How to glue with raw rubber at home

Is vulcanization possible at home? The question is by no means rhetorical, but one of the most discussed on forums among car and bicycle enthusiasts. Self-repair of rubber products - from a tire to a children's toy - will save time and money, and will give vent to the creativity and ingenuity of a true car enthusiast.

If we talk about “cold” vulcanization, then the materials for this simplest and quickest repair are a must-have in your travel first aid kit.

The essence of the hot vulcanization method is the hardening of the rubber mass under the influence of heat. Knowing what should happen in the end, and having a fair amount of patience, you can repair any camera at home and quite reliably - car, bicycle, football. You will need simple equipment (more on this later) and a piece of raw rubber (patch), previously soaked in gasoline.

“Home” vulcanization technology

A piece of raw rubber (from auto tube rubber) should be slightly smaller than the size of the patch. The tire at the point of damage is sanded (with a reserve) - this will improve the adhesion of the materials, and then cleaned with gasoline. The edges of the patch must be rounded (cutting off the end of the patch at an angle of 45 degrees), then also treated with sandpaper and degreased with gasoline (B-70 or Galosh). Then you should cover the damaged area with a paw, place it under a press and heat until hardened.

The most popular component of a home “vulcanizer” is the old one (a good Soviet one is the best option), using an electric stove with an open ceramic spiral. The main task facing the master is to create a reliable clamp connection in a home vulcanizing press.

Advice from the “experienced”

Before applying the prepared patch to the cut site, lubricate it with glue. It is easy to prepare at home by dissolving raw rubber in gasoline.
Get ready to gradually master this process. A very important point is maintaining the temperature regime. When the optimal temperature is exceeded, a characteristic smell of burnt rubber appears - your patch is “sintered”. If the patch does not merge with the cut, it means the vulcanization temperature was insufficient or the process was completed early.
If the iron's thermostat works (this happens), you need to set the temperature to 140 degrees (or the designation for silk). This temperature regime prevents overheating of the patch and the product itself.
To prevent the rubber from sticking to the metal during the vulcanization process, it is enough to lay a piece of paper.
If water comes into contact with the vulcanizer and it boils, it’s time to turn it off. After waiting a little more, the vulcanizer can be removed, allowing the rubber to cool. Sugar is also used: if grains of granulated sugar begin to caramelize upon contact with the surface of the vulcanizer, the vulcanizer must be turned off.
The product to be repaired is placed on a hot vulcanizer plate (heated iron) with the damaged area downward and kept for the technologically required time (10-15 minutes). After one or two ruined tires, everything will become clear and home vulcanization can be safely put on stream.

For cuts with a complex configuration, it makes sense to make a more complex mold from two sheets of steel 6-10 mm thick. The plates are tightened with screws using holes drilled in the corners.

When doing self-repair, there is a high probability of damage to the cord thread, which can lead to protrusion (herniation) of the rubber during operation. In addition, the wheel will be unbalanced; eliminating the imbalance at home is hardly possible. When the car is moving, such a wheel will make life very difficult for the driver.

Only a completely intact wheel can provide a 100% guarantee of safe driving. Therefore, it’s worth saving up and buying new tires.

Types of rubber

Rubber is one of the few materials that has different hardness. Depending on the percentage of sulfur, it is:

soft – contains up to 3% sulfur;
semi-solid – from 4 to 30% sulfur;
hard – more than 30%.

Rubber is a natural material, and as a rule, products made from natural ingredients are of the highest quality and most durable. Therefore, components for bicycle and car wheels are made of soft rubber, which is based on rubber.

Electrical vulcanization of rubber

In general, vulcanization can be cold or hot. The electrical vulcanization process is a hot method. An electric stove with a ceramic heater is used as a heater at home; a hair dryer or a regular iron is also suitable. The optimal temperature for this method is 145C o. To determine the temperature, you can also use available means, for example, if a sheet of paper begins to char, it means that the temperature has reached the required values.

Electrical vulcanization of rubber

There are also special clamps with a heating element. Such devices can operate from a 220V household network, from a car battery, through a cigarette lighter socket, or from their own battery. It all depends on the performance of each device. These clamps are easy to use; you need to attach a rubber patch to the camera, clamp it and plug it into the network.

