Aluminium (and other undesirable stuff)

As I grow older, I come to realise more and more that the most important personal resource that we have is the human brain.  Our physical abilities gradually fade away so that, eventually, all we have left that makes life worth living, is our consciousness.  When that goes, we might as well go as well.  Consequently, our brains should be cherished and protected throughout our lives.

I feel so sad when I see someone who has developed dementia, and see the effect on their loved ones, and I pray that it will not happen to me or my close family.

Dementia as a symptom of alzheimer's disease, or for other reasons, certainly seems to be increasing rapidly and it may therefore be concluded that it is at least in part due to the substances to which we are exposed due to our modern lifestyle.

Because of this, I feel it is of prime importance to monitor these substances that have either been proved to be at the root of this problem - or even just might be the cause.

Of these substances thought to affect us in this way, the most prolific seems to be aluminium.  (Yes, I know there are lots of other substances that adversely affect our brains but at the present I want to focus on aluminium.)  It is so useful that it is used everywhere we look, but until about a hundred years ago, very little in metallic form was around.  We make so many things out of the metallic form, mainly alloyed with other metals, that we come into direct contact with it all the time these days.

Of course, non-metallic aluminium is extremely plentiful naturally in the form of salts, oxide and other compounds - about the third most plentiful stuff there is on Earth after oxygen and silicon - making up about 8% of the earth's "stuff".

We are also told that the toxicity of aluminium extends to it being a carcinogen as well as affecting our brains, but I guess that is a separate issue.

We MUST ingest fairly large quantities due to cooking in aluminium pans and wrapping our food in foil.  I've seen lots of information regarding the inadvisability of using aluminium associated with cooking but nothing about the use of foil to wrap cold food. The use of aluminium containers on prepped food seems to have died out, probably due to the use of microwave ovens and the fact that plastic wrapping and tubs have become so ubiquitous.  Of course,  the use of these alternatives will diminish because of environmental reasons, and something else will come into vogue.

OK, so we should avoid aluminium cooking utensils; got that! So what should we use instead? 

The choices seem to be; non-stick coating on aluminium (or whatever), ceramic coating or steel.

Most non-stick coatings are teflon -or PTFE - although other stuff is emerging.  If this wears off, it means that we have probably ingested it (and we are told that this is not good at all) and are then back to cooking in a worn pan with exposed aluminium.

I don't know about ceramic coatings but I assume that these are OK if they stay intact.

Steel (or iron) seems to be the healthiest alternative.  The problem is that spun steel pans are cheap but, as steel is not as good at conducting heat as aluminium, you get hot spots that burn your food (and the pans), and cast iron pans cost an absolute bomb and are very heavy.

There is an anecdote regarding a doctor from the Philippines who, having qualified, returned to his rural area of origin to practice.  He found that a very large percentage of the local population were anaemic.  He had a brainwave and had a large number of small fish cast in iron and issued these to his patients.  The fish was a good luck symbol and they were told to drop their fishes into the cooking pot where some iron was absorbed into the food thereby reducing the local instances of anaemia.

My vote would therefore be for steel or iron cooking pots, although it might be necessary with cheaper pans to take other measures to reduce hot spots.  Let's face it though, most Chinese restaurants cook with thin steel woks and use the uneven distribution of heat to keep the cooked food warm on cooler areas while carrying on cooking the other stuff on the hot spots.

Anyway, that's enough about cooking; what about purposely introducing aluminium into our bodies?

I see two obvious instances of this; vaccinations and deodorants! (If you think of anything else please let me know at once so I can stop using it.)

You can read all about vaccinations using the links below, but I was prompted to research this when that nice Donald Trump said there was no way he was going to have a flu shot.  (I guess he has the best and most expensive advice available).I have always avoided flu shots because I'm not certain what is in them and am suspicious about why "they" want us to have them so badly.  It seems I was right because there is an awful lot of very undesirable stuff in a flu shot including - aluminium!

