Our friends over at Scotch sent over a big goodie box of their Dual Lock self-closing Extreme Fasteners. A lot of these products have been out for a while, but new branding under the Scotch name – as opposed to 3M – means you’ll see them a lot more of these fasteners at home improvement and home goods stores.
Scotch also makes hook-and-loop cord wraps and other such products, but today I wanted to focus on their Dual Lock fasteners.
Advertisement
Scotch’s Extreme Fasteners with Dual Lock technology have these small mushroom-shaped pegs that self-mate with each other.
Cut a strip off from the same roll, bend it in half, press the two parts together, and the strip will lock and attach to itself. That’s not what you’re supposed to do, of course. You’re supposed to take two strips, either pre-cut or cut from a roll, and attach them to the two surfaces that you want connected together.
You might have seen something like this before if you have an E-ZPass or other type of non-contact road toll payment device, as they’re often bundled with 3M Dual Lock strips.
Scotch advertises that their Dual Lock Extreme Fasteners are 3X stronger than Velcro hook and loop strips. They are indeed stronger, but they’re also better in many other ways.
Advertisement
Although I think these are better than Velcro strips in a general sense, and for many types of applications, but there are still plenty of places where you might want to use Velcro instead.
For instance, these Dual Lock Extreme Fasteners are only available with PSA (pressure-sensitive adhesive) backing, while Velcro strips are also available with sew-on backs. You’re not really going to be able to sew these Scotch fastener strips to anything.
These Scotch Extreme Fastener strips are also a little more rigid than Velcro hook and loop strips. That’s not good or bad, but just something to be aware of.
Velcro and Velcro-style hook and loop products might also be better suited in certain environments, such as where water or oil might be present. I’m just thinking aloud here, but such fluids might change the lubricity or locking power of Scotch’s fasteners. Then again, Velcro doesn’t always do well in the presence of fluids either.
That being said, there are quite a few ways these are better than Velcro.
Self-Stick Technology (Dual Lock)
There is only one type of Scotch Extreme Fasteners work surface. Unlike Velcro and other hook and loop products, there are no separate mating surfaces. Scotch Extreme Fastener strips can stick to themselves.
Cleaner Sticking
The above close-up photo shows some fine dust and lint, but these and other contaminants won’t foul-up the locking process, at least not in my experience. Velcro and Velcro-like hook and loop products can sometimes foul up with lint and other particulates.
Attachment with an Audible and Positive Click
Velcro and hook and loop products stick together quickly and easily. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it means things stick together before you want them to, requiring adjustment and some fiddling around.
These Scotch fastener strips require a little more pressure to self-attach, and when they do you hear the small pegs clicking together.
Load Rating, Sizes, and Styles
Scotch Extreme Fasteners are available in different sizes and styles. The ones I tested were precut 1″ x 3″ strips in black, and a “clear” 1″ x 10′ roll. The Extreme Fasteners can hold up to 2 pounds per inch for up to 10 pounds total.
The Scotch Outdoors Fastners, which describes the roll shown in this photo, are similar but with a 1 pound per inch and up to 5 pounds total load rating.
Scotch also makes All-Weather and Heavy-Duty Dual Lock fasteners, but they’re similar if not identical to these.
Recommended Usage
3M and Scotch offer the following usage recommendations for their Extreme fasteners:
- For indoor and outdoor use.
- Stays attached even when wet and dirty.
- Works on most surfaces that are painted, varnished, or sealed, including wood, metal, brick, or concrete. Also works great on bare metal and many plastics.
- Not recommended for use on drywall.
- Lasts up to 1000 closures.
The Outdoors fasteners are a little different, as Scotch says that could be used on drywall, and there’s no mention of brick or concrete. The main difference between the Extreme and Outdoors fasteners is the type of adhesive backing. The Extreme ones have a thicker adhesive strip.
Keep in mind that the adhesive is permanent. You DON’T want to use these on delicate surfaces.
I’ve had good experiences using the Extreme fasteners to mount removable battery packs inside of project boxes, light duty fixtures to the wall, and other such objects I might want to be removal.
I have a remote control for an air filter I use when working with wood. As soon as I find it again, I’ll probably stick it to the side of the air filter or one of my tool boxes.
Conclusions
I really like these Scotch Extreme Fasteners, even from before when they were harder to find. They’re easier to find now, but I also wish they were more widely available in different sizes, such as 1/2″ strips. I suppose that they’re not available in narrower strips because the 1″ width ensures that there’s sufficient Dual Lock engagement.
Additional sizes and styles are available from 3M, but they’re typically found at industrial suppliers and some are only found in commercial quantities. For example, I could only find 1/2-inch-wide Dual Lock strips in pricey 50-yard rolls.
