Fabricating dust covers?

[meb]

I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel to get mangled. I've had this happen once before on this wheel, and found I needed try 5 bike shops before I found a shop that had a match.

Since this is a low end beater, I was wondering is it possible to just cut a disc from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to cover the bearings and perhaps just glue the cover in place or would that be prone to comming loose? Or could I just find a washer and drill out the axle hole and grind down the diameter to size?

 

[datakoll]

eeeyyahahayayahyah best to red loctite ura cones following a thorough
surface cleaning male/female with thinner, choh, and clean wire brush.
then ura cones won't come loose unless worn into a round shape. takes
a propane torch to remove. one 'trick' is lock all the right side with
red lwft side cones red but left nuts blue.
a poly water bottle, buy now supplies are limited, cut into a dust cap
off sorts.
one thing to watch for in DIY dust cap anything is the ability for
trapping dust in that there tiny canyon not deflect dust.
try an infant's feeder bottle nipple or that kinda shape. mimics a
shimano dirt bike 135mm hub rubber. ask the LBS if there are hub
rubbers under the bench.
there's a lotta plastic stuff lying around eg I'm inflating an big
hole air mattress with a small probe pilates ball pump using a section
of liquid dishwasher top for the mating surface slipped over the
pilates probe.

 

[datakoll]

moooo?

 

[Peter Cole]

meb wrote:
> I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel
> resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel to
> get mangled. I've had this happen once before on this wheel, and found
> I needed try 5 bike shops before I found a shop that had a match.
>
> Since this is a low end beater, I was wondering is it possible to just
> cut a disc from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to
> cover the bearings and perhaps just glue the cover in place or would
> that be prone to comming loose? Or could I just find a washer and drill
> out the axle hole and grind down the diameter to size?
>
>

Really good question, I've screwed around with this a lot on beater
bikes, seems simple, but I've never come up with a good way.

 

[datakoll]

On Mar 5, 12:20 pm, Peter Cole <[email protected]> wrote:
> meb wrote:
> > I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel
> > resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel to
> > get mangled.  I've had this happen once before on this wheel, and found
> > I needed try 5 bike shops before I found a shop that had a match.  
>
> > Since this is a low end beater, I was wondering is it possible to just
> > cut a disc from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to
> > cover the bearings and perhaps just glue the cover in place or would
> > that be prone to comming loose?  Or could I just find a washer and drill
> > out the axle hole and grind down the diameter to size?
>
> Really good question, I've screwed around with this a lot on beater
> bikes, seems simple, but I've never come up with a good way.

ofetn, room exists for a circular poly jug cutout with axle hole to
fit inside or abutt the circular ID hub body. OR an O-ring. O-ring and
a poly cutout is a double defense with the baby bottle nipple shape
over the hub body but loose on axle side possible.
gluing a shape together with vinyl and vinyl glue is possible.

 

[Chalo]

meb wrote:
>
> I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel
> resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel to
> get mangled.
....
> Since this is a low end beater, I was wondering is it possible to just
> cut a disc from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to
> cover the bearings and perhaps just glue the cover in place or would
> that be prone to comming loose? Or could I just find a washer and drill
> out the axle hole and grind down the diameter to size?

If you want to fab your own on the cheap and simple, get nylon washers
of appropriate ID. Sandwich them between two nuts on a snug-fitting
bolt, and hand file or power sand them until their diameter is just
small enough to jam them into the recesses with some pressure. If you
can spin the bolt in a drill while filing, dremeling, etc., you'll
give them a nice round and even circumference. You'll develop a bur
on the edge of the nylon that you can scrape or peel away as
necessary.

You want to use nylon because it's springy enough to press fit without
violence and/or the risk of damage to your hardware. The difference
between too tight and too loose is only thousandths of an inch, so
check the fit frequently and have enough washers to try again if you
overshoot.

Chalo

 

[datakoll]

a nylon washer, an O-Ring, a shortened trojan, a cliff bar and a
french vanilla shake togo.

