The miracle liner is polyester film such as Duralar. It's like a sheet of paper but made of clear plastic instead.
The miracle? It's easier to work with than paper. It is tear and scratch resistance. It stays flat, better than non-slip. It's heat resistance and chemical resistance. It's low cost.
Even if you brought a huge roll, it stay flat when you unroll it. I know because I used it to cover the whole dinning table. It's clear and you can write on it. You can put it on a table or on the floor with a grid pattern on it. It's extremely easy to align and measure the exact size. Or you can trace the outline of the cage, or you can just cut freehand until the sheet fits the cage.
The sheet is slightly too thick for a paper cutter. But it's extremely easy to cut with scissors. It's easy to cut while following a straight line. It's easy to make a smooth cut whether you cut is straight or slightly curved in multiple parts. And since it's clear plaster, it's hard to notice that the cut is not perfect.
If the cage floor is reasonably fitted with a sheet from wall to wall, it's very difficult to take the sheet off because it stays flat from edge to edge, corner to corner. My bunny toss everything and attack steel wires but he couldn't do anything to the sheets. If the cage has some sort of "wall", it's better than non-slip liners. It just couldn't slip pass the walls.
The sheets are extremely easy to clean. I used rigid sheets before such as acrylic. I have to soak them in acid to get the rabbit poop off. It's a lot harder to cling onto flexible plastic sheets. When the poop are dry, they will almost fall off by themselves. Chemical free. I suspect that there is something to do with it's diet and the strong sun. In any case, this material is the most easy to clean stuff I ever used. It will return to it's flawless clear state after cleaning.
Because it is cheap, I stack several of them. It's non-slip even when stacked together. When the top one gets dirty, I just lift it off and expose the 2nd sheet. Then I dry the dirty sheet in the sun. If you want to wash it clean immediately, you need some acid such as vinegar and citric acid. Or, you can wipe the poop off with tissue paper whenever you see them. It's almost perfectly clear again once you wipe it.
The sheets are slippery so the naughtiness of the bunny is reduced a little.
My cage floor is made with perfectly pre-cut to size wood pieces. Polyester sheets are the perfect liner for that.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
PVC pipe gadget techniques — no glue no screw
In building PVC pipe furniture and gadgets, glue or screws are often used. I doubt it is necessary, and arguably weaken the structures.
If you insert a standard PVC pipe into a standard PVC tee, all the way in with a rubber hammer, it's almost impossible to pull it out, even for the thinnest 1/2" CPVC pipes. To pull the pipe out, you have to have a clamp securely holding on to the pipe, and then twist the tee with hand or tools. You have to twist clockwise and anticlockwise until the joint come loose, and then the pipe can be taken out.
So, in your end structure, if you can't twist the pipe against the coupling by hand, and there's no direct force to pull the pipe straight from the coupling, you don't need any glue. This is easy to design and usually very natural thing to do. For example, if you have one pipe jointing with two tees at each end, and they are of different orientation, you can't twist the pipe against anything else since the tees are fixed in space in the end structure.
The only way you can twist the pipe is to use a clamp directly on the pipe. Even so, the force needed is great and don't do much damage since the pipe is still in the same position.
The disadvantage of glue is that it is usually toxic or at least contains some undesirable volatile compounds. It takes time to apply and dry. And the coupling cannot be reused. If you don't use any glue, when you change your mind about the design, you just need to cut the pipe and twist it out with pliers. All parts are reusable.
Some people drill through the coupling part and use bolt and nuts to prevent the joint from coming apart. Any drilling will weaken the coupling and the pipe. The nut and bolt will only be effective when the joint already come loose. They don't come loose if designed properly. In my roof top rack, a Christmas tree carrier, I don't even use glue or bolts.
Tips for plans. To be glueless, the plan has to be precise. I always use spread sheets to calculate the dimensions. You need the dimension of your structure modified by the dimensions of the couplings. For example, the top bar of the T character is about 2.5", the height of the vertical bar is about 11/16". The extra pipe length to insert into the tee socket is 3/4".
I always use standard tee's and occasionally 90 deg turns. They are much cheaper than the couplings designed for PVC furniture with more variety. Arguably the standard ones are better too. You can use two standard tee's to replace a 4 way coupling on the same plane, or a 3 way coupling in the x,y and z axis. Even though a standard tee joints everything on one plane only, if your dimensions are reasonably accurate, you can put together a cube quite nicely and squarely. You just hammer the pieces together with a rubber hammer and the pieces will fall in shape.
