(I Love) Scrap Minicel

[Guest]

I love having boxes and boxes of odd scrap minicel. I wanted to move Joel’s Nomad off the temporary sawhorse racks so I could mow the tall grass undernearth.

P6160016 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

The foam blocks cushioning and supporting the hull below the Nomad’s bulkheads are made to wedge onto 2x4 sawhorse crossbars for shop boatwork. But every crossbar on the main rack is capped with PVC pipe, and those straight cut foam blocks wedges don’t work very well in that guise.

There is an empty slot on the far side of that rack; those crossbars purposefully build closer together to better support shorter canoes. A measurement to check and, sure enough, those rack crossbars are centered directly under the bulkheads on the Nomad. 18’ 10” isn’t exactly a short hull, but the distance between bulkheads is perfectly spaced at those crossbars. Time to move the Nomad onto the racks.

I needed to cut some custom minicel blocks to accommodate the PVC pipe sleeves on that storage rack. I had hopes that the box of minicel cylinders would prove useful.

P7260003 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I always hope those cylinders will prove useful for some purpose. Nope, too small. I do have virgin slabs of 3 and 4 inch thick minicel that would work, but hate to cut up/drill out that precious and pricey stuff just to store a kayak for a few months.

Ah ha, the oft overlooked giant box of minicel scrap.

P7260002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

That minicel is actually scraps of scraps. Those leftover pieces started out as a kayak manufacture’s dumpster-destined remains from cutting oval minicel bulkheads from rectangular minicel slabs. The best of the |\ pieces were flat side contact cemented together to make usefully large minicel blocks for sundry purposes. That box is WTF saved scrap of once-cut scrap.

Still, there are some biggish pieces of minicel left. Big enough that, hummm, if I offset a hole saw, leaving a 1 ¾” gap at the bottom, the cushion should set firmly on the PVC capped crossbars. Worth a shot, I got nothing to lose but scrap minicel.

P7270006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Oh hell yeah, that is perfect. And t’was free.

P7270007 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

So perfect that I need to make another 4-pack of decked hull cushions. The freebie ethafoam packing material crossbar cushion for other decked hulls has UV degraded into smushed & crusty uselessness, and was not custom hole-saw cut to envelope the PVC.

P7270012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I had only two useful pieces of the 4” white minicel and needed two more, and found nothing appropriately sized in the scrap box. Screw it, in for a penny, in for a few bucks; I slab cut and drilled a Yoga block, and had some leftover Yoga block once slab cut.

P7270013 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

About the PVC pipe cap on the crossbars – if you have a slide on/off style rack, and canoes with flange washers topside on the gunwales, that slit PVC cap allows the hull to slide on/off slick as snot on a doorknob, without the washers gouging out pieces of wood crossbar each time.

So slick that you better tie the canoes to the rack for wind restraint, but that’s a small price to pay. After a microburst passed across the property and threw some heavy, middle # slot boats off the outside storage rack, vaulting them clear onto the lawn, I tie everything down anyway.

 

[lowangle al]

Mike, you could label that box "minicel scraps, too short to save." I have a box like that for string and lumber.

 

[Guest]

Mike, you could label that box "minicel scraps, too short to save." I have a box like that for string and lumber.

You know my shop, or my labeling tendencies, too well. Aside from a stack of virgin 1”, 2” and 3” minicel on a shelf there are boxes labeled “Minicel Cylinders”, Minicel Chunks, Large”, “Minicel Curves & Wedges” and “Minicel Bulkhead Scraps”.

And yes, there is a box labeled “Junk Rope” and a box labeled “Good Rope”. When Doug comes to visit I stuff a bag of “Scrap rope too short to use” under his car seat before he leaves. Lucky fellow.

About the “Minicel Bulkhead Scraps”, if you have a kayak manufacturer nearby it is worth asking what they do with their minicel scraps left over from cutting out bulkheads. The answer is “Throw it away”, and those are some usefully large “scraps” of minicel.

