Thread: Conundrum Curiosity Complex.

How MaCGyver would spend his time after retiring. If Rube Goldberg was just a bit more to the point. If Tim Taylor were less well-equipped, and had spent time in the U.S.M.C. ("adapt & overcome!"). Or maybe just the b@$tard child of all of the above!

This, in a nutshell, is what has become a hobby of its own for myself. It is a mental exercise, in the same sense as when SWMBO & I pause "The Walking Dead" to discuss how WE would handle a dire scenario. With the difference of there being no zombies, and I'm basically trying to "make do" with scrap and/or trash. Most of the time, I find it both entertaining and rewarding, mentally.

There have been a few challenges in this hobby that basically snowballed into existence out of what started as an avalanche called "self reliance". Self reliance -> self educate about various prepping topics -> "What about shaving?... Is there a way to shave without throwing away money (cartridges) every month??" = straight razors etc. -> the current topic of indulging my curiosity*. One such challenge is pacing myself in order to not agitate my wife too severely.

With every year, the words of my father ring louder in my head: "If it's worth doing once, it's worth doing right the first time." I am also never afraid to ask a stupid question or four! I openly admit that I am strange and/or odd. I down right love thinking outside the box! And when one of my hair-brained ideas works out, or proves true a solution, I feel a sense of pride, and sometimes a bit exhilarated. But enough about me!

Many of my obstacles during these endeavors stem from a lack of knowledge of materials, not knowing how to proceed or what technique is needed, or a general lack of funds.

So I have spawned this thread to implore you to assist my mental exercises. I would greatly appreciate any help you can lend me, as I reason & logic my way through a metaphorical labyrinth I generously call "possible solutions". Comments, questions, and criticisms are also welcome (as long as you aren't flagrantly insulting ).

Some ideas will be for/shared with razor restoration. Some ideas will not. A couple examples: human powered table saw could get some use during a razor restoration; the dinosaur I am gonna make from "bread factory trench art" is a gift for my wife. IMO, this thread would be best served in "The Workshop", but won't put up a fight if a Mod were to move it.

Also, those of you that get a kick out of my whackadoodle experiments ("Crawler and His ERN", "Brush Uniform Metrics & Measurements System, or B.U.M.M.S."), you may want to outright subscribe to this thread now .

I encourage anyone else with likewise curiosities to post them here as well! Let's get brainstorming. This is gonna be fun (preferably no "blasts" stronger than a firecracker...)!

*= No small thanks to "Star Trek", and the way it openly embraced the natural curiosity we have as a species!!!

I am intrigued and consider me participating. My whole childhood was spent wanting to be an inventor and taking things apart to make something else.

Human powered table saw would be neat, but would the operator and the person powering the saw be the same? This might make it difficult to keep the razor steady...

I don't really have an issue to be solved at the moment. Currently have a plan for casting scales that I am going to try to start tonight... Will start separate thread for that....

" I'll give you one thing.. you have a unique grinding set up!" MileMarker60

"Victor's grinding is something out of the nutty professor. Had anyone told me about it, I'd have thought that would never have worked. But the results are impeccable" Bruno

I fit right in here.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

" I'll give you one thing.. you have a unique grinding set up!" MileMarker60

"Victor's grinding is something out of the nutty professor. Had anyone told me about it, I'd have thought that would never have worked. But the results are impeccable" Bruno

I fit right in here.

Yes you do my friend. Tc

Originally Posted by bluesman7

" I'll give you one thing.. you have a unique grinding set up!" MileMarker60

"Victor's grinding is something out of the nutty professor. Had anyone told me about it, I'd have thought that would never have worked. But the results are impeccable" Bruno

I fit right in here.

