An idea ive been toying with for awhile has been making shop mats out of inner tubes.&nbsp; Our shop is in a wooden house with poor sound insulation. carpets have helped alot in keeping the house owner happy by dampening the noise. Ordinary carpets have a very short life span, and the really good industrial rubber ones are almost $80 each. Although we could invest alot of money into &#39;real&#39; industrial mats, theres just too much rubber lying around to not try and make our own.<br>
<br>Failed attempts:<br><br>shredding them up and gluing them to a substrate:<br>Too much rubber cement is required, its too expensive. have not found a good enough substrate.<br><br>cutting them into strips and weaving them:<br>
The edges are prone to fraying. Slippery when wet.<br><br>Cutting them into smaller strips and knitting them:<br>The holes would catch too many small parts. not rigid enough.<br><br>Surely someone else has tried this. ideas?<br>
<br>Anibal<br>Bike Pirate<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 9:36 AM, CLINTON BIGGS &lt;<a href="mailto:letlovein2@msn.com">letlovein2@msn.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">




<div>WOW! Hey this is just the information I have been wanting.&nbsp; I have a window cleaning business and the rubber part of the squeegee needs to be changed often, once a day or so.&nbsp;&nbsp; Window cleaning is about a 2 billion dollar a year segment of the economy. And that does not count the fire fighters and kings of the road that do it on the side.&nbsp; If we can recycle the rubber, it would be a huge help.&nbsp; Thanks, Art<br>
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Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:45:16 -0500<br>From: <a href="mailto:urbanbikeproject@gmail.com" target="_blank">urbanbikeproject@gmail.com</a><br>To: <a href="mailto:thethinktank@bikecollectives.org" target="_blank">thethinktank@bikecollectives.org</a><br>
Subject: [TheThinkTank] old inner tubes<br><br><span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><font face="" size="-1"><div class="Ih2E3d">There was a discussion on bikejournal about reusing old tubes...I know many of us have found uses but another option is sending them to Splaff, a company that makes sandals from recycled materials.<br>
<br>I&#39;ll add the information to the wiki <a href="http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Splaff,_Inc." target="_blank">here</a> linked from the <a href="http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Shop_Recycling" target="_blank">shop recycling page</a>.<br>
</div>u <br><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">Brian<br>Urban Bike Project of Wilmington<br><br><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">&quot;We would love to use any old tubes that you are willing to send to us.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Please ensure that all old tubes sent to us meet the following criteria:</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">- No rust on the outside of the tubes </span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">- No fluid inside the tubes </span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">- We do not accept the bike tires, only the bike tubes.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Please ship all tubes to us at:</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">US Mail:</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Splaff Inc.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">PO Box 7604</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">San Diego, CA 92167</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">UPS:</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Splaff Inc</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">4950 Del Mar Ave</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">San Diego, CA 92107</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Thank you again and please feel free to call us at (619) 221 9199 if you have any questions or concerns.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Keep onn Floppin&#39;</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Max Wescoe</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">
<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">Splaff Inc</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">619-221-9199&quot;</span></div></div></font></span><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">
<br style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);" clear="all"><br>-- <br>Urban Bike Project of Wilmington<br>1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building)<br>Wilmington, DE 19801<br><br>Visit us online at <a href="http://urbanbikeproject.org/" target="_blank">http://urbanbikeproject.org</a> </div>
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