Universal Hard Disk Drive problem discovered

My PC will catch fire if I run it without the cover. (Compaq 5500R with quad processors).

In the US, the term "Gaffer's Tape" refers only to real Gaffer's Tape, never to Duct Tape, and the term is is used primarily in the TV and film industry.

Duct Tape has a smooth, usually gray, plastic surface. Gaffer's Tape has a cloth, usually black cloth surface. The adhesive used on Gaffer's tape will not pull paint off of a wall or leave behind any adhesive residue. Duct Tape will. There is a variation on Gaffers tape with low temperature adhesive designed to seal film cans which are stored under refrigeration.

My favorite uses for gaffer's tape:

Cover the red light on the camera so an actor who plays to the camera doesn't know which one is live.

Taping down actress's assets so they don't bounce so much (Used on Carrie Fisher for Star Wars).

Custom colored version designed in such a way that it matches the carpet perfectly (is invisible) to the camera but is easily seen by the actor who needs to hit his mark.

Fixing light leaks of various kinds.

Covering that huge annoying brand name painted on the back of a synthesiser.

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Then again, I have seen so-called "Duct Tape" with a "not for use on air ducts" warning on it...

Screws?? WTF are they? My hard drive are usually hanging from the cables, occasionally I prop them up on the place where they are supposed to go, usually PCB side down...

Duct tape is a combination of a wide mesh of threads and a touggh plastic foil. It comes in either silver or black with a shiny surface, it's hard to get off stuff without glue residue, and it stinks. Gaffer tape is more cloth-like, can easily be torn off if you do it right, leaves no residue, comes in a variety of colors, doesn't stink, and costs about four times as much as duct tape.

If a gaffer were using duct instead of gaffer tape it'd be his last job with that particular DP.

robert

I'd say that UK gaffer tape is indeed the same as your duct tape. We don't have anything called 'duct tape' here. Maybe that's 'cos we don't fix any 'ducts' that way ? ;-)

I'd also guess that US gaffer's tape is what we'd call camera tape here.

Graham

No question about it. US and UK usage are different.

Most UK gaffer tape is indeed silver or black too but I used to get mine from a market stall that undercut the normal list price quite seriously. It was convenient too as I all I had to do was go to the market on a Saturday which I usually did anyway.

They had various colours from time to time. For some reason yellow and blue stick in my mind.

Depends what you're trying to do !

I once stuck an audio multicore to a wall quite successfully with 'our' gaffer tape. Shame about the paint though. ;-)

Graham

me too xept i use a couple of lengths of pipe insulator slit down the length, then pushed over the sides then they just rest on the botom of the case, stops any vibration trasmiting through to the case at least

Colin =^.^=

Total number of screws holding my entire PC together = Zero!

Screws are too much like hard work, in fact, so is the case, you don't need one. Just shove everything on a workbench, just make sure that there's no metal lying about. I don't even have any heat problems either.

The local film industry uses a mixture of chocolate topping and a food dye called "Pillarbox red". We've made it for kids parties, along with fake flesh - cornflour (IIRC) dough coloured with instant coffee - and a few other things for making fake wounds. You press on the dough, then cut a big slash through it and colour with the "blood", which runs then glazes to look exactly like real blood. Even an amateur can make wounds that would make a passer-by throw up - the kids loved it!

Clifford.

Oh, I believe that "real" duct tape is metal foil, the grey/silver plastic tape is just made to look like it.