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Jeff Wisnia
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

I had an extremely rare experience today; I thought of an easier way to
do something *before* I did it the hard way, rather than after.

When I took a jar from a kitchen cabinet today a small plastic piece
fell out onto the counter. I recognized it as one of those push in shelf
supports, sheared off from its mounting peg, which was undoubtedly still
pressed into a hole somewhere.

A little searching located where it had come from, the front center of a
heavily loaded shelf, with the "peg plugged" hole located in the center
of a stile between two doors.

I had a few shelf supports squirrled away from when we installed the
cabinets so I headed downstairs for a cordless drill, right angle
attachment and drills. What a pain it was gonna be to empty out enough
cans and jars to gain working room, Plus maybe I'd screw up drilling in
such an awkward location and pierce through the stile leaving a mark I'd
never cease to notice. And I'd have to clean out the plastic swarf
afterwards and replace all the removed groceries. All that for just a
lousy plastic shelf support.

Just as I was reaching for the drill a light bulb lit over my head and I
returned instead to the kitchen with my propane torch, a pair of pliers
and a one inch long #4 self threading screw.

You can guess the rest I'm sure, but in case you can't....

I just raised the sagged shelf up a bit on some stacked cans, held the
screw in the pliers, heated the tip red hot with the torch and melted it
into that busted off plastic peg. I waited a couple of minutes, grabbed
the screw with the pliers and pulled the peg out quicker than you can
say Jill Robinson. Oh yeah, I'd borrowed a mirror out of wifey's purse
to let me see where to stick that hot screw in.

File the idea away, it could make you look like a genius in front of
SWMBO some day. G

Happy Holidays,

Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."
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dadiOH
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

File the idea away, it could make you look like a genius in front of
SWMBO some day. G


Personally, I'd rather just use metal shelf supports

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico


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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 16:07:09 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

I had an extremely rare experience today; I thought of an easier way to
do something *before* I did it the hard way, rather than after.

When I took a jar from a kitchen cabinet today a small plastic piece
fell out onto the counter. I recognized it as one of those push in shelf
supports, sheared off from its mounting peg, which was undoubtedly still
pressed into a hole somewhere.

A little searching located where it had come from, the front center of a
heavily loaded shelf, with the "peg plugged" hole located in the center
of a stile between two doors.

I had a few shelf supports squirrled away from when we installed the
cabinets so I headed downstairs for a cordless drill, right angle
attachment and drills. What a pain it was gonna be to empty out enough
cans and jars to gain working room, Plus maybe I'd screw up drilling in
such an awkward location and pierce through the stile leaving a mark I'd
never cease to notice. And I'd have to clean out the plastic swarf
afterwards and replace all the removed groceries. All that for just a
lousy plastic shelf support.

Just as I was reaching for the drill a light bulb lit over my head and I
returned instead to the kitchen with my propane torch, a pair of pliers
and a one inch long #4 self threading screw.

You can guess the rest I'm sure, but in case you can't....

I just raised the sagged shelf up a bit on some stacked cans, held the
screw in the pliers, heated the tip red hot with the torch and melted it
into that busted off plastic peg. I waited a couple of minutes, grabbed
the screw with the pliers and pulled the peg out quicker than you can
say Jill Robinson. Oh yeah, I'd borrowed a mirror out of wifey's purse
to let me see where to stick that hot screw in.

File the idea away, it could make you look like a genius in front of
SWMBO some day. G

Happy Holidays,

Jeff


I'd like to find these idiots that make plastic supporting brackets.
Plastic is not a durable material, and either fails from weight, or
from decay, and that wont be long. Get some steel brackets and you
wont have to mess with it again. Society is going backwards. They
used to make durable materials. Now everything is junk plastic crap.

Mark
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Edwin Pawlowski
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...


wrote in message
I'd like to find these idiots that make plastic supporting brackets.
Plastic is not a durable material, and either fails from weight, or
from decay, and that wont be long. Get some steel brackets and you
wont have to mess with it again. Society is going backwards. They
used to make durable materials. Now everything is junk plastic crap.

Mark



Plastic decays? Does Greenpeace know of this?

I have some shelves with plastic supports for 20 years that are still
perfect. You'd be amazed at the properties of some plastics. And they
don't rust or corrode.


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Jeff Wisnia
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message

I'd like to find these idiots that make plastic supporting brackets.
Plastic is not a durable material, and either fails from weight, or
from decay, and that wont be long. Get some steel brackets and you
wont have to mess with it again. Society is going backwards. They
used to make durable materials. Now everything is junk plastic crap.

Mark




Plastic decays? Does Greenpeace know of this?

I have some shelves with plastic supports for 20 years that are still
perfect. You'd be amazed at the properties of some plastics. And they
don't rust or corrode.



Yeah, I could have spun up the lathe and made a brass part in a few
minutes, but figgered if the first one had lasted since we built the
place 19 years ago I was justified in using one of the matching
originals. If the replacement lasts as long before it breaks (and I'm
still breathing.) I will make a metal one then. G

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."


