I figured it out!!!

The final stage of my scrap plastic-to-pellet project involves ensuring that the material flows properly through the feed hopper.

I awoke in the middle of the night and realized that this is the same issue encountered with the extrusion machine. The difference is that I am now feeding the material down a 6-inch (150 mm) circular opening rather than a 2 × 3-inch (50 × 75 mm) rectangular opening.

It is the same problem, only with a differently oriented hopper.

I have therefore devised a rather unconventional solution. I will construct a bracket above the machine and suspend a probe-like device into the feed hopper, positioning it so that it terminates just above the feed rollers. The probe will be mounted on rubber to permit limited movement, and a vibrator motor will be attached to it.

When powders and flakes are subjected to vibration at appropriate frequencies, they behave like fluids. This is analogous to the principle underlying oobleck, a shear-thickening fluid.

It is Saturday morning here. I am calling an employee in to work so that I need not wait until Monday to test the arrangement.

update

Installed a mounting bracket and suspended a angle bar with the vibrator into the feed hopper.  It was more reliable but still can be much better.  Revising the design to try after lunch.  Basically a 18 inch length of round bar suspended on a chain and the vibrator attached to that.  

update.  that idea worked not so mucho.  

Ordered the rubber isolation mounts i use on the other machine.  Put everything away, called it a weekend.

Why Filipino men wear helmets on their elbows

 I see Filipino men wearing full face helmets on their elbow, rather than their head all the time.

I finally know why.

You dont want to put a 50 dollar helmet on a 10 cent head.

random comment replies..

I was reading comments on X about the middle east.  Dude was so clueless.  Grand geopolitical expert but never been to the Gulf..

Lemme tell you one thing bout the Persian gulf.  Those fuckers got more money than God.  

Kuwait, the sheer numbers of mansions is unbelievable.  7 series BMW cars thrown away like hoopties.  Not so much sports cars, but the place is pretty damn nice. You do not need Arabic in any of the Gulf countries. 

https://streema.com/radios/Radio_Kuwait_Super_R_Kuwait_Super

Bahrain, the nightlife is another level.  Spent a fraction for a night on the town as I have in NYC and LA and had a blast.  

Dubai..  nice but expensive as hell.  

Re fence panels.  I am very familliar with hog panels.  Grew up in Wisconsin.  We was beekeepers, but i did farm work on the side.

Re safety guards.  Wasnt installed yet.  Needed to make sure it worked before buttoning it up for safety.  My not so bright helper is not allowed to operate anything without guards and safety.  Hard worker, but not so bright.

Plastic Pellet Mill updates

 I re-visited the plastic pellet mill project again.  I checked my records, to see this has been a on and off again 5 year saga.

This time, I pulled the motor off, added belt, pulley, and jackshaft to slow it down by half.

Moderate success. 

Except my die is really large hole size.  I dont know where the smaller die went after the move, so I had to order a new one.  -----update found the die-----

I really just need the purpose built machine, but lacking the funds, I make things do with this.

The machine mod, was rather creative.  The motor and coupler  is 28mm but I only have 1 inch round shafting, bearings, and pulley.

So I built up one end of the shaft for the coupler by welding beads on it, then sending to the machine shop, turn it down to 28mm, and cut a keyway.  It fit perfect.

I had a stock bore 28mm 3 inch pulley in inventory, so that went on the motor. A 1 inch stock bore 6 inch pulley went on the shafting.  With 2 slightly used belts, we was cookin.   Belt is tensioned by putting the motor mount on 2 barrel gate hinges.

The coop is below:

update...  Kinda....  It is not hot enough, so adding the 2 rollers that was removed in previous experiment.

It works!  But I need to add in a stir bar and adjust the cutting blade to be shorter.  It only fed well when someone stirred if vigorously with a plastic stick.  I also added in powdered charcoal for coloring and to make it not quite so thin when melted.  

re Arched stock panels

 I got the one support in the middle remaining.  The panel wires are a bit thin compared to 4 inch hog panel.  

It rained half the day yesterday so the birds hid under the A frame shelters most of the day.  

