On Sun, 5 Jul 2020 22:53:40 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 7/5/2020 6:47 PM, John B. wrote:
On Sun, 5 Jul 2020 12:38:07 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 7/4/2020 10:42 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 4 Jul 2020 19:10:54 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On Saturday, July 4, 2020 at 7:39:23 PM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 4 Jul 2020 12:54:17 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 7/3/2020 10:19 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Fri, 3 Jul 2020 12:21:57 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote:
For Jeff: The downside is I won't learn as much about glue and rubber
technology. (But thanks for that technical content.)

No problem. Looks like you've solved your shoe problem. You may not
be learning much about glue and rubber:
http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/hot-melt-glue/index.html

Hmm. If I'd seen that a few weeks ago, I might have continued using the
old cycling shoes!

I thought that might get your attention. Good to know that I'm not
the only person who repairs their own shoes:
http://www.learnbydestroying.com/jeffl/pics/drivel/index.html#shoes.jpg

The reason for replacing my old shoes was a chunk of black sole rubber
disappeared. It didn't affect their cycling utility, but it looked
weird and seemed a harbinger of further trouble.

Well, there's another tool you might find useful. It's called a hot
air SMD (surface mount) desoldering station. It uses hot air to melt
solder, but will work just as well on hot melt glue:
https://www.google.com/search?q=hot+air+smd+desoldering+station&tbm=isch
The problem it solves is re-melting the hot melt glue after you've
applied it, and discovered that there are voids or areas that didn't
"stick". You'll need a few nozzles to concentrate the heat. A
hardware store heat gun might also work on low-temp hot melt glue.
You'll also need the accessory nozzles to concentrate the heat.

I've got a heat gun. If necessary, I'll try to cobble together a nozzle
for that. I'm at the stage where I'm trying to minimize purchase of new
special purpose tools I'll seldom use. It's sad, I know!

But your photo interested me enough to go shopping. While sitting at
my computer, of course (but wearing pants). I'm having Jeff B send me
some black hot melt glue, which until your photo, I didn't know existed.

I can also send you some of mine. Just one problem. I probably have
100 sticks of the black glue, but don't know who made it or the part
number.

No need to send it, thanks. Jeff Bezos just promised to have it here
tomorrow. I'm hoping he'll deliver it personally. He and I go way back.

But it is too bad some of us are as distant as we are. I can envision a
colony of like-minded repair freaks trading tools, equipment and
experience. Not to mention obsolete bike parts!

One guy I knew, kind of well-to-do in a nice suburban home, said "Look
at this. It's crazy. I've got thousands of bucks sunk into a riding
mower, a snow blower, a rototiller, a weed whacker, a chainsaw and more.
And so does my next door neighbor and the guy across the street and the
guy next to him. We should have just bought one set of equipment and
shared it!"


There used to be companies that did that as a business. You needed a
jack-hammer for a couple of days to break up the driveway you could
rent one, along with the air compressor to power it. Are those sort of
places all gone now?

They still exist, and I've used them, but for one-off rentals of things
I would use only once. One example was a trenching machine for when I
ran new downspout drains. Another was a huge electric chiseler when I
had to cut a new opening into my chimney. The items I listed above are
things that would be used much more often.

I actually did what I said regarding a riding mower. Our elderly
neighbors moved into assisted living and their son put the riding mower
at the street with a low price tag. The really nice guy across the
street complained endlessly about how hard he worked at mowing his lawn,
so much so that he briefly tried to sell his house. I like him living
there, so I told him about the mower and he said the price was still a
lot of money for him. So we bought it together, which was almost
entirely charity on my part. I'm now half owner of a machine I use only
a couple times a year.

See, I still don't like cutting grass. Besides, our lot is complicated
by a huge number of trees, shrubs and other landscaping. So I pay the
young guys next door to mow it.

Good Lord! How much land does you neighbor have that mowing the lawn
in a back breaking task?

Granted I haven't mowed a lawn in years and years but I used to. Front
and Back lawns, Sunday morning, rake and edge. Done long before Lunch.
--
Cheers,

John B.