Double-sided tape with one side to be removed later?

[superboyac]

I'm looking for some double-sided tape, but I need one side of it to have some kind of paper or film over it that can be removed later.  For example, I want to put the tape on a card, but I don't want both sides to be exposed right away.  First, I'll put the tape on the card...then, LATER, I want to remove the paper protecting the other side when I'm ready to stick it to something.  But all the double sided tapes I've seen just come with both sides open.

Do any of you know of a tape like I described above?  Please let me know.  Or if you know of another solution, let me know that also.  Thanks.

[lanux128]

normally a double-sided tape should work just as you described. a quick trip to the local DIY/hardware store could give you several choices..

here are some samples i've found on Amazon..
• http://www.amazon.com/3M-Urethane-4026-Neutral-16-inch/dp/B00006IF7L/ref=pd_sim_op_6
• http://www.amazon.com/Scotch%C2%AE-Interior-Exterior-Mounting-4011-Long/dp/B000BL5INM/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1283198178&sr=1-11

[superboyac]

Actually, most normal double-sided tapes have no liners on either side.  Once it's rolled out, both sides are exposed.  There's nothing more to peel off.  Now, it seems as though the foam tapes usually come with a liner on both sides (or at least one).  But I need to find the same for regular scotch tape.

I went to the store yesterday, but they only had double sided tapes with no removable liners.  The foam ones all had it, but i don't want foam tape.

The hard thing about all this on the internet is that the descriptions aren't clear at all about the liner and stuff.  I went to all the online stores and I also looked at the scotch 3m sites.  The descriptions were very unclear about this specific issue.  Man, websites have been really bothering me lately.  They are never clear about what they are selling.  They write all sorts of BS information, but they avoid saying anything about what I really am looking for.  Such crap.  They go on and on about the tape strength and chemical properties, like I can understand or care about it, but about the actual tapes and what are the differences...barely anything.

It seems as though double-sided and double-coated might mean two different things, but hell if i can know for sure from anything i'm reading online.  I think what I'm looking for falls under the double-coated category.

[Darwin]

Weird, the roll of double-sided tape that I have sitting next to me works exactly as you describe. No idea where I got it or the brand, but it could well be from the Source (a tech store affiliated with Rogers Wireless here in Canada). If it IS from the Source, that would make it their house brand, which is Nexxtech, I think. I *think* their house brand products are the same as those sold by Radio Shack in the States (Radio Shack exited Canada several years ago and their stores became The Souce by Circuit City. Circuit City sold out to Rogers a couple of years ago. Throughout these changes, the house brand has remained the same. So...).

[MilesAhead]

The one I have is Scotch Poster Tape.  It's double sticky with a liner.  Also it's "removable."  I use it for mouse pads that tend to crawl under the mouse.  Can't get the old thick mouse pad with the good gripper underside anymore it seems. I have to anchor it with this tape.

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc0256

[superboyac]

Darwin, I didn't see any double sided tape on the source site.  Maybe they don't sell it anymore.

MilesAhead, the poster tape is what I'm talking about, except it's a foam tape also.  I'm looking for regular (thin) tape.  The clear kind.  The kind they put on USPS boxes to seal the lids.  You peel it off and stick it together.  That's exactly what I want.

[MilesAhead]

Darwin, I didn't see any double sided tape on the source site.  Maybe they don't sell it anymore.

MilesAhead, the poster tape is what I'm talking about, except it's a foam tape also.  I'm looking for regular (thin) tape.  The clear kind.  The kind they put on USPS boxes to seal the lids.  You peel it off and stick it together.  That's exactly what I want.

Haven't used those myself so I wouldn't know what the package looks like.  Maybe if you went directly to some of the tape manufacturer's sites you may be able to get the part number and search the stores with it.  sku number or whatnot.

