Any idea what type of tape they used for the finish lines and lane markers and where I can buy some of this tape?
The tape that they used on the competition field stood up to some heavy traffic and stuck very well to the carpet…
I am looking for some tape like this that will stay down on similar type of carpet…
Is this the tape, how it was applied, or both?
thanks in advance
It’s called gaffer’s tape. I’m not sure where you can buy it, though.
Gaffer’s. I’m fairly certain standard home improvement stores will have them.
Ah, the field tape, I knew you well during the Florida Regional.
We had for repairs, 2’’ black gaffers tape
For the center carpets, 3’’ black gaffers tape
For each lane marker, 2’’ red and blue gaffers tape
I can’t find the multi colored gaffers tape on the internet. But it’s an alternating white square, black square roll.
What do you mean by “how it was applied”?
It’s custom-made for FIRST. They ordered a pile of it at the beginning of the season.
Someone asked Q&A where to find it. It’s custom, so you wouldn’t be able to find it unless you wanted a lot of it and talked to the right person.
The tape is called gaffer’s tape or sometimes gaff tape. It is used a lot in the film industry. It is made by Permacell and I can post the item numbers when I get home tonight.
This stuff isn’t cheap. 2" is $13.75/60yd roll. 3" is $26/60yd roll.
While a lot more expensive than duct tape, its big advantage is you can remove it. All of it. Unlike duct tape it does not leave a residue. It also sticks well to a variety of surfaces including carpet. There are also modified versions for cold and wet locations.
The black and white tape used for the Finish Lines was apparently a specioal order for FIRST.
Film supply places carry it. There are several here in LA. It is also available on the Internet, but generally the shipping charges are enough to negate any savings in the per roll price. It isn’t just the price that is heavy!
one of the field guys gave me a part of the finish lane and it seems to be a fabric like tape.
Those prices are actually pretty good. I’ve seen 2" gaff tape selling for about $17 per roll. Grainger has 2" black or silver; their part numbers are 1P089 and 6A066, respectively. The list price is a whopping $29.95 per 60 yd roll!
To get other colors and sizes, and probably better prices, local theatre supply houses are your best bet. Ask someone in your community college drama department where they get it.
it wouldn’t hurt trying a local carpet supply store… they might not have it but it still worth a shot.
Like anything else, there are various grades and prices for gaff tape. I’ve used “Pro-Gaf”, “Permacell” and “3M” all quite a bit. The 3M stuff tends to run toward the premium end of the price scale. $14/roll for a single roll of Pro Gaff at your local theater supply house is about right, you can find it mail order on the net for as low as $7 or $8 (plus shipping) if you want to buy a full case. Just Google for “gaff tape”. Ask the drama teacher at the high school where they get their supplies, even if they don’t actually use gaff tape (we didn’t in HS, too expensive), the same place they get lighting gel should have it.
It’s the only thing I will let people apply to my carpet, or my cables. Duct tape on cables is a bigger no-no than duct tape on an FRC bot 
You might want to try Full Compass in Middleton. Their prices on gaff tape are pretty good. I’m not sure if they actually have a storefront location, but if not they are so close to you that shipping should not be too brutal.
From this Q&A System answer:
The checkered tape was custom printed and is not available by roll, or even by case. For large volume orders (80 rolls minimum), you can contact the original vendor, Wholesale Tape, at 1-800-642-8273. The tape is white 3-inch gaffers tape, printed with a 3-inch square black checkerboard pattern.
If “close enough” is “good enough” for your purposes, 1" vinyl checkered tape is readily available from such sites as http://www.findtape.com (click on “Racer’s Tape”).
Well… on our field, we had a poor student lay down strips or red/blue duct tape, then use white squares to make it dotted >.< Then we covered it w/ packaging tape… and it holds up well.
(slowly look around to make sure everyone’s back is turned toward him)
…
(Ken quietly buys large quantity of white gaffers tape, and about half the quantity of black gaffers tape)
…
(while no one is looking, Ken unroll all the white gaffers tape and start cutting up square pieces of black ones as well)
…
(after a while, after Ken is finally done with whatever he is doing, people “happens” to turn around again)
Ken: “Hey everybody, look what I got.”
Very carefully… and precisely. 
But seriously, it was applied at the field I helped set up by two or 3 people. One held the roll and walked ahead of the other one (or two people) who just ran their hand (which mine got a huge black mark on it btw from the color of the tape… lol) on the tape to press it down.
It’s not that difficult.
No fancy heat needed or anything like that, it’s just the tape is really really sticky. It’s used in the theater industry to hold things (cables, etc) to other things. (Used by a person known as a Gaffer) Everyone tends to mistakenly call it Gaffers tape, but it’s actually called Gaffer’s tape with an apostrophe because it is typically used by Gaffers and is their tape.
Btw, the lane marker down the center of the field (& beneath the lane divider wall) is really the location where two seperate carpets are joined by the 3" wide Gaffer’s tape on top, and another special kind of carpet tape along the bottom. A FIRST field in 2008 uses 2 rolls of carpet total. The spare pieces of carpet that make up the field & player’s station is then cut to cover the supporting bases for the Lane Divider wall.
The only reason I know this is because I cut them in Hartford… w00t! lol
Also, for anyone who was in Hartford competing, the field there was brand new! It hadn’t been used in a competition before that weekend.
Just another fun fact.
Elgin, I know how it was applied, I was one of the ones applying it I was just curious as to what they meant by the question they asked
Same for Florida =]
YAY GAFF Tape…and it’s not just film industry that uses it, I think pretty much the majority of the performance world(stage theatre and film) used gaff tape and spike tape…