Tips for the ugly markings on the pipes. I don't know why but the cpvc markings can be easily removed with sand paper or steel wool. But it's almost impossible to remove the markings on white PVC pipes. Solvents will remove the markings but stain the white pipe with whatever colour the ink is. Most of my gadgets are by the wall and stationary. So I just need to turn the markings furthermost from the usual line of sight. It's almost totally hidden unless you go squarely at the back, which is impossible if the gadget is by the wall.
Tips for reusability and flexible joints. If the joint depth is 0.75", and you want to joint two tee's back to back together, the best pipe length is twice that at 1.5". If that part does not need to be structural and you want it to be taken apart with reasonable force, make the pipe length 1 1/4". If the joint is for the purpose of a "lock", that you may take it apart occasionally, make the pipe length 1", and insert the pipe all the way into the stationary coupling first. In this case, you can also make a hinge.
If you insert a standard PVC pipe into a standard PVC tee, all the way in with a rubber hammer, it's almost impossible to pull it out, even for the thinnest 1/2" CPVC pipes. To pull the pipe out, you have to have a clamp securely holding on to the pipe, and then twist the tee with hand or tools. You have to twist clockwise and anticlockwise until the joint come loose, and then the pipe can be taken out.
So, in your end structure, if you can't twist the pipe against the coupling by hand, and there's no direct force to pull the pipe straight from the coupling, you don't need any glue. This is easy to design and usually very natural thing to do. For example, if you have one pipe jointing with two tees at each end, and they are of different orientation, you can't twist the pipe against anything else since the tees are fixed in space in the end structure.
The only way you can twist the pipe is to use a clamp directly on the pipe. Even so, the force needed is great and don't do much damage since the pipe is still in the same position.
The disadvantage of glue is that it is usually toxic or at least contains some undesirable volatile compounds. It takes time to apply and dry. And the coupling cannot be reused. If you don't use any glue, when you change your mind about the design, you just need to cut the pipe and twist it out with pliers. All parts are reusable.
Some people drill through the coupling part and use bolt and nuts to prevent the joint from coming apart. Any drilling will weaken the coupling and the pipe. The nut and bolt will only be effective when the joint already come loose. They don't come loose if designed properly. In my roof top rack, a Christmas tree carrier, I don't even use glue or bolts.
Tips for plans. To be glueless, the plan has to be precise. I always use spread sheets to calculate the dimensions. You need the dimension of your structure modified by the dimensions of the couplings. For example, the top bar of the T character is about 2.5", the height of the vertical bar is about 11/16". The extra pipe length to insert into the tee socket is 3/4".
I always use standard tee's and occasionally 90 deg turns. They are much cheaper than the couplings designed for PVC furniture with more variety. Arguably the standard ones are better too. You can use two standard tee's to replace a 4 way coupling on the same plane, or a 3 way coupling in the x,y and z axis. Even though a standard tee joints everything on one plane only, if your dimensions are reasonably accurate, you can put together a cube quite nicely and squarely. You just hammer the pieces together with a rubber hammer and the pieces will fall in shape.
Tips for the ugly markings on the pipes. I don't know why but the cpvc markings can be easily removed with sand paper or steel wool. But it's almost impossible to remove the markings on white PVC pipes. Solvents will remove the markings but stain the white pipe with whatever colour the ink is. Most of my gadgets are by the wall and stationary. So I just need to turn the markings furthermost from the usual line of sight. It's almost totally hidden unless you go squarely at the back, which is impossible if the gadget is by the wall.
Tips for reusability and flexible joints. If the joint depth is 0.75", and you want to joint two tee's back to back together, the best pipe length is twice that at 1.5". If that part does not need to be structural and you want it to be taken apart with reasonable force, make the pipe length 1 1/4". If the joint is for the purpose of a "lock", that you may take it apart occasionally, make the pipe length 1", and insert the pipe all the way into the stationary coupling first. In this case, you can also make a hinge.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Trash bag adapter Mark III
Mark I uses a wooden rectangular frame. It was too clumsy to detach the trash bag from it after full.
Mark II uses inexpensive clips to attach the bag to the edge of the cart. The clips aren't that secure. The bag slags. And tall bags are needed.
Now the new Mark III uses PVC pipes of course. Crius clips are used to attach the bag to the frame. Any known issues are improved.
