Flexible Coating Needed

[fine-tune]

I'm sure you have all sorts of adhesives and coatings. I'm afraid to think about
how much of this stuff I've junked over the years!

One of my fingers is injured. The only serious accident in a lifetime of working
with tools and doing all sorts of potentially dangerous activities. Ironically,
the injury occurred trying to pull a friend out from under a huge pile of building
materials. His house was being renovated.

In another lifetime, I was a scuba diving instructor. When this finger injury
happened about five years ago, I immediately purchased several pairs of
scuba gloves. I cutoff the finger on each glove as a protector for my injured
finger. It works fine, but I've always wanted to add a flexible coating to the
neoprene so it would be closer to the color of human skin.

A tough, synthetic fabric is bonded to most neoprene scuba products. Without
this fabric, the neoprene wouldn't last very long. I need a light tan or almond
colored flexible coating that will bond easily and stay flexible. Auto stores have
a spray-on product that's suppose to restore the color to vinyl seats, dashboards,
etc. The solvent in this stuff is very strong. I would never use it in the passenger
cabin. In any case, it doesn't stay flexible on a neoprene glove.

I could search the web for months, and not find the right product. Any help would
be appreciated.

[Lenp]

How about this? http://www.plastidip.com/industrial_sol ... _Color_Kit
Len

[fine-tune]

Thank you Lenp.

I didn't know that Plasti-Dip had created a custom color kit.

I remember using a lot of Plasti-Dip years ago. I coated the
handles of any tool that might be used around dangerous
voltages or currents. It also provides a better grip, so the tool
won't slip out of your hands.

When I used this product it was very messy and it had a short
shelf life. After a couple of months it turned into a gooey jello
that was useless. Adding solvent to the can didn't help.

As I said, that was many years ago. This custom color kit
might be the solution. Finding this kind of product locally is
ususally impossible. If I can order the kit online, I'll give it a
try. I'll post the results in this thread.

[frhrwa]

fingers aside, here's another great application for the plastic (rubber) dip.. i had a rattle that drove me nuts on my truck, got to the point I thought my entire truck bed was loose.. finally figured it out, the receiver hitch just rattles to beat heck in that square receiver hole, so... I painted a thin coat of plastic dip on each side, let it dry and slid it in... NO MORE rattles.. and your right, coating tool handles was great, 2 or 3 coats and it almost looked like they came from the factory that way.. plus better grip.. and I too didn't know they made custom colors.. I always just got black..

[Lenp]

Another Plasti-Dip Use.
Years ago we had a car with a water leak under the dash.
It was coming from around the fresh air intake vent under the windshield cowling on the passenger side.
Apparently it was a Monday morning sealing job. I poured Plasti-Dip into the area around the intake and it started to drip from under the dash. It was a brisk drip that slowed to a stop...No more leak, ever!

Way off subject...
Silicon is great but it takes a long time to cure. When car cell phones had through-the-glass antennas I used silicon to reattach the antenna plates. To hold them while the silicon cured just put a small square of double sided tape in the center and a bead of silicon all around the edges. The tape held while the silicon cured. Works for other stick-up's as well!

Len

[haklesup]

plain old Latex is approximately flesh colored already. Usually it has a catalyst you mix in to start it setting up sometimes its a 2 part mix like epoxy. In either case, until its cured, its very messy, sticky and usually iritating just like epoxy.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=62&
Also see the more info link on that page for mold making tips

Now neoprene breethes a bit. If you seal it tight with latex or another similar rubber, you might find it a bit sweatier than you are used to.

The nice thing about the latex is you could create an overmold to pattern the outside to look like a finger too complete with fake fingernail.

Haloween is coming up, pick up a few fake dead guy hands and use those fingers as an over cover for the neoprene, they tend to be pretty big. For that matter, a haloween store might have just the kind of latex makeup you need to cover up the neoprene.

Your experiments also may be a tax deduction as a medical expense (though maybe not since it was not directed by a doctor and is cosmetic in nature). Follow up by researching latex mask making methods and adapt them to making a finger mask.

[sofaspud]

That's the direction I was thinking... a costume&makeup or magician's supply company.