Mist Buster

I generally go into work between 5am and 6.30 am. I live in a hilly region that is often enveloped in fog.

Dense peanut butter fog. Wiping my visor with the back of my glove works, to a point.

So, last night, on the kitchen table, I went to cutting a $1 cutting board. I picked up this cutting board in the bargain bin at Target (complete with throw away knife) for a family camping trip.

It's about 1/8" thick, harder plastic than your conventional cutting board material (the stuff you mod your harbor freight tire changer with).

So, the premise is this: I need a way to wipe away the mist. Not quite enough to just turn my head and let the wind blow the beads off, but misted enough to obscure vision.

I used industrial strength Velcro (yes, real Velcro, not just ordinary hook & loop fastener). I cut a length long enough to fit around the palm of my hand (turns out, not long enough to fit around said hand with glove on it).

In the hook portion I cut a slit to accept a 3" length of windshield wiper insert. I cut the top of the T of the wiper so there is only one cross piece left. The wiper insert normally looks like this:

H->

Now: |->

This industrial sticky back stuff is strong!

I slipped the wiper into the slit, and attached it to the cutting board cut off. On the flipped side I put the loop side of the velcro. This essentially makes a Velcro cable tie (the cable being my hand).

I'm expecting torrential downpours on the way home tonight from work and will post up my results to version 0.1 of the mist buster.

[image: gallery_1632_2886_59976.jpg]

Wiper blade I fabbed up a wiper blade to strap to my left hand.

My wife will probably have me committed soon. :unsure:

She suggested I _*BUY*_ a small squeegee. I guess after 15 years of being together she still doesn't realize I'm a cheap bastage.

Very creative reapplication of products manufactured for other purposes! smile.gif I too believe myself to be a cheep bastage (as evidenced by the build yer own exhaust), but you do know that most wet weather gloves have a squeegee built into the back of the thumbs? Kills two birds with one stone dry hands AND a clear visor.

DaveMVery creative reapplication of products manufactured for other purposes! smile.gif I too believe myself to be a cheep bastage (as evidenced by the build yer own exhaust), but you do know that most wet weather gloves have a squeegee built into the back of the thumbs? Kills two birds with one stone dry hands AND a clear visor.

Dave:

I'm just that cheap. I don't have wet weather gloves. I don't have cold weather gloves either (but heated grips help).

There is a Green Light product that wraps around your thumb, and only $8, but again, the frugality comes in.

smile.gif

Great idea. Very creative, let us know how it works out :unsure:

I did pretty much the same thing a few years ago, only a bit easier(and cheaper)!

I bought a $3 windshield wiper, removed the rubber part, and cut the rubber into different length pieces for experimentation. Cut a slit in the rubber (holding the wiper vertically, the slit goes horizontally through it), I think I used my Dremel and a cutoff wheel for the slit... then pulled a piece of velcro through it(aerospace grade baby!). Glued a small piece of hook velcro to the back of the strip, and I strap it around my left thumb. Works good, as long as I bend my thumb before wiping.

My $60 Alpinestars wet/cold weather gloves did not come with a wiper...

i went with this pair:

http://www.getgeared.co.uk/acatalog/HELD_2...ycle_Glove.html

waterproof and with a buit-in (on?) wiper.

for the amount you use the rain gloves (i ride every day and they really only come out a few times a month), they'll last forever.

Nice. I'm curious to how it will come together, also,......

Here's a clip of my non functional junk.

http://media.putfile.com/wiper

I had a commercially made one called a See-blade. It worked well. Too bad I lost it the other day. I think it's in the Husky parking lot in Chilliwack, BC. sad.gif

RivcykoNice. I'm curious to how it will come together, also,......

Here's a clip of my non functional junk.

http://media.putfile.com/wiper

I watched that with my two boys. That's some funny stuff!

It worked!!!!

Not in the torrential downpour stuff, but once I broke free, the light rain and mist (kicked up by cages) were wiped away gloriously.

Now I have to work on version 0.2: make it so a monkey can reproduce it, and use more common materials.

Seb: I like your idea. However, I question the 'stiffness' of the wiper without a backing material.

So, here are my thoughts for v0.2:

Strap the wiper blade by cutting slits in the H of the wiper (ala Seb). Strap to a backing material (# of straps depends on length of wiper).

Epoxy/glue the palm strap to the underside of the backing material.

Now, the backing material: I'd prefer something thinner than the 1/8" plastic I used. I may hit the hobby shop. I had previously purchased some really thin plastic to build a model of my house (the model was 1.5" x 1.5" to fit in a snow globe). It would be too thin for this application as it would deform. I need something thin, but thick enough not to deform, and deflect the blade.

Ideas?

So here's the stuff I use:

RainX

I've used it for cars like the MG with notoriously poor wipers and had great success. It simply causes the rain to bead much like it does on a waxed surface, and the combination of the dispersed water droplets and increased run off improves visibility dramatically.

Perhaps the best solution would be a combination of RainX and a simple improvised backhand wiper.

y2kvfrSeb: I like your idea. However, I question the 'stiffness' of the wiper without a backing material.

The wiper I bought had a plastic base. wink.gif Stiffness was built in from the factory! :fing02:

My idea is for you to buy another wiper... but, then you're in over the cost of the commercial squeegee, and you will have to sell some of them off to recoup your investment... or give them to friends. :biggrin:

snoman181So here's the stuff I use:

RainX

I've used it for cars like the MG with notoriously poor wipers and had great success. It simply causes the rain to bead much like it does on a waxed surface, and the combination of the dispersed water droplets and increased run off improves visibility dramatically.

Perhaps the best solution would be a combination of RainX and a simple improvised backhand wiper.

I've used RainX before. In the mist the beading compounds the issue, in the rain it works excellently.

Hmmm...

SEBSPEEDThe wiper I bought had a plastic base. wink.gif Stiffness was built in from the factory! :fing02:

My idea is for you to buy another wiper... but, then you're in over the cost of the commercial squeegee, and you will have to sell some of them off to recoup your investment... or give them to friends. :biggrin:

Yes, the insert I used was a toyota factory (Anco), with the metal stiffeners. I get the heeby-jeebies with any metal near my face shield (at $40 a pop, I allow myself 1 per season max).

I have to run to home desperate today to get some gutter extensions (see aforementioned torrential rains), so I'll swing by wally world and see what they have.

As for give aways... you'll have to swing by my house sometime Seb, heck we're 'only' about 1.5 hours away from each other... wink.gif

You could always just clip one end of a wiper, as I did, And wire, then epoxy to your elastic band. (Keeps a curved form, which is a + also).

snoman181So here's the stuff I use:

RainX

I'd heard that RainX wasn't recommended for use on plastics, especially not visors.

There's some other product that's similar to RainX and is OK for visors, but I can't remember what it's called.

Lemon Pledge works OK though. I've recently started using it instead of Plexus.

Years ago (about 1999), I made a wiper that attached via an elastic strap to my left glove, using a cutoff piece of wiper blade. It was terrible, partly because it wasn't very intuitive trying to get the wiper blad seated properly on the visor - took too much attention. My next one will just use foam or microfibre, I think...