crappy rubber cement?

[Duncan]

Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
patch.

Anyway..

I had to crack open a new tube of rubber cement to patch the tube, and
its taken me three goes to get the two patches to adhere properly (not
leak). I've never had this problem before.. usually get them fixed
first go.

I suspect my latest tube of el-cheapo rubber cement that came in a no-
name patch kit. It certainly doesn't smell as toxic as the stuff
usually does.

Anyone else had this problem before? Am I just imagining things?

(looking forward to the ride home in 30kn winds and driving rain.. not)

[DeF]

Duncan wrote:
> Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
> to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
> patch.
>
> Anyway..
>
> I had to crack open a new tube of rubber cement to patch the tube, and
> its taken me three goes to get the two patches to adhere properly (not
> leak). I've never had this problem before.. usually get them fixed
> first go.
>
> I suspect my latest tube of el-cheapo rubber cement that came in a no-
> name patch kit. It certainly doesn't smell as toxic as the stuff
> usually does.
>
> Anyone else had this problem before? Am I just imagining things?

Well, I don't know if this is relevant to you or not but tubes can
be made of different compounds. I've found that "shinier" tubes are
not as easy to fix for the reasons you give - the cement doesn't seem
to stick. Do you roughen the tube before gluing?

I seem to recall that tubes used to have a lot more rubber in them
and you could fix them with a vulcanising kit. I remember having one
as a kid where you clamped the tube to a little disk that had some
flammable material in it. You then set the thing a light (very easy
to do in wet and windy conditions) and it would transfer a patch onto
the tube. Don't think this can be done now.

>
> (looking forward to the ride home in 30kn winds and driving rain.. not)
>

Come on, it's character building!

Enjoy,
DeF.


--
e-mail: d.farrow@your finger.murdoch.edu.au
To reply, you'll have to remove your finger.

[Duncan]

On Jun 8, 5:12 pm, DeF <""d.farrow\"@your finger.murdoch.edu.au">
wrote:
> Duncan wrote:
> > Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
> > to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
> > patch.
>
> > Anyway..
>
> > I had to crack open a new tube of rubber cement to patch the tube, and
> > its taken me three goes to get the two patches to adhere properly (not
> > leak). I've never had this problem before.. usually get them fixed
> > first go.
>
> > I suspect my latest tube of el-cheapo rubber cement that came in a no-
> > name patch kit. It certainly doesn't smell as toxic as the stuff
> > usually does.
>
> > Anyone else had this problem before? Am I just imagining things?
>
> Well, I don't know if this is relevant to you or not but tubes can
> be made of different compounds. I've found that "shinier" tubes are
> not as easy to fix for the reasons you give - the cement doesn't seem
> to stick. Do you roughen the tube before gluing?

yep.. lots of roughin up

> I seem to recall that tubes used to have a lot more rubber in them
> and you could fix them with a vulcanising kit. I remember having one
> as a kid where you clamped the tube to a little disk that had some
> flammable material in it. You then set the thing a light (very easy
> to do in wet and windy conditions) and it would transfer a patch onto
> the tube. Don't think this can be done now.

I often wondered what happened to those kits.. they certainly were
alot more effective for those quick on-the-road patch jobs (which I
try to avoid by carrying a couple of spare tubes).

At least I'm heading ENE tonight.. so should mostly be a tail wind
(unlike this morning).

[Graeme Dods]

On Jun 8, 3:04 pm, Duncan > wrote:
> Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
> to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
> patch.

The vast majority of punctures I've had have been in the wet. I often
wonder if it's because I can't see little bits of potentially
puncturing debris as easily or the rain is washing/floating bits of
debris around more freely.

Then again, maybe it's something to do with the fact that I ride
through the really deep puddles for fun. There could be anything
hiding in there! :)

Graeme

[John Henderson]

Duncan wrote:

> I often wondered what happened to those kits.. they certainly
> were alot more effective for those quick on-the-road patch
> jobs (which I try to avoid by carrying a couple of spare
> tubes).

Vulcanising patches have gone the way of the dinosaurs. They
don't work on modern butyl rubber compounds.

John

[Michael Warner[_2_]]

On Fri, 08 Jun 2007 17:46:19 +1000, John Henderson wrote:

> Vulcanising patches have gone the way of the dinosaurs. They
> don't work on modern butyl rubber compounds.

I remember my Dad using them when I was a kid. I thought they
were banned for safety reasons.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

[DeF]

Graeme Dods wrote:
> On Jun 8, 3:04 pm, Duncan > wrote:
>> Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
>> to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
>> patch.
>
> The vast majority of punctures I've had have been in the wet. I often
> wonder if it's because I can't see little bits of potentially
> puncturing debris as easily or the rain is washing/floating bits of
> debris around more freely.
>
> Then again, maybe it's something to do with the fact that I ride
> through the really deep puddles for fun. There could be anything
> hiding in there! :)
>
> Graeme
>

We had a thread on this recently and a number of theories were
suggested.

In the end, the consensus was that punctures in the wet were more
likely as water lubricates the glass/metal slicing into the tire.

DeF

--
e-mail: d.farrow@your finger.murdoch.edu.au
To reply, you'll have to remove your finger.

