Technic question. UK

Jezzatheshed

I need to restring my Battledroid and Destroyer droid as the elastic bands are starting to break down. Any suggestions as to where to get a selection of replacement bands from. I don't want to use ordinary rubber bands as they break down to quickly.
I'm aslo looking for a source of material for restringing cranes and rigging.

ChanMcL

You can try the loom bands?

pricey73

Why not get a reel of cotton thread (various sizes) from John Lewis (habidashery section) or any sewing shop!
Only a couple of £.

Jezzatheshed

pricey73 said:

Why not get a reel of cotton thread (various sizes) from John Lewis (habidashery section) or any sewing shop!
Only a couple of £.

Its finding cotton that is as thick as the stuff lego provide thats the problem, standard cotton is too thin.

Jumpinbeans

Not sure whether these bands actually need to stretch or just link parts together...but you could have a look at these

http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/plumbing-central-heating/pipes-plumbing-fixings/washers___o_rings/-specificproducttype-ring_packs/PlumbSure-Popular-Plumbers-O-Rings-132Pk-11478027?skuId=11988734

or maybe

http://www.screwfix.com/p/rubber-o-rings-550-pieces/16982?_requestid=42615#

would these do?

CCC

ChanMcL said:

You can try the loom bands?

Judging by the number of broken loom bands I seem to have to pick up every day that my kids have dropped, I don't think loom bands are any stronger than regular elastic bands.

CCC

Jezzatheshed said:

pricey73 said:

Why not get a reel of cotton thread (various sizes) from John Lewis (habidashery section) or any sewing shop!
Only a couple of £.

Its finding cotton that is as thick as the stuff lego provide thats the problem, standard cotton is too thin.

Try searching for carpet thread (it's for sewing sections of carpet together). It's very strong, yet not too thick. I've used that for custom ship rigging before.

JamesJT

Use 0.75mm for big models like 8421
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?LH_BIN=1&_sop=10&_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=lego&LH_PrefLoc=1&_ipg=200&rt=nc

0.5mm for small models
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-METRES-OF-BLACK-NYLON-THREAD-CORD-0-5MM-STRINGING-NECKLACE-BRACELET-/321410430159?pt=UK_Crafts_JewelleryMaking_GL&var=510285864789&hash=item4ad58df4cf

Some bands are still available from lego CS. Try bricklink for the rest.

plasmodium

^Can you get 'official' rubber bands from Bricklink?

That said, I've never noticed a real difference in quality between Lego rubber bands and generic rubber bands (unless these are the smoother rubber bands with a circular cross section?).

Brew

The smooth bands with the circular cross section are actually silicone o-rings. Do a search for gasket/packing/seals to find an industrial place in your area and they should take care of you. Silicone holds up way better to uv and chemical degradation. They may even be able to get lots of different colors for you although they may need to special order those.

Jezzatheshed

I never thought of O rings and I remember seeing a pack in my local hardware shop which I will have to check out.
However I did get some black and white Loom bands (seems all the shops sell them!) and they do seem more like silicon rubber than elastic bands and have fixed my battledroid. However they are all the same size (about 15mm Dia) so do not suit all situations.
Second result of the day was a lovley lady in Hobbycraft who got me my "thick Cotton"- I got 8m of black thread from the embroidery section of the store -I think they refered to it as "backing thread". Its pure cotton and colourfast and looks exactly like the crane rope on on my dockyard crane.
Got to go now- I'm making a rather fetching bracelet!