Scotch Extreme Fasteners are incredibly versatile around the home and shop, and fantastically easy to use. I love that there are no matching strips to have to mess around with, such as with Velcro and other brands’ hook and loop products. You attach one piece to the attachment surface, and one piece to the object you want to be removable.
The Dual Lock fasteners can be used for short-term fastening, but they also work well long-term. My E-ZPass has been attached to my car’s windshield for 5 years now, and it has not once shown signs of loosening. It doesn’t seem to be affected at all by heat, cold, or moisture either.
There is a downside – Scotch Extreme Fasteners are somewhat pricey. 2 sets of 1″ x 3″ strips (4 strips total) costs $3.57 and up, while a roll of 1″ x 10′ is prices at $25-$30.
Right now it looks like Home Depot has the best pricing. If you find a lower price, please let us know!
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Buy Now(via Amazon)
See More(Other Scotch Fasteners Strips via HD)
Thank you to Scotch for providing the review sample unconditionally. Review samples are typically given away, donated, or retained for editorial and comparison purposes.
Dave L.
With either that or Velcro (or any self-adhesive stuff) it helps to clean the surface you’re applying to and warm the surface AND the adhesive. Apply extra pressure and hold for maybe 10 seconds to assure a good bond.
Stuart
I haven’t thought about warming either surface, but you’re very right about only applying these types of adhesive-backed fasteners to clean surfaces.
I generally apply pressure for 30 seconds unless instructions mention a different holding duration.
Jerry
I kind of like the idea that you don’t need two different materials to make it work. There have been a few instances where I had used Velcro, and had two things I wanted stuck together that had the same type on them. Not needing a hook side and a loop side could be advantageous in some cases.
Clayton
The first time I picked these fasteners up was to easily attach/detach a portable hard drive onto the back of a laptop monitor. I used a 1-inch square on each, and the first time I tried detach the Western Digital portable drive, I separated the entire drive enclosure!
I was pretty excited with how strong it was, and just simply trimmed the square to half it’s size and all worked well.
Since then, I always make sure I have some around for any odd jobs I might come across. Currently there is a piece holding my Roku to the back of my TV, and a network switch to the side of a server.
Blythe M
Had a similar experience mounding an old iPod in a sound system cabinet. This stuff is insanely strong
Mac
This stuff is very nice, and yes, expensive. But worth it. Mounted a number of things to motorcycles. Nothing has ever come loose after several years.
Benjamen
Last time I looked for Dual-Lok at Home Depot they didn’t carry it at my local stores, or any other hardware store around. I ended up finding some at Home Depot.
Funny you mention E-Z Pass, that’s exactly why we were trying to find the Dual-Lok. We were loaning ours to our neighbor for her trip to Chicago. We bought one for the few times a year we have to drive through Chicago…totally worth it.
Benjamen
Oops, I meant we found it at Office Max.
Brian14
Haven’t heard of these before! Really neat concept!
Joseph
Last couple times I’ve needed the dual lock, Radio Shack has had the small packs on the shelf. The other upside of shopping rat shack is: unlike HD, I never find anything else I “need.”
Phill
Bought the strongest version, (SJ3551)
I’m very experienced with using various adhesives and materials but even after 2 attempts, properly prepping the surface (carbon fibre) the duel lock was stronger than the adhesive foam used to fix itself in place, I’m not impressed, it took serious force to pull apart just too much for it’s own good.
Robert Krebs
I plan to use the Scotch extreme to put a wreath on my front door glass. How can I remove these from the glass when Christmas is over.
Stuart
I would try a non-marring plastic scraper made for glass, and follow up with adhesive remover.
You’d get the best advice by contacting the manufacturer. Might be a phone number on the back of the package.
Lisa
Which type of 3M product would you suggest to hang a 6′ X 4′ bathroom mirror on drywall? It would be the only thing holding the mirror to the wall at the top. There are brackets on the bottom of the mirror but they just hold the mirror in place, they do not adhere it to the wall.
Stuart
I don’t think this would be appropriate for what you’re describing.
We had mirrors installed a few months ago, and they used some kind of epoxy.
Your best bet would be to contact 3M to see what they recommend. A 6′ x 4′ mirror is going to be quite heavy. If in your shoes, I’d want at least a 4x safety factor. In other words, if it weighs 50 pounds, I’d want fasteners or adhesives with at least 200 lb holding power in the shear direction. At least.
I’m thinking an indoor/outdoor adhesive would be necessary, due to the humid environments of most bathrooms.
