Hi Keith,
I'm glad to hear you've decided against doing a bit of backyard bomb disposal!!! >Nothing's cheap in Japan, it's either expensive or free (gomi, junk). >Actually not quite true, there's quite a lot of stuff from China here >now, good quality, low prices, made for Japanese companies that >sub-contract there. I don't think it's such a good idea to buy this >stuff, considering the working conditions in some (many) of those >factories, and it's taking work from small local companies here, >which are suffering. Same story everywhere! But how do you resist a >high-quality angle cutter for $15 when you need an angle cutter and >the others are $50? We're not exactly rich, pennies really count. I >badly needed a new vice (vise, LOL!) and found one yesterday for $10, >a third of the price of the others, and again, good quality. So we >bought it, of course. Nice piece of kit. It's the old globalisation thingy - an uncomfortable position for all but inevitable. Who can blame China for wanting to get in on the act. Our or for that matter any nations history has its fair share of exploitation in its quest for market share. I don't know the ideal answer & to be honest I don't think there is one. Whatever the approach someone somewhere looses out, some more than others. If you buy British, workers here keep their jobs, but the Chinese workers have to endure non existent health & safety for longer. Buy from China & health & safety can be introduced sooner as their economy grows, but jobs are lost in Britain. Anyway, I'm no economist, as my bank manager will confirm, so I'll have to leave that debate for others, before I get out of my depth. Suffice it to say I've been in a similar dilemma when needing to buy a piece of kit - it's a hard choice to make. > I've got some steel tube, but it's a little too small for this, only >7". And I think that inward curve at the top if you cut a 5 or 6" >hole in the top of a 9" bottle is useful. I'll keep looking, I'll >come up with something. There's no great hurry. Perhaps time for >another bash at defunct homegas bottles, fruitless as it's been >before. Couple of other ideas: Would boiler / stove flue or the galvanised steel ducting that's used in sawdust extraction systems in woodworking shops be of any use? I'm sure something will turn up - it usually does if you hunt around enough. Good luck with it Take care!! Malcolm -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Keith Addison Sent: 08 April 2005 08:53 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [Biofuel] 2 - Mother Earth News burners and glycerine by-product Hello Malcolm Hm, much as I feared. >Hello Keith, I'm glad I piped up there, one health scare in a month is >enough for anybody eh? :-) Yes! You've saved my bacon. On the other hand, there are no regrets with a Darwin award, considering you ain't around anymore, or not in one piece anyway. :-) I'm very glad you piped up Malcolm. >I think there isn't really a sound plan here unless you intend to cut it >under water, scuba gear & all. > >My acetylene bottle is 140cm tall x 24cm diam = 64l in volume (approx) > >Say 2/3 of the bottle is wadding & the rest acetone - that gives around 21l >of acetone. But not just acetone. It may seem empty but it will still have >some acetylene in solution. So I feared. >Yep you could drill it carefully & safely but you want an open ended tube >out of it, that means cutting it with an angle grinder.......lots of hot >sparks!! Yikes! :-( I'd perhaps have managed the little hole okay, but then I'd have probed it somehow or another, and might not have continued if I'd hit anything but emptiness. >Acetone has a flash point (closed cup) of -18 deg C / 0 deg F (According to >Merck Index) Not a job for a warm spring day then. >My advice would be take it back to your engineer friend Um, yes, I'd already decided that, we'll be visiting him next weekend. >& see if he has an >empty Argoshield bottle (for mig welding) this would have no wadding inside >& the gas inside is a pretty inert mix of Argon, Co2 & a touch of O2. I don't think he has any other bottles, but I'll try. >Failing that & I know you are in a remote location, but you could splash out >on some steel tube from a steel stockholder, after all the East is where >it's all made these days & it should be cheap. Nothing's cheap in Japan, it's either expensive or free (gomi, junk). Actually not quite true, there's quite a lot of stuff from China here now, good quality, low prices, made for Japanese companies that sub-contract there. I don't think it's such a good idea to buy this stuff, considering the working conditions in some (many) of those factories, and it's taking work from small local companies here, which are suffering. Same story everywhere! But how do you resist a high-quality angle cutter for $15 when you need an angle cutter and the others are $50? We're not exactly rich, pennies really count. I badly needed a new vice (vise, LOL!) and found one yesterday for $10, a third of the price of the others, and again, good quality. So we bought it, of course. Nice piece of kit. I've got some steel tube, but it's a little too small for this, only 7". And I think that inward curve at the top if you cut a 5 or 6" hole in the top of a 9" bottle is useful. I'll keep looking, I'll come up with something. There's no great hurry. Perhaps time for another bash at defunct homegas bottles, fruitless as it's been before. >Sorry to put a dampener on the weekend project Keith - but I would really >advise against chopping up that acetylene bottle. I'm deeply thankful for your dampener Malcolm! I'll certainly take your advice. This list is great! What would I do without it? I've learnt so much here. Thanks again! All best Keith _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
