(drum roll) the salad spinner centrifuge

[Ron Z]

Elaine asked if I could post this at some point. People laugh when I pull it out at a pen show, but this thing WORKS, and I use it all the time.

I have to give the left coast repair guys credit for the basic idea. But I just couldn't get into the idea of having to stuff a piece of PVC pipe with paper towels etc every time I want to use it, so took their basic idea and modified it.

Starting with a with a basic salad spinner (note: the outer basket is a closed bowl)...

I used the spout of a long, narrow plastic funnel from an auto parts store or Wal Mart to hold the pen. Using an Xacto saw, part of the spout was cut away so that I could grab the end of the pen. Note the notch to fit over the pivot point in the middle. Note too, that the holder sits on top of a ridge in the basket. More on that later.


I drew a bead of hot glue on a ridge, and set the funnel spout on the hot glue. The put a blob of glue on either side, and finally tye-wrapped it in place for extra security. This is a view from the under side.

One other important item - the end ouf the spout is lined up with a solid, wide piece in the basket (just happens to be at the end of the rib). This stops smaller pens and things like 75 or 51 sections from flying out through the holder, and the nib through the holes in the basket. The nib will press against the plastic tab, but that's OK.

Here's a picture of a Sheaffer Flat top in the centrifuge. OH, one other thing. The holder goes in the basket not on the top of the centrifuge!

At the end of the day, just rinse the thing off and let it dry. Have fun!

[p-zero]

WOW! These instructions & pictures are great!

[aunt rebecca]

hi ron,

 

thanks and see you in washington. i'm really getting excited!!!

 

:meow: :bunny1: :meow: :bunny1:

 

 

:ltcapd: :ltcapd: :ltcapd: :ltcapd:

[JimStrutton]

Ron,

 

I take my hat off to The Master and retire from the field.

 

After berating Andy , for not staying with the KISS principle, I am afraid that in my quest for power, I have gone off the rails a bit. In the Lydiard Tregoze, Wilts, Mansion, the final straw was trying to modify the rotary lawn mower on the dining table. I thought I would need at least 5.5 hp as a prototype until we could get Ruaidhri's steam powered design up and built Herself had other ideas and I have been banned from engineering for the rest of the weekend.

 

I have a very simple salad spinner design, but mine has an open bottom, which is not as elegant, also the fastening system for the pen is not as good, in comparison it is non existant. In my defence it cost me about £1.20.

 

So thanks for posting the excellent pictures.

 

This has been an interesting diversion, since we lost:

 

The Football

The Rugby

The Cricket

....................

 

Jim

 

[kissing]

Whatever it is, I know its some fantastic ideas here...but...ummm

 

*puts hands up*

 

What does this centrifuge actually do :blink:? It seems very useful, but for what?

[Ruaidhri]

Although I don't really have a need for it this is something that just HAS to be tried

 

My lab assistant Rachel (it's Sunday, Jim) tried a simpler method - the old trick of putting a Big Red in a crossbow and firing at the wall.

At the end of its travel the ink flew out.

There may be some nib work here for young Binder however and Her Majesty was less than amused at the decorative effect on the wallpaper.

 

Perhaps Ron's suggestion is more practical (he said enviously)

[wdyasq]

  kissing said:

What does this centrifuge actually do :blink:? It seems very useful, but for what?

kissing,

 

The centrifuge is used to help move liquid through the pen. It is an aid in cleansing said devices. Pens can be loaded and water quickly circulated through the nib area rather than pull the section and clean by other methods. It also helps to remove ink and keeps hands cleaner when working on fountain pens. This eliminates part of the challenge of keeping ones hands pristine while working on the cursed devices.

 

One can use Ruaidhri's device and also help dissemble a fountain pen. However, a large hammer will just as quickly open one up and does not require securing it to the bolt of a crossbow. Be sure and wrap the pen in cloth swaddling and aim just behind the nib section to avoid nib work. The swaddling should absorb the ink splatter and avoid the decorative effect on the wallpaper.

 

Ron

[JimStrutton]

  Ruaidhri said:

Although I don't really have a need for it this is something that just HAS to be tried 

 

My lab assistant Rachel (it's Sunday, Jim) tried a simpler method - the old trick of putting  a Big Red in a crossbow and firing at the wall.