Is it better than using a separate standard bin? Time will tell.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Perfect low cost custom pet houses
I was going to custom made an acrylic house with all the easy to maintain gadgets. It would be perfect for indoors and outdoors and while we are on vacation. It was never done because the more I think, the more it's impractical.
Acrylic is expansive and you have to be precise to glue pieces together.
I have been building small PVC gadgets for a while and it suddenly dawn on me why I don't try to build a pet house from scratch.
I have been building very precise PVC pipe structures using only standard tee's at less than 30 cents a piece. PVC pipes are virtually free - less than $2 for 10 ft. With the help of a spread sheet, I can build very complex structures.
For pet house, the first problem is the floor. You can use pipe grids as the floor but still you need something to cover the gaps. You can use pipe grids for the walls but the total cost of tee couplings can be high, even at 30 cent a piece.
Wood is still the best choice for the floor. This bunny house is for indoors so I paid for a premium board, so I can nail ready made side guards on it to prevent spills. The board has to look smooth for indoors and can be painted if needed. For outdoors a flat particle board will do. The wood pieces are of standard dimension so I don't need to do any precise wood work (I can't as I only have a jigsaw).
For the walls I use 24 gauge galvanized steel wire forming a 2" grid. It turns out to be a great idea and looks neat too. It's easy to drill small holes into PVC pipes with a plastic bit. I sand the holes briefly with an oscillator tool.
It turns out that it's easy to tie the wire onto the pipes and tighten them. If you go around the same holes twice or more around the pipe, it will be securely attached. Add a Cirus clip on the endpoint and you can secure it further. After you tighten a length of wire, you can keep the tension by Crius clips as in the last post. Then you continue to wire and tighten the next part. You can wire the entire structure without one single wire without breaks. But for modularity I wire only one side at a time, and use separate wires for vertical and horizontal.
This bunny has been known to attack chicken wires and succeeded. He had a go on the steel wires but can't do anything to it, yet. Because the wires are hand tight, he managed to put his head through the grid, but fortunately not his feet at the same time. So, the cage is secure.
This cage is open top with walls two feet high. But I decided to put in a door so the kids can do the daily chores too. What you see in the middle is a toddler-proof door. I still have to add some legs so the vacuum cleaner hose can get under it. Also, it will be ideal if I don't need to bend down to feed him or clean the cage.
This is 20" by 3'. I'll build a 2'x4' for outdoors. It will be higher than the sprinklers can reach so we can put it in his yard without turning off some of the sprinklers.
You can clip anything on the pipes like sunscreen, rainproof sheets, blankets. The outdoor one will have a roof structure. You can see the Crius clips in the picture, near the lower left and right corners.
Crius clips - attaching anything thin or flexible to any pipes securely and economically
You can secure a thin or thick gauge steel wire to any pipe securely without slipping. There's no slipping.
You can attach a towel or a plastic sheet on to a length of pipe for shelter or projects. Not even high winds can detach it.
Say if your pipe is 1/2" PVC, pick the next size PVC pipe, which is 3/4". Use a pipe cutter to cut out about 1/4" length of pipe. From this O-ring, cut out about 90 deg, or a corner. The remaining PVC pipe is a Crius clip.
Place the C opening on the pipe you want to clip on. Push the clip on with your finger and it will go in easily. It takes two hands to take it back out.
The clip itself is always PVC pipe. The pipe to be clipped on to is not limited to any material. For example, for galvanized steel 1/2" EMT pipes, the best clip is to be made from 1/2" PVC pipes (the OD is slightly larger than the EMT pipes).
If you want to clip thick power supply cable or a thick carpet, use two size larger PVC pipes.
I'm into PVC and EMT gadgets and found numerous uses for this Crius clip.
Environment issues: The manufacturing and recycling of PVC involve toxic materials. PVC itself is stable and harmless as used in drinking water.
PVC and CPVC are supposed to replace expansive copper pipes. There's no going back to copper as I myself witness micro pores that can form on copper pipes. This is a nightmare as a leak can develop in any length of pipe. The leaking can continue for a long period undiscovered. The reason is still unknown.
The newer PEX are superior in many ways. But I heard that rats like them too?
PVC will be around for a while. They are also used to replace metal and wood window frames for energy efficiency. They are not that environmentally friendly but they last a long long time. They can be recycled too.
I can't find anything to replace PVC furniture. Metal couplings cost 10 times more, and they are bulky.
PVC produces toxic fumes when burned. Ironically PVC window frames and very popular.