[superboyac]

Once I know the exact model of what I'm looking for, it will be easy.  The problem is that I can't tell on the website what the heck kind of tape it is.  They are very unclear...both the distributors and manufacturers.  I can't tell at all if the tapes have a removable liner or not.  They use words to describe the tapes that are strange enough where I just can't tell what they are selling.  They have dozens of tape types and you just can't tell what the differences are.  They need one of those comparison charts or something.  It's all a bunch of bullshit.  I'm getting sick of all of this.  Last week, i was ranting about all the business software sites that NEVER clearly tell you what they are selling, nor do they have any prices.  They just have forms to fill out so a rep can call you back.

I keep insisting: the reason why Apple is going to take over the consumer markets for whatever they make is because they pay attention to this stuff and just about all other companies do not.  I visit the apple site and all of my immediate questions are answered.  I know the product name, I know what the differences are between models, and I know the price.  All within seconds.  That's why they are successful.  They don't do all these bullshit things like most other companies do to hide the fact that their product is not up to snuff or overpriced or whatever the reason is.

All I'm asking for is double-sided tape.  It's not a complicated product.  There's only a few characteristics that distinguish one type of tape from another.  Why they have paragraphs of scientific explanations that say nothing of interest is beyond me.  For the .0001% of the population that actually cares about that stuff about tape, just have it available in the specs pdf.  But in the main website summary explanation, tell me the obvious stuff: price, the main tape features.  Sheesh.  I'm getting so tired of this.

[mwb1100]

most normal double-sided tapes have no liners on either side

I'm certainly no tape expert (and I don't have any double-sided tape handy to actually check out), but I'm wondering how that works. Having no liner between  the layers of spooled tape would mean that when the tape is packaged (ie., before you peel off a bit of it to use) you'd have sticky-side attached to sticky-side.  I'd imagine that would make it really difficult to use.

I guess they might have it in some sort of dispenser that spits out bits of tape with no liner (rolling up the liner on some spool inside the dispenser), but I'd also guess that that would be the exception rather than the norm.

[superboyac]

I guess they might have it in some sort of dispenser that spits out bits of tape with no liner (rolling up the liner on some spool inside the dispenser), but I'd also guess that that would be the exception rather than the norm.

That's exactly how it works.  For most of the off-the-shelf scotch double-sided tapes you'll find in a normal store (walgreens, office depot, etc.) that's how they work.  Just a roll of tape with no liner.  You pull it out, tear it off, and stick it on with the remaining side exposed.  It's fine for most situtations.  But in my situation, I need to put it on and use it later.  I used to work in a lab that had some tape applications, and I can tell you that 3m/scotch are pretty serious about their sticky technologies.  For those double-sided tapes in the stores, they went through a lot of experiments and analysis to have a roll of tape that doesn't need a liner, but still remains sticky on both sides.  I guess they figure it reduces their cost by not having to add another paper cover, and it saves most consumers the extra step of pulling it off.

[MilesAhead]

...
All I'm asking for is double-sided tape.  It's not a complicated product.
...

It can be frustrating.  I wanted to get a small plastic stack of drawers to store internal drives when not using them in my docks.  Somehow I couldn't hit the correct search term.  Finally I just looked through every container WalMart had sorted by price to find the thing.  Took me about 3 hours of work to find a $7 item.

[cranioscopical]

Forget about stationery stores, you need carpet tape.
It's thin enough to attach paper labels to things and strong enough to hold well for larger items.
Sticky one side, removable backing.
Try a flooring company or your local hardware store.

[superboyac]

...
All I'm asking for is double-sided tape.  It's not a complicated product.
...

It can be frustrating.  I wanted to get a small plastic stack of drawers to store internal drives when not using them in my docks.  Somehow I couldn't hit the correct search term.  Finally I just looked through every container WalMart had sorted by price to find the thing.  Took me about 3 hours of work to find a $7 item.

I totally, utterly, completely feel you.  That's how useless the internet has become. There's so much trash out there, it's easier to just go to your local brick and mortar store and browse their stuff for hours.  It's sad.  I think it just goes to show how humanity is naturally destructive all the way down to our core.  Human nature will always destroy.  Sure, there will be inspired moments, but taken at a macro level, we all point towards destruction.  For you chemistry majors, it's the law of entropy: it takes no energy to increase disorder (it happens automatically).  But it requires mucho energy to mover towards order.