 

[flyingbison]

And yes, there is a box labeled “Junk Rope” and a box labeled “Good Rope”. When Doug comes to visit I stuff a bag of “Scrap rope too short to use” under his car seat before he leaves. Lucky fellow.

Reminds me of when my grandfather died. My parents found several boxes labeled "dryer lint" in his basement. No idea what he was saving it for, but that's exactly what was inside.

 

[recped]

Reminds me of when my grandfather died. My parents found several boxes labeled "dryer lint" in his basement. No idea what he was saving it for, but that's exactly what was inside.

Firestarter?

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-make-lint-fire-starters-1388857

 

[gumpus]

Firestarter?

Would make good sound/noise insulation too, that's basically what's underneath the carpet in many cars.

 

[goonstroke]

It's the aluminum scraps that bring out the packrat in me. Part of a SteamVac mop handle made its way into one of my boats when I went deckless. With pee-wee thwarts who needs endcaps.

 

[Guest]

It's the aluminum scraps that bring out the packrat in me.

Goonstroke , I have a box of metal parts that would set your heart a atwitter. Not actually a box, two old metal file cabinet drawers full of beefy L-brackets and bolts that are each at the limit of weight I want to pick up.

In my laboratory days our facility used Sanyo -80c and -150C freezers, and developed a large freezer farm. Those are $10,000+ freezers. When they shipped from Japan Sanyo took no chances; those are the pinnacle of ultra-low temp freezers, but Sanyo’s packaging was the ne plus ultra of crating.

Those Sanyo’s arrived encased in a cardboard sheathing full wood frame, with multiple layers of padding and bubble wrap inside, and they were a PITA to unpack. Until I realized that the frame was bolted together using multiple insanely beefy L-brackets and bolts, and would unfold like a flower petal if I removed each bolt and bracket.

1/8 inch thick steel L-brackets. I accumulated hundreds of those beefy steel L-brackets. Times three that many ½” dia x 5” bolts, with nuts and washers. I sure as hell wasn’t throwing all that metal in the dumpster 20 feet away on the loading dock. Hell, it wasn’t even my responsibility to uncrate that stuff, but sure, I’ll help, and let’s just toss all the brackets and bolts in this satchel while we are at it.

These brackets and bolts, and many more where those came from.

P8120001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

I built parts of our canoe trailer with those brackets (local welder), used them to build a couple never-fail canoe racks, built a permanent rack for a friend’s pick up bed. I still find a use for them every now and then. And that file cabinet drawer of L-brackets and bolts/nuts/washers is still too for me too heavy to pick up. Seems to have gotten mysteriously heavier with age.

Anyone local, come and get you some.

That loading dock was a scavenger’s gold mine. People would throw away perfectly good office chairs because one caster had broken. If it was a crappy chair I would strip the remaining casters and use them to repair nice office chairs.

Let’s just say I made a lot of work-friends who didn’t have the budget for a new HON Aeron chair. And yeah, I have four wheeled chairs in the shop and office, and some conveniently wheeled platforms. And a lifetime supply of casters.

P8130004 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

 

[sailsman63]

I realized that the frame was bolted together using multiple insanely beefy L-brackets and bolts, and would unfold like a flower petal if I removed each bolt and bracket.

Chances that this was listed in the un-crating instructions that no-one had read? Or management forgot to pass on that part of the packet?

 

[Conk]

Wow, my used caster can is near empty. I know of a perfectly ok office chair in boiler room storage because of a busted wheel. I figure, if I'm patient, the owners might tire of storing the broken furniture and it will show up in the dumpster. In which case, I will be in need of a caster with a 7/16" diameter post approximately 7/8" long with 2¼" of height measured from floor to the shoulder of the post.
The only ethical question I have with stealing from a dumpster… Is it ok if I'm the one who broke the caster in the first place?

