Rubber repair

[Woodside]

I was wondering if anyone could help with this little teaser...
I dug out my little Honda xr75 at the weekend for the kids to play on...of course it wouldn't start ...
Anyway new plug and a carb clean it's like a watch again...
It has a later carb on it but I do have the original earlier set up...although on closer inspection after a good clean the inlet manifold rubber on the carb mount has a split....now these things are rare and of course expensive if you can find one...
Does anyone know if I can repair it.....bodge it...
Baring in mind it's just a toy...albeit a very nice one...
I have used at work a heat shrink with a self amalgamating inner that melts and turns to goo when heated...I wondered if I could get a bit large enough if it would do.....its tiny..
I've bought bike that have been held together with tape and have been for years..
Any thoughts or do I just keep hunting for the correct part along with the list of other unobtainium bits I'm after...and keep running as is...

[Woodside]

Abit more

[Woodside]

Proof

[Orcade-Ian]

Have you ever used Sikaflex?
It's used in the body repair trade to bond all kinds of materials.  Unfortunately, as far as I know, it's only available in a standard tube for a skeleton gun.  Perhaps if you clean out the split with thinners and then take it round to a car body repair shop they might squeeze a bit in for you.  Let it dry overnight and it should be fine.  It's available in black too.

Ian

[Woodside]

As it happens I have this from when I stuck the solar panels to the roof of the camper van....
I may well give it ago..

[Orcade-Ian]

Well there you go!  If it was mine, I think I would run a finger full inside the bore (not too thickly - you wouldn't want to lose one of those precious horses) and then run some on the outside a bit later.  That way it should get a decent hold.  You could even wrap it with self amalgamating tape after the repair has dried to hold it tight.
Ian

[Gixxer-18]

Sikaflex is a good choice, I use it on the boat all the time. I would also try Superglue to join the split, then shrink wrap over the tube to provide an airtight joint but leaving the tube longer until the heat has shrunk the tube, let it cool and then trim the edges flush. Next option is to get a new one 3D printed in a suitable material. The shape doesn't look too complicated, and once the .slf file is created you can print off as many as you'll ever need. You can do the drawings for other components too, I've drawn the little plastic parts in the switchgear that is always crumbling, and looking to get a 3D printer for my own use. I'll start another thread about that though.
Regards,
Nigel.

[Orcade-Ian]

Looking forward to more info Nigel on the 3D printer - something I'm really interested in pursuing.  This could certainly be a way of obtaining some of these impossible to replace items, especially parts of assemblies which were never available separately.  If Ash can come up with ideas of the correct material specs, then the World is our lobster!!

Ian

[Woodside]

I too like the 3d printer idea. .
I guess if you have the original part you would scan it first then copy as many as you want..
Material may be an issue but im sure anything is possible..mind you if the part didn't last you would just print another one and replace as necessary

[Gixxer-18]

Hi Ian, as it stands at the moment, I'm learning how to draw the *.STL files: "Stereo-lithography".
 I was a Technical Illustrator in another life....so the dimensioning and hard copy is easy, it's the conversion to a file that can be read by the printer that is the difficulty for me at the moment! once they're drawn, the file could be used by anybody with access to a 3D printer, and printed several at a time, and I'm wondering if we got together with Ash, and put together an Aladdin's cave of these hard to find parts, after all they're only computer files and can be stored and sent electronically.
I would need the original part for dimensioning, and can "repair" any damaged, missing or perished parts at the drawing stage. Once the parts are printed they can be used to make molds for casting in other materials.
What your think?
Nigel.

[Gixxer-18]

Definitely possible Oddjob. The side panel badges would be a great start, sketch out what you want it to look like on a piece of paper, and then make a JPEG of it with your phone and import it into a program like Adobe photoshop, it can then be straightened and rounded off in any way you want, but I'm not the person to tell you how to do that, you'll need a "Yoof" to show you how, I'm old school when it comes to drawing!
As far as materials go, you can stereo lithograph in metals, like bronze, but it uses a laser to fuse bronze powder, and very intricate patterns can be made, rather than a printer that deposits a plastic dot just like your home printer does, layer by layer.. Don't try lazering aluminium or magnesium powders though, they will burn like thermite!
You would make a pattern to the shape and size you want with the filler material, and then make a mold depending on what material you want to cast, rubber, plastic or metal.
Very small tolerances can be printed, down to microns in some instances. Here's a video what can be achieved.:

http://youtu.be/DAQm5P5p4zw
There are limits to the size you can print, big printers are more expensive than the small ones.
Yes if you have inlays just print the separate parts and cast the different colours, then join them later.

[Gixxer-18]

Someone's printed a bike in 3D!
http://youtu.be/3f_sf-Nabrs

Honda 500/4 anyone?
Nigel.

[UK Pete]

Definitely possible Oddjob. The side panel badges would be a great start, sketch out what you want it to look like on a piece of paper, and then make a JPEG of it with your phone and import it into a program like Adobe photoshop, it can then be straightened and rounded off in any way you want, but I'm not the person to tell you how to do that, you'll need a "Yoof" to show you how, I'm old school when it comes to drawing!
As far as materials go, you can stereo lithograph in metals, like bronze, but it uses a laser to fuse bronze powder, and very intricate patterns can be made, rather than a printer that deposits a plastic dot just like your home printer does, layer by layer.. Don't try lazering aluminium or magnesium powders though, they will burn like thermite!
You would make a pattern to the shape and size you want with the filler material, and then make a mold depending on what material you want to cast, rubber, plastic or metal.
Very small tolerances can be printed, down to microns in some instances. Here's a video what can be achieved.:

http://youtu.be/DAQm5P5p4zw
There are limits to the size you can print, big printers are more expensive than the small ones.
Yes if you have inlays just print the separate parts and cast the different colours, then join them later.

[AshimotoK0]

I think the materials are dictated by the 3-D process. There was a place in Rotherham I used for my job a few years back, it was next to the football ground and owned by a company who made electrical fittings but did sub-con too. They had some amazing 3-D industrial spec printers there but not sure if it went bust or not as it was about 6 years ago. Certainly the guys there I dealt with left after the job I had done there. They took a set of large & intricate mouldings I had made in China that had been 3-D printed and made silicone moulds from them so they could then repro me a set of ten parts that were identical but in much tougher epoxy resin. The main guy had a Silverwing that was 'found' in some dodgy geezers front room. He used his 'work tools' to repro the missing windscreen thingy that was broken. I remember the guy had 3-D printed a whistle with the 'pea' formed inside as part of the process. Cool.

Woke up now ...yawn ... and remembered it was called 'The Product Workshop Ltd'  ... seems to have gone now as far as I can see.
This was one of their machines.

[totty]

It's less interesting than making one, but I'd be very surprised if you couldn't source one of these by spending a few hours with broad search terms and checking dimensions. There may even be aftermarket inlet and carb kits that are cheaper than 3d printing a mould and having one moulded.