Owen Jones
I tried to use the extreme fastening tape While running my charter boat in the Caribbean generally without success. I figured was due to either the age or climate. I recently tried again for my car in AUSTIN buying a 10 foot roll of 1 inch fastener from Amazon to attach my mini Bose speaker to the dashboard. One of the two parallel strips fastened well the second did not fasten it all and the adhesive appeared be dried and completely non sticky. I am looking for a way to rejuvenate the adhesive. Any help out there?
Stuart
Maybe it was defective?
Sometimes PSA adhesives fail where the adhesive removes from the fastener strip and sticks to the removable liner.
Duane
Hello to everyone, I deliver gun safes when putting into a garage, I’ll put some high density plastic circles onto each corner of the safe. My best choice for attaching these to the bottom of the safe has always been Velcro industrial 2″x 2″. So I thought that I’d give the Scotch extreme a go. I should have saved my money, they almost always came off, when moving the safe. The Velcro brand stuck better to the metal and to themselves. Great product Velcro!!
Juana
Mine is an important question for me, i want use this to fux a gift.from my deceasrd.husband, gemmy hidden nature sunny the singing sunflower.is a hard plastic flower in a pot that sings. The flower stem split in two, i tried epoxy & glue without luck, so i wad researching velcro & saw this. Do u think it would the 2 pieces of flower stem? There’s a wire inside the stem that i imagine has to do.with it singing.
Pls advise asap. Thanking all in advance for help.
Stuart
If the idea is to wrap around the stem to clamp it together, this will not work.
You would need something like a velcro cable tie. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BB9MG/?tag=toolguyd-20 *might* work. I can’t say for sure without seeing exactly how the device is damaged.
You can buy them for less money for smaller packs, or at the home center.
Juana
Thank you for trying to help, the stem looks like a pipe, I was thinking i could put 3m on the inside of each side of the stem to attach it together & it wouldn’t be visable.
Janna lee
I would attach something splint-like to surround the break on the outside, covering at least an inch above and below the break. Then wrap it tightly with tape. Cover the final fix with floral tape, paint or other green tape.
Karin
Hi. Great article! Do you know if this would glue permanently to fabric? Like canvas ?
Thanks
Karin
Stuart
I don’t think so – this stuff is really meant for hard surfaces.
Maureen Kostka
Do you think the duel extreme would work better around the bunk drop down on a hybrid trailer to hold the canvas in place?
Stuart
I couldn’t say. You could contact 3M for application guidance, or buy a roll and do a small scale test install.
alex
So If I wanted to “mount” something on the front of my stainless steel refrigerator… like a picture … could this stuff hold 2lbs? and if I were to remove the “tape” from the refrigerator… could I? would it leave behind residue, could it be cleaned off?
Stuart
The tape can be hard to remove depending on the surface.
If in your shoes, I would consider 3M Command strips, specifically their “picture and frame hanging” product. The Command adhesive is usually easy and clean to remove. I don’t know about holding 2 pounds though, especially on refrigerator doors.
don
Any experience in sewing this product on? I need something for neoprene swim gloves. The normal hook & loop closures do not hold up. Also they are typically too short. What a shame good gloves are made but the fastener flap is too short. Fatal design flaw in almost every brand. I have a hard time getting one season out of a pair of gloves. I tried using silicone to glue on hook & loop but it eventually fails.
Also the review mentioned a possible problem staying closed when wet. In my application they are going to get extremely wet. Thanks for any help.
Stuart
This product is more rigid than Velcro, and I wouldn’t think it would do well on a glove, even if it were sewable (which I doubt).
You might have better luck looking at specialty fabric makers, who might be able to point you in a better direction.
I can find water resistant Velcro straps – and there are also surf straps, but nothing specifically for use in something like swim gloves.
Don
Thank you for the useful information. Guess I will have to use the regular stuff and replace it frequently.
Peggy
I have one of those screen doors you put up and hang, with Velcro, that are closed by magnets in the middle. I have 4 175 pound Great Danes that still paw at the sides to come in, instead of walking through the center of the door that will open with magnets, so it keeps getting pulled from the side to open instead of the middle. Because of the constant reapplication of the Velcro, it wears out quickly. I’m thinking this might be an excellent alternative. Your thoughts please? We live on a farm and this works much better than opening and closing a screen door for flies. Any suggestions from anyone is appreciated! Thank you for your time! Love your post!
Stuart
It holds up better than hook and loop Velcro, but I’m not sure how well it will hold up against 4 very large dogs.
In my opinion, it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t work out, I’m sure there are plenty of other uses for this on your farm. Maybe start with a small pack to test out before getting a roll, which can be a little pricey.
The more surface contact, the stronger the connection.