Framebuilders - Bushing fabrication?

My Giant ATX 1200 badly needs new bushings for the pivots on the frame, and due to the fact that Giant has no pride in their past or the satisfaction of customers they don't have bushings or any other odd ball parts for bikes that are this old. (Yes, I am a one time giant buyer.) I really like the bike a lot, but every Giant dealer I go to seems to think its a lost cause. Yesterday I got to thinking, I could coat the outside of bushings with exoxy or shellac or something to make them thicker, then hand fit them to the frame with a fine grit file, mold them, and pour plastic into the molds to make new bushings. I figure home made bushings might not work as well or last as long, but who cares if you can make 40 sets?

It should be mentioned that I am not trying to save money, rather I am trying to spite Giant and keep my very well loved bike going. Does anybody know anything about pouring plastic like this? I am good with tools, but I lack any experience in this area, so any and all information you guys can give me about what I would need to do it myself, or who to have do the molding and pouring for me would be appreciated.

You can make really good bushings out of epoxy cast with fiberglass and sometimes some graphite powder.

Another option is to make bushings out of delrin.

The first step would be to get a good set of dimensions. It's possible there are already some off the shelf bushings available. Maybe MSC.

If I was going to make them the first way you mentioned, what would I use for a molding material? Also, when you say fiberglass, do you mean stir some pink panther insulation into some exoxy or what?

Have you thought of getting some new ones machined? Can be done out of aluminum, hmmw (sp) plastic or even get a mould made for forming them out of the other materials suggested! Should be a simple thing for a hobby or professional machinist.

Yeah machining is the obvious way, but if you knew someone to do that you probably wouldn't be here. You could possibly buy a new old frame for what getting them machined commercially would cost

If you want to use glass and epoxy, the way I do it is get some boat building epoxy like west system or System 3 some of these supply fairly cheap test kits or single use serving, but you need a good grade of epoxy 5 minute type stuff from the hardware may not cut it. I hear good things about JB weld but haven't tried it. You get a bolt the right size for the inside bushing and put a turn of wax paper on it or wax it withing an inch of it's life or both. Then you use some washers or whatever to define the sides of the bushing. You mix up some epoxy, and you get some fiberglass tow, either by finding a supplier (could maybe be chopper gun stand), or by simply pulling threads from something like 10 oz glass fabric or roving (autobody, boat, or glass suppliers). You take a nice long thread, and wearing gloves or barrier cream you pull it through the epoxy and then just wrap it tightly around your form until it builds up enough or you need more strands. keep it neat and tight, and you will have a very strong bushing.

Yeah machining is the obvious way, but if you knew someone to do that you probably wouldn't be here. You could possibly buy a new old frame for what getting them machined commercially would cost

If you want to use glass and epoxy, the way I do it is get some boat building epoxy like west system or System 3 some of these supply fairly cheap test kits or single use serving, but you need a good grade of epoxy 5 minute type stuff from the hardware may not cut it. I hear good things about JB weld but haven't tried it. You get a bolt the right size for the inside bushing and put a turn of wax paper on it or wax it withing an inch of it's life or both. Then you use some washers or whatever to define the sides of the bushing. You mix up some epoxy, and you get some fiberglass tow, either by finding a supplier (could maybe be chopper gun stand), or by simply pulling threads from something like 10 oz glass fabric or roving (autobody, boat, or glass suppliers). You take a nice long thread, and wearing gloves or barrier cream you pull it through the epoxy and then just wrap it tightly around your form until it builds up enough or you need more strands. keep it neat and tight, and you will have a very strong bushing.

Thanks for the advice guys. I already have a huge supply of 24 hour boat bottom epoxy which I used to use frequently when I made canes and walking sticks as a hobby. This definitely sounds like a more time consuming activity than my current one day per week off permits, so I'll be attempting to do the proccess you described when I get back to school and only 3 days of work per week.