Glob of Goop Success!
May. 9th, 2026 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peristaltorHey, all. Yeah, you don't see me around here much. Sorry about that.
It's just that I don't think I have anything much to contribute, not much. Until now, that is!
Last year, my shredder broke. Well, it finished breaking. I had been keeping it alive for years. It's something I've covered elsewhere, if you're interested in details.
That project is making slow progress. Essentially, there are three plastic components that need to be installed/replaced. I've had a friend (who recently retired and got completely hooked on making shit with his 3D printer) print up the spacer rings. I'm making some progress making the feed guides.
How am I making feed guides without using a 3D printer? Well! I'm glad you asked.
Some time ago, I stumbled across a couple of English brothers who spend their time recycling plastics (here's their latest video). That got me to thinking that some of the shredder components that need creation could be fabricated out of, well, junk.
So I got myself a pair of insulated rubbery oven gloves and a small covered cooker thing from Goodwill, started gathering old containers with the recycle symbol 2 (which indicates high-density poly-ethelyne, a pretty non-nasty plastic), and set to make simple flats I could cut into the right shapes.
It takes a long time, this kind of fabricating. But it's something I can do with my household tool set and not much investment of the filthy lucre.
Well, today I was worrying over my weed puller. Here she stands:
An Upright Weed Hound
It's a nice tool, one I've had now for twenty-five years, thereabouts. You hold the top, put the bottom part… wait, let me show you more closely:
This is the base with open tines, which are like nails because… they are nails. You put that over the center of a weed (mostly dandelions around here). When you push with your foot on the flat part that sticks out, the base rises, compacting the tines:
In the end, the tines close all the way around the weed root:
When I pull the weed, I just push down on the plunger near the handle and the weed pops out!
Over the two decades of driving those nails into the dirt, the metal base has worn quite a bit. The added width of the holes through which the nails protrude has more wiggle room. Further, when I eject the weed, occasionally the base plate will descend too much and the nails will be freed from their cagey holes. It's not a big deal, but when it happens, it jams; the nails prevent the thing from working at all. I have to spend time re-inserting the pointy bits in the holes.
The solution? At first, I just wrapped electrical tape around the shaft as a stopper. It worked for years, but recently failed. I decided it was time for a more permanent solution.
But what?
I suppose I could do as all good Americans: drive myself to the hardware store and support jobs and stuff. But no. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to make something that helped.
I started drilling into some scrap wood, but realized the form fit would be compromised by my almost complete incompetence with wood working.
Then… I thought of the plastic stuff. Let me present the new stopper mechanism!
This is with the tines open, the post-eject/pre-insert modality. That white glob? It's not a blob of caulking! It's not bubble gum! Until this afternoon, it was some bleach bottles, water bottle caps, and an orange juice lid. A bit of judiciously administered heat, some twisting and contorting, and finally some wrapping the shaft with hot hot plastic, and voila!
And let me tell you, it works a treat! Sure, a single bottle cap or a bit of a bleach bottle ain't nothing to write home about rigidity-wise; but combine them and they are mighty.
It's just that I don't think I have anything much to contribute, not much. Until now, that is!
Last year, my shredder broke. Well, it finished breaking. I had been keeping it alive for years. It's something I've covered elsewhere, if you're interested in details.
That project is making slow progress. Essentially, there are three plastic components that need to be installed/replaced. I've had a friend (who recently retired and got completely hooked on making shit with his 3D printer) print up the spacer rings. I'm making some progress making the feed guides.
How am I making feed guides without using a 3D printer? Well! I'm glad you asked.
Some time ago, I stumbled across a couple of English brothers who spend their time recycling plastics (here's their latest video). That got me to thinking that some of the shredder components that need creation could be fabricated out of, well, junk.
So I got myself a pair of insulated rubbery oven gloves and a small covered cooker thing from Goodwill, started gathering old containers with the recycle symbol 2 (which indicates high-density poly-ethelyne, a pretty non-nasty plastic), and set to make simple flats I could cut into the right shapes.
It takes a long time, this kind of fabricating. But it's something I can do with my household tool set and not much investment of the filthy lucre.
Well, today I was worrying over my weed puller. Here she stands:
An Upright Weed Hound
It's a nice tool, one I've had now for twenty-five years, thereabouts. You hold the top, put the bottom part… wait, let me show you more closely:
This is the base with open tines, which are like nails because… they are nails. You put that over the center of a weed (mostly dandelions around here). When you push with your foot on the flat part that sticks out, the base rises, compacting the tines:
In the end, the tines close all the way around the weed root:
When I pull the weed, I just push down on the plunger near the handle and the weed pops out!
Over the two decades of driving those nails into the dirt, the metal base has worn quite a bit. The added width of the holes through which the nails protrude has more wiggle room. Further, when I eject the weed, occasionally the base plate will descend too much and the nails will be freed from their cagey holes. It's not a big deal, but when it happens, it jams; the nails prevent the thing from working at all. I have to spend time re-inserting the pointy bits in the holes.
The solution? At first, I just wrapped electrical tape around the shaft as a stopper. It worked for years, but recently failed. I decided it was time for a more permanent solution.
But what?
I suppose I could do as all good Americans: drive myself to the hardware store and support jobs and stuff. But no. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to make something that helped.
I started drilling into some scrap wood, but realized the form fit would be compromised by my almost complete incompetence with wood working.
Then… I thought of the plastic stuff. Let me present the new stopper mechanism!
This is with the tines open, the post-eject/pre-insert modality. That white glob? It's not a blob of caulking! It's not bubble gum! Until this afternoon, it was some bleach bottles, water bottle caps, and an orange juice lid. A bit of judiciously administered heat, some twisting and contorting, and finally some wrapping the shaft with hot hot plastic, and voila!
And let me tell you, it works a treat! Sure, a single bottle cap or a bit of a bleach bottle ain't nothing to write home about rigidity-wise; but combine them and they are mighty.
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Date: 2026-05-10 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-05-11 12:00 am (UTC)