wiper glove

This instructable is featured in The Best of Instructables - Ride
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A concecpt borrowed from a snowboard magazine ad I used a recycled wiper-blade from a car and motobike gloves to create wiper-gloves that allow me to 'wipe' my visor clean duringa motorbike ride without stopping. I live on the rainy west coast of Canada, which means even in the spring and summer I can expect to get rained on.

Enough talk, let's make something!

Step 1: Aquire 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.

Comments

[caarntedd]

I have a pair of gloves that has a rubber blade on the side of each index finger. Good for visors or goggles. They are RJays brand purchased in Australia.

[radiograf]

I have a piece of chamios leather sown onto the index finger of my left glove for the same purpose

[mikeasaurus]

Did you see my comment below about a nose wipe? A chamois would be a perfect application for both nose and visor. Though, a different finger for different wipes, otherwise you'll end up with a nasty surprise!

[scwirral]

You can buy something like this that slips over the first finger of your gloved hand which has two plus points. One that you can swap it if you have more than one pair of gloves, and that if the rubber needs replacing you can do this easily. I intend to have a go at a wiper blade visor cleaning solution along these lines, although I think mine will be bonded using epoxy resin.... my sowing sucks!

[harleyboybob]

please where can you buy or what is the name of the product

[radiograf]

Here in the UK they are made by a company called Bob Heath Visors, and are known as the Vee Wipe.

[I_am_Canadian]

*sewing. sowing is somthing very different.

[sideshow72]

hey man as far as attaching new blades or just removing them when they aren't necessary, get the velcro that has adhesive backing and then sew one piece to the glove and sticky the other piece to the blade portion. im not sure how well the velcro would stick the rubber, but its worth a shot.

[Rennis]

I have a pair of touring gloves for riding and they have a wipe blade built into the back of the thumb...
I think this give you much more conrtol when wiping your visor/goggles/etc...

[ishibashi_kid]

very nice, i actually used to have a pair of gloves that had this already and it works pretty good. cheap, simple and efficient!

[fade400]

nice .. that might be useful for paintball. It's a terrible thing trying to navigate to the dead zone when you cant see.

[ifli]

love this feature on my gloves but i was stupid and got the 60$ ones. when they get old im doing this to a cheaper pair!

[mikeasaurus]

You should give it a try, it's fairly easy (I'm not much of a sewer) and the results are amazing! Best of luck! why not post some pictures when you're finished? Maybe you'll even come up with some improvements on this design!

[TheShawMaestro]

So that's what they're for! I had one on my ski gloves; I alwas though it was some dort of thumb brace!

[Goodluck]

Garbage cans outside of an auto-parts store on a rainy day would be a treasure trove of old wiper blades. One might want to look carefully before plucking as they are probably a treasure trove of nasty stuff as well.

[mikeasaurus]

spoken like someone who has had experience with both! Really though it's astonishing what people throw away as garbage.

[baneat]

Seriously these wipers are rubbish. I have them on all my ski gloves but you should get a microfiber cloth for your arm pocket because the windscreen style wiper will scratch your goggles permanently and usually just end up blurring your vision.

[mikeasaurus]

The microfiber cloth is a good idea, though I'm not sure I completely agree with you about wipers scratching the visor, they are rubber after all and designed to withstand abrasion. However you bring up an interesting point, and one that was mentioned further down in the comments is incorporating a cloth for my runny nose. This could be easily modified to have a microfiber cloth for the times when the wiper isn't enough. When finished those gloves would be able to handle just about anything! Wiper for rain microfiber for smudges cloth for a runny nose Now all we need is a bottle opener on there and we're golden!

[impaladin]

Check out the "Steve" model of motorcycle gloves made by HELD. More pricey than average gloves, but worth it. Very comfortable gloves and yes, it has a built in wiper on the index finger that works well in the rain. Had mine now for 2 years and just love them :-)

[Grey_Wolfe]

Nylon thread is the way to go. Also convenient if you slice your self open and you're not close to a hospital. Much cleaner than cotton.

[grafix916]

(removed by author or community request)

[oncex]

I guess motorcycle gloves are made so your hands don't get burn if you fall, so the paintball gloves wouldn't help much.

[tiuk]

Yeah, JT made gloves a few years back with a small wiper built in. It was terrible though, didn't work at all.

[jackm7127]

haha now you need to put it on your car

[nedfunnell]

Innovative and excellent. More instructables should be like this one.

[duct tape apprentice]

While I won't be doing this instructable myself, I do finally know what that rubber thing on my snowboard glove is

[darkmuskrat]

Lol, i can make a fortune with a wiper/windex glove combination :D

[carpespasm]

don't forget to give nathan a little kick back for showing you the idea

[i make shooting things]

could be nice addition to paintball gloves (running off a scenario field half blind is not fun) even if you wipe with your arm nothing is clear. A couple of companies make gloves with soft fabric on back of hand to wipe your mask but they can cost $30-$60 or more. vary creative.

[i make shooting things]

also i bet you could add a row of 2-3 wipers and maybe even a little cloth pad for getting every last drop of paint off your mask in Diy style. cheep pair of gloves $5-20 (varies by brand if you get new or used) yet again i have been inspired by a great instructable

[mikeasaurus]

ok I was going to leave this idea out of this instructable, but your comment has pulled it out of me, here we go: The other problem I have when I ride is when I get a runny nose, I usually carry a pack of tissue with me just in case, but the drippies never come when I'm stuck at a long light, instead almost always they happen during a long ride due to allergies or bad weather! Give me a break! I thought about sewing some black terrycloth onto my wiper glove. I know, it's crazy but hear me out, I've done my homework: If you get your double sided velcro dots and sew one side to a strip of terrycloth (the hoop side), and the other side (the hook side) to the pinky, you'd have a perfect system to wipe your nose, and be able to remove it to wash when you get home! I figure a pretty ideal spot is in between your pinky and ring finger on your left hand, only on the pinky side though. It's easy to access your nose through your helmet and it's in a place that doesn't touch anything else! Do I smell another instructable coming? to be continued....

[darkmuskrat]

and yah, good idea too

[GorillazMiko]

Smart! Nice job, I bet my dad (and his friends or people like that) would like this. Nice job on finding that "treasure", they always throw such good things out...

[DJ Nathan V]

Olympia makes some good waterproof riding gloves with a wiper built into the thumb part of the glove. FYI. :)

[mikeasaurus]

Hey Nathan!
Good call on Olympia gloves, it's too god of an idea for just they snowboard companies to use. They have a wiper glove on their site (http://www.olympiagloves.com/glovedetails/1310.html) and their glove wiper will probably be more sturdy than this one. However you're stuck with whatever style they choose to put in on, and the colours they have available. Which is really too bad. Maybe they could have something like what Converse did and you'd be able to custom order your glove and they mail it to you.
Or maybe it's just me having to customize everything I touch.... hmmmm

[DJ Nathan V]

I think those are this year's version of the ones I ride with almost daily. Good gloves, especially for the money. Not knocking the instructable at all, though. I like how you did it. Might be handy for some of my other gloves that didn't come with that feature.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Sweet!

[benthekahn]

Sweet. I sometimes go biking in the rain so I might have to add this at the beginning of winter.

[trooperrick]

So you have a neighbor who mows early too?. Mine insists on mowing the one section next to my room at 8:00 then stop until later.

[fireandshadows]

love it