It looks like the sort of undertaking that makes good sense in the 3rd world.
When I saw the paving stones made from plastic, I was thinking how slippery those would become once worn and wet. It occurred to me that a high proportion of the mix could be sand, thus greatly extending the use of the plastic, and making a stronger and more useful product.
I hope you explore this idea further.
I was also concerned about the lack of gloves or safety glasses around the molten plastic, the consequences could be catastrophic!
yup, was thinking the same…
dough i love the possibility’s with the idea…
What other options come to mind are making fence pole’s, construction beams for small sheds, etc etc…
I have always thought of building inter locking bricks for basements and retaining walls. Possibly putting them together with all purpose pipe glue to seal them.
I imagine that I will want to measure differential vacuum pressure across the char bed and other parts of the gasifier. I want to be able to look at one gauge and have it give me the information I want without having to do any math. And I want to be able to use inexpensive vacuum gauges.
So I felt the need to be able to plumb a second vacuum line to the back of a gauge. It turns out that it’s not very difficult. I went to HF and bought the cheapest pressure gauge they had, thinking I was going to ruin it.
The ring that holds plastic window in place wouldn’t come off. I had to cut it with a triangular file. After I got the ring off I was able to solder it back together and reuse it. It was fairly easy to drill a small hole in the back and solder on a little piece of brass tubing that would allow a vacuum tube to be connected. I used 62% tin solder. The biggest challenge was getting the parts hot enough so the solder would stick. A regular soldering iron wouldn’t do it. I had to heat up a nail with a torch. After I got the soldering work done it was easy to seal up all the leaks in the case with RTV silicone and put the gauge back together. I didn’t even ruin the gauge. I’m counting this as one of my successes. Now I just need to find some cheap vacuum gauges.
Rindert
I think you are onto something there! I’ve never opened up one of the low pressure guages. Do they use a bellows or what? I don’t think a bourdon tube would be sensitive enough for our purposes.
Rindert- What was the pressure range of the HF gauge you modified?
We used to simply put the gauge into a plastic bag, along with an extra tube and seal the thing with rubber bands so we didn’t have to carry 2 gauges. For measurements in the 0-30 inch WC range, of course.
I don’t think there are any “cheap” mechanical gauges (pressure or vacuum) in the 0 to 20 or 30 inch water column range.
At one time Surplus Center had some and I bought a couple. But they are all gone.
Now I think you will have to pay at least USD$30.00 to get a simple 0-30 inch WC vacuum gauge.
Please correct me if I am wrong, so I can buy an extra for myself.
Thanks for that!!! I could make some sort of a clear plastic box and do essentially the same thing, but longer lasting. Maybe some sort of seal-a-meal …??? Anyhoo, I still like what I came up with. It took about 3 hours to do it the first time. I think I can do it in about 1/2 hour next time. If I did a set of four all at the same time maybe 1 hour.
I did a search on Amazon. vacuum gauge, sort by: price, low to high. I see some in the 4 to 7 USD range. Of course I wish they were in the 2 for a penny range, but what the hay.
The car inspector sayd the discs on my trusty old Seat need replaceing, or latheing down due to severe oxidation and pitting on some places. Well, new discs do cost money and l do not posess a lathe… Or do l?
Good job Kristijan; I was at my mechanic’s shop and he had a brake lathe sitting in the corner. He was putting new disks on a truck. l asked him if they ever ground brakes down any more and he said up here in the rust belt, the disk/drums are too pitted. That salt or cloride or what ever they are putting on the roads cost us big money for the material but worst what it does to our vehicles. TomC
Today i added innertubes to my snow blower tires. I found the inside of the wheels were lousy with weld spatter. I was looking for this, since i had experienced the same on my lawn tractor. On that occasion, i learned how quickly those innocent looking bomps can wear a hole in you nice new tubes.
So this time i took the tires completely off and used a wire wheel and flap disc tomake everything nice and smooth.
