Shopsmith Forums

Hi,

I was able to pick up some heat shrink tubing for a bargain price the other day. This tubing was purchased to finish putting on a couple of router wrenches I had laying around.

Most router wrenches are a stamped design and not all the comfortable to use. While this is not a complete fix for that it does help. The tape also makes them a bit quieter and less likely to slip around then the bare ones. For additional comfort a second layer can be applied. I was only able to find a limited number of pieces in the size I needed so for now that is not happening to mine.

So lets get to the pictures.

Here you can see the one wrench with the heat shrinking finished and another getting ready for the process.

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The tubing slips on as shown here.

[ATTACH]22864[/ATTACH]

I use a heat gun to do the shrinking. This is not a hair dryer, this thing puts out 1200W and is not a toy but a real heater. I use a pliers to hold the wrench while doing the thin sides first then going back to do the flat sides. You do not want to hold the wrench in your hand until it has cooled.

[ATTACH]22865[/ATTACH]

The wrenches pictured are for a couple of 690 Porter Cable routers I have.

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Hope this provides some "other" ideas for you.

Ed

There was a product out (I don't recall the name) that I hope someone remembers.

With it you got a sheet of the product you put it in hot water and after a time it was moldable. You could wrap it on a wrench handle and even have your finger impressions in it. Once it dried and cooled down it was nearly premanent.

Does anyone recall this product?

No but I do remember stuff that you dipped the handles in. Real thick.

Ed in Tampa wrote:There was a product out (I don't recall the name) that I hope someone remembers.

With it you got a sheet of the product you put it in hot water and after a time it was moldable. You could wrap it on a wrench handle and even have your finger impressions in it. Once it dried and cooled down it was nearly premanent.

Does anyone recall this product?

I only have experience with the dip, which I liked a lot.


Good use of shrink tubing above

Ed in Tampa wrote:There was a product out (I don't recall the name) that I hope someone remembers.

With it you got a sheet of the product you put it in hot water and after a time it was moldable. You could wrap it on a wrench handle and even have your finger impressions in it. Once it dried and cooled down it was nearly premanent.

Does anyone recall this product?

I "think" you might mean InstaMorph. It's not a sheet, but you do add it to water (fairly warm), let it set and then pour off the water and you have a moldable sheet / blob.

I remember seeing something advertised on one of the online woodworking emails and it may or may not be the same stuff. I later did a search and found the InstaMorph and thought it may be the same stuff so bookmarked it.

With the neuropathy I thought it might be useful to help hold things easier, but never did buy any to check it out.

Ben

I think I have seen a product much like Ed mentioned, it had to do with tennis or maybe it was golf, does that sound right?

I to have used the dip coat. Mine was yellow and I guess it didn't last to long as none of my tools have that material for their grips any more. It could be they have improved the product since my exposure.

I've also seen a shrink grip made for pliers sort tools, would work with things like the router wrenches.

Ed

I think the product you are referring to is Sugru http://sugru.com/us/buy

When I was in the Army, I had access to some self-fusing tape. It was kind of rubbery, and wouldn't stick to anything, but itself. The cross section wasn't rectangular, but more liked a stretched-out diamond. (<>) If you took a piece of it, and stretched it to 125%, and wrapped it around your finger, it would cut off blood flow, just like a rubber band. (You could cut it off easily, though.)

When I worked at McDonnell-Douglas, we had a similar tape, but this one was bright red. (The Army stuff was black.)

After a minute or so, it became one piece, hence the "self-fusing" name.

Stretched out, it made GREAT tool handle covers! You could build up a couple thicknesses, for vibration dampening.

Wish I could still find it.

steve

ljhhontx wrote:I think the product you are referring to is Sugru http://sugru.com/us/buy

I think that might be it or the tape someone said the used in the Airforce but I thought it was a lot cheaper.

Ed in Tampa wrote:I think that might be it or the tape someone said the used in the Airforce but I thought it was a lot cheaper.

That is the way it works. Starts out inexpensive until the manufacturer discovers that they really have something we want (that's called "demand"). When demand goes up so goes the price.