What NOT to use!

[btaylor]

Well. I am officially a Dumbutt! Late last week I ordered the Tape for my road course extension. Could not find the same dealer I bought the last from, so said what the heck? go for the best price and order it. Found two rolls being sold together, Venture brand 1/4" adhesive backed tape. Perfect!....Not! It gets here today, I open it up and start the process of gently pulling the first corner. I notice its a little different color, but its brand new, it should be shiny. After wrinkling it through the corner, and not being able to burnish it down, Im thinking, what the heck? I look at the package,and in large letters....Venture...adhesive backed.....BRASS tape!
Anyone need 72 yards off the stiffest track tape ever made? It would be great for a dragstrip, not so much for anything with corners.
Color me stupid..

Bob

[Ember]

Same as the copper. Tiffany type lead lighting.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I can use it in my stained glass stuff. I use a lot of straight edges of clear plate and set color bits in it. PM me with cost and quantities.

[slothead]

Quick thought - why do we use 1/4" copper tape? I built my oval before participating in any online forums and bought 3/16" copper tape and it's worked fine. I bought 1/4" tape based on what others on HRW used, and it's working fine too, but don't see any benefit from the extra width. The wider tape is harder to apply around corners and I'm still trying to burnish down the wrinkles.

If I were re-tapping the track I'd use 3/16". Any thoughts on advantages or disadvantages of the different tape widths?

Slothead

[Kemtronracer]

[ddyke]

Use .25 on the straights and the .1875 on the turns?

[slothead]

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought about the resistance issue, but that makes a lot of sense. Right now I'll be powering 2 lanes with a 90 watt Lionel transformer for cars with stock motors (Pioneer and Scalextric RTR mostly). Amps/current shouldn't be a problem now, but it's worth keeping in mind.

I bought 2 rolls of 1/4" copper tape to do my track but the outer lane took more than 1 roll so using some left over 3/16" tape on a few corner sections makes a lot of sense too. Best of both worlds.

Slothead

[Ember]

I think the 1/4" is preferred for 1/24 and much of the routed standards are legacy from there.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

So, am I buying the brass tape or what?