Our anti slip flooring sales volumes have been increasing rapidly, great news but we have not had the production capacity to meet that on certain occasions.  Late 2009 we decided that we needed to purchase further machinery for our shop floor, top of the list was a new cutter.  After various internal meetings and consultations with engineers we made the decision to create something unique for us.  Due to its construction our anti slip flooring creates unique problems for any cutter; it is tough, has diamond hard minerals, destroys bearings and creates an almost invisible abrasive dust that creates untold damage to machinery.  We decided to commission our own cutter instead of modifying existing products.

After months of meetings involving colleagues, engineers and designers we have signed off the drawings, the frame is now being constructed at a local fabricator, this will be taken to an engineer for parts to be fitted with final build being completed at a specialist contractor.  The new machine should be installed at Heskins around mid-October.  The special features include the following;

Fully automatic cassette loading system enabling 100m length rolls to be auto loaded and stacked straight from the production line without any human input

A hydraulic offload system enabling a faster removal of slit materials with minimal manual handling

Use of a new and innovative hardened alloy on the slitting bar

Ramping up and down PLC controls

Fully automated internal computer with recipes

We are expecting the new cutting machine to make a large impact on production times.  I hope we can contain our excitement until it is commissioned!

Once installed more information on the machine should be viewable on our anti slip flooring product page .

What PSA does Heskins use?

We generally use modified acrylics (there are a tiny handful of exceptions for specific non slip flooring applications).  We like the all round capabilities that modern modified acrylic PSAs offer, as mentioned previously our product has many varied demands made of it, we appreciate that the modified acrylics allow high tack levels, high shear levels and superb temperature ranges encompassing extreme minus ºC to high ºC.  All our transparent range has a further PSA modification to ensure no UV problems, please enquire for specific grey scale tests for each product if this is a concern.

Do you offer different adhesion levels?

We do.  In over 99.9% of cases our adhesives on the anti slip flooring are more than sufficient, however, for clients with a special demand for higher tack levels we also coat our HG adhesive.  For customers who take our HG x-coarse product, this adhesive is standard on their materials, for all others it can be coated dependent on quantity.  Our HG offers exceptionally high tack levels without any compromise on the other parameters.

How well do your adhesives cope with low energy surfaces?

Low energy surfaces are becoming more prevalent and popular for various reasons; they are often the by-product of a shiny appearance or can be present in composites constructed from recycled plastics.  An example of a low energy surface would be after you have waxed your car you will notice the water globules form small puddles on the surface, the puddles are formed by the low energy surface, and these low energy surfaces create major problems for PSAs.  Heskins has worked tirelessly to ensure that our anti slip flooring customers receive a high quality non slip flooring regardless of the surface energy level, to this end in 2008 we developed our LE adhesive.  Specifically designed to allow excellent adhesion onto difficult surfaces this adhesive can be coated onto all our range, please enquire for MOQs.

What if our low energy surface has lots of release agents?

We can still create a solution.  Due to the vast experience all of the sales staff at Heskins has in adhesives, films and anti slip technology we have never (so far) been defeated, we also offer two other possible solutions to aid our adhesion levels.

1).  Use of H3506 primer - this has inbuilt keying agents.

2).  Use of a specific keying solution - Heskins has worked with various chemical manufacturers to create surface keying solutions to enable adhesion on even the most difficult surface.

I want the opposite to the above points, I want something removable, is it possible?

It is.  It is not rare for us to coat a removable adhesive onto our anti slip flooring.  We typically employ a further filmic liner (usually PET or PP) with a differential adhesive coat either side to allow removal.  As each removable adhesive application is often unique the differential levels are customised to the customer’s application, please enquire.

Just one more silly point, why does the paper not stick to the adhesive?

We use paper coated with silicon although on some of our materials we employ a silicon coated PE film.

I know this sounds hard to believe but at Heskins one of the most popular questions we receive is “How do we remove non slip tape?”.

For obvious reasons the anti skid tape is designed to be permanent, our whole ethos is focused on creating the World’s most durable and effective anti skid tape.  We constantly review and change our processes and constituent materials, as in all industries new and improved components are developed.  Heskins progressively and consistently follows or creates best practise to ensure that the customer receives the most advanced product available; HOWEVER, all this helps to create problems for those who wish to remove it.