 

[Werehatrack]

On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 20:36:34 +1100, meb
<[email protected]> may have said:

>
>I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel
>resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel to
>get mangled. I've had this happen once before on this wheel, and found
>I needed try 5 bike shops before I found a shop that had a match.
>
>Since this is a low end beater, I was wondering is it possible to just
>cut a disc from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to
>cover the bearings and perhaps just glue the cover in place or would
>that be prone to comming loose? Or could I just find a washer and drill
>out the axle hole and grind down the diameter to size?

19th century tech may be appropriate here; a thick oiled leather
washer with a very light spring to hold it in place against the side
of the hub makes a decent dust and grime guard with so little drag
that it's not worth worrying about. It's not too good at holding the
oil fraction of the grease in the hub, but it also affords an easy way
to relube...by peeling the washer back and squirting a dab of grease
in without removing the wheel.

I found an ancient and much-abused bike on a junk pile not too long
ago that was so equipped, and the bearings were nearly the only good
parts on it.

With a low-speed interface, you can get away with some very low-tech
solutions.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

 

[Peter Cole]

Peter Cole wrote:

>
> Really good question, I've screwed around with this a lot on beater
> bikes, seems simple, but I've never come up with a good way.

Chalo, Wehatrack, good ideas. Thanks.

 

[meb]

meb wrote:
>
> I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel
> resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel to
> get mangled.
....
> Since this is a low end beater, I was wondering is it possible to just
> cut a disc from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to
> cover the bearings and perhaps just glue the cover in place or would
> that be prone to comming loose? Or could I just find a washer and drill
> out the axle hole and grind down the diameter to size?

If you want to fab your own on the cheap and simple, get nylon washers
of appropriate ID. Sandwich them between two nuts on a snug-fitting
bolt, and hand file or power sand them until their diameter is just
small enough to jam them into the recesses with some pressure. If you
can spin the bolt in a drill while filing, dremeling, etc., you'll
give them a nice round and even circumference. You'll develop a bur
on the edge of the nylon that you can scrape or peel away as
necessary.

You want to use nylon because it's springy enough to press fit without
violence and/or the risk of damage to your hardware. The difference
between too tight and too loose is only thousandths of an inch, so
check the fit frequently and have enough washers to try again if you
overshoot.

Chalo

This is probably the approach I'll try since the flexibiliy of the nylon might preserve it in place under the freewheel.

Thanks.

 

[Tom Sherman]

datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
>
> moooo?

<http://cheesebyhand.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/holstein_jersey.jpg>

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

 

[meb]

datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
>
> moooo?

<http://cheesebyhand.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/holstein_jersey.jpg>

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

The cattle could probably use some dust covers.

 

[Donald Gillies]

meb <[email protected]> writes:

>I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel
>resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel
>to get mangled. ... I was wondering is it possible to just cut a disc
>from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to cover
>the bearings ....

Maybe they aren't even necessary. If you regularly (like, every year)
grease the bearings, nothing bad will probably happen. I lost my
pedal dustcap in 1987. Nothing bad happened for 8 long years, despite
the exposed bearings.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA

 

[meb]

meb <[email protected]> writes:

>I've had some cones work themselves loose on a Dynacraft rear wheel
>resulting in enough play to cause the dust cover under the freewheel
>to get mangled. ... I was wondering is it possible to just cut a disc
>from metal or plastic or cardboard of appropriate diameter to cover
>the bearings ....

Maybe they aren't even necessary. If you regularly (like, every year)
grease the bearings, nothing bad will probably happen. I lost my
pedal dustcap in 1987. Nothing bad happened for 8 long years, despite
the exposed bearings.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA

It's not the retaining the grease that's the problem as much as keeping out the grime. Under the freewheel, it gets mighty grimey. I've already replaced bearings and cones on that wheel once, so letting grime in there would wear those components out prematurely.

The approaches suggested by Chalo and Werehatrack look like nice, simple easily implemented solutions for keeping out the grime.