Piston mechanism

A piston from a car or motorcycle is used as a design element. This vulcanizer does not require electricity. This requires a supply of 50 g of gasoline.

Manufacturing procedure:

The base is cut out of wood. Wood does not interfere with the heating of the rubber.
A beam 10 mm thick is made of metal.
In the wooden base and beam along the edges, 2 holes are drilled for M12 bolts.

A camera with a patch is placed on a wooden plank. A cylinder filled with gasoline is placed on top. And the entire structure is bolted together. The gasoline is set on fire. After it burns, time is given to cool. And then he sorts it out.

A vulcanizer is a very important device for a motorist. It is especially necessary on the road in case of an unforeseen situation. There is no point in making an expensive purchase at home. Since such a device can be made from used devices.

Sulfur vulcanization of rubber

After rubber vulcanization

This operation consists of a chemical reaction in which sulfur atoms are added to the rubber. When added up to 5%, it produces raw materials for the manufacture of tubes and tires. In the case of gluing two elements, sulfur helps connect the rubber molecules, forming a so-called bridge. This procedure refers to the hot method, but it is unlikely that it will be possible to do it on a hike or on the highway.

Hot vulcanization

Rubber, as a raw material, has the property of being welded into a single composition at a temperature of 150 °C. As a result of this process, the rubber becomes rubber and cannot return to its original position. Thanks to its capabilities, rubber can fix any punctures and cuts in the tube and tire.

It is necessary to vulcanize rubber using a hot method, only using a press. The depth and area of the cut will tell you how long to weld. Typically, it takes 4 minutes of cooking to repair a 1mm cut. Accordingly, if the cut is 4mm, then it needs to be vulcanized for 16 minutes. In this case, the equipment must be warmed up and configured.

By performing hot vulcanization at temperatures above 150C o, you can ruin the rubber and achieve nothing, since the material will deteriorate and lose its characteristics.

Using clamps or a press allows you to properly patch the damage. After finishing the work, you should make sure that there are no voids or air bubbles in the seam. If there are any, you need to clean the puncture site from fresh rubber and repeat the whole process again.

In order to hot seal a camera at home, you must do the following. From raw rubber, you need to cut a piece slightly smaller than the patch itself. The tube or tire is cleaned slightly wider at the damaged area, to a rough state, and then degreased with gasoline. When preparing the patch, you need to cut the chamfer at an angle of 45°, also sand and degrease. Then we cover the puncture site with a patch, clamp it in a vice and heat it to the desired temperature.

If you dissolve raw rubber in gasoline, you can get a special glue for rubber, the use of which improves the quality of the seam. Particular attention should be paid to temperature conditions. Vulcanization is carried out at a temperature of 140 - 150 ° C; if there is a smell of burnt rubber, it means the patch has overheated, and if it has not merged with the overall product, then it may not have reached the required temperature. To prevent rubber from sticking to metal, you need to place paper between them.

Is it possible to repair a side cut on a tire and how to do it: technique

Of course, it is possible to fix the problem. But we note that a cut located in the assembly is very difficult to repair. What technologies are used for repairs?

The most commonly used is a special patch. This is a patch that is made of pressed rubber - it is virtually poreless, so it does not allow air to pass through, and also contains cord materials to ensure rigidity. These threads are needed to keep the breakdown from spreading.

The hot vulcanization method using such a patch is carried out in several stages:

Inspecting the damaged area, we decide whether it is worth repairing the side cut of the tire and how best to repair the puncture.
Clean the area (1–1.5 cm from the edges of the hole) using a sander. Processing is carried out on both sides.
Sanding and smoothing the edges to ensure better adhesion to the repair compound.
Apply a layer of glue, let it dry, sand again.
Attaching the patch to the inside of the tire, this ensures the release of air that collects in it. To do this, use a roller and movements from the center to the edges.
Measuring the depth of the cut.
Applying hot glue - it should dry in 15-20 minutes.
The grooves are filled with pieces of rubber, and the top is rolled out with a roller.
Fastening on a special device - a vulcanizer.
Curing. The duration of the stage depends on the thickness of the rubber layer. On average, you have to spend 4 minutes per 1 mm with a classic temperature regime (100-120 degrees).
Decorative polishing.

