TinkerBotQuality, Against All Odds.

A Sticky Situation: Part 1

My first large-scale series of experiments for TinkerBot are aimed towards finding the best (and cheapest) method of leg waxing. Most women (and some guys… including my queer boyfriend) know what a pain in the ass it is to shave their legs, but few realize the cost. Between my mother and I, we probably spend about $30 a month on Venus razor heads and shaving cream, not to mention the extra 5-10 minutes we spend in the shower in order to shave. Yearly that adds up to about $400, countless gallons of water, and at least 20 hours between the two of us.

I’ve started using a sugar-based home wax recipe, but a friend suggested to me that I try using duct tape. Surprisingly, a LOT of people use this as an alternative (and cheaper) waxing method, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

I picked up a cheap roll of duct tape that was lying around my house and tried it. Surprisingly, it removed the majority of the hair from a spot on my leg after a few applications. There were a few stubborn spots, but overall for a knock-off brand, it worked pretty well. So I decided to investigate further and find a stickier brand of duct tape that would complete the job.

For this, I designed a little experiment to determine the stickiness of different brands of duct tape.

The Experiment
In order to test the stickiness of each brand of tape, I’ve created a ramp-like device to send a marble rolling down a track. On this track I place a strip of tape sticky side up, then the marble is released. The stickier the tape, the more resistance the marble will encounter as it rolls down the track, causing it to stop sooner and travel a shorter distance. So basically the tape that makes the marble travel the shortest distance is the stickiest.

In order to control extraneous variables as much as possible, I created a release mechanism for the marble to send it down the tube/ramp. Each tape will be tested 10 times, and the tape will be replaced between each roll of the marble. The same marble will be used for each trial.

Note: I kept away from heavy duty utility duct tape so that I wouldn’t rip my skin off. I’m sticking with multi/all-purpose tape that’s strong enough to adhere to the hair but safe enough to use on the skin.

I’ll be testing 5 different brands:

• 3M All-Purpose Duct Tape (strength of 3/6, weatherability of 3/6) from Lowe’s
• Staples Duct Tape from Staples
• Intertape Duct Tape that I found lying around my house
• Frost King Plastic Coated Cloth Duct Tape from the Dollar Tree and
• Scotch Multi-Use Duct Tape (strength of 3/6, weatherability of 3/6) from Tractor Supply Co.

Tune in tomorrow for the results!

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 11:24 am and is filed under Experiments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.