2022/01/23 Eyes and Mind Open

It feels like my ability to build stuff has exploded recently. Welding, metal folding, CAD, the lathe. That’s all from learning some basic skills. Some of it from watching makers on YouTube.

I ran across a few examples recently of people learning things “by mistake”. And since I’m pretty much avoiding FB, that post is here….

“Teflon” … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene

Polytetrafluoroethylene was accidentally discovered in 1938 by Roy J. Plunkett while he was working in New Jersey for DuPont. As Plunkett attempted to make a new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant…

Tires wouldn’t work without: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanization

One day in 1839, when trying to mix rubber with sulfur, Goodyear accidentally dropped the mixture in a hot frying pan. To his astonishment, instead of melting further or vaporizing, the rubber remained firm and, as he increased the heat, the rubber became harder …

I’ve learned this myself, omelettes are fluffier with a bit of water, and browner with a touch of milk: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/omelette_in_a_mug/

(I experimented with making a simple egg omelette in a small mug without adding liquid and it exploded egg guts all over the inside of my microwave, so use a large mug, and add liquid.)

Bracket for licence plate, tail light, and turn signals … plus the hack that came on the bike

This worked, It was a pleasure seeing my M12 x 1.5 pitch threads engaging correctly with Bob’s flywheel and successfully removing it. Of course, an ordinary bolt would have worked… if it hadn’t been the weekend and M12 being specialty bolts.

And this was a learning experience. You can’t put an M8 bolt inside an M12 bolt. You can drill all the holes, but you can not cut the inside threads, the tap just expands the M12 bolt instead of cutting threads. So I just used the threads in the bolt head, but it still didn’t grip the bushing well enough. Bushing (badly worn) finally came out when directly attacked with an M12 tap :) … which means the approach won’t let me move the good bushing.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit, that making stuff requires space, a little $$, time and focus. I’m thinking focus is the hardest part to find in today’s world.