I have been issues with my electrical tape mazes, either the tape peels off of my panelling which I’m using, or it gets bubbles under the tape. Various other issues arise depending on the surface I am taping down, the best I have right now is a non permanent solution on a tile floor. One thing I was looking into, would be something more portable…
If there was a way to print off a maze, as a PDF, with all of the 3/4" lines made up on it, then it could just be assembled, tacked in place with some tape, and away you went.
Does anyone have any history in creating such work? Just a simple maze pattern with a black 3/4" line.
If you have access to a wide-format printer, it might be worth it; otherwise, I think the electrical tape approach is the lowest-hassle way to go. If you’re having trouble with the tape staying down, perhaps you should clean the surface onto which it’s going. We’ve had tape on some of our courses for years and it doesn’t show any signs of coming off. To prevent bubbles, you should gradually lay the tape down and press it down from one end so that the bubbles don’t form. If you get some big ones, you can poke holes in the tape with a needle to let the air out.
Yeah, I have taken a look at cleaning the surface first. The electrical tape I find is nice, for a more portable, or stationary solution. But I’d like something I could pickup, bring with me to schools or whatnot, and work my way from there. The reason my tape may be coming off may be in the tape that I am using, I’m not sure, I just picked up cheaper tape from Home Depot.
The reason paper struck my mind, is I have used programs like “rasterbator”, to enlarge a simple picture to fill 40 sheets of 8.5x11 printer paper, and then laminated, and then have been able to hang them as a “mosaic” wallpaper or such, these worked really nicely, and I figured with this many sheets, it would be extremely easy to rearrange and “modify” the course, making new paths so it’s always a new change.
But I will continue looking into the electrical tape route, seeing if I can get some better tape, and maybe a better surface to work with.
So are you looking for a particular maze, or just a full sized version of the maze from the Pololu docs?
Paul G.
Edit: I’ve attached both a tiled version PDF and full sized Jpg version of the the polou 3pi maze. It does occur to me that the black ink or laser jet versions may not have quite the same reflective properties as black vinyl tape, but who knows?