[superboyac]

Forget about stationery stores, you need carpet tape.
It's thin enough to attach paper labels to things and strong enough to hold well for larger items.
Sticky one side, removable backing.
Try a flooring company or your local hardware store.

Ah!  Thanks.  i will look into this immediately.

[MilesAhead]

Fortunately next time I went to Walmart in real life the thing was there.

When you're young you half believe they'll come up with androids so you can transfer your memories into a body that won't die.  When you get old you just laugh at those young enough to still hope it's gonna' happen.

[Darwin]

You're right, superboyac. I went into the Source today and couldn't find tape there. What I have is a roll of tape that has a protective backing on one side. The tape itself is very strong but surprisingly thin - thinner than Scotch tape. It may well be carpet tape... Sadly, there is nothing on the roll to indicate a brand!

[4wd]

Interesting, I've never seen double-sided foam tape here that didn't use a peel off backing on one side.

eg. this is what I just pulled out of my drawer, 3M double-sided foam tape about 30mm wide.



3M Scotch Mounting Tape

I also have a couple of rolls of 'gumbo' tape, (my name for it ), which is basically just the gumbo used on normal tape but the paper backing can be peeled away leaving you with a layer of sticky gumbo - if you get my meaning.  But they are 2+ decades old, so no idea where they came from - surprised they still work actually.

[cmpm]

The double-sided tape that comes with the plastic window kit, for covering the inside of windows to save energy, has the tape you want in it's package. That's what I've seen anyway.

Here's the tape by itself, if you can find it, or you have to get a sheet of plastic with it.

[joiwind]

Try looking for double-sided tape to stick carpet down - you can find that here in Europe and it has one side sticky and the other sticky side covered with a sort of oil or grease paper that you can peel off once you've stuck one side down.

[J-Mac]

Looky here:  http://www.findtape.com/product273/JVCC-DC-4110R-P-Double-Coated-Removable-Permanent-Tape.aspx?cid=41&idx=9&tid=1&info=Film+%28PE%2c+PP+and+PVC%29

Also be sure to check out other tapes at that site; if you don’t find it there, it doesn’t exist!

Jim

[app103]

I happened to be in a store yesterday and spotted 2 products from 3M that are clear double-sided tape with backing paper.

The first is a poster tape that comes on a roll: http://www.scotchbrand.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ScotchBrand/Scotch/Products/ProductCatalog/?PC_7_RJH9U52300LM30I87QR3ES18H7_nid=7P67DF318NgsTF1RRQ4PQRgl0PSTHG9B00bl

The other is mounting squares that are pre-cut: http://www.scotchbrand.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ScotchBrand/Scotch/Products/ProductCatalog/?PC_7_RJH9U52300LM30I87QR3ES18H7_nid=3M1SZLN9N3gs0KC1RG50RHglDCPX19Q151bl

Hope this helps.

[superboyac]

J-mac, app...I think both of those suggestions fit the bill.  Thanks!

[crabby3]

...
All I'm asking for is double-sided tape.  It's not a complicated product.
...

It can be frustrating.  I wanted to get a small plastic stack of drawers to store internal drives when not using them in my docks.  Somehow I couldn't hit the correct search term.  Finally I just looked through every container WalMart had sorted by price to find the thing.  Took me about 3 hours of work to find a $7 item.

Unfortunately... exact search terms are hard to guess at Walmart or most anywhere.

In the Awards biz the name for this tape is Double-Faced tape and single-rolls of name brand are not cheap:
[attachimg=#]

cranioscopical has the best suggestion.  Carpet tape.  It's usually white... not clear.  But more sticky than clear IMO.

The partial roll i have left is still as sticky as the day (10+ yrs ago) i bought it at my second-home... The Home Depot.