Tools for repairing tires with a side cut or puncture on a wheel: how to seal a tire

If you want to solve the problem yourself, and this can be done with a minor malfunction, you will need:

strips of raw material;
sanding machine or regular sandpaper;
source of high temperatures - for example, a hair dryer;
degreasing liquid;
purchased patch reinforced with cord threads.

We do the repairs ourselves

Sand the edges of the cut with sandpaper.
Degrease the work area.
We fill the holes with rubber and heat it with a hair dryer.
We clean it using a grinding machine.
Attaching the patch.
We balance the wheel.

Repairing a small wheel cut on the side of a tire at a service station

The same algorithm will be used here, but with the use of more complex techniques and equipment. For example, the edges are processed using side cutters, and the rubber is heated with a special vulcanizer, and not with a hairdryer. In addition, the materials themselves will be of higher quality. You won't have to worry about this kind of work.

Cold vulcanization

Nowadays, using this method is not difficult, since you can purchase a repair kit in every auto or bicycle parts store. The contents of this set may vary, but each one contains patches and special glue.

Cold vulcanization of rubber

The repair procedure in this case is similar to the hot method. You also need to treat the damaged surface with an abrasive, remove rubber dust and degrease. After drying, apply glue to the camera and glue the patch. In this case, it is not the duration of the pressure that plays a role, but its strength. Therefore, it will not be enough to simply press down with a stone; more force is required.

Making a vulcanization device

Each vulcanizer has two main elements - a heating part and a clamping device. The basis of such rubber processing equipment can be used:

iron;
“bazaar” electric stove;
piston from the engine.

In a device with an iron, the heating part is the surface that is used for ironing in everyday life. If we plan to use an electric stove, then the heating coil should be covered with a metal sheet, and when working, you need to place paper between the rubber and the metal. Such a device must be equipped with a thermostat to avoid overheating of the material.

The pressing part of the vulcanizer is easiest to make from a clamp. The simplest device to manufacture would be a device consisting of an iron and a clamp. Since they are both metal, joining them using arc welding is not difficult. The iron also has a thermostat.

A piston vulcanizer also uses a metal plate. A rubber bladder is placed on it. The piston, with its smooth part, which is in contact with the explosive mixture in the engine, presses down the patch using a homemade clamp. Paper is also placed between the piston and the patch. After that, gasoline is poured into the piston and ignited.

Such a device made from a piston is especially useful on the road, when there is no way to connect to the electrical network. However, such a device does not have a thermostat, and the temperature will have to be controlled manually.

Making a device from an iron

You can make a vulcanizer for repairing tires with your own hands from an iron.

You can do this as follows:

Take 2 steel plates with a thickness of 8 mm and dimensions of 40 × 60 mm. They will be used as a press.
All edges are chamfered so that the sharp edge does not cut the rubber.
In one plate, 4 holes are drilled in the corners and an M12 thread is cut. In the second - in the same 4 places, holes with a diameter of 13 mm.
Both halves are held together with bolts.

You can use the machine in this order:

The damaged area of the camera is being processed. A patch is cut out of raw rubber, soaked in gasoline and applied to the hole. The camera with the patch applied to it is inserted into the mold and clamped with bolts. The iron is located below, and a mold is installed on it

It is important that they touch at the bottom. The iron heats up for 10-15 minutes. When vulcanizing, you need to ensure that the rubber parts do not touch the heated iron

When vulcanizing, you need to ensure that the rubber parts do not touch the heated iron.

Pros and cons of vulcanization

The main advantage of the tire repair process is that it is cheaper to repair than to buy a new one. However, each situation is individual, so it is important to determine whether repairs will save the situation.

The cold method is quite easy to use, it will not take much time, and the costs will be minimal. The main disadvantage of this method is the unreliability of gluing. This procedure is temporary, and you should contact a service station as soon as possible.

