the fabric that football gloves are made out of of from our experience.

Re: Grippy material
 

Baseball Bat grip! It's cheap, extremely grippy, and easily replaceable when it wears! Not exactly the most durable option but when we used it for Breakaway we could go a whole competition without changing it out if we really needed to without any adverse effects!