If one tries to simply remove the anti skid tape it will be difficult; you will either struggle to remove it or the plastic film will fragment into smaller pieces.  There are two recommended methods;

1).  With some form of flat tool (something like a scraper) remove one of the corners; you need to ensure you remove enough to create a thumb grip.  Slowly peel back the material touching surface-to-surface, this part is critical, it is called a ‘low energy pull’.  All self adhesive materials have an inherent weakness; their adhesive is composed of thin strands, once these thin strands are bent back and forced into an acute angle they snap.  You must ensure that the material is taken back, surface-to-surface, this is the critical part.

2).  Heat does help with removal, as our adhesives are initially liquid based heat will go some way to reverting it back to its original liquid state.  Ideally heat guns are better than hair dryers; they dissipate the heat better over the surface.  A surface temperature around 60~70ºC is ideal.

There is no guarantee for easy removal, as mentioned above the material is designed to be permanent, some removals are easy, some are very frustrating!  Once removed you can apply material straight onto the surface, you would not need to re-prime but would need to edge fix again if this is required.

Once the non slid tape has been successfully removed there should not be much adhesive residue left behind, if however you want to remove any remnants we recommend the use of white spirit or a harsher solvent such as MEK or toluene.  Please test the surface prior to using these; they can sometimes react with delicate substrates.

If you need any assistance please contact us, we are always willing to help.

Put simply, yes and no!  Modern skateboards have their origins in the late 1950s, when grip tape started appearing in the 1970s the most commonly available mineral in the US was silicon carbide (also known as carborundum tape).  From the 1980s onwards throughout western industry aluminium oxide became more prevalent as an abrasive mineral and began replacing silicon carbide; it was more readily available, more quality consistent, had the same level of hardness and was cheaper.  Grip tape can be produced with either, Heskins uses both minerals.  Heskins non slip tape is only produced using aluminium oxide or S2 (a form of silica).

I have heard that silicon carbide is better and tougher?

Completely untrue.  As mentioned above silicon carbide was the original grip material however from the 1980s onwards moves were made towards production using aluminium oxide.  Mineral hardness is measured by the MOHS scale, both aluminium oxide and silicon carbide register the same mineral hardness, 9.  1 is talc and 10 being diamond.  Silicon carbide retains its place in grip tape usage mainly as an ‘old school’ remnant, reminding boarders of its vintage 1970s roots, in performance there is little difference with aluminium oxide offering better quality output.

What about the adhesive?

Most grip tapes have a lower level of adhesion compared to non slip tape.  A skateboard is an easy substrate to adhere onto, in the worst case it might have a lacquer coat.  Non slip tapes might be applied onto extremely low energy substrates, the most difficult materials include PP, PUR and siliconised powder coat.  Non slip tapes have to possess an adhesive capable of permanently and instantly bonding to these surfaces, this can only be achieved with modern, advanced and often application specific adhesives.  The old system of simply applying a higher coat weight is no longer seen as an effective approach.

Is the base material different?

Grip tapes typically use a thin PVC base.  Anti slip tapes will normally use thicker PVC, Heskins use various thicknesses of PVC dependent on the end application.  Other plastics that are utilised by Heskins include: PET (provides extra strength and zero stretch tolerances), PE (full biodegradability), PP (can easily be hot welded instead of adhered), aluminium foil (formability and extreme flame retardancy) and PU (cushioning abilities but very expensive compared to other plastics).

Does the backing liner vary?

At last a simple answer, yes!  Most grip tapes will use a thicker backing paper, the reason is unknown but is believed to be historical.

As mentioned we are ISO9001:2008 with NQA and have been since 2001.  Different stages of quality processes exist all the way from initial booking in and inspection of raw materials through to the final stage: the last check before the grip tape is dispatched.  All of the Heskins grip tape is inspected at all intermediate stages as follows;

Length - our machines are calibrated yet we always ‘over-run’ to ensure no shortage.

Width - we use calibrated Mitutoya verniers, we even hold a wide width, 305mm version, on request we can easily work with +/- tolerances.

Colour - colours are checked against Pantone or RAL books that are changed annually to prevent fading.

Our die cutters are accurate to 0.1mm and produce material that is consistent; our slitters operate to finite tolerances.   Our ISO certificate is available to download from our website; we aim to ensure that you, the customer, have the confidence in the wide range of processes that form the Heskins quality system.

The amount of anti slip tape required was huge; if one looks at the photos the scale is evident!  The traction tape provided a very tactile and visual material for this application.

This is our first blog; we are now no longer blog virgins! We will constantly keep it fresh with relevant and interesting content; we aim to fill the blogs with product information, applications and projects. Please bookmark this page, we aim to inform!

For more information on the extremely talented lady that is Linda Florence please visit her website on www.lindaflorence.co.uk