Repairing/Resoling climbing shoes

Projects
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Hi, I have a bad hole in the toe of my old climbing shoes and I was thinking about trying to repair them at the makerspace. They’re way too far gone for it to make sense to have them professionally resoled, but I think I might be able to get a little more use out of them by having a go at resoling myself.

I wondered if anyone has any experience with this?
I am also still unfamiliar with what is at the makerspace and what the different areas can be used for. Is there anywhere/anything I can use to melt a bit of rubber to apply to the sole?

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You gonna need a pair of shoe lasts fitting them(have to carve them I don’t think you can easily buy them ready made), and a new sole, you can get replacements from vibram, but tose are not cheap, (will cost more than a pair from decathlon)

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I ve been wondering how hard can it be to cnc a mould for making EVA foam sole and then get vibram soles from etsy (they go around £20 last time I checked). If anyone wanted to start ‘the makerspace’ sneaker, let me know.

Otherwise I attempted fixing my adidas original 5 years ago at slms and used some rubber to patch the old one with no avail, it I think needs the correct material which usually requires high temperature and some moulding machine… Resoling experience I have is re gluing an eva sole of slippers, it kind of worked with a silicone glue I bought in a french supermarket.

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Because climbing shoes are much more flexible than normal shoes, here’s what a friend uses to resole them without a full set of lasts

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I can ask what she’d charge if you’re interested. She’s definitely more economical than existing options.

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Wow, thanks for all of this knowledge! Some of these words are new.

So here is a picture of the hole:

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I’ve been told it’s really not worth getting them resoled because there are two layers of rubber on climbing shoes and I’ve gone badly through both. This is why I was considering trying something makeshift, like glueing the underlying fabric and to then almost dip them in molten rubber. But this is probably just giving away how little I know about the process and materials.

@Kyle I would be interested please if it’s not too much trouble. I would also be interested in hearing briefly how they think I could go about it if doing myself.

Also @petra the makerspace sneaker sounds like such a fun idea! I think I have so much to learn about different machines and materials, but maybe a project like that would be a great crash course?

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Omg yes, totally happy to compile YT vids and internet resources for machining an aluminium heatable mold and scanning shape of feet bridges.

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Hi @tobbh did you have any luck with your climbing shoes? I’m now in the same situation: hole on the toe passing through the two layers.