Papa Tom

OK, I need a break from all the drama of patching tubes and looking for damage to my headset, so I thought I'd put something out there that some of us can have some fun with.

While watching a YouTube video demonstrating the proper way to apply a Rema tube patch, I came across a gadget that looks like this:


It's called a Lekzoeker, which translates from Dutch to English as "Leak Finder." This has to be the most frivolous little bike tool that I have ever seen or imagined, but I've GOT to have one! Basically, it's just a small canister filled with very light styrofoam balls. You run it along a filled, punctured tube and, when it passes over the puncture, the balls start to dance around like crazy from the escaping air pressure. Its purpose is to help find a very small, elusive puncture, and I can see its usefulness when you're on the road and don't have access to soapy water and can't afford to give up any of your spit.

This item is difficult or impossible to get in the USA, unless you want to pay a good chunk of change for shipping (and hope that your credit card number doesn't end up a bathroom wall in the Netherlands), so I thought it would be fun to challenge people here to make one and share their plans. It doesn't have to look like the one above (sold by a Dutch company called Simson), and, in fact, a smaller, more compact one would be preferable. Maybe even something that could be incorporated into another bike tool.

I had a small metal container that looked just like the one in the picture. I drilled some small holes in it and filled it with small flecks of styrofoam. Blew into it and stuck it right over my pump while forcing air through it and it didn't work at all!

So I bombed, but is anybody else up for this challenge?

noglider 

Great idea for a thread. I have ideas cooking in my head, thanks to you.

(They speak Dutch in the Netherlands. Deutschland is the German word for Germany.)

dh024

Not a frivolous tool at all! A friend has one of these, and I have always been envious. Try finding a small puncture on a windy day on the shoulder of a highway with lots of motor vehicle noise - you can't hear the leak, you can't feel it, and of course you can't see it. These contraptions are the real deal. And I share your frustration that you can't get them easily in North America!

Hoping this thread turns up some good DIY ideas!......

Papa Tom

You'll never believe me, but I actually know (or KNEW) that. This was a brain fart that i will fix later on today!

gearbasher

All you need are Styrofoam balls and one of these: https://www.esslinger.com/brass-ultr...sh-1-diameter/

Papa Tom

Ooooh, looks good! Can that basket be purchased in any type of store? And how heavy is it? It's got to be light enough to be worth using space in the saddle bag for it.

Meanwhile, I just improved my own version by adding a few holes to the top surface. It's working better now, but I am at work and I don't have a punctured tube to fully test it on.

HillRider

Maybe that leak detector will help you find it.

Gresp15C

Don't know if it helps, but for a source of those styrofoam balls, beanbag chairs used to be filled with them.

Papa Tom

I knew I remembered seeing those balls somewhere. I wonder if a craft store like Michael's might have them.

Stadjer

Yes, in Deutsch it's called a Fahrradreifenundichtstellenfahnderhilfegerät.

I don't want to spoil the fun, I have an idea mysef, but I doubt if the lekzoeker is any more sensitive than using your lips. I hardly ever fill a bucket with water, if you run your lips close along the tyre it's easy to detect a tiny flow of air. Maybte the lekzoeker works much better in windy conditions outside, but I've never bothered to buy one.



*

Papa Tom

My eyeball has always been my go-to for finding a small leak, but I suppose the lips are just as sensitive. As others have said, though, it's kind of rough to depend on the old standbys when you're on a busy, windy highway.

So, c'mon...give it up. What's your idea?

noglider 

LINK

[MENTION=137127]Papa Tom[/MENTION], don't sweat it. I figured you knew.

FBOATSB

Styrofoam beads

Stadjer

Cut the thinnest cigarettepaper in ribbons and attach that inside a transparant container.

dsbrantjr

Breaking up a chunk of Styrofoam yields thousands of those little balls, all static-charged-up, repelling each other and sticking to everything else.

FBOATSB

Here you go. Stainless tea balls,
Tea balls
Flatten one side to go against tube. You can experiment with the quantity of the above linked beads to get the best action against a known leak, then a small dab of silicone/superglue on the clasp to prevent the thing from opening while in your patchkit.
Assemble dozens, or perhaps hundreds for the CONUS. I'm good for three

Papa Tom

I like what I'm seeing so far.

I had the same static problem with breaking up a chunk of styrofoam, but now they seem to have lost their charge. Broken styrofoam will probably work fine, but it doesn't look as cool as those little balls. The problem is, I can't find them anywhere cheap enough. No sense spending 12 bucks on balls and another 5 or 6 for a container just to avoid spending $10 for the real thing.

Hmm, those tea infusion baskets look like they might be a good, cheap and light alternative to the brass jewelry-cleaning assembly above...

I'm having trouble visualizing the cigarette paper design, but I like that it gets away from the bulkiness of the capsule and the balls.

noglider 

Yeah I thought of that exact teaball, too.

Papa Tom

Sorry, NoGlider. Yoo snooz, yoo looz. FBoatsB gets all the glory for the teaballs.

Somehow, I think the container needs to be flat and make full contact with the tube, though.

FBOATSB

I did mention flattening the business end of the tea ball, but I think you could even give it a concave shape to pass over a semi inflated tube. I would experiment with one of my wife's tea balls and report back, but I might not survive the discovery.

noglider 

I found wire mesh screen sheets on Amazon. I think glue or staple it onto a tuna can on both sides with the foam balls inside.

Stadjer

You think it works with both ends open? Also in the wind outside? I'd get some see through plastic container for the top, or a petri dish might work too.

noglider 

Aha, good point. We want it open on one side and closed on the other. We could use plastic food wrap on the top and hold it on with a rubber band.

tyrion

The Rivendell version is made of machined brass with woven hemp screens. The balls are balsa wood spheres.

Papa Tom

I found that mine, which didn't work at all the first time out, worked better after I added a few holes to the opposite side, which is a clear plastic. It's still not right, but this kind of supports the theory that having holes on both sides might be more effective.

What's this about a Rivendale model? I don't see one on their website.