A blade.
It was my intention to fabric up the blade I'd done for the RPM tests sometime so now was an ideal opportunity. Also an opportunity to test out a different method for putting it on that I'd thunked up a while ago. (If anyone wants me to do a video 'tutorial' for this method squeak up & I'll try fit one in sometime.)
Spray painted golf stick black (hence the mancky looking thumbnail in previous posts).
Next up - cut a piece of 'scotchlite' tape to just over length (there is a reason). Tape is 50mm wide so I put a taper on (see later).
This is unbranded stuff but I have compared it to the genuine 3M & it looks identical. In particular the backing fabric seems to be the same which was my main concern when it comes to testing blade to blade contact. It's also less than 1/5 the price.
The reason is that I wanted it slightly longer was to super glue the end of this strip (center-line) onto the end of the blade & make a pretty streamer to do rhythmic gymnastics with.
Next applying spray glue all along the strip. This is best done with the strip up against something (expendable & outdoors), in this case an old piece of fence lath in our woodpile. Please excuse the photo's not quite matching the description as I've one hand using the camera.
With one hand holding the base of the blade bring the tape up, with a little tension on it, to touch & stick to the blade base, Taking care not to get off center. It's easier done than said.
From there it's just a case of gently running an open palm down the length of the blade from tip to base then wrapping the fabric edges round with your fingers & you should have it nicely applied without wrinkles. I doubt that this is
the method but who knows? I just don't have a suitably large flat surface for a rolling method.
At this point it was clear I got the width of fabric wrong some how as the black line was much too wide. So peeled that one off & cut another strip - used a piece of flat
pse as a ruler.
To work out the width is easy (in theory) as it's just :
pi x D . With
Pi = 3.142 &
D = diameter. I'd subtracted 9mm from the base measure & 3mm at the tip to give the black stripe. So this time I increased the width 3mm. Then repeated the above sequence only this time, as my bit of wood had still wet glue on it. I just sprayed the glue on with the strip hanging loose. Don't do that. It sticks OK to the tape but the webby stringy glue stream also curls around the edges of the tape & onto the good side making a mess.
You end up with a couple of 'ears' at the tip. Make sure you've put a good coat of glue here. Then press the bits of fabric together to make 'horns'. & trim with sharp scissors. Trim the base with a sharp knife (I used a 'stanley' type) using the base edge as a guide.
To remove the glue over spray peal off a blob, make a snotball with it & then dab this onto other areas. Slightly roll on the 'dab' & don't pull too quickly & it comes off fairly well, at least with what I used. It does seem to take off some glass beads but that doesn't seem to affect it's reflectiveness.
It was also obvious why I was out with the first try. I'd forgotten that the first 10 inches of my golf club shafts aren't tapered (grip area) & I cut a full length taper on my strip. As I'd done a wider strip this time the stripe was now too narrow right at the base & correct at 10 inches & near flush at the tip. I wasn't doing a third so I just trimmed the base the right width with a stanley knife.
And I'd also still got a couple of wrinkles as well - just to be 'authentic'.
The 3M type fabric looks quite different on the shaft to the other stuff I've used. It's clearly a round rod with silvery surface. The cheep Chinese stuff I put on my Solo's Hold blade is darker & much 'flatter' looking, slightly harder to focus on. (Retro-reflects a little better too.)
(3m type at the top.)
Now upto date.