 

[Guest]

Wow, my used caster can is near empty. I know of a perfectly ok office chair in boiler room storage because of a busted wheel. I figure, if I'm patient, the owners might tire of storing the broken furniture and it will show up in the dumpster. In which case, I will be in need of a caster with a 7/16" diameter post approximately 7/8" long with 2¼" of height measured from floor to the shoulder of the post.

One caster that size? Nope, I started checking with a drill gauge and ruler for those dimensions and quickly gave up. At least half the casters in the box are that size. Way more than I will ever need.

Is it ok if I'm the one who broke the caster in the first place?

Conk. if your wiry frame broke that caster I have to imagine that the others are not far behind. Since I have a box full that size I’d recommend replacing all of the casters. How many do you need? That will only leave me with dozens, but I’ll get by.

BTW, taking stuff from the dumpster, or just before it hits the dumpster, isn’t stealing to my mind; it is adaptive reuse and helps keep stuff out of the landfill.

The loading dock with the Sanyo freezer brackets was an awesome place to scavenge; many of the investigators were flush with grant money. I nabbed perfectly good office chairs that were tossed because someone “didn’t like the color” and got a new one. The wastage there drove me crazy. Or “otherwise” wastage; if it was going in the dumpster I had few qualms. Had to pay by weight to tip that dumpster anyway.

One thing I did not scarf up, that I regret not taking to this day, was shelving.

Not just any shelving. Stainless steel shelving used to house transgenic mouse caging. Those cage racks were seven shelves tall, each shelf 8’ long x 16” deep. The “problem” was that the racks were on large, solid rubber wheels, and went into a giant pass-through autoclave when the bedding was changed.

After repeated trips through the autoclave the rubber wheels began to degrade. Replace the wheels? Nah, just buy new racks.

Those racks were too big to take home intact. Lusting after the shelves I started taking one rack apart, but A) there were eight hex head bolts/nuts/washers/clips on each shelf. Times seven shelves, B) my truck only had a six foot bed and C) I really didn’t have the time to diddle with salvaging scrap for an hour.

A was stupid, those were undoubtedly stainless steel fasterners. B was stupid, I could have driven the van to work one day with the back seats removed. And C was stupid, I really should have found an hour to strip at least one rack. 8’ x 16” SS shelving. Stupidstupidstupid.

My greatest score from the Animal Core was polycarbonate mouse cages, and I had donation paperwork for those. Transparent (autoclave-able) cages, 11” x 7” x 5” tall. There had been a mandated change in the mouse housing size and the Animal Core had to purchase all new cages.

I asked my friend at the Tortoise Reserve if he wanted “some” of those poly mouse cages and he was eager. Less so when I delivered them to North Carolina. I did take the seats out of the van, and filled it with row upon row of mouse cages. Stacked to the van roof, those cages nestle with about an inch rim left. I didn’t count them, but nestled 25 or 30 tall, filling the van, a crap ton of cages.

When I got to the Tortoise Reserve and opened the van doors to show him he muttered a bad word, actually his typical term of endearment “You a@#hole”, and I felt a warm glow all over.

Everyone who visited the Tortoise Reserve for a few years left with some mouse cages. Whether they wanted them of not. Most folks did, and came back for more; these transparent poly bins proved to be perfect aquaria for small turtles and hatchlings, and could be wedge tilted to provide pooled water and dry ground.

Kinda wish I had more than the couple I kept.

 

[Guest]

Serendipity

While I was gauging and measuring five new casters for Conk’s broken chair I noticed that there were a bunch of threaded non-wheel casters and screw-in knobs in that box. More loading dock salvage.

A couple months ago I mailed a friend a pair of DIY padded Load Stops for his new Thule rack. He really should use four, but I only had two to spare.

P9180028 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

He somehow lost one of the screw-in Thule knobs and having a single load stop is kinda useless.

Whadda ya know, the threads on one of the screw in knobs fits the load stop perfectly. Thanks Conk, I went through my box of spare Thule parts to no avail, but wouldn’t have thought to look in the box marked “Casters”

Post office run early next week, probably arrive in time for Christmas.