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Dan Espen
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

"Edwin Pawlowski" writes:

wrote in message
I'd like to find these idiots that make plastic supporting brackets.
Plastic is not a durable material, and either fails from weight, or
from decay, and that wont be long. Get some steel brackets and you
wont have to mess with it again. Society is going backwards. They
used to make durable materials. Now everything is junk plastic crap.

Mark



Plastic decays? Does Greenpeace know of this?

I have some shelves with plastic supports for 20 years that are still
perfect. You'd be amazed at the properties of some plastics. And they
don't rust or corrode.


Plastic lasts a really long time, but I've run into a lot of plastic
that gets brittle over time (10 or more years).

For shelf brackets, I'd prefer steel.

Every so often a plastic candy wrapper or toy will get into my
compost heap. It's always interesting seeing the wrapper or toy
turn up a few years later still shiny and looking new. Everything
else has turned to dirt but the plastic is in there for the long
haul.
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Chris Lewis
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

According to Dan Espen :

Every so often a plastic candy wrapper or toy will get into my
compost heap. It's always interesting seeing the wrapper or toy
turn up a few years later still shiny and looking new. Everything
else has turned to dirt but the plastic is in there for the long
haul.


Depends on the plastic, how well it was made, and what it's been
exposed to. Temperature cycling and exposure to harsh cleansers
(ie: chlorine bleach) or UV can cause many plastics to embrittle or
even disintegrate.

Several of the plastic parts of our fridge have gotten rather
fragile. It's over 20 years old, so it's somewhat understandable.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.
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mm
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

On Mon, 26 Dec 2005 03:41:32 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


Plastic decays? Does Greenpeace know of this?


I didn't know about this, but I do find aluminum soda pop cans in
the woods near my home, and they have big holes in them from just
sitting there for 3 or 5 years. I'd been led to believe they last
forever, but it seems not.

I have some shelves with plastic supports for 20 years that are still
perfect. You'd be amazed at the properties of some plastics. And they
don't rust or corrode.



Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.
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George E. Cawthon
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message

I'd like to find these idiots that make plastic supporting brackets.
Plastic is not a durable material, and either fails from weight, or
from decay, and that wont be long. Get some steel brackets and you
wont have to mess with it again. Society is going backwards. They
used to make durable materials. Now everything is junk plastic crap.

Mark




Plastic decays? Does Greenpeace know of this?

I have some shelves with plastic supports for 20 years that are still
perfect. You'd be amazed at the properties of some plastics. And they
don't rust or corrode.



Well a lot goes to hell quickly. The plastic
sheets used to cover stuff (2-6 mill), e.g., for
painting and other uses, seem to shred very
quickly from UV light.

Otoh, the my black plastic 1" pipe lying on top of
the ground for 20 years of rain, snow, freezing,
boiling hot sun, 100 + degrees, full sunlight,
etc. continues to do its job just fine. Exposed
like that it is it has probably aged the
equivalent of 100 years in a buried state.

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RicodJour
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Oh yeah, I'd borrowed a mirror out of wifey's purse
to let me see where to stick that hot screw in.


"where to stick that hot screw in"
Jeff? It's a family newsgroup, okay?

A few observations/questions:
Since you were looking in a mirror, didn't you actually push the stub
in?
Did the stub appear smaller (as in a rearview mirror)?
How many hands do you have? I counted about four before I lost track.

R



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Jeff Wisnia
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

RicodJour wrote:

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Oh yeah, I'd borrowed a mirror out of wifey's purse
to let me see where to stick that hot screw in.



"where to stick that hot screw in"
Jeff? It's a family newsgroup, okay?


Since I'm going to hit the big "seven oh" in another few weeks I feel
perfectly entitled to act like a dirty old man and couch my descriptions
in prurient terms. G

One of the few nice things about reaching an age where everything making
up your body either leaks, dries up, falls out, or breaks ... is that
people can't call you a "fresh young punk" anymore when you insult them.

I realized I'd crossed a midline point about 15 years ago when I
admonished a young twit who was filling up her car next to mine at a
self serve station while dangling a lit cigarette in her free hand ...
about a foot away from her car's fillpipe. Her response to me, which I
still remember word for word was, "What's the matter you old fart, do
you want to live forever?"


A few observations/questions:
Since you were looking in a mirror, didn't you actually push the stub
in?
Did the stub appear smaller (as in a rearview mirror)?
How many hands do you have? I counted about four before I lost track.


I'll take the Fifth on those, please.

But I did find it frustratingly/interesting to note that while I can
easily shave my face and comb what's left of my hair using a mirror, it
wasn't easy to position that hot screw over the peg's location while
looking at the reflected view. It took a second heating of the screw
before I got practiced enough to put it where It had to go.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."
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dadiOH
 
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Default The Sweet Smell of Melting Plastic...

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

But I did find it frustratingly/interesting to note that while I can
easily shave my face and comb what's left of my hair using a mirror,


Not to mention tie a tie. In fact, that is the *only* way I can do it
easily; i,e, I find it difficult to tie one on someone else.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico


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