Hot vulcanization reliably welds rubber, allows such work to be carried out at any temperature and has a low cost.

So, you can repair a tube or tire in different ways, but it is better to entrust this work to specialists, because it is for your own safety.

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There are several ways to repair a puncture or cut in a bicycle tube, one of which is hot or cold vulcanization of the tires. This method can be confidently called reliable and durable; a wheel secured with raw rubber will serve like new and will not go flat at the most unexpected moment. You can easily carry out such repairs yourself, both at home and outdoors on a hike, if you have some necessary parts. The hot vulcanization method differs from the cold method only in how the patch applied to the wheel is fixed - with or without heating.

What is vulcanization? This is a chemical process due to which, with the expenditure of heat, the strength properties of rubber improve, it becomes elastic and hard. You can apply a patch to a puncture using a piece of an old tube or a ready-made patch from a repair kit, and to secure them you need raw rubber with your own hands, which is sold in rolls with a protective film. This is a very plastic material, it sticks to any surface, easily sticks together into a lump, etc. raw rubber instructions for use are indicated on the packaging.

There are two types of vulcanization - cold and hot, let's look at both of them in more detail.

Tire side cut repair

A cut on the side of a tubeless tire is much more difficult to repair than a regular puncture. The reason lies in the fact that the side surface of the wheel is more subject to loads and deformations due to the smaller thickness of the material. This is most noticeable on low-quality road surfaces.

Tools and materials

To repair tire side cuts yourself, you will need:

raw rubber;
fine-grain sandpaper;
a hair dryer or an old iron with a metal sole;
alcohol or purified gasoline for degreasing;
a rubber patch with an adhesive layer, preferably reinforced (with cord threads).

We repair the side cut of the tire with our own hands.

Let's consider the most affordable recovery method. Procedure:

Sand the edges of the damaged area with sandpaper, giving it a cup shape.
Degrease the surface with an alcohol solution or purified gasoline.
Fill the cavity with raw rubber and vulcanize it using a hair dryer or iron. The surface should become matte.
Sand the patch area with sandpaper.
Glue the patch on.
Balance the wheel.

A tire restored in this way is not intended for use in difficult conditions. It is also not recommended to use it constantly. The best option is to use it as a spare tire.

If your tire has a side puncture, then after repair you can safely continue to use it.

Repair at a service station

The service station performs more complex and high-quality repairs. The sequence of work looks like this:

Dismantle the wheel and assess the extent of damage.
Level the edge of the damaged area using side cutters.
Clean the surface and apply a special cement mixture.
Raw rubber is cut into narrow strips, stretched and placed into the cut cavity.
Rubber is vulcanized using special equipment.
Clean the damaged area, degrease it and apply cement.
After the cement has dried, glue the patch and treat its edges with sealant.
Install the tire on the rim and balance the wheel using special equipment.

Do not subject the repaired tire to heavy loads - this can be dangerous. Use it in an emergency or as a spare tire to get you to the tire store or repair shop.

Application of cold vulcanization

The material for such repairs appeared back in 1939 in the USA, almost immediately began to be successfully used and is popular among cyclists and motorists around the world to this day. With its help, you can easily and hassle-free repair any camera; the cold method is very easy to use at home. For the convenience of consumers, some manufacturers offer ready-made repair kits (cold wet rubber, instructions for use are indicated on the packaging), which include several patches of various sizes in the form of a patch, sandpaper, which is used to clean a puncture site or scratch on the rubber. , as well as a special quick-drying adhesive for cold vulcanization. It is this that reacts with the layer of raw rubber on the patch - it is applied in bright color around black. This causes a vulcanization process, making the rubber of the chamber easily glued together without heat (i.e. cold process). This method is best suited for repairing wheels on the go, when there are no more tools at hand. You won't find a single cyclist who hasn't been helped out by a kit like this at least once in his life. It does not take up much space in a bag or backpack, and its importance is difficult to overestimate, especially if you are alone on a trip without friends far from the city. The entire process of repairing a tire using cold vulcanization using a patch for the inner tube will take the cyclist no more than ten minutes, and the wheel will be like new.

