Making urethane?
just curious, anyone ever tried making their own thane for whhels and bushings?
if you have, howd it work out?
if you have, howd it work out?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alex King on
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theres not a lot of info on the net or in books, so learning what you need probably means talking to an expert. i'd guess that there is a lot of trial and error trying to get the right formula. then theres getting a mold.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Andrew Jenkins on -
your right. theres jack all on the web.
Alex King said:theres not a lot of info on the net or in books, so learning what you need probably means talking to an expert. i'd guess that there is a lot of trial and error trying to get the right formula. then theres getting a mold.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by charlie harris on -
my friend said he saw somewhere on here that you can buy like a really wide wheel shape urethane thing and then you just cut it yourself.
do any of you know where this is?
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Permalink Reply by Phill C on
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My neighbour makes Roller skate wheels with a removable two peice alloy hub.
He purchases the thane in a drum that he pre orders at the prefered durometer, it's a two part mix however depending on your mixing skills you can get different duro wheels. He adds the colours and creates his own from trial and error experiments. He's has hundreds of moulds that he machines himself on a metal lathe that are so precise that he's thrown half he's made away. he pours the thane in the moulds which are coated with a mould release spray and them bakes them in a low temp oven that is specifically made for this purpose. The temp ina n ordinary household oven varies too much which destroys the wheels. once baked for about 24hrs he the machines the wheels on a lathe to clean them up and inserts the alloy hubs. this is about 1/100000th of the story behind how he makes wheels himself. He also makes kickass custom bushings for me that he is currently making a shitload of.
If it was an easy process i'd do it but it has taken him 16 years to get to this point and he is just begining to cast the hub into his wheels.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Andrew Jenkins on -
i see...
quite complex. so you buy the thane but you can vary with your mix. interesting.
im probs way out of my depth here. but anyways.
Phill C said:My neighbour makes Roller skate wheels with a removable two peice alloy hub.
He purchases the thane in a drum that he pre orders at the prefered durometer, it's a two part mix however depending on your mixing skills you can get different duro wheels. He adds the colours and creates his own from trial and error experiments. He's has hundreds of moulds that he machines himself on a metal lathe that are so precise that he's thrown half he's made away. he pours the thane in the moulds which are coated with a mould release spray and them bakes them in a low temp oven that is specifically made for this purpose. The temp ina n ordinary household oven varies too much which destroys the wheels. once baked for about 24hrs he the machines the wheels on a lathe to clean them up and inserts the alloy hubs. this is about 1/100000th of the story behind how he makes wheels himself. He also makes kickass custom bushings for me that he is currently making a shitload of.
If it was an easy process i'd do it but it has taken him 16 years to get to this point and he is just begining to cast the hub into his wheels.
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similar to polyester resin if you add too much hardener you end up with a faster setting/harder compound however that does effect the quality. (the main duro determining factor is the liquid that you pre order) likewise, airbubbles in the mix, unlevel molds, too much time/not enough time in the oven, not enough mold release/too much mold release, taking too long to mix the 2 parts etc all can change the finished product. He has two big boxes full off wheels he considers rejects which look perfectly fine to me, perfect throwaway sliding wheels
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Some of the first batch of bushings he made at the start of the year using plastic shot glasses for moulds then machining them down with little ribs on the side for hers (or your) pleasure
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Adam on -
very sexy phil
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by The Dave on -
What's the limitation on casting the hub in? Is it just the accuracy of setting it?
Does he vacuum de-gas the urethane during casting?
Phill C said:If it was an easy process i'd do it but it has taken him 16 years to get to this point and he is just begining to cast the hub into his wheels.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Fitz on -
Clever call, Dave. That's exactly how top end urethane production is done, however it can be a costly process with the extra equipment required if you wanna do it right. ie vac moulding.
You can do it on the cheap still by degassing immediately after you mix however, the "going off" process of setting naturally creates gas (alot like Jacko) which creates more bubbles after the degassing.
Also, high end processes utilise twin jet direct injection mixing which accurately doses and mixes at the same time into a vacuum cavity mould for perfect results everytime.
Dave R said:What's the limitation on casting the hub in? Is it just the accuracy of setting it?
Does he vacuum de-gas the urethane during casting?
Phill C said:If it was an easy process i'd do it but it has taken him 16 years to get to this point and he is just begining to cast the hub into his wheels.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Fitz on -
Oldskool Ritchie from the land of NACCOS used to make special 55A duro slalom bushes for micro groms and midgets.
He has first hand knowledge on how to.
Also the very first Venom bushes were made in Zac Maytums bedroom. I still have one, and yes they were totally crap! Ha!
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by The Dave on -
Fitz said:Clever call, Dave.
Uh, dude, I have a PhD in polymer/composite engineering....I hope I know a little bit about thermoset resins...
Not that I've done any urethane casting myself, but I know PU can generate volatiles very easily. Mix-degassing probably reduces the gel time for moulding, too. I wasn't aware they used evacuated moulds though. Thanks for the info.
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