Not Working

Two stories here; one about a shredder, one about some screws.

Shredder

The cross-cut shredder stopped working. Chances are if you have used a paper shredder for a year or two, it has stopped working. You've shaken it, shook it, rattled it and rolled it, even banged it on the edge of the desk, and it Just Won't Work. Chances are you tossed it in a dumpster and spent Gold buying a new one.

I hate that with a passion, as you know.

I unplug the device and move it to a clean working area, unscrew the cover, note on a piece of paper the position & orientation of the mechanical chunk, then remove it.

Sure enough, the gears are clogged with shreds of paper. A small screwdriver gently teases out the worst of it, then the best of it, all swept into my paper bin.

I plug it in and it doesn't work. Still. And it lies still, still!

I test the optical switch by sliding paper into the gap, and hearing the click-on and delayed click-off am satisfied that the device is capable of functioning.

I unplug it again and gently turn the electric motor with the screwdriver blade. I see the gears begin to turn, so I know that once the motor starts, the device will work.

Clearly current is getting to the machine, and the optical switch is working.

Further examination reveals a small piece of paper wedged between the brush and commutator of the motor - that is enough to event the flow of electricity. I tease away that piece of paper and Behold and lo! It all hums nicely.

A small vacumn cleaner removes fluff and lint, I screw everything back in place, and I have used fifteen minutes of my time to save myself a 45-minute trip to the store.

See, it's not about money, it's about time.

Screws

Oh yes, screws. I use a clean tuna tin to hold any screws that I see lying around; also nuts, washers, bolts and small springs.

I reason that they must have dropped out of something, and although I don't know their source, their source will reveal itself to me in time.

Sure enough, as I unscrewed the cover of the shredder at the start of the job, I noticed two screws were missing. My tuna tin was holding them safely, waiting for this moment. The screws must have jarred loose a few months back. I'd picked them up and dropped them in the can.

Today they came home!

Never throw anything away, until you have found a second use for it.

Smallest SUFE Ever

This is tough to Beta. No, I mean Beat. Not beta, it is Memorex (grin!)

I have a hanging folder "Adhesives" which holds adhesive labels for the computer printer and harbours anything else that doesn't get thrown out.

Including a sheet of labels for cassette tape. Remember cassettes?

I am drilling holes in the walls of a book shelf to house dowel pins for more shelves You can never have enough bookshelves for the simple reason that you can never have enough books.

I need to mark the twist drill so that I don't drill right through the wall.

The tiny timing tape - about 4mm wide by 14mm long - does the trick! Wrapped around the twist drill bit it is highly visible at speed.

Finishing Chest 3

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...

A few more weeks have passed. I have tipped the bin again. The contents are almost completely digested. The shredded paper is almost gone.

The remainder is a sticky clayey mass - the contents are still overloaded with moisture.

My guess is that I could set aside the clay, fill the bin with shredded paper, and let it run for another two months. It won't begin to freeze solid until late December, if then.

Here is the chest tipped up. You can see some of the shredded paper poking up through the mass. Quality Control has been, seen, and is bored:

Here is a view of the mass. Worms are scurrying away, but I can see that they are fat and healthy. Eggs are scattered across the surface and throughout the mass!

Books

Where to send ...

(Thanks to Janie Upham of Ontario Textbook Recycling for the next set of links):

Ile Oluji Cultural Assoc. Kenny Olanusi (416) 742-8578 or Moses Olasusi 416 741-3986

Global Texts International: John Okosun, 416-274-6563

For book guidelines: www.booksforafrica.org

Plastic Lining

In tapered vermicomposters I introduced the idea of pinning an open-ended garbage bag to the tower, thus lining the inside of the tower.

It works well.

The only disadvantage I could report is that injudicious application of bacteria-laden water can result in the water hitting the plastic and channeling rapidly down and out of the tower, leaving a mess on the floor.

The solution is obvious: pour the water into a smaller pot that rests atop the compost material. A small hole in the pot will trickle out the water at a rate that the compost can absorb. Shedding the water over a two-minute period is better than a deluge in two seconds.

That said, I have learned over the past two weeks of a tip in the size of the bag.

Most of my towers are three- or four-feet tall. The open-ended garbage bag extends beyond this. In consequence, the base of the tower, inside, nets a sleeve of plastic which does not allow the free-scooping of material from the base.

I can scoop outfall from the region close to the door, but material at the rear of the tower is hard if not impossible to obtain. My plastic scoop is entangled in the loose folds of plastic down there.

This photo shows the front of the tower, with the door, and from the back you can see a "skirt" of plastic which I have pulled outside. Imagine that skirt inside the tower. It obstructs the free flow of material.

Future towers will have the plastic liner trimmed to a length no greater than the top of the aperture, so that from the view of the aperture, there is no plastic sleeve; it does not descend to the region from which I intend to scoop material.

I live and I learn ...

Three For One

SUFE - three for the price of one.

The vertical spacers (for a set of shelves) are being cleaned.

(1) The spacers are cut down from a smaller closet found at the dumpster.

(2) The drain racks are four baffles from a humidifier found at the dumpster.

(3) The washing bowl is a vegetable drawer from a refrigerator found at the dumpster.

It would have been 4-4-1 if I had included my dishrag in the photo - a sleeve from an old green T-shirt.