Bluesman7: I'll show you mine, if you show me yours! Lol. Give me a minute to dig up my threads containing my "off the rails" ideas, and I'll add them to this reply...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/brush...tml?highlight=

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...tml?highlight=

This next one... staring at the fine, nearly gone etch of a razor through a 5x eye socket type loupe as I picked away microscopic pieces of resist media FOR HOURS nearly drove me insane. Lol. It was half rant, half showing off some ways I've improvised regarding restores.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...tml?highlight=

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...tml?highlight=

Here, I was spit-balling for improved lighting.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/misce...tml?highlight=

Regarding building lather. And I still lack what would be needed to make such vids.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...tml?highlight=

Hehe, slightly off topic, but another example of my mindset .
http://straightrazorpalace.com/conve...tml?highlight=

Sadly, this thread didn't catch on...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...tml?highlight=

I think that's about it for things that relate to the general topic of this thread.

The timing of something such as a conveyor belt and adjusting saw speeds wouldn't be too difficult. An RPM counter would also be beneficial, because then you could accurately determine your feed rate and saw speed. adjusting speeds wouldn't be too difficult to achieve if you want to stay in the same gear on the bicycle. Just look at how the bicycle changes speeds, that's the easiest way without involving electronics and a VFD, which would defeat the entire purpose of this exercise. If you're going to use rubber belts instead of chains, check out spare parts for drill presses (at least older models) would have a stepped pulley with 3-5 slots you move the belt into. However, all of this will be moot if you don't investigate a cost effective mounting system. Steel/aluminum tubing would probably be easiest to bolt together, but welding would be stiffer...

Agreed. An RPM counter did occur to me, as well. VFD = variable force drive?? I dunno.

I wouldn't mind shifting gears on the bike, but have to decide how I will link it to the machine. I can either remove the tire from the rear rim, then link that via a large enough belt. Or I can add a sprocket to the machine as the first link, switching over to belts from there (using the wheels already at my disposal).

Currently, I don't have anything to build a mounting system from. We have several pallets starting to rot awayn waiting to be used for a project when me & the wife feel like messing with 'em. But those are likely not a good choice for this. There are piles and piles of scrap pipe & other materials at my work from the maintenance department fixing, replacing, and retrofitting equipment every day. I wonder who's leg I'd have to hump to get permission to take some of that off their hands?? It will (eventually) be loaded onto a semi for recycling, but these bins & pallets full of scrap tend to sit around for months or years before they send it out.

An important note about the mounting system. One of the few things I remember from 9th grade shop class: the triangle is the strongest shape. Even without welding, a structure can be very strong.

And your blade will effectively be a wheel, with the work piece as a brake.
High rpm with low torque won't be terribly effective I don't think.
If I was going to do something like this I might use one bike as a power plant and run chains from the rear cogs to the front cogs of 2 other bikes, assuming 21 speed bike used as the main drive one rear cog would be taken to drive the rest of the cassette and then the gearing for the other 2 could be fairly adjustable using the gearing the bike comes with to drive another chain to the motor, a drive belt around the rim or even direct friction drive from the Tyre.
I would probably just saw off the rear triangles of the driven drive trains and fit the rear gear lever to what was left of the frame.

I thank you for your input! But, dear sir, I fear you may need to provide a napkin drawing (rough sketch) of what you have just described. It could be the late hour; or you may have neglected a step or two (likely obvious to you), leaving me unable to connect the dots .

And now for some pics. Took me a few minutes, but I think I dug them all out of the "box lot" I won them in...

On second thought, it won't upload any pics. Maybe I'll reboot the router & try again in the morning.

Originally Posted by Crawler

I thank you for your input! But, dear sir, I fear you may need to provide a napkin drawing (rough sketch) of what you have just described. It could be the late hour; or you may have neglected a step or two (likely obvious to you), leaving me unable to connect the dots .

And now for some pics. Took me a few minutes, but I think I dug them all out of the "box lot" I won them in...

On second thought, it won't upload any pics. Maybe I'll reboot the router & try again in the morning.

This is good, they all look to have the same inner diameter. A solid rod or 4 from the scrap pile in this size would do nicely. Take dimensions and stock of these wheels. It'll help if you want to do some RPM and torque calculations based on your exertion.