We bought William a Billy bookcase from IKEA. We put all his books on it. After a few weeks, the shelves started to bow downwards and the sides were bowing outwards. The result was that the shelves fell off and deposited the books all over his floor in the middle of the night, scaring the crap out of all of us. They don't make 'em like they used to.
I got a length of threaded rod, some washers, and some domed nuts; drilled two holes, cut the rod to length with a hacksaw, and tied the whole thing back together. A technique I've seen used on Grand Designs when renovating old barns!
I got a length of threaded rod, some washers, and some domed nuts; drilled two holes, cut the rod to length with a hacksaw, and tied the whole thing back together. A technique I've seen used on Grand Designs when renovating old barns!
I was working outside when I dropped the cap for my silicon grease down a drain. I happened to have a bag of Polymorph granules (a brand-name of Polycaprolactone, a type of polyester with a low melting point) which I'd been meaning to experiment with, and this seemed like a good opportunity to try the stuff. Polycaprolactone melts at 60°C which makes it easy to work with at home, even to work by hand as it doesn't conduct heat very well.
I took a small handful of granules and melted them in an improvised bain-marie (a steel bowl suspended over a pan full of boiling water). Once it was all melted (no pic, I'm afraid, but it'll go translucent eventually) I scraped it all out with a spoon and rolled it into a ball using my hands. If you try this, don't worry about any bits left in the bowl, they can easily be scraped out with a metal spoon once they've cooled and hardened. I then push the ball of soft plastic onto the tube nozzle and moulded into what I thought would be a good shape for a cap.
Caps moulded in a factory have ridges to help with grip. I didn't think I'd be able to achieve this effect easily so I just squeezed the ball flat to make a kind of rudimentary wing nut. The plastic shrank slightly as it cooled and had to be squeezed a bit tighter to maintain good contact with the screw thread on the nozzle. I eventually left it overnight and when I came down in the morning, here's what I found:
And it's pretty good. The plastic has taken on the shape of the screw thread and seems to make a good tight fit. And there's plenty of polycaprolactone left for more moulding fun.
I took a small handful of granules and melted them in an improvised bain-marie (a steel bowl suspended over a pan full of boiling water). Once it was all melted (no pic, I'm afraid, but it'll go translucent eventually) I scraped it all out with a spoon and rolled it into a ball using my hands. If you try this, don't worry about any bits left in the bowl, they can easily be scraped out with a metal spoon once they've cooled and hardened. I then push the ball of soft plastic onto the tube nozzle and moulded into what I thought would be a good shape for a cap.
Caps moulded in a factory have ridges to help with grip. I didn't think I'd be able to achieve this effect easily so I just squeezed the ball flat to make a kind of rudimentary wing nut. The plastic shrank slightly as it cooled and had to be squeezed a bit tighter to maintain good contact with the screw thread on the nozzle. I eventually left it overnight and when I came down in the morning, here's what I found:
And it's pretty good. The plastic has taken on the shape of the screw thread and seems to make a good tight fit. And there's plenty of polycaprolactone left for more moulding fun.
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