[Bleve]

On Jun 8, 5:04 pm, Duncan > wrote:
> Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
> to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
> patch.
>
> Anyway..
>
> I had to crack open a new tube of rubber cement to patch the tube, and
> its taken me three goes to get the two patches to adhere properly (not
> leak). I've never had this problem before.. usually get them fixed
> first go.
>
> I suspect my latest tube of el-cheapo rubber cement that came in a no-
> name patch kit. It certainly doesn't smell as toxic as the stuff
> usually does.
>
> Anyone else had this problem before? Am I just imagining things?

yes, I had the problem a few years ago. Now I carry 'weldtite'
glueless patches.

[John Henderson]

Michael Warner wrote:

> I remember my Dad using them when I was a kid. I thought they
> were banned for safety reasons.

That could be another reason. I'm old enough to have used them
regularly, and found they didn't work any more sometime in the
70's. The butyl rubber explanation was given at the time.

John

[Duncan]

On Jun 8, 6:11 pm, Bleve > wrote:
> On Jun 8, 5:04 pm, Duncan > wrote:
>
>
>
> > Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
> > to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
> > patch.
>
> > Anyway..
>
> > I had to crack open a new tube of rubber cement to patch the tube, and
> > its taken me three goes to get the two patches to adhere properly (not
> > leak). I've never had this problem before.. usually get them fixed
> > first go.
>
> > I suspect my latest tube of el-cheapo rubber cement that came in a no-
> > name patch kit. It certainly doesn't smell as toxic as the stuff
> > usually does.
>
> > Anyone else had this problem before? Am I just imagining things?
>
> yes, I had the problem a few years ago. Now I carry 'weldtite'
> glueless patches.

hmmm. looked them up, but I can't tell: are they the ones with the
pink closed-cell foam-type backing?

I found those worked pretty well, but always deteriorated over time,
so the tube had to be re-patched with rubber eventually.

[TimC]

On 2007-06-08, DeF (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> Duncan wrote:
>> I had to crack open a new tube of rubber cement to patch the tube, and
>> its taken me three goes to get the two patches to adhere properly (not
>> leak). I've never had this problem before.. usually get them fixed
>> first go.
>>
>> I suspect my latest tube of el-cheapo rubber cement that came in a no-
>> name patch kit. It certainly doesn't smell as toxic as the stuff
>> usually does.
>>
>> Anyone else had this problem before? Am I just imagining things?
>
> Well, I don't know if this is relevant to you or not but tubes can
> be made of different compounds. I've found that "shinier" tubes are
> not as easy to fix for the reasons you give - the cement doesn't seem
> to stick. Do you roughen the tube before gluing?

And you absolutely must wait for the glue to dry before applying the
patch, otherwise the reaction doesn't happen properly.

>> (looking forward to the ride home in 30kn winds and driving rain.. not)
>>
>
> Come on, it's character building!

It snowed up here today! I saw little flurry things fall out of the
sky! I've not seen that since I was 2, and even then, I'm not sure
whether it was actually snowing, or whether we just arrived on already
existing snow.

Not enough today to settle on the ground, but currently 3 degrees and
dropping.

I love this ****. It's raining, the kangaroos are happy, the grass is
happy, the resevoir is not dire. Mind you, I haven't yet pulled the
bike out of the observatory's car. Said car was covered in an inch of
frost/snow this morning when we packed up the telescope.

--
TimC
Sign on door of computing lecturer: "If your project is 90% right,
I will give you a distinction, your employer will fire you." -- Zebee

[Wilfred[_2_]]

Do you let the glue dry a bit to get tacky before putting the patch on?
Do you use the crappy little spice grater they supply for roughing up
the tube a bit first? I find a small piece of sandpaper works better.
I also appply the patch when the tube is slightly inflated. I mean not
stretched. Not quite enough to hold itself up.

What ever happened to those "vulcanising" patches where you hade a clamp
to hold them on and you were supposed to be able to strike the little
spot of ignition stuff to burn the cardboard fuel so it would generate
heat (and smoke) and hence cause the patch to melt on?

I haven't seen them in years. 20 at least. Can you still get them?
I never could get them to burn without using a match.

Regards Wilfred

Duncan wrote:
> Had a flat this morning (of course.. it's wet. not really a morning
> to ride in in Sydney), and one backup tube had an existing leaky
> patch.
>
> Anyway..
>
> I had to crack open a new tube of rubber cement to patch the tube, and
> its taken me three goes to get the two patches to adhere properly (not
> leak). I've never had this problem before.. usually get them fixed
> first go.
>
> I suspect my latest tube of el-cheapo rubber cement that came in a no-
> name patch kit. It certainly doesn't smell as toxic as the stuff
> usually does.
>
> Anyone else had this problem before? Am I just imagining things?
>
> (looking forward to the ride home in 30kn winds and driving rain.. not)
>

[Terryc]

John Henderson wrote:

> Vulcanising patches have gone the way of the dinosaurs. They
> don't work on modern butyl rubber compounds.

Also tended to leave a lumpy patch in your wheel. Worked great on
thronproof tubes though.

[Terryc]

Wilfred wrote:

> I haven't seen them in years. 20 at least. Can you still get them?
> I never could get them to burn without using a match.

I always used a match on mine. My last half dozen I burnt up, or tried
to a few years ago. They had some interesting crystal growth on them.

Have you tried auto shops recently? I always used the asuto version on
my thornproof tubes. The little bicycle ones were crap.