I have a question about how cubes are repaired if damaged in a match. In 5.8.2 CUBE, the rules say “CUBES are expected to experience wear during MATCHES, and small holes may be patched with electrical tape.” My question is this: what kind of electrical tape is used to repair the holes? I need to know because my team wants to practice on cubes that have been damaged and then repaired according to regulation, because it could affect the way our mechanisms interact with a cube. I wasn’t able to find anything in the rules, but maybe someone found something I didn’t?
Might be a good question for the Q&A - FIRST might have standards in place for event staff for this, or they might allow them to use any kind of tape.
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Don’t know about anyone else, but we’ve found that electrical tape on its own doesn’t do such a great job at repairing holes. The air still manages to escape through tiny gaps in the tape’s glue. We started applying superglue around the hole and then covering with electrical tape, which seems to work a lot better for us.
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I suspect that they intentionally don’t specify the brand, because that way any last-minute substitutions are still “legal”. That is, if a field runs low, they can send someone to the nearest big-box hardware store to just pick up some electrical tape without worrying as much about availability of some exact product.
If I had to guess, though, 3M is a “crown supplier”-level sponsor, so it wouldn’t shock me if the fields were initially sent with rolls of one of their tapes, much like the field usually uses 3M brand gaffer’s tape. No idea which type of electrical tape, though; it may be that FIRST has tested some specific product that they found useful and that’s why they think electrical tape will work well.
It also wouldn’t shock me if it varied from district to district, as I think at least some of the “consumables” to run events are each district’s responsibility to acquire.
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I just received the shipment of the field items for the PNW today.
In our boxes of gaff tape, which is a mix of the 3M and Pro Gaff brands, there were also 5 rolls of electrical tape, or 1 roll for 2 events.
It is 3M Temflex 165 in black.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b5005209026/
Kind of bummed they didn’t get the purple version and I can’t say for certain that it is what will be supplied with all fields.
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There is also the small matter of a big ol’ fingerprint on the adhesive or cube prior to application of the tape, 3m or otherwise. (Not that it will matter much when a compliant wheel rips the tape off)
We had a Cube get 3 tiny holes the first week, and patched not very well. I repatched them, standard electrical tape, and the Cube is still full and happy.
I wonder if purple tape is recommended?
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Thank you! If it was supplied in the kit of field items, then it is likely what they will use to repair the cubes.
I can’t be sure about what is being sent to other areas, but yeah if one is patched in the PNW it will use that stuff, at least until it runs out. Then I’ll likely direct the Field Supervisor to grab the roll of Super 33+ out of spare parts, or ask teams, if they run out during an event, unless FIRST specifically states we must use the 165.
As I mentioned even though the model of tape provided to the PNW, 3M Temflex 165, district does come in purple FIRST supplied it in black.
I wonder how much using non-purple tape will affect the teams that find cubes using ML. If it did, it would probably need to be many holes on many cubes.
I was thinking a repeat of the 2018 Power Up vault, catching the bit of black FIRST logo instead of the yellow. Just needs a bit in the wrong place. We should find out next month (checks calendar) this month (!!).
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My team is using gafers tape