How to repair a cut tire

Repairing a side cut on a tubeless tire is not an easy task compared to repairing a puncture. The sides of the wheels are more vulnerable under high loads due to their small thickness. To reliably repair a cut, it is necessary to strictly follow the repair technique, using the provided materials and devices.

Curing

The most reliable repair method is to cook the side cuts of the tires using a heating element. If you have a hairdryer in your car, you can carry out vulcanization in road conditions by connecting it to the battery.

To repair cut tires on a passenger car yourself, you need to stock up on:

raw rubber;
fine-grained sandpaper;
construction hairdryer;
alcohol or gasoline (they are needed to degrease surfaces).

If you don’t have a hair dryer, you can replace it with an old heavy iron (this option is suitable for home repairs).

The procedure for cooking (vulcanizing) side cuts of tires:

Remove the wheel.
Give the damage a cup shape by grinding it down along the edge with a fine-grained abrasive. This operation will allow you to apply the patch as tightly and reliably as possible.
Wipe the surface to be treated with a rag soaked in gasoline or an alcohol-containing preparation.
Take the raw rubber and fill the cup-shaped recess with it. Try to ensure that the compound evenly fills the recess.
Now proceed to the process of vulcanizing the side cut of the tire. Heat the surface until the rubber acquires a matte texture.
Check the wheel for leaks, replace it and balance it.

To weld a tire using improvised means, you will have to spend 1-2 hours.

Patch

If the cut is minor, road patches are used. Repair kits are sold in all auto stores. The kit includes patches and special glue. When purchasing it, please indicate the wheel parameters in order to purchase patches made of suitable material.

The procedure for gluing the patch:

Take a patch whose dimensions will be 2-3 mm larger than the cut.
Sand the rubber near the damage with sandpaper and degrease it with an alcohol-containing compound or gasoline.
Apply glue to the cut and apply a patch to it. Press harder. If repairs are being done at home, use a vice. When traveling, press down the patch with heavy objects. Do not remove the weight for 1-2 hours.
After inflating the wheel, check it for leaks and put it in place.

It is recommended to apply double-sided patches. This method of repairing side cuts on rubber is not suitable in all cases. Sometimes it’s easier, and most importantly, safer, not to repair a tire, but to replace it with a new one.

On a note!

If you seal a large cut, the reinforcing patch may fall off while driving, especially when the car accelerates. The result will be a major accident.

Repair with harness

If your tubeless tire is cut, another method will do. To implement it, you will need to buy a set with a tourniquet, an awl and a wrench.

The procedure for repairing small cuts with a tourniquet:

Extend the damage a little with an awl.
Attach the funnel to the center of the bundle, and insert it into the wheel from the outside so that on the other side you get a loop that is larger in diameter than the damage.
Using a knife, cut the piece of harness that sticks out from the outside of the tire and screw the wheel on.

This repair option is suitable if the damage is minor, but there is no way to weld the tire.

Do-it-yourself hot vulcanization technology for tires

This technology is used a little longer than cold technology. At a time when there were not so many tire shops around, car and bicycle enthusiasts repaired their vehicles in the garage using exactly this method, which uses an electric or gasoline vulcanizer, which can be easily assembled with your own hands. The technology here is as follows: the master burns gasoline, which warms up the rubber using a piston. As soon as the temperature rises to 90 degrees, the raw rubber for vulcanization begins to strengthen; if you raise the temperature to 147 degrees, the process goes noticeably faster and with better quality. But it’s better not to raise it above 150, because... the material begins to deteriorate and loses its properties. After 160 degrees, raw rubber begins to char. The ideal warm-up time for hot vulcanization of raw rubber is about 8-10 minutes. A fragment of material is applied to the puncture site on the camera and compressed using a clamp so that during the chemical reaction bubbles do not form and air does not collect, forming dangerous voids.

In field conditions, it is much more difficult to carry out such an operation for cameras, but it is still possible: if there is a piece of raw rubber, you can heat it over a fire. You can determine the temperature of the flame by looking at a piece of sugar or a piece of paper: both begin to melt/char at a temperature of 145 degrees – exactly what is required for vulcanization. You can use a flat heavy stone, a wooden log or any other suitable object as a clamp.

