Home made bleed kit

[celticdog]

With me being tight, I want to make my own bleed kit, so what do I need?
Luckily I can get my hands on some tubing but what's the ideal internal diameter to fit snug over the nipples? 
Any tips from the foccer font of knowledge are greatly appreciated

[celticdog]

these would work

[Arfa]

Super cheap technique:
Tube, empty bottle/jar/jug, spanner, a cable tie and some Dot4.


Crack top off reservoir and remove rubber seal. Fill empty bottle with some Dot4 (new or waste), spanner on nipple, tube on nipple, other end of tube dunked in Dot4 in bottle. Then you get yourself in the rhythm: open nipple with spanner, squeeze brake lever, close nipple, release brake lever; open, squeeze, close, release; repeat until you see no more bubbles going into bottle. Then repeat for t'other caliper.


Throughout, watch your reservoir, never let fluid empty completely from it, keep topping it up. Secondly, ensure the tube end is always submerged below some fluid to prevent air flowing backwards into caliper.


Then just persist, last time I did this, I ran through about half litre of Dot4 until I got no more bubbles from either caliper. Finally, once both calipers are done and cleaned up, stick the cable tie on brake lever pulling it in. Leave it on overnight, can sometimes help the last stubborn tiny bubbles to slowly rise up to reservoir.

[celticdog]

Super cheap technique:
Tube, empty bottle/jar/jug, spanner, a cable tie and some Dot4.


Crack top off reservoir and remove rubber seal. Fill empty bottle with some Dot4 (new or waste), spanner on nipple, tube on nipple, other end of tube dunked in Dot4 in bottle. Then you get yourself in the rhythm: open nipple with spanner, squeeze brake lever, close nipple, release brake lever; open, squeeze, close, release; repeat until you see no more bubbles going into bottle. Then repeat for t'other caliper.


Throughout, watch your reservoir, never let fluid empty completely from it, keep topping it up. Secondly, ensure the tube end is always submerged below some fluid to prevent air flowing backwards into caliper.


Then just persist, last time I did this, I ran through about half litre of Dot4 until I got no more bubbles from either caliper. Finally, once both calipers are done and cleaned up, stick the cable tie on brake lever pulling it in. Leave it on overnight, can sometimes help the last stubborn tiny bubbles to slowly rise up to reservoir.

Cheers Arfa, I reckon the nipple diameter's about 6mm, I'll measure it it daylight with a micrometer before I buy the wrong size of clear vinyl tubing!

[fazersharp]

Cheers Arfa, I reckon the nipple diameter's about 6mm, I'll measure it it daylight with a micrometer before I buy the wrong size of clear vinyl tubing!

You can get anything smaller to fit by sticking it in your other halves hot tea for 1 min and with a little shoving and twisting it will go on 
Don't forget that you don't want it the same size - you want it smaller to fit tight
 

[Bretty]

I thought, "a couple of quid for some tubing, a couple of quid for a syringe, then a couple of quid for some tape and tools, plus the value I place on my time...."

Or just buy this. It worked a treat for me:
http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/tools/hand-tools/europat-vizibleed-brake-and-clutch-bleeding-kit

(note: When bleeding brakes always make sure the reservoir caps and seals are removed, else the fluid doesn't flow. ;-)

[red98]

Bought the "viizibleed" years ago......still use it, a simple bit of kit that works.       

[celticdog]

Looks ok, and I suppose it's not too bad at £6 a pop,  does it come with enough tubing? The pic in the links not that clear.

[Bretty]

The tube is all in the bottle it's about 12-18inches with one way valve on the end.
It works well! :-)

[Deefer666]

Piece of clear tube, 8mm spanner, & an old coffee jar... does the job every time

[Arfa]

Just avoid this shit:  http://www.halfords.com/motoring/motorcycling/motorcycle-accessories/gtmoto-brake-bleeder

Picked one up, after the near identical old one I had was no longer working and not preventing flow backwards. Like a fool I handed over ten quids for this and it didn't work either. Fluid/air just flowed back everytime I let out the brake lever. Rubbish. Ended up just throwing the shitty valve, using the pipe off it into a bottle of fluid and going old school as mentioned above. So, it was effectively a very expensive bit of plastic tubing...

[midden]

Piece of clear tube, 8mm spanner, & an old coffee jar... does the job every time

unless you're a midget and can't reach brake lever and bleed nipple  at same time  ............
 

[Deefer666]

Piece of clear tube, 8mm spanner, & an old coffee jar... does the job every time

unless you're a midget and can't reach brake lever and bleed nipple  at same time  ............
 

With the bike in the air on the bench , I can reach both lever and bleed nipple at the same time. Piece of piss

[BBROWN1664]

The best home made bleed kit I have seen is a bottle to catch the excess fluid and a clear rubber pipe with a bolt screwed into the end and a small slit cut in the side to act as a non-return valve.

Drop the end with the bolt into the bottle, put the other end on the bleed nipple, open the nipple and pump away on the lever till you get clean fluid coming down the pipe. Tighten up the nipple and confirm you have pressure at the lever. job done

[celticdog]

The best home made bleed kit I have seen is a bottle to catch the excess fluid and a clear rubber pipe with a bolt screwed into the end and a small slit cut in the side to act as a non-return valve.

Drop the end with the bolt into the bottle, put the other end on the bleed nipple, open the nipple and pump away on the lever till you get clean fluid coming down the pipe. Tighten up the nipple and confirm you have pressure at the lever. job done

What a foccin' brilliant idea! Check this out- you can't go wrong for £2


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOLO-BRAKE-CLUTCH-BLEEDER-AUTOMATIC-BLEED-PIPE-TUBE-/200345014236