repurposing/recycling items for hobby-use

Reminds me of another Bar area re-use item I keep.... some Booze bottle tops are actually LEAD....that I add to my stash of lead weighs

Recently I have had my wife buy a few extra of the Zip Lock brand el-cheapo lidded tubs.... a lot like Tupper Ware items--- but much cheaper and thinner...

They do a good job keeping many of my (I will use this someday) engines, in a better store-able / stack-able way than the Baggies I used to keep them in

I was getting distressed a while back sanding and sanding and then wet sanding----- using up a lot of fairly expensive sanding paper...

I experimented with placing the small pieces in a "delicate items" washing machine bag, and also ran the load with a lot of my soiled shop towels.. light detergent, no bleach, no foo foo smelly stuff.... every thing came out usable

Marleysky wrote:Kippis!” is a very formal way to say “cheers” in Finnish.  There is also the expression “Maljanne” which means “a toast to you, sir” or even “n malja!”, meaning “a toast to” – but these are less common than “Kippis”.

Kippis  to KariFS   Thanks for the tip, an another reason to purchase a wine with a cork and seal.   No Annie Greensprings or Boonsfarm for me anymore!

I save the corks.. You'd think I have enough.. (however many enough is..) I keep them around mostly for their buoyant properties for use as floats.. and such. Spray-paint one fluorescent.. to make a quickee fishing-bobber. I really miss fishing.. haven't been in years.

The skinny tubes from hair spritz bottles, such as the "leave in conditioner" my daughters and wife use are pretty decent for push rod guides in RC applications. There seems to be a couple diameters ranging from skinny to really skinny for different applications. Sadly the rest of the bottle isn't very helpful, well, maybe a canopy but they are never clear.

Phil

I had no idea how many useful tools there are in a kitchen, not my kitchen, I'm no longer left unsupervised around the wife's tools:lol: One day an flying buddy and master builder, took me to an industrial kitchen supply store. We stayed for about an hour and found the most amazing tool toys including all sizes and shapes of bottles for glue, oil, or any other liquid.  There were cups for mixing paint, epoxy, tiny metal spatulas with wooden handles @ 5 for $1.00-just right for spreading/mixing epoxy.  I shaped the thin aluminum on one and now use it for shaping fillets. Lots of plastic containers for parts storage.  What could you do with a 3' X 3' piece of really thin plastic for about $1?  Cheaper that HF.  Not really recycled but but it is like going to the old time hobby shop where your imagination goes crazy.
I agree this is what I love about this hobby and you guys,
Steve

A good free substitute for lite ply in non-critical areas is the plywood from disassembled wooden clementine boxes from Spain. Spanish clementines are plentiful in grocery stores during Christmas season.

Pictured below is my TeeDeeVooDoo plane with its COX 049 muffler cowled inside a threaded aluminum wine cap I repurposed in order to catch the castor droplets escaping the muffler through its fitting imperfections - the spring braclet-covered throttle opening, and the outer rim of the upper black ring. The muffler outer dia is just a bit smaller than the cap inside dia so it fits well inside without letting the cap  vibrate or move. The cylinder fins are also not blocked by the cap so the air cooling for the engine is not expected to be impacted.

I drilled a hole in the middle of the cap just a tad wider than the cylinder neck diameter, and cut recesses in its rim where the exhaust extension and the Tarno carb body interfere.





I have for long wanted to mount a keychain camera on the back of the plane facing forward, but the castor mist is expected to cover its lens in no time.

I am not sure if the wine cap will do what I hope it should....if it directs the castor collected inside it to the bottom of the plane - maybe in the next one I will leave a bit longer skirt for the cap to reach below the fuselage toop level - thus leaving the top airstream hitting the camera lens with no castor droplets, then it will have served its purpose...then I will pop another bottle of wine up for its cap (and contents to celebrate my 21st century engineering skills) to replicate the prototype cowling with a new one to be made with better workmanship.

Can you run a muffler on Tee Dee with original SPI Tee Dee cylinder and piston? I would think you might do better with a 2 port non SPI QZ cylinder for this set up.

Much to my surprise the SPI setup is not crippled by the muffler....I am not sure if it really has a positive effect, but the tip of the exhaust extender (orange silicon tube of large diameter) is pointed a bit backwards and may come under a slight depression during flights so the gases are flushed out from it rather that sucked into the crankcase under the piston skirt...I estimate (by its pitch of sound in comparison with my other TD-s flying without muffler) the unloaded rpm of the engine in the air is near 21k (5x4 COX prop, 20% nitro) so all in all the muffler is not a performance killer...

