Decorating Around a Disability
People who have reduced mobility due to aging or to a disability will have items in their homes that we don’t see the in the average house. For example, they may have walk in tubs in their bathrooms instead of the showers that most people probably have in their homes. Or they may have stair lifts on their staircases to help them get up and down the banisters.
Some people find it difficult to adjust to having these items in their home. It’s not just that there is a whole transition to be made when getting used to needing and using these items. It is also that these things change the look of the home and may affect the decor and style that people had been used to prior to the installation of this type of equipment.
Consider this to be a positive aspect of the change to your home. Consider it a chance to do some redecorating. With new equipment in the house, you have an excuse to create a whole new look for your space. Ask yourself who you are now and what you want your home to look like. Decorate around your new items in a way that reflects this updated you!
1950’s Production of Columbia Bicycles
A 1939 Columbia Westfield Compax TravelerGet ready to ride back in time to the America of the 50’s. Here’s a nice, historical 6 minute video hosted by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) which documented how the Columbia line of bicycles (”bringing health and pleasure to millions of Americans“) were produced. West Field Manufacturing, at West Field Massachusetts, was the first company to produce an American bicycle (Columbia highwheel) The video shows how ribbons of steel were seamlessly welded into tubes of various diameters and then cut and shaped to assemble frames, how handlebars were chrome plated, how spokes were connected to the rims and trued as well as glimpses of other cutting operations to yield chain rings and cogs, all over pleasant, soaring music and a serious, hurried narrator.
To see the video, go to the NAM host page here and hit “Click to View“. If you’re interested in knowing more about vintage Columbia bicycles, click this page.
Check out this old Columbia poster, originally published in 1895 - found on Ebay. Pretty funny. I guess it was hard then to substitute humans for animals.. Why is this monkey riding with a parrot, and why is this lazy parrot not flying? Was Columbia for monkeys and parrots? I.. I really can’t explain this picture.
By Ron
Setting Up a Document Imaging Conference
As a member of the board of our Chamber of Commerce, it is our duty to listen to the businesses in our area and cater to their needs. If there is a demand for a certain product or service in the area, we go out to try and secure what they need. It is actually quite a rewarding job and it feels great making positive changes in our community.
One of the upcoming events that we have staged for the business community is a document imaging conference. Many businesses in the area have stated that they are unsure how to migrate from using traditional paper based filing systems to some of the current document scanning solutions on the market. There has also been an outcry from the community to pursue more environmentally friendly business operations, and digital document management would accomplish that goal.
We have invited a number of document imaging companies to attend the event and many have already confirmed their participation. We have tried to include companies that offer both software and hardware solutions and it will be interesting to compare between their offerings.
With just a few more weeks until the big event, stress has been mounting in the office as there is a lot of work to be done before we are ready. But with the responses that we have had from the business community already, I am sure it will be a resounding success.
Brooks Supports The Bicycle Film Festival
“The Green Swallow is a Limited Edition of the Swallow Classic, normally sold only in the traditional Brooks