The entire operation will take you about 20 minutes. Do not forget that the area where the inner tube patch is glued must be cleaned with sandpaper or at least wiped with gasoline to remove dirt from the tire.

Vulcanization - raw rubber - Great Encyclopedia of Oil and Gas, article, page 1

Vulcanization – raw rubber

Vulcanization of raw rubber is carried out at elevated temperatures in autoclaves, molds or other equipment.

During the vulcanization process of raw rubber, accelerators are added, which significantly reduce the time required for complete vulcanization and at the same time improve the quality of the rubber. The use of especially active accelerators reduces the duration of the vulcanization process by almost 20 times. The domestic industry produces two main types of accelerators - thiuram and diphenylguanidine. The first one is more active than the second one. Thiuram is available in the form of a yellowish powder, diphenylguanidine - in the form of a white or light yellow crystalline powder.

Reinforced and non-reinforced parts are produced by pressing and vulcanizing raw rubber directly on the press in open and heated injection molds. The technological pressing process consists of the following operations.

At 145 C, the vulcanization time for most types of raw rubber is 15 – 50 minutes.

O-shaped rubber rings are made by vulcanizing raw rubber in molds. As a result of a complex physicochemical process, rubber macromolecules form a spatial structure, and rubber turns from plastic into a durable elastic material.

The sealing washer can be made by vulcanizing raw rubber in the core socket, in a mold, thereby achieving good connection with the socket. Disadvantage: if the rubber becomes damaged during operation, the entire core has to be replaced.

Depending on the type of rubber and the design of the apparatus, vulcanization of raw rubber is carried out in one of the following ways: a) live steam in a vulcanization boiler; b) open method; c) superheated steam; d) live steam directly in the apparatus itself.

The last step in the production of relin is the duplication of two layers and vulcanization of the raw rubber.

In Fig. 48 shows typical products obtained by pressing and vulcanizing raw rubber.

Instead of sheet polyisobutylene, soft rubber linings (rubber grades 829, 2566, etc.) can be used as a sublayer under diabase tiles, but with this method of protection it will be necessary to vulcanize the raw rubber after gluing the device, which is not always easy to do. In the current production, the hydrator is protected by a coating consisting of three layers of rubber grade 2566, on top of which diabase tiles on diabase putty are laid in two layers. Nozzles made of X18N12M2T steel are inserted into narrow fittings using diabase putty; Apparently, diabase liners can also be used for this purpose. The specified coating is used for an average of 3 years; During this period, the damaged lining in the neck of the apparatus was corrected.

During vulcanization work, the following are possible: hand injuries when working on presses and cleaning machines; injury due to explosion of steam vulcanization apparatuses; burns when touching heated parts of vulcanization installations and when steam breaks through; electric shock when working on electric vulcanizers and using electrical installations; poisoning by solvent vapors and gas emissions during the vulcanization of raw rubber.

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Cement for vulcanization and its application

Another alternative option for repairing bicycle wheels while traveling is a can of cement vulcanizer. You can buy them, for example, at the car market - this material is very popular among car enthusiasts. The composition is sold in tin and aerosol cans under pressure from brands such as Abro, BL, Zefal, Top RAD and many others. In terms of their composition, they are not hazardous to health and are not toxic, because... they do not contain chloride and aromatic hydrocarbons, so they can be used freely both at home and outdoors without a protective mask. In order for tire cementation to occur, a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius is required. The composition is also used for hot vulcanization (150 degrees required). To repair, you need to remove the foreign object that caused the puncture from the rubber of the inner tube, fill the inner tube with a cement vulcanizer through the nipple, slightly inflate it with a pump and ride a bicycle for 2-3 kilometers to adjust the pressure in the wheels. This tire repair technology is simple and is also used everywhere. To consolidate the result, it is possible to use a patch of plaster followed by the hot vulcanization method - exactly the same as described in the instructions above. The technology is suitable for any tire cuts. In this case, the patch for repairing the tubes is applied before filling the tire with cement.