Thursday, June 19, 2014

Dollar Store Reading Glasses Are Not Safety Glasses

I’m of an age that I need reading glasses for close up work. Unfortunately I also need safety glasses in many of the same situations. I know that you can buy magnifying safety glasses, but they are never as inexpensive as the $1.00 reading glasses from the local Dollar Tree.
I am a cautious person (milquetoast) so I thought it would be wise to do a simple test of the shatter resistance of the dollar store reading glasses. On with the science!DSCF2590 The dollar store glasses.DSCF2592 Poor sap.DSCF2595 My RWS Diana Model 45 air rifle. I chose it because I thought I had it sighted in at 10 yards, which I didn’t. With 7.9 grain Crosman pellets at 715 fps, it should hit the glasses with about 9 ft/lbs of energy. DSCF2598 10 yards down the length of my deck.DSCF2600 After shooting low a couple of times I finally hit the glasses.DSCF2601 First lens.DSCF2602 The other lens. Both lenses shattered and I couldn’t even find some of the pieces.DSCF2607 As a control I gave my dummy some safety glasses.DSCF2609 First shot dented the lens.DSCF2610 Second shot knocked the lens out of the frame.DSCF2611 I wonder if that’s by design? I remounted the lens and took a third shot. DSCF2614 Which eyewear would you rather be sporting when a projectile is coming towards your eye?DSCF2617Imagine that small shard penetrating your eyeball.DSCF2615 As you can see the safety glasses deform rather than shattering. 

So I guess I’ll spring for a pair of safety reading glasses, or wear the safety glasses over reading glasses. I won’t be using the readers as safety glasses.

Monday, June 02, 2014

Latest repairs…Dishwasher Slide Rollers, Datadesk Keyboard, Dream Machine.

DSCF2525 The rollers on the upper basket of our Kitchenaid dishwasher are crumbling.DSCF2524They are losing teeth…DSCF2518 Two lost all the teeth that hold the wheels on. So I tapped 5/16” coarse thread. DSCF2521 A 5/16 hex bolt fits the wheel recess perfectly, I just turned down the top and made a screwdriver slot with the bandsaw.DSCF2523And it will work ok for a while longer. Note the zip ties holding the wheel assemblies to the basket, the clips that did so, do no longer.DSCF2527 The Datadesk keyboard Max used for a while.DSCF2529 It got a bit sticky…gross.DSCF2532 Modular design…DSCF2533 DSCF2538  DSCF2541 DSCF2542 Has a separate board for the USB hub and input.DSCF2543 DSCF2548 I cleaned all teh switches with contact cleaner. It works fine now at my treadmill desk.DSCF2552 DSCF2554 All I did was take the housing off and clean the switch contacts. Not that exciting.