At the end of its travel the ink  flew  out.

There may be some nib work here for young Binder however and Her Majesty was less than amused at the decorative effect on the wallpaper.

 

Perhaps Ron's suggestion is more practical (he said enviously)

Now this idea has some merit, but what if you did the firing outside, then that would overcome the objections of the lady of the house, er I mean Tower.

 

(PS Sorry about mentioning 'You Know Who', will keep quiet about that in future. We have a similar family tale involving a landlady and a wet haddock, but I can say no more.)

 

Jim

:ph34r:

Edited July 2, 2006 by JimStrutton

[amh210]

  JimStrutton said:

  In the Lydiard Tregoze, Wilts, Mansion, the final straw was trying to modify the rotary lawn mower on the dining table.  I thought I would need at least 5.5 hp as a prototype until we could get Ruaidhri's steam powered design up and built    Herself had other ideas and I have been banned from engineering for the rest of the weekend.

I usually berate and bribe my son into mowing our miniscule backyard lawn on Sunday mornings.

 

When I moved into this house I bought him an electric lawn mower to keep him from playing with gas, oil, and other flammables. SWMBO is in Kansas City for the weekend and the son is off in camp.

 

That gave me the opportunity to actually implement the rotary mower pen centrifuge. Electric Mowers are much less messy upended on the dining room table. I was able to affix the pen, a green Phileas (not yet ready to try this with the green Pelikan Souverain 1000) on the presumption that the grass might stain the pen but if it were green I would hardly notice.

 

I strapped the pen to the blade with 3 of those plastic tie thingies and went out to mow the lawn. Took me about 30 minutes, but the actual mower-on time is about 8 minutes (the other 22 minutes spent wiping brow, sipping iced tea, and getting the power cord out of the way of the mower blades).

 

There was no noticible impact on the grass (I did a lousy job, as usual) and when I upended the mower on the dining room table again and cut the plastic tie thingies I learned that while it is effective removing ink from the pen, I now face the chore of figuring the best way to remove grass from the pen. I dumped the whole thing in a cup of tepid water and it quickly turned to green soup.

 

After 10 minutes of soak time I fished the pen out and rinsed it and set it to dry. While drying I thought about the green soup and decided to see if chlorophyll is a good dye for ink. I boiled down th soup to a few ounces, strained the soup through a coffee filter and admired my green ink.

 

I usually fill the green Phileas with Levenger's Always Greener so I found a spare converter, a sheaffer school pen (yellow, if you must know) and sucked up some ink.

 

Yup, it wrote. :bunny1:

 

Here are some of the things I learned:

 

Chlorophyll based green ink realy stains. Not pens, shirts.

Chlorophyll based green ink has nice yellow highlihts

Chlorophyll based green ink fades as it dries.

It is really hard to clean the dining room after upending a lawn mower on the table, twice.

Multitasking is a good thing (mowing and pen cleaning).

Boiling grass soup stains aluminum pots.

Boiling grass smells like overcooked cabbage.

Use a mulching mower. If your fixation system fails, you destroy the evidence.

The mower is not affected by the imbalace in blade weight when you affix the pen.

I have other speedy rotary devices that might be susceptable to use for cleaning pens:

String Trimmer from Lawn

Cuisinart

clothes washing machine (spin cycle, only)

old LP turntable (really old; remember 78's?)

Kitchenaid stand mixer

Hubcap attached to my Chrysler Concorde

Computer Hard Disc Drive (if I could figure out how to get it open)

 

Hmmmmmmmmm there is really some dissertation material here.

 

All good wishes,

 

Andy (4/01 on my calendar)

[Ron Z]

  wdyasq said:

  kissing said:

 

What does this centrifuge actually do :blink:? It seems very useful, but for what?

kissing,

 

The centrifuge is used to help move liquid through the pen. It is an aid in cleansing said devices. Pens can be loaded and water quickly circulated through the nib area rather than pull the section and clean by other methods. It also helps to remove ink and keeps hands cleaner when working on fountain pens. This eliminates part of the challenge of keeping ones hands pristine while working on the cursed devices.

 

It's also very useful for keeping ink freckles off of the kitchen curtains, thereby maintaining a degree of harmony in the home.

