Handle wrap or foam suggestions?

[bob15]

Stihl sells their handle bar tubing. You have to buy a fairly long piece of it, & $tihl is rather proud of it too.

Some of the old McCulloch handlebars appeared to have been dipped partially in some sort of rubber or vinyl compound. How McC made the finish come out perfectly even is something I would like to know.

I think Mac used something like this:

Industrial Protective Coatings & Adhesives, Plastic Coatings, Protective Foam Coatings

Put masking tape where you don't want the dip to go. The stuff can be bought at hardware stores.

bob

 

[lmalterna]

Never tried it on saw handle but I have used rubber electric tape design for using on submersible pumps for wrapping other tool handles in. Sticks really well, holds up good and is versatile. Maybe could use some of the spray dip vinyl for handles over it as well?

Bill

 

[Stihl Wielder]

Never tried it on saw handle but I have used rubber electric tape design for using on submersible pumps for wrapping other tool handles in. Sticks really well, holds up good and is versatile. Maybe could use some of the spray dip vinyl for handles over it as well?

Bill

Either that or a piece of shrink tubing over the rubber tape. Good idea!

 

[Trx250r180]

my stihl dealer sells new handlebar grips ,they werent too much if i recall like 10-20 dollars

 

[beelsr]

Great thread. Do you have a link to using the compressed air trick?

basically, you plug one end of the wrap, make a fitting to feed air into the hose, give it 40 pounds or so. the pressure swells the rubber enough to slip over the wrap. barely.

you want the wrap clean and dry and don't need lube - the pressure just blows it everywhere (except where it's needed) and once it gets on your hands, game over.

i think it was lakeside who posted the "definitive" a while back. he made a foot peal with a ball valve - worked well. search should find it...

 

[Trx250r180]

wouldnt a tube of motorcycle grip glue let the grip slide right on then dry and be on tight

 

[rmh3481]

Sure like the looks of Ambull's Homelite!

Here is Lakeside Andy's thread on the Stihl tubing and installation procedure using the compressor;
http://arboristsite.com/chainsaw/47131.htm

I recently picked up a 16 inch length of Raychem Sigmaform SCTV-11 heat shrink tubing with a diameter of 1.1 inch and a cold wall thickness of .050. Supposed to have adhesive on the inside. Ill let you know how it works out on an aluminum handlebar Im working on.

 

[beelsr]

Sure like the looks of Ambull's Homelite!

Here is Lakeside Andy's thread on the Stihl tubing and installation procedure using the compressor;
http://arboristsite.com/chainsaw/47131.htm

Yep, that's it. :msp_thumbsup:

 

[Philbert]

Heat Shrink vs Cold Shrink

Of course, this stuff comes in different diameters and wall thicknesses. A photo of some samples to help show the difference.

Left - heavy wall (.040 in) heat shrink with hot melt glue lining;
Center - cold shrink (.060 in) expanded around spiral wound installation core;
Right - flat heat shrink (.018 in).

The cold shrink remains soft and rubbery - like spongy radiator hose.

Philbert

 

[Stihl Wielder]

Here's my Stihl 051AV and my 041AV Super with that silcone hi-voltage tape on the handles. Not as purdy as some of your handles, but they are comfortable and they hold up well.....

View attachment 233775View attachment 233777

 

[Warped5]

Pic from another thread here ..

Here is an example of the spray-on bedliner stuff:

AS Link

 

[Frank Savage]

The road-bicycle handlebars wraptape is useful, but it´s suited mostly for static load-so not much hand position changes under load and thus for lighter saws. Almost uniformly is 1" wide. As I experienced in bikeshop, they always come pre-cut in 5-7 ft lenghts, good for left/right part of the bar, but it covers just about 1-1 1/3 ft of lenght on 1" tube.
On the other hand, tennis-racket handlewrap is better for chainsaw use-wider (1 1/2"), there´s greater selection in thickness, surfaces and rigidity, some of them comes in rolls, so you can ask how many yards you want.