Timing Tape Question

I did the timing tape thing years ago on a balancer…it came off in less than a week. The second time I put it on I used one of those silver pens that write on anything and marked off the first 40° in 5° increments; then 90°, 180°, and 270° after that. Sure enough the tape fell off again, but this time I still had my marks.

I would be willing to bet better prep work on the balancer would have made it stick better...apparently I didn't clean it REALLY well.