 

Ron

Who has added to the pattern of his wife's kitchen curtains many times over the last 18 years. :ltcapd:

[Ray]

Andy,

 

Lovely post. I had to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so loud.

 

Seriously, though, I have a cousin who flies helicopters. I'm thinking it could handle more than one pen per rotor blade. What do you think?

 

Ray

[OldGriz]

  Ray said:

Andy,

 

Lovely post. I had to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so loud.

 

Seriously, though, I have a cousin who flies helicopters. I'm thinking it could handle more than one pen per rotor blade. What do you think?

 

Ray

Ray,

Having done my share of time in helicopters and know how they do and don't work... I am not sure if your cousin would appreciate any imbalance to that big fan that sits over him....

[JimStrutton]

Andy,

 

Like it:

  Quote

Here are some of the things I learned:

 

Chlorophyll based green ink realy stains. Not pens, shirts.

Chlorophyll based green ink has nice yellow highlihts

Chlorophyll based green ink fades as it dries.

It is really hard to clean the dining room after upending a lawn mower on the table, twice.

Multitasking is a good thing (mowing and pen cleaning).

Boiling grass soup stains aluminum pots.

Boiling grass smells like overcooked cabbage.

Use a mulching mower. If your fixation system fails, you destroy the evidence.

The mower is not affected by the imbalace in blade weight when you affix the pen.

I have other speedy rotary devices that might be susceptable to use for cleaning pens:

String Trimmer from Lawn

Cuisinart

clothes washing machine (spin cycle, only)

old LP turntable (really old; remember 78's?)

Kitchenaid stand mixer

Hubcap attached to my Chrysler Concorde

Computer Hard Disc Drive (if I could figure out how to get it open)

 

When can you get on a plane for Dublin? We need you on the 'Team' you are our kind of man. I am sure that Ruaidhri will agree that that you have the right kind of thinking that we need.

 

Best regards,

 

Jim

 

:roflmho:

[Goodwhiskers]

:roflmho:

This reminds me of Dillo's ceiling fan centrifuge. I guess his wallpaper is plastic-coated

[Ruaidhri]

Sorry I couldn't respond earlier.

I fully agree that Andy has some fine ideas. Caused much muttering in the lab <_<

Delay in replying was due to the fact that I mentioned this to Her Majesty. I also, unfortunately, mentioned a friend's theory that women multitasking just means that they can #$£ up several things at the same time.

Emminent Gentlemen from the College of Surgeons here in Dublin were called to the Towers and they repaired what could be repaired. The pin in my forehead shows only as a slight lump and plasters are due off in a month or two. God I love a woman with spirit !

 

I am surprised to hear Griz' concerns about imbalance in the helicopter. Where's the old spirit of adventure gone ?

 

Things have taken a strange turn here. Little Willie, who lives in the gate lodge, has gone missing and Ernst is looking more furtive than usual. I am concerned

 

BTW Ernst (Tuesday Jim) wants to know if anyone wants to buy three buckets of red ink ?

[OldGriz]

  Ruaidhri said:

I am surprised to hear Griz' concerns about imbalance in the helicopter. Where's the old spirit of adventure gone ?

Ruaidhri

 

That spirit of adventure left in a big hurry for parts unknown the first time someone shot that fan off the top of a helicopter I was in.... fortunately we were only about 15 feet off the ground at the time over a rice paddy.

Ever seen someone do a half gainer into a rice paddy. NOT a pretty sight...

[amh210]

  JimStrutton said:

Andy,

 

Like it:

 

 

When can you get on a plane for Dublin?  We need you on the 'Team'  you are our kind of man.  I am sure that Ruaidhri will agree that that you have the right kind of thinking that we need. 

 

Best regards,

 

Jim

 

:roflmho:

Hmmmm.

 

I'll be glad to come to Dublin. I usually do my best thinking in what passes for Pubs here; I'd probably be "brilliant" in a "real" Pub.

 

First Class Airfare, San Diego to Dublin. Probably have to fly through JFK in NY. I'll keep an eye on my mailbox awaiting the ticket.

 

Meanwhile, I'll work on my brougue.

 

Was just thinking if we could do a short hop to Holland and see how the FP's might attach to those windmills. Not much speed but doesn't gravity work better when higher up?

 

Ah, the sweet mysteries of physics and engineering.

