The secret to taping down (and removing) cables
I know what you’re thinking – how hard can it be to tape down some cables? Is there some secret to laying gaffer’s tape over a cable that’s on the floor? Well, not really.
It’s all in the technique
I have seen so many people make the same mistake, it’s actually quite funny. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been doing this for 25 years or 25 minutes, watching them try to pull up on cables that have been taped down makes me laugh every time! Why, you ask? Well, almost 50% of the time, the tape gets wrapped around the cable and a wrestling match ensues – and no matter how hard you fight it, the tape always wins.
Now, I can only laugh about this because it has happened to me a time or two – until a wise gaffer came along and showed me what I was doing wrong. I will now pass along the ancient art of taping down (and pulling up) those pesky video cables on to you – so pay attention!
4 Responses
This is a really great tip, thanks for sharing it. It’s honestly not something I thought about in the few cases where I had to remove taped cables. I’ll admit, I’m one of those who ended up with the tangled mess of tape and cable. Learn something new everyday.
After you un-tape those cables, then coil them up correctly using the under and over method. If you do this, they don’t get tangled.
Dude, you’re AWESOME. And that tip is fabulous!
Keep up with that level of sharing these really important tips!
Hello. Here’s an additional tip that will help you when you have longer tape portions on the ground over the cable (longer sections than shown on the video). As you pull up the tape, the subsequently uncovered tape (at the point where the tape is being pulled up), put your foot on the exposed cable to keep the cable down. Then, as you pull up more of the tape, just ‘walk’ down the uncovered cables, one foot after another (by putting your weight on the uncovered cable, further and further down the taped sections, then you will keep the cable down while you pull up the tape). Hope I have explained here the method of ‘walking’ down the cable as it’s being uncovered by the tape (and, therefore, the tape will not become stuck, as mentioned in the video). and, btw, you will have to bend over at the waist and reach towards the ground/the taped cable area, while you’re walking the exposed cable in order to pull up the tape in an easily, managed way (i..e, without getting the tape stuck on the gummy side).