Anyone here machined rubber?

[turbinepowered]

So, I have an issue. I have a Quantum, with the infamous NLA fuel pump mount bushing that ist kaputt.

I have an idea to possibly make another one, using a chunk of appropriate rubber material (since it is supposed to isolate it for vibrations) and using a simple jig and a bit. Would this work? Any tips, ideas, and so on and so forth?

[turbinepowered]

As clarification, the rubber I'm looking at using is actually hard "spring" neoprene: gets a rating of A for ethanol and B for unleaded and reformulated unleaded, which is better than nitrile's A for non-reformulated gasoline and C for ethanol. The listed durometer for the tube I'd be working is 75A with a +- 5 tolerance.

[vergessen wir es]

These things are normally molded and cant be hard tooled UNLESS you freeze them rock hard (Nitrogen etc). That's the only way I know of to secondary machine noodle stock.

[turbinepowered]

These things are normally molded and cant be hard tooled UNLESS you freeze them rock hard (Nitrogen etc). That's the only way I know of to secondary machine noodle stock.

I've drilled Buna-N before, it kept trying to bind on deep holes but shallower ones were fine. I was wondering if perhaps a sharper bit would help, different machine speeds, bit angles; would normal freezing assist here, with regular trips back to the freezer? 75A is harder than the last stuff I played with, which was 55A.

[TBT-Syncro]

if you're just turning it down. keep it cold, and sand it. you'd need to freeze it in order to machine it.

[turbinepowered]

Mmmmm, I'll have to see if I can get away with not having the ridges in the stock mount. I imagine I probably can, but I'll have to finish pulling the assembly again to make sure.

Any particular grit you can recommend for turning it down? Coarser better for big reductions, finer for smaller I guess?

[TBT-Syncro]

Mmmmm, I'll have to see if I can get away with not having the ridges in the stock mount. I imagine I probably can, but I'll have to finish pulling the assembly again to make sure.

Any particular grit you can recommend for turning it down? Coarser better for big reductions, finer for smaller I guess?

dont go too coarse, it'll grab and tear. you may find that spraying it with wd-40 also prevents the material from clogging the media.

[turbinepowered]

dont go too coarse, it'll grab and tear. you may find that spraying it with wd-40 also prevents the material from clogging the media.

So if I start with, say, a 550 grit (I have a big belt of that stuff) then I should be in decent shape?

[blackvento36]

I'm not sure of the specifics, but rubber rollers on a printing press are turned on a lathe. The most common durometer is probably 30-35A. About .001" runout is typical. I'm not sure what sort of tooling is used, but I do know it is generally done on standard metal lathes. Presses that use different types of ink use different rubber for the rollers, but they are all chemical resistant types (buna-n, nitrile, etc)

[turbinepowered]

I'm not sure of the specifics, but rubber rollers on a printing press are turned on a lathe. The most common durometer is probably 30-35A. About .001" runout is typical. I'm not sure what sort of tooling is used, but I do know it is generally done on standard metal lathes. Presses that use different types of ink use different rubber for the rollers, but they are all chemical resistant types (buna-n, nitrile, etc)

Do you know if they're chilled at all prior to machining?