I tested the goo-guarding wine cap and it stops the castor mist. Some goo still runs in thin streaks from the fuse nose towards the leading edge but passes by the center area where the keychain camera is planned to be fixed so chances are the lens will not be smeared. Will mount the cam this Sunday and shoot a vid on the TeeDeeVooDoo flight that will also audio record the engine sound enabling audio taching the SPI engine unloading with the muffler..stay tuned

Please do. Show us some nice aerial Hungarian scenery.

Well a bit blake mid- winter scenery but a flight vid I shot with a keychain camera on board.

Now that is one smooth singing Tee Dee R/C set up!! How big is fuel tank? I didn't see stock factory pressure fitting in use; are you using any sort of fuel pressure system? If not, that makes that engine run all the more remarkable.

Now, for the scenery part. I had more in mind some sort of slow flying craft (powered Rogallo wing maybe) with a real good camera and you flying it real low and slow over some Budapest plaza on a warm Saturday afternoon with lots of young Hungarian hotties lounging about.

I have balloon tanks in all my COX size RC planes and no pressure system. Some 2oz fuel will feed the TD051 over 10 minutes.

The Budapest hotties (without being overly patriotic or biased, they are probably among the cutest I have ever seen on 5 continents I have so far visited) would probably pee in their panties if my unmuffled TD- s flew over them...at least a way I could make the excited...

I keep a box of Baking-soda on my workbench.. expressly for "kicking" a subject CA glue-joint. I'd been "pinching" the soda.. and sprinkling it where needed. That works ok..

Then.. it was time to dispose of my 1st container of denture adhesive powder... The "puffer-bottle" would be a MUCH more accurate way to apply the baking-soda.

About this baking soda and CA. Does it work for only thin CA, or does it work with thick as well? Also when using it does it have any effect on the strength of a joint using CA?

NEW222 wrote:About this baking soda and CA. Does it work for only thin CA, or does it work with thick as well? Also when using it does it have any effect on the strength of a joint using CA?

Chancey.. I've only "needed" to use an accelerator where I'd applied thin CA.. and it hadn't taken a bond. It doesn't usually take much to do the job. Smooth-out any CA-puddling before applying the baking-soda. Sanding it sucks.. so apply judiciously.

As for the strength of a joint that used accelerator.. I can't give you an answer there.

Yes David!! The cigar tubes have a myriad of uses throughout our hobby.

Who hasn't ordered take-out............ and had their food packed in plastic-trays like these.. with snap-on lids that fit pretty well and are definitely reusable as storage bins?

I've employed one such set as an "EPB".. or Engine Project Box.. (my acronym).. for the last several months.. (longer..) and it now has X4 Cox reed-valve .049 engines in it.



I like the project-box.. because I've kind of made it a resource where I can quickly check many things associated with the Bee engines. The four engines in that container are complete.. but two of them are in different stages of disassembly. (plastic-bagged) I found those two engines this past week.. while clearing-off my work-table. I'd pulled their drive-washers.. and removed their cranks. That might have been two years ago.. I can't remember.. and have no notes.

Maybe one of them could be built for a prop-rod tether-car..

Me for container I like the boxes for my wife's nails once empty of course Already separated with small boxes of different dimensions
It's two boxes, there are just pick-ups of anything lying around I have other better ones who are organized One of the things that I find practical is being able to hang them on a nail Takes up very little space

Where most people see this as trash...




I see a nice little custom clear-canopy..



I guarantee that you'll at least "think" about this post.. before you throw away another piece of clear packaging material.

This is an empty bottle for "over-the-counter" allergy eye-drops. After removal of the (child-proof) cap.. the "nozzle" can be pulled out of the bottle's neck for filling of liquid and then snapped back in for dispensing droplets. Capacity is usually .5oz. which is the perfect size for keeping in a little flight support-box.

I'm going to fill this one with air-tool oil.. which is always good to have on hand at the field.

Hi roddie,
Years back, I got 2oz bottles of school white glue from the dollar store. Twist open/close cap.
Cleaned/dried well. Put automatic trans fluid in for after 'after run oil'.
A staple in my flight box. Works well.
I have a habit of running tanks dry, and while the engine is warm, add a few drops down the carb, turn over a few times.
Works for me,
Dave