There are ways to reduce PVC in furniture though. For pipes that don't need to be tight fit, you can use steel EMT pipes that is about the same price. You can still use PVC couplings but they won't exactly fit. You can use loose pipes, for example, for the horizontal support of beds. Or for vertical grids to keep things in.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The chemistry of baking soda and how to use it for hair
You can experiment on it. Baking soda reacts with oil similar to the process of soap making. Therefore thick layers of grease in the kitchen can be cleaned up in no time. You just rinse it off.
On the other hand, baking soda dissolved in water does nothing to oil. This is a common fact that most things that dissolve in water or oil, do not dissolve in both at the same time.
Baking soda is completely opposite to soap and detergents that works on surface, and have a hard time to work on bulk grease.
So BK is ideal especially for oily hair. If you apply BK to your scalp even after a week of nature camping with no shampoo, any oil and grease and odour disappear immediately. Because the whole mass of hair has so many surface area, it's impossible to strip too much oil from the hair shaft, which can eliminate the need for conditioner.
Dry BK is messy and mildly abrasive. So I use wash/rinse bottles with enough BK and water in it. I keep shaking while applying to guarantee enough solid BK delivered to the scalp.
BK is pretty safe. On a pH scale of 1 to 14, BK is at 8, one from neutral 7. BK is used a lot medically and often to neutralize acids and maintain a near neutral pH.
BK is of course you can say "natural" and therefore biodegradable. It doesn't degrade much as some form of sodium salt will always be there, which is natural occurring. BK with hydrogen and carbon dioxide atoms could be safer than common salt with chloride atoms.
There should not be long term effects if you always rinse thoroughly. And avoid excess stripping off body oil. It may be a good idea to neutralize BK with organic acid. Harmless sodium salts will be left and excess organic acid will degrade into something simple.
As for any shampoo and body wash, you may need conditioner and moisturizer for your scalp and skin.
On the other hand, baking soda dissolved in water does nothing to oil. This is a common fact that most things that dissolve in water or oil, do not dissolve in both at the same time.
Baking soda is completely opposite to soap and detergents that works on surface, and have a hard time to work on bulk grease.
So BK is ideal especially for oily hair. If you apply BK to your scalp even after a week of nature camping with no shampoo, any oil and grease and odour disappear immediately. Because the whole mass of hair has so many surface area, it's impossible to strip too much oil from the hair shaft, which can eliminate the need for conditioner.
Dry BK is messy and mildly abrasive. So I use wash/rinse bottles with enough BK and water in it. I keep shaking while applying to guarantee enough solid BK delivered to the scalp.
BK is pretty safe. On a pH scale of 1 to 14, BK is at 8, one from neutral 7. BK is used a lot medically and often to neutralize acids and maintain a near neutral pH.
BK is of course you can say "natural" and therefore biodegradable. It doesn't degrade much as some form of sodium salt will always be there, which is natural occurring. BK with hydrogen and carbon dioxide atoms could be safer than common salt with chloride atoms.
There should not be long term effects if you always rinse thoroughly. And avoid excess stripping off body oil. It may be a good idea to neutralize BK with organic acid. Harmless sodium salts will be left and excess organic acid will degrade into something simple.
As for any shampoo and body wash, you may need conditioner and moisturizer for your scalp and skin.
Friday, January 25, 2013
The engineering approach to shampoo
After trying a lot of things, I recommend Nexxus or some other expensive shampoo with visible immediate results. I also recommend Dr Bronner's "pure liquid soap" as it seems to be gentle. Tresemme works for cheap. For the no-poo camp there is the baking soda. But use it carefully. Shampoo also depends on conditioner with different degrees. See, I'm totally unbiased.
Your hair type is critical, which explains that there are so many shampoos on the market. The scalp will produce body oil at the root carrying down to the shaft. After shampoo and drying, try fingering your scalp for a while and see how grease your finger tips feel. And try it the next day or longer if you don't wash your hair that often.
Do you need to disrupt the natural process that much? If your scalp don't produce enough oil for the long shaft, I would think it's easy to remedy, if you don't want to cut short your hair.
The problem with oily hair is that bacteria will feed on it, accelerate skin flaking and results in dandruff. I think that's from medical sources but that's not the universal cause for dandruff of course. That's not really a big deal as I have dandruff but I have great hair and they don't turn grey and they don't fall down. The other problem is that if you try fragrance free shampoo and not strong enough your head will smell weird. It could be all normal - that everybody's head will smell different and weird like without deodorant. But it's just not socially acceptable.
