3D printing, inlet ports

Stoker · Nitrous Nuisance Joined: 13 Sep 2014 Karma :

As many of you know,the failure of those rubber bits betwixt carbs and engine can spell doom for a bike unless you

A) have rubber that can be somehow revitalised, with, for example,
wintergreen oil,
B) know a source of original parts.

What I'm hoping for is
D) someone who has a 3d printer, and can make parts to order.

I realise that 3d printing uses thermo-setting plastics, but is there a middle-ground whereby flexible. rubbery components can be replicated?

Yes, I have left C vacant......

Nexus Icon · World Chat Champion Joined: 26 Aug 2010 Karma :

Find a company running an Objet printer and see if the Shore hardness range and temperature range for Tango black material is suitable.

Stratasys spring to mind, though there are certainly others out there.
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stinkwheel · Bovine Proctologist Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Karma :

Use the 3D printer to make the shape. Use the shape to make a mould with silicone putty. Use the mould to make the rubbers.
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andym · World Chat Champion Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Karma :

As usual, guy down the pub told me that for some older rubber parts you can boil them then spray them with silicone and it softens them up again..... Rolling Eyes

.... after 3 days of trying to get the airbox back in the GPz (blood, sweat, tears and profanity were shed those days.... and lots of tools thrown), I decided to try that on inlet rubbers from a 1982 bike...... after I boiled and sprayed them, refitting the carbs and airbox took about 20 minutes

nowhere.elysium · The Pork Lord Joined: 02 Mar 2009 Karma :

While I have the kit to make the 3D printed components, I'm not convinced that you'll be able to get ahold of the right kind of rubber in self-mixable form to be able to cast the inlets. Is the stuff that you're looking to make them from sufficiently heat/fuel resistant?
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