Increase the life of your bands

[Jon Kuniholm]

A tip from Brad Veatch of ADA, the developer of the LESA prehensor (not yet available).

A little teflon pipe thread tape underneath the rubber bands on the hook when you replace them will reportedly increase the life by eight times. Brad apparently has data to support this with cycle testing, and I hope we see that in print soon. My experience has been that silicone already lasts about three times as long as latex, so I have high hopes for improvements with teflon.

Brad pointed out that bands seem to fail from the inside out. You may have noticed that the inner bands seem to rip, and if you're lazy like I am you end up pulling them out one at a time until you're frustrated with the closing force, or continue to add them one at a time as they fail. In any case, it makes sense that the teflon would reduce the friction against the hook that would cause this.

[joanne tilley]

Another option to the traditional rubber bands, are small green castration bands (I think they are used for castrating lambs) available at most livestock supply stores and online. They are inexpensive (a bag of 100 lasts forever) and they wear for a long, long time. I stretch them on with a screw driver in seconds. I've had great luck with them and carry spares in my bag, tool box and glove box.