So be warned. If you go no-poo carelessly, you could get dandruff and your head can smell weird. It's hard to know if you have pre-existing conditions. If you wash your hair everyday with a normal fragrance shampoo, any flakes will be minute and you can't smell anything other than the shampoo.
People always say this is good if you have dandruff. But I really need somebody to say that I had dandruff, I used this, and dandruff never come back. A pharmacist say that you have to rotate with different dandruff shampoo to keep dandruff at bay. I have to wash my hair everyday so it makes little different whether I have dandruff or not. Nobody is going to split my hair repeatedly and watch and count the minute white spots floating down my hair.
Baking soda is many things to many people. If you use powder or paste, it can remove years of accumulated grease in your kitchen. If you use a teaspoonful or two per cup to rinse your hair, it may be too mild. Too mild that my head smells. My hair is great though. I will experiment some more. The stuff is just too convenient and cost next to nothing and so many people swear by it.
Never drop baking soda on your hair after oil treatment or vice versa. That's how to make solid soap. Your hair will be full of soap scum.
Dr Bronner's seems to be mild, even though it has lots of sud. But it's not very pure soap. I remembered it had some glycerin in it for moisturizer. But everything should be organic. As with pure soap for skin, if you don't have suitable conditioning, your hair can be messy. Whereas for Nexxus, if you hair type is one of those, your hair hardly need conditioning after the shampoo.
Whatever you use, you have to use it for a while to see the effect. For example, some conditioner coat your hair a bit. So if you change to some other systems, it takes time for the coating to disappear.
My great discovery is that, if you hair need detangling, and if you don't use conventional conditioner, it's a great time for detangling in the shampoo phase. Just use a detangling wet brush to comb your hair while there are lots of sud. In the following procedures, just don't mess up your hair again.
Your hair type is critical, which explains that there are so many shampoos on the market. The scalp will produce body oil at the root carrying down to the shaft. After shampoo and drying, try fingering your scalp for a while and see how grease your finger tips feel. And try it the next day or longer if you don't wash your hair that often.
Do you need to disrupt the natural process that much? If your scalp don't produce enough oil for the long shaft, I would think it's easy to remedy, if you don't want to cut short your hair.
The problem with oily hair is that bacteria will feed on it, accelerate skin flaking and results in dandruff. I think that's from medical sources but that's not the universal cause for dandruff of course. That's not really a big deal as I have dandruff but I have great hair and they don't turn grey and they don't fall down. The other problem is that if you try fragrance free shampoo and not strong enough your head will smell weird. It could be all normal - that everybody's head will smell different and weird like without deodorant. But it's just not socially acceptable.
So be warned. If you go no-poo carelessly, you could get dandruff and your head can smell weird. It's hard to know if you have pre-existing conditions. If you wash your hair everyday with a normal fragrance shampoo, any flakes will be minute and you can't smell anything other than the shampoo.
People always say this is good if you have dandruff. But I really need somebody to say that I had dandruff, I used this, and dandruff never come back. A pharmacist say that you have to rotate with different dandruff shampoo to keep dandruff at bay. I have to wash my hair everyday so it makes little different whether I have dandruff or not. Nobody is going to split my hair repeatedly and watch and count the minute white spots floating down my hair.
Baking soda is many things to many people. If you use powder or paste, it can remove years of accumulated grease in your kitchen. If you use a teaspoonful or two per cup to rinse your hair, it may be too mild. Too mild that my head smells. My hair is great though. I will experiment some more. The stuff is just too convenient and cost next to nothing and so many people swear by it.
Never drop baking soda on your hair after oil treatment or vice versa. That's how to make solid soap. Your hair will be full of soap scum.
Dr Bronner's seems to be mild, even though it has lots of sud. But it's not very pure soap. I remembered it had some glycerin in it for moisturizer. But everything should be organic. As with pure soap for skin, if you don't have suitable conditioning, your hair can be messy. Whereas for Nexxus, if you hair type is one of those, your hair hardly need conditioning after the shampoo.
Whatever you use, you have to use it for a while to see the effect. For example, some conditioner coat your hair a bit. So if you change to some other systems, it takes time for the coating to disappear.
My great discovery is that, if you hair need detangling, and if you don't use conventional conditioner, it's a great time for detangling in the shampoo phase. Just use a detangling wet brush to comb your hair while there are lots of sud. In the following procedures, just don't mess up your hair again.
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