It turns out that the statistics have all been massaged to exaggerate the incidence of "true" flu by grouping it with other illnesses with similar symptoms and with pneumonia. The overall picture reeks of a money making scheme together with Scrooge's  famous line in A Christmas Carol; "Decrease the surplus population!!  How better to target the undesirable elderly community who no longer contribute to the economy.  It should be noted that the flu shots for the elderly are "high strength" and would serve this purpose even better!.

OK, I'm not asking anyone to go along with this view on a surreptitious "Pathway Plan", but if you read the articles at the end of the links I provided you will see all the stuff they are pumping into us - well everyone but me that is - and you if you are wise.  

Aluminium is usually included in flu vaccinations in order to provoke a body response and make the stuff work.  However, the up and up studies show that it actually doesn't work anyway.  Other shots also tend to include aluminium for the same reason.

Like Donald, I won't let them pump these into me without a struggle.

Now, what about those deodorants?  Well, they seem to contain aluminium, which is particularly alarming because we spray it all over the lymph glands under our arms.  As a large, hairy, get stuck in, man, I tended to use a large amount of these preparations which was very worrying.  Obviously, I needed to try something else.

I read that bi-carb was an effective deodorant so I thought I'd give that a try.

The problem was how to make it adopt its allocated place beneath the arms.  I solved this by mixing it with germoline. I tried this for a week with great success.   But then I had a brainwave!  How do I know it's not the germoline rather than the bi-carb doing the business?  Further tests without bi-carb proved this to be the case.  So I now use germoline as a deodorant, which is proving very much more effective and longer lasting than the deodorant sprays I previously used - and the bi-carb was discontinued.  This must be due to the anti-bacterial properties of germoline which contains a low dose of phenol - or carbolic acid.  I guess that any suitable antiseptic cream would work. Of course, there is little perfume associated with this, but that suits me.

Go on, try it.  Nobody will know!

That's it then; shun vaccinations, aluminium cooking pans and foil, and stop using deodorant in order to increase your chances of avoiding dementia.  As aluminium is also thought to be a carcinogen, all this is a no-brainer.

Make sure you visit these links and pay particular attention to the ingredients included in flu vaccine.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/01/28/trump-warns-against-flu-shot-for-good-reason-i-dont-like-injecting-bad-stuff-into-your-body/

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/new-flu-season-pain-profit-and-politics

Kevin Smith

How to Convert an Angle Grinder to a Bench Grinder

It occurred to me some time ago what a waste of time it was buying a cheap bench grinder.

You know, the pony little things that tempt you with a low price.  Then, you get home and try them only to find that they only have a 150W motor and slow down when you start to think about using them.  What a waste of space!

However, (I thought), what about those nice little angle grinders that they turn out so many of that they sell for peanuts – well, very cheaply.  These are typically rated at 500W, rotate at 10-11000 rpm and accept a 115mm disc.  They have fittings that allow the use of cutting and grinding discs and they accept wire brushes, core drills, etc. 

You have the options of buying a good quality item or going for cheap and replacing more often.  In my location these cheap versions typically cost £15; the green one in the photographs cost £8 and has completed 2 grueling days in hot sun of virtually continuous running in order to wire brush lime deposits off my swimming pool (as well as, more recently, cutting lumps of steel for which it was patently too small).  A drill mounted brush was useless for this because hand drills typically only rotate at 1800 rpm on full squeeze of the trigger.

What, I thought, if I was to make a bracket that would let me put the angle grinder in the vice to give me an extra hand for working?  That was it though.  I thought about it and then left it for a couple of years – as usual.  Usually, by this time, someone else has done the job, so I guess I won’t be the first with this type of adaptation. There are a string of inventions that made millions that I may have thought of first.

This week I felt creative, so I slotted the development of this adapter bracket into my crowded schedule.

