Hard felt alternatives for wipers?

I've just acquired a couple of old (new to me) machines that both have felt wipers that I probably will not be able to get replacements for (and they clearly need replacing - they've crumbled on removal). I've been looking for a source of "hard" felt (about 1/8" thick) sheets to make my own and although I've found several sources (e.g. British Felt etc) - it's pretty expensive stuff. Does anyone have any 'alternates' they use that are affordable? Regards, IanT

Look up Lawrence Art Supplies online. Artists use felts to cusion the plates on printing presses. They come in different weights and in small enough sizes.

Ian

Should of course have been "cushion", but for some reason, the auto spell check isn't working.

Ian

Somewhere like the Range or Hobbycraft. they probably won't have 1/8" thick, but you could laminate a four sheets.

Neil

As an alternative to felt, I made some wipers from 1mm thick acetal sheet which I machined to an angled edge. With two layers of this it seems to be working fine and has been in place for about a year. Acetal or delrin is quite hard and slides over metal surfaces with very little friction. Mind you this stuff is'nt cheap either but you don't need much.

Doug

Hi Ian,
One possible source of felt is stick on pads to go on the legs of chairs etc. These would only be suitable for a small lathe as the largest ones I have seen ate about 1" dia. You sometimes see them in £ shops. I have just had a look on Ebay and found these larger ones. Item number 281064347653

Les.

Yes, I used the adhesive felt feet sold for the bottoms of chair legs but I was able to buy rectangular sheets for cutting to your own shapes. They are typically 3"x4" or so and sold alongside the pads in hardware stores - and work out cheaper. The last piece I bought cost less than a pound ($1.25). The adhesive is basically double sided tape which peels off easily. You can use wood chisels and a block of wood to cut them out and a hole punch for the screw holes. My Bantam now sports a set of these!

Muzzer

Myford fittings are available direct, any chance of using one of those?

What about an old felt hat? Ian S C

Thanks for the feedback guys - If I could find the 3" x 4" pads Muzzer mentions that would be a good solution I think. I may also look more closely for old hats in my local charity shops. For anyone interested in a more expensive solution - look at Britishfelt.co.uk. A 3mm hard grey felt (183cm x 1/2m) will set you back £39.14 (plus P&P). In 6mm the same money will get you a 183cm x 1/4m piece. If you want the white felt - its 150cm wide and will set you back £55.93 for 1/2m of 3mm or 1/4m of 6mm. Regards, IanT

Hi Ian,
I did a search on Ebay for "felt pads" It finds some reasonable size rectangular pads but it would be better to be able to look at them in a shop before buying them. I found the remains of one pack of these pads that contained some rectangular pads that I had cut out disks from. I can't remember where I bought this pack.  These look similar to this pack.

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 26/05/2013 10:06:24

Jesus, Why didn't anyone ask when I worked at the piano company ?

We had miles of the stuff, all colours and thickness's. If we didn't have the right thickness we had the skiving machines to par it to any size.

I used to get white felt cut 3/8" x 3/8" in foot strips for the vintage car boys for rear oil seals on the cranks.

Might still have a bit of this left, I'll check later.

I think I put 1/8" green felt in the bottom of my wooden toolboxes but this will be quite grubby by now.

Ian, I have some approx 1/8" thick felt sheet kicking around in the workshop somewhere, you are welcome to a lump of that if it would be useful.

This looks interesting.

**LINK**

Hello Ian,

out of intertest I've just looked at ebay for hard felt fabrics, there seem to be plenty of choices in weight, colour and price to select from. You can also buy my the metre from anothe site [Anglo felt] but that is a more expensive route. They do offer different grades though.

I think you will find all you need on ebay

Regards Brian

Hi Ian and guys
Brilliant idea Ian Old Hat = Felt Wipe for my S 7 mk 1
Nobby

Buy the real thing. Genuine oil seal felt in small quantities here: **LINK**

No connection but I've bought from them in the past.

Russell.

When I do a search on B&Q website for "felt pad", I get loads of hits including a rectangular "felt pad cream" - 2" x 4" for a pound. Are any of those any good?

**LINK**

Muzzer

I did look at eBay but only seemed to find 'art' (soft/coloured) felts - the word "pad" clearly makes quite a difference! There were several options that could have been useful but the best deal I found (that I will order tomorrow) was for Qty 2 110 x 150 x 5mm square felt pads from a company called Haldons. At £3.75 that's more like my price point! Lofty - thank you for your kind offer & Graham, I hadn't thought of leather but one of the machines (Atlas 7" shaper) uses a combination of felt and plastic wipers on the ram (felt to retain oil and plastic to keep the crud out I'd guess). I think I will try a felt/leather combination for that application (I have an old leather belt that will donate a few pieces large enough - I'm afraid it no longer seems to fit me in retirement!). Regards, Ian T