Changed the feeds this week to a cheaper mix of whole wheat and or barley looking stuff mixed with a little cracked corn.

It is the cheapest in the feed store, but weirdly, the birds go crazy for it.  They sqwak loudly when it gets put out. Even the bantam chicks go crazy for it.

i  am suspecting the more expensive stuff is shit.

There is a slighty more expensive feed with added split peas, and mung beans, i will have them taste test next.    

I dont like Trump

 

HAHAHA  I posted this in the Star Trek shitposting without commie admin FB page.  My feed reaction  if just a blur of notifications.

Chickens got a new home

Got paid today, so I used a little of the money to buy three more fence panels. They are 6 × 20-foot panels of 2-inch mesh.

I formed each panel into an arch measuring 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall. The arches were overlapped by 6 inches, and the wires were bent over to weave the panels together. Four pieces of ¾-inch rebar were cut for stakes, and a single 7-foot center post was installed.

The work went reasonably well, except that we were dealing with 4-foot-high weeds, so two of the panels did not join perfectly. It was raining, and the birds kept wandering out of the half-finished enclosure, so we pressed on.

The completed run uses four panels to create a length of roughly 20-odd feet, with one additional panel cut in two to form the ends and a door.

Oddly enough, this is the tamest batch of chickens I have ever kept. The Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Rocks, and a couple of pure-black birds were easy to catch. My worker has trained them to come when he calls. I easily caught two of the largest roosters to check whether they were heavy enough for the table; unfortunately they still need a few more weeks to make good roasting birds. One of them seemed to enjoy being handled—Sexytary caught it and was petting it while the bird made no protest.

Tomorrow it is back, yet again, to the plastic pellet mill project that i posted previously. I know I need the large professional unit; however, I lack the roughly $8,000 required to purchase it. Hence the continuing experiments with the feed mill.

I also gave away approximately 15 tons of plastic this week from the old shop. I simply have no room for it without densifying it into pellets. I am also tired of paying rent on two locations.

In addition, the last time I was at the old shop, my nemesis—the Chinese forked-tongue devil—stood across the street glaring at me. I now have workers performing the heavy labor and another handling the logistics, which is a welcome relief from that stress.

Hopefully that chapter of the old shop will be closed in my life next week.

Nice Try AI

 

I called it months ago. SHTF. It has a name now.

 I cleaned up Matt Brackens graphic in Grok with the prompt:  Make this look like 1960's National Geographic map.

Short pointless lives.

 

HealthRanger

@HealthRanger

·

4h

While I am blessed to be able to interview some of the smartest people in the world, I remain aghast at the utter lack of knowledge among the "ignorant masses." Most people don't know a thing about food ingredients. They don't know where energy comes from. They don't know where their own organs are located in their own body. They don't know how mechanical things work, not even at a basic level (like combustion engines). They don't know basic first aid or emergency medicine for self-treatment. They are completely clueless when it comes to geography. They don't know what money is. (And they certainly don't understand compounding interest.) They don't know how computers work, or how storage devices function. The average person is a walking biological shell of cognitive emptiness. And their lack of fundamental curiosity prevents them from ever making the effort to learn anything that matters. But they are total experts in fashion, sports and celebrities, of course. They know all the latest trends pushed by shallow influencers, but they have zero knowledge of what's happening in the world and why their life is becoming more difficult by the day. Michael Yon told me in a recent interview that he believes these people will go to their graves never knowing what happened to them. Why they were starving. Why their currency stopped having value. Or why they could no longer afford fuel or housing. I think Yon is correct. The oblivious masses will NEVER know what impoverished them or killed them. Even in death, there will be no great realization. No divine light of knowing. It will just be ignorance, oblivion and death. Don't be like those people. Understand the world. Learn how things work. Think critically about literally everything. Otherwise, you will one day die as an obedient, oblivious, inconsequential shred of cosmic nothingness. Or, you could choose to live a life with purpose, with knowledge, passion, curiosity and wisdom. Choose that path and you will have lived a life that matters. And you won't have wasted your time in this sim.