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Thread: Keeping Mats from Shifting/Creating Gaps

  1. #1
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    Default Keeping Mats from Shifting/Creating Gaps

    I am in the process of laying down Swain mats in a new space in which the mats will not be flush against the walls, and I'm encountering a problem -- even a single session of Aikido shifts the mats enough that gaps develop between them. How is this problem commonly addressed?

    The only solution I've seen so far is using a kind of rubber or plastic "mat holder," that slides underneath the mat and secures it via traction. A fellow student procured a sample, produced by Ikuei, but I'm wondering about alternatives, preferably stateside.

    Any leads or suggestions would be immensely appreciated -- many thanks!
    Nicholas Lauridsen
    文武一
    1. Two heavy trestles, and a board
      Where Sato's gift, a changeless sword,
      By pen and paper lies,
      That it may moralise
      My days out of their aimlessness.
    Yeats, from "Meditations in Time of Civil War"

  2. #2
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    How wide is the gap? Can you shim it w/ boards or something?

    I saw a system that some college kids in Japan were testing - nonslip cloth laid under the magts, then that were wrapped around foam blocks snug against the mats, then the tail of the nonslip mat went back under the mats. So the weight of the mats kept the foam blocks in place and the blocks kept the mats together.

    Hard to show here but like this

    -------- mats mats mats..........
    [foam]--------------
    ---------------------- - non-skid cloth wrapped around the foam
    _floor_floor_floor_floor_floor_floor_floor_floor_floor_floor_floor_floor
    Lance Gatling ガトリング
    Tokyo 東京

    Long as we're making up titles, call me 'The Duke of Earl'

  3. #3
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    I'm assuming this is for a temporary set-up...

    At the recent Nittadai embu taikai in Melbourne, the students used sticky but reuseable tabs, about DL envelope size by the look of it, under the edges of the outer mats. They looked like they were made of that incredibly sticky and stretchy silicon that some kids toys are made from. These held up well to not only judo embu but sumo as well! And they only used one per mat.

    Sorry it's not a stateside 'stateside' option AFAIK.

    b

    PS - What about jigsaw mats? I'm know they're not as nice as tatami...

  4. #4
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    Many thanks for your advice! We already have the mats from another dojo, so I'll try the non-skid under-cloth approach. The mats cover both wood and carpet surfaces, so I'm curious how it'll turn out. (The gaps I was referring to were those that develop between the mats during use, not between the wall and the mats -- sorry to be unclear.)

    Thank you both for sharing your experiences -- I sincerely appreciate it!
    Nicholas Lauridsen
    文武一
    1. Two heavy trestles, and a board
      Where Sato's gift, a changeless sword,
      By pen and paper lies,
      That it may moralise
      My days out of their aimlessness.
    Yeats, from "Meditations in Time of Civil War"

  5. #5
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    Here's a sketch of what I was trying to show.

    http://www.ekouhou.net/%E7%95%B3%E5%...330_000002.jpg

    5 is the bottom of the non-slip cloth or tarp
    which wraps around
    3 - a foam block or tube
    2 - is the excess top of the non-slip cloth or tarp, which goes back under the tatami

    So, instead of just the non-slip cloth, you also have the foam block or tube holding the mats in place, and the weight of the mats help to keep it all in place.

    One type of foam tube that might work is the insulation on heating / cooling pipes.
    Lance Gatling ガトリング
    Tokyo 東京

    Long as we're making up titles, call me 'The Duke of Earl'

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  7. #6
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    One solution that would secure the mats to each other while still allowing them to be moved/removed when needed is industrial-strength Velcro.

    You glue a piece of one side of the Velcro to the underside of each mat, and then lay down a longer strip onto which each pair of mats is attached.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  8. #7
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    Thank you for the input (and Mr. Gatling, for taking the time to draw up that diagram!). For the sake of time and continuity of practice, we decided to reuse an existing wooden frame around the mats -- not as elegant as the solutions you all have provided, but serviceable for now. I've copied down your excellent ideas so I can refer to them during future moves/openings.

    Much obliged,
    Nicholas
    Nicholas Lauridsen
    文武一
    1. Two heavy trestles, and a board
      Where Sato's gift, a changeless sword,
      By pen and paper lies,
      That it may moralise
      My days out of their aimlessness.
    Yeats, from "Meditations in Time of Civil War"

  9. #8
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    FWIW, industrials-strength Velcro is ridiculously strong, so much so that the adhesive often is less strong than the Velcro bond unless you carefully clean both surfaces first and allow about 24 hours for the adhesive to set before trying to rip the mats apart. Buy the name-brand type; at least one off-brand type I used became much less "sticky" after a dozen or so attachment/detachment cycles. - T. Baker

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