 

Soda Bread. Guinness. Stew. Corned Beef and Cabbage.

 

My Irish Eyes are Smilin!

 

Andy

[JimStrutton]

  OldGriz said:

  Ruaidhri said:

I am surprised to hear Griz' concerns about imbalance in the helicopter. Where's the old spirit of adventure gone ?

Ruaidhri

 

That spirit of adventure left in a big hurry for parts unknown the first time someone shot that fan off the top of a helicopter I was in.... fortunately we were only about 15 feet off the ground at the time over a rice paddy.

Ever seen someone do a half gainer into a rice paddy. NOT a pretty sight...

I like helicopters but I don't know why really. Seems that I either end up dressed in a rubber suit with air tanks on my back and somebody pushes me out for a swim just when I was beginning to enjoy the ride :blink:

 

Either that or I get a contract to project manage the install of a real time monitoring network in the North Sea. Free transport to work they said, fine I thought. I reported to some man with a clipboard in a big shed outside Aberdeen who then gets me to put on a rubber suit. Should have seen it coming then. So we get in this funny helicopter in this building along with several other very nervous people and they wind us up with a crane thing, strange I thought, then they take us over a swimming pool and drop the bloody thing Then to add insult to injury they turn the thing over. Well my fellow passengers are not happy and I am not at all enamored of the situation I can tell you. So I swim out the door and head for the surface pretty damn quick. So then some numbnuts in a full diving suit grabs me just as I am getting orientated. So then Ye Olde training cuts in, I give him a quick cuddle to put him off guard and give him a swift knee in the family jewels, the words of my old Marine Sargent Combat Instructor still ringing in my ears, 'remember lads, one in the **** is worth three in the teeth'. I then grab his mouthpiece, get myself a lung full of air and push him under, so just then one of his mates piles in, not helping me mind, but pulling the other guy up just as I am making a fair job of drowning him. So in the end I decide that a tactical retreat is called for and swim off to the side of the pool.

 

So there I am and matey boy with the clipboard pitches up. Thought you were going to drown there he says to me, but our lads got you out then, but I will give you a certificate anyway. Oh goody, goody I can hang it on the wall with my divemaster one then I says, he looks at me a bit funny and then slides off.

 

So after all this palaver, it seems I was entitled to fly as a passenger on their helicopters for a year and after that I have to do it all again. So then I pitch up at the airport and they give me another one of these little rubber suits and I get to fly out to the production platforms. I then took off their little rubber suit, put on my own rubber suit that I had in my bag all the time and went off for a swim with some very nice lads checking on sensors. I also got to talk to one of the pilots, (they get really uppity if you call them 'Fan Drivers' by the way,) who gave me the cheery news that if they get into problems landing on a rig then they ditch in the sea and they have air bags that inflate so they don't sink for a while, so the rescue boats can come and get us. I was so happy to hear this I could not believe it. Unfortunately the project was finished in about four months so I never got to have round two in the swimming pool with the boys. Pity I was planning on taking a couple of mates, so we could get matey boy with the clipboard too.

 

So then helicopters, nice idea, but it was only that! See Leonardo might have come up with the plans for one, but he never built it! He looked at the idea on paper and said no, could build it but why? Should have been left that way.

 

So there you go Old Griz, your thoughts about helicopters are about right, I will leave you to explain about the vacuum thing and parts of the human anatomy.

 

Obi Won

 

:ph34r: :ltcapd:

[Ruaidhri]

Gentlemen,

 

Thank you for your input on helicopters. This all makes my working life seem very mundane. Only excitement is when I get home.

As helicopters (aptly named ?) now appear to be the work of the Devil I have instructed Ernst to use the spare steam boiler to build something safer.

SAFER I should add is a very relative term here in Murphy Towers.

 

Peace has broken out after my remarks re multitasking and She has gone so far as to sign one of my plasters :meow:

 

Straying into the realms of rubber suits migt bring down the wrath of the Admins on us - be VERY careful.

 

New post on cultural matters.

[Gerry]

Absolutely correct Ruaidhri, the 'rubber suit' detector alarmed three or four times during this thread, causing untold consternation in the office. Fortunately it's become bearable since we stuffed a paper towel in it, but don't count on that lasting too long. <_<

Gerry