Thursday, January 21, 2016

Used Bicycle Tube Project - Replace Tool Handle Grip

Sometimes a little ingenuity goes a long way. At my workplace, we often use this tool to cut and bend wire binding. The tool's red handles had cracked and repeatedly fell off, rendering the grip nearly useless. With regular use, the metal handle began to hurt my hands. So with heavy duty thread, used bicycle tube, large needle and thimble, I created replacement grips in 30 minutes. It may not be an attractive solution, but the new rubber gets the job done.

A coworker commented, "It's steampunky!", completely taking me by surprise. Now that I look at it, he's right.
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3 comments:

  1. N/AJanuary 21, 2016 at 12:26 PM

    I never throw away old tubes, there's a million uses for them, it seems.

    This is a great idea! I use a lot of hand tools, and find that with time, all of the vinyl/rubber handles tend to split off. Do you find that your grips pictured here hold fast? Or do they slip around a bit? I am thinking a dab of rubber cement or contact cement underneath may be a good idea.


    I take a strip of innertube and wrap around my lawn mower handle to provide a bit of shock absorption.



    Wolf.

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    Replies
    1. anniebikesJanuary 21, 2016 at 4:23 PM

      Love the lawn mower handle idea! I agree that it's silly to throw every tube in the trash when they can have second lives.

      I can't attest to the longevity of my tool grip. I just sewed the inner tube this morning!

      Delete
  2. Chris PJanuary 22, 2016 at 8:17 PM

    Neat idea Annie. Believe it or not, I have used wide mountain bike tubes, along with plastic ties, to repair (temporarily) front axle CV joint boots on my aging '98 Honda Civic. Surprisingly they held up for a long time, keeping the road dirt out of the bearings, until I could afford to have them repaired.

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