Rubber Cloth

Rubber Cloth Basics

THE MAIN SUPPLY ITEM FOR REBUILDING MUST BE DEPENDABLE

I have had cat fits trying to find good rubberized cloth that lasts for 30 years which is the desired time I shoot for to have my restorations last.

I found that going back to natural gum rubber lasts longer and not synthetic coatings. Synthetic rubber cloth gets hard and crispy after about 10 years.

When you recover any pneumatic, do not trust anything. Blow into it and make sure it is totally airtight, everytime. The key to good restoration is test, test, test constantly.

I suggest you purchase cloth mostly from Felix Trading/Orchestrelle in Australia. In this country Organ Supply Industries (OSI) sells the largest selection of their cloths and leathers. Schaff also sells some of it. Always specify Australian cloth or you might get something else. Orchestrelle will not sell to you directly because of contractual arrangements with Schaff and OSI. Also Leather Supply House has a great motor cloth I like called brick red. It matches the color of their red pouch leather mentioned elsewhere on this site. However it may be too stiff for some smaller air motors.

Write to Organ Supply Industries on your company letterhead and ask for their rubber cloth and leather sample card. They have a large catalog in ring binder form. They may charge for it without an order. Specify that you are interested in the cloth products from Australia that they sell. They also have twill hose, or they did the last time I ordered.

Organ Supply Industries
2320 W. 50th St.
P.O. Box 8325
Erie PA 16505-0325

I have one cloth that I do not trust and I will not use under any circumstances. That is the fuzzy backed heavy bellows cloth. This one cloth available from nearly all suppliers cost me tens of thousands in re-restorations under warranty. I don't know how many suppliers sold it or which batch or batches were bad. But I had more than a dozen players that had to be re-redone once I discovered that the fuzzy backed cloth was delaminating the flannel from the rubber. I did my research and purchased rolls of a high quality heavy cloth from the manufacturer that made this same cloth for Ampico. In fact the cloth I use and also now sell is even the same khaki color that Ampico used on their pumps and reservoir. It is very good and very airtight. It is available on this site under supplies (coming soon)

Doug L. Bullock, 06-22-09 Copyright D.L. Bullock 1998-2009