I found that the grinders are supplied with a handle that can be fitted in two opposite locations for left and right handed use.  This was an obvious site for attaching my bracket.  The handle is fitted by means of a tapped hole on each side of the main case casting giving the two locations.  The holes are tapped out to accept an M8 screw.  The width of the casting between the two holes I originally measured as 65mm (regretfully using a tape measure and stupidly assuming that the distance would be a round figure).  When I came to fit my bracket to the grinder,I found this distance to be between 67 and 69 mm depending on the manufacturer, and I had to adapt my bracket accordingly. (It was also necessary to remove residual “flash” from the case casting in this area to make the fitting “snug”.

As I am without proper machine tools, the models were all made with basic stuff like a pistol drill, vice, hammer, the grinder and a welder.  I know that most people will have everything except the welder, but you could either pre-fabricate and bolt together (not recommended) or find someone to weld it for you – most garages have a MIG welder which will do a much better job than my cheapy stick welder.

For my “A” model, I cold formed (beat it to shape with a hammer in the vice) a length of 4mm x 30mm strap iron to wrap around the end of the grinder.  I cut a slot in either side for fitting to the grinder and for allowing adjustment as the disc wears down.

The slots were cut by drilling a hole at each end and joining these up with the angle grinder, then finishing with a file so that an M8 screw could slide easily along the slot.

Next, I made the bit that joins to this bracket for clamping in the vice. I used 25mm square section steel for this and welded the parts together. Actual sizes are not fussy.

Then, on the “A” model, I joined the two parts together, but don’t do this yet.

I know that’s a weird angle, but I tried to join the original sketches together. Never mind!

However, you can see the oversight as soon as you get to grips with this view.  The tool rest runs into the bracket attaching to the grinder limiting access to the left of the disc.

So, in the “B” model I improved this a bit by welding a plate across the bracket and cutting away the surplus material.

You can see that the left hand side of the toolrest  is still slightly obstructed by the new plate. The view is not quite right I know, but I don’t have a drawing package and had to do these sketches in WORD.

If I make another I will add a small plate to the left of the first modification, stepped backwards slightly to clear the grinder body.  Then remove the surplus material

To hold the grinder in the bracket you could use simple M8 screws, but I welded M10 or M12 wingnuts onto M8 screws and cut these to length so that they just didn’t bottom in the tapped holes in the casting.  I allowed for a lock washer to be used. (Take care to make off the screw ends nicely as the casting is aluminium and would be easily damaged by hacked off steel screws,) 

To adjust for different fixing centres or to correct errors, you can put a double set in the fixing bracket if necessary – a bit of fine tuning.

The above example increases the distance between fixings.

Here are pictures of the “B” model fitted in a small vice.

I guess that a manufactured item would be pressed from something like 3mm sheet steel.  Well beyond my home capabilities.

Get in touch if you have any comments.

All the best.

Kev

Home Lawnmower Blade Sharpening

Lawnmower Blade Sharpening

The blades on rotary lawn mowers lose their edge fairly quickly.  This is because there is a compromise taken in the design of the machine that decides that the steel from which the blade is made needs to be fairly soft to minimise chipping due to stones hitting the blade.  A blade that holds its edge would soon have lumps knocked out of it by the stones.

Consequently, the blade needs sharpening fairly often in order to maintain a reasonably clean cut.  A blunt blade will still cut due to the high speed of rotation, but it will cut damp grass much more cleanly if it is sharp.  Also, an electric mower will rotate at less rpm than a petrol mower and will therefore depend more on having a sharp blade.

The problem with home sharpening is that it is necessary to remove the same amount of material from each end of the blade or the balance of the blade will be affected leading to vibration.  You can get it nearly right on the first couple of sharpening, but eventually, the blade will go out of balance and shake up the mower unnecessarily. It might even lead to the blade becoming dangerously loose.

To minimise this problem you can either take the blade to a mower shop and get it sharpened in a jig that keeps it balanced by virtue of removing the same amount of material from each end, replace the blade with a new one, or have a go at balancing it yourself.

Assuming that you are not technically inept.- in which case you would never manage to get the blade off anyway - and have access to at least a suitable spanner and a decent file, you will probably be able sharpen the blade yourself and thereby extend its useful life.

The first problem is to get the blade off.  When I was younger it was commonplace to fix the blade on with a nut having a left hand thread, but all the modern machines I have encountered use a standard right handed fixing. Just check the manual to make sure before trying to undo the nut in case you are just tightening it further.

VERY IMPORTANT: REMOVE THE LEAD FROM THE SPARK PLUG BEFORE YOU START. Otherwise you might spend the rest of your life making unintentional rude gestures.

Be careful how you tip the machine around or the oil will run out or end up in the cylinder giving you a problem either cleaning up or getting the mower restarted.  Most Briggs and Stratton engines have the oil filler at the pushing end and will tolerate raising the pushing handle a bit.  It would be best to stand the mower on bricks or wood blocks to raise it off the ground, then lie beside it to access the blade. Some repairers tighten the filler cap and lie the machine on the carburettor  side

I use a motorist’s socket set to undo the fixing but a good ring spanner or open ended one would do the job.  The socket set gives you the option of increasing the torque with a length of pipe over the handle.  The only thing stopping the blade rotating is the engine brake, so you will probably need to wedge the blade.  Mower manufacturers are not nice enough to provide a way of locking the blade, so I use a length of 50mmx50mm wood between the blade and the deck.  However, I make a point of ALWAYS buying a mower with a metal deck.  If yours is plastic, you’ll have to find a way of whacking the spanner with a hammer to use the engine’s inertia to loosen the blade. Of course, you may be lucky and the blade fixing might not be too tight.

The blade when removed may be found to be a simple plate, have a slight twist on each end like a propeller, or have a bent over flap on the trailing edge. 

The simple plate is straightforward and should be reversible to effectively get cutting life out of both pairs of edges.  If you are careful, you can easily keep this type in balance by treating each half the same.

The propeller shape gives the same reversibility and also provides a fan action to suck the grass upright before chopping it off.  This sucking action can also be designed to assist the chopped grass into the catcher box.

The type with bent over flaps may have some esoteric use not apparent to me but, the flaps should increase the air flow.  However, unless the flap bits have a special use in cutting, the blade is not reversible.

Since the blade is not made from particularly hard steel, a good quality file is the best tool to do sharpening at home, unless the blade is badly chipped and worn, in which case a small angle grinder of bench grinder can be used to restore the original shape..  Sharpen by draw filing retaining as much as possible the same form as the original and trying to remove the same amount from each edge.

You need a special device to properly balance the blade dynamically, but first order balance can be achieved statically.  (Whatever the balance device adverts say.) To statically balance the blade, find a chrome tool with nearly the same diameter as the fixing hole, or at least get a bolt near the right size.  Insert the tool or bolt into the blade and ideally fit this assembly into a vise with the blade vertical to allow it to spin freely.

Note which end of the blade tends to point down and work out where you can remove some metal near the end of this. Don’t reduce the length, remove metal from trailing edge or reshape to be the same as the other end and re-sharpen.  Approach a final state of balance slowly so as not to remove too much metal. The closer to the end you remove metal the more effective it will be.  If a fair amount of metal needs removing you will need a grinder to do this within a reasonable time frame.

When the blade doesn’t tend to favour any particular side, refit it into the mower and do up the fixing bolt fairly tightly. Remember that the normal direction of rotation is clockwise from above the mower and therefore anticlockwise below in order to work out which way to fit the blade with the cutting edge leading.

Replace the spark plug and let the mower stand awhile for the oil to all run back into the sump.  The vibration will hopefully be less, which is less stressful and should lengthen the mower’s life

This may get you an extra couple of sharpenings out of the blade before you need to replace it.