[GreenKeys] Paper tape supplier

[William Maddox]

--- On Mon, 4/20/09, John Nagle <nagle at animats.com> wrote:

> There's still a supplier of paper tape.
>
> http://www.westnc.com/paper-tape-rolls.html
>
>    It's not cheap - $99 for 10 8" rolls.

These guys have been the only supplier of new production
tape that I know of for several years now.  They jack up
their prices another notch multiple times per year.  The
price of tape from them has nearly tripled since I first
bought a case about five years ago.  They used to have a
much larger selection of colors and printing options. It's
only gotten worse since Trybus (another supplier and,
AFAIK, the sole manufacturer of Mylar tape) folded a few
years ago.  I imagine there is a degree of just charging
what the market will bear, but the loss of selection and
the fact that most the offerings are currently shown as not
in stock probably indicates that demand has plummetted
and they're not selling very much.  It is my understanding
that just about any paper converter could produce the unoiled
tape if given a big enough order to justify the setup expenses,
so the fact that no competitor to WNC has stepped forward
must say something about the size of the market.  This community
definitely needs a new source of supply, as the CNC industry
appears to have moved on with few holdouts.  With minimally
intrusive PC-based "behind-the-reader" conversions there
is probably little incentive to stick with paper tape even
for legacy tools.

--Bill