Fork Tube Soft Jaws

[Hooligan]

I have been 3D printing stuff from a semi-flexible plastic when it occurred I could make custom soft jaws to fit fork tubes.

The jaws are custom fit to the vise for support. They are held to the vise via small magnets glued into pockets on the backside.

The jaws in these pics are for KYB 48mm forks on our dirty bikes. I just finished a similar set to fit my LC forks.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y6ox94rflzamb94/IMG_9616.JPG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tzk4dsc6hoznoib/IMG_9617.JPG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mlmrrerc5d0xzz1/IMG_9619.JPG

[kpke]

Very nice

[kobra]

Because the plastic is flexible (even the stiffer filaments are relatively flexible) you will end up putting force along 2 lines with these jaws.
I would recommend designing them like a V-block to reduce the odds of ovalizing and get more clamp force.

[kobra]

That said I also just got a 3D printer and this is such a cool use :) I think I am going to print up some soft jaws too!

[85RZwade]

And I thought I was pretty clever finding a 46mm hole saw and making a tube clamp out of a 2X4! You guys are killing it. You could probably sell those things; I do a fair number of fork seals of different diameters, and a set of those would sure cut down on the lumber pile next to my toolbox.