diffuser911

Source: wiper glove

introwiper glove

Last year I was hanging out with a friend while he was checking out snowboards and I saw a glove that had a tiny wiper blade attached to it for cleaning your visor when it gets wet. While I don't snowboard I do ride a motorbike, I also live on the rainy west coast of Canada, which means even in the spring and summer I can expect to get rained on.

I had just bought new gloves for this season a few months back and decided that this would be a neat project to try out.

Enough talk, let's make something!



step 1aquire materials

I'd say go out and buy a wiper blade, but that’s just crazy talk.
Wipers are expensive if bought new and we only need about 1/10 of just one of the blades, so instead of buying one just to throw away why not just walk down the street and take one off that pesky neighbour who decides that mowing the lawn first thing on a Saturday morning after a heavy night out is a good idea, or you can just happen upon one in the recycling bin outside your apartment. Either way works.
step 2break apart

Yup, it's my favourite part. Time to break stuff!

Wipers come in a variety of types and makes, but they are all going to follow the basic structure of assembly, so taking them apart may be different than what I’ve shown but don't worry, we need just the rubberized part, so destroying the outer housing isn't an issue.

I accomplished this by taking a sharp knife and carefully cutting into the rubber until you hit the silver metal shanks that hold the rubber blade in place, cut off more than you think you need just in case. I cut about 13cm (5").
The rubber part extends beyond the shanks however your knife will not fit, instead just grab the rubber and pull out sideways along the length of the shank, the small section of rubber still attached will easily break.

In this picture I have also removed the metal shanks, this stage is not necessary as we don’t need them. I thought about having a system which would make the blades removable but it was too much effort and not worth the trouble considering mechanically fastening them to the glove is far easier.



step 3rubber surgury

From my rough cut piece of the blade we're going to need to trim that profile down a bit. Grab a sharp knife and start at one end and simply slice down the length of the blade to trim off the smaller underside portion of the blade. We're doing this so it sits flatly on the glove and won't wobble around so much.

Again every wiper will be a little different, but should all be roughly the same, so if yours doesn't look just like this don't worry, just trim down what you can so you have a nice solid base for your wiper to sit flat on your glove.







step 4needle and thread

Now I’m not sure if there’s an instructable about how to thread a needle and simple sewing stitches, but there should be. I’ll leave that in the realm of Smexy Dead and threadbanger.

The type of needle you use should be a fairly thick gauge so it doesn't snap and poke out your eyeball, and the tread we're using here is a heavy nylon with a gloss coat. Really anything will work, just make sure you're using some heavy thread as you really don't want this to come off.



step 5putting it all together

The original I saw had the wiper on the thumb, however for this application it wasn't the ideal location for my wiper as has the possibility to rub up against the part where my bike grips meet the clutch reservoir, so I elected to place the wiper from where the thumb joins with the hand as shown in the picture.

Using the thick thread I positioned the blade and attached the ends first, then made a few more simple stitches in the middle. It's that easy!





step 6done!

If all goes according to plan then you should be done! It's a fairly simple project and it works great, especially since the alternative is a smeared visor which isn't very much fun.



step 7Final thoughts

I had originally designed this to be a slide using the metal shanks from the blade body, that way the blades could be interchangeable. However it was too difficult to implement for such an easy project and sewing it directly on the glove is idiot-proof.

Also after a few days riding I thought of an alternate position for the blade might be under the meaty part of the thumb. Which would still allow you to wipe your visor and keep it out of the way of any bike controls.

I'd be interested to see any modifications of this cheap and easy build, such as if anyone finds a way to make the blades replaceable and fix it to the glove without scratching the visor. Good luck, and please post your results, it’s a fun build!

__________________
My '08 Suzuki GSX650F
Escapade to the Eastern Ghats
Orissa 1302
My BlackBull - Bullet Electra 5S

Aryan

Topic Approved.

__________________
...in search of that perfect world - My Travel Blog :)

Akshay Jain

WOw ....what a thought ....

simply outstanding job done by you !!

MaSh

Brilliant idea. Let me go hunt my old Gloves and wiper off the Junk standing on the road side.

One question: Did you stitch right through the Glove material, or just the top layer?

__________________
**MaSh**

**Work to Ride and Ride to Work**

diffuser911

^^ Thanks bhailog, but I don't want to steal credit here. The original kid who placed this idea can be found on the link mentioned. Great site for major DIY stuff, including many things related to motorcycles.

I think the top later is covered here...alternative: get a elastic band (like the ones in our chaddis, only wider), cut a piece out that you can wrap around your wrist/little finger and sew the wiper to it. No harm done to gloves, but might change blood circulation.

__________________
My '08 Suzuki GSX650F
Escapade to the Eastern Ghats
Orissa 1302
My BlackBull - Bullet Electra 5S

JOSH5898

wow... great idea dude... sure can be a lot helpful for riders here.. am going out to try this for sure.

__________________
www.ultimatebikes.in

diffuser911

Also, to prevent fogging of visor, spray inside of it with Colin. Read it somewhere on this forum itself.

__________________
My '08 Suzuki GSX650F
Escapade to the Eastern Ghats
Orissa 1302
My BlackBull - Bullet Electra 5S

DevilisH

good find buddy !!! BTW, did you try it out ?

ravi@17bhp

Diffuser, I almost fell to the floor when I read it. I must say, it is a superb innovation. Getting the idea is different and showing it in practice is great. My high appreciations for you.

The other day, I was riding in rains and constantly wiping the visor with my hands with little effect and I was thinking wish we had wipers for visors.

Now, it is time for me to put it in practice. I have a spare wiper at home.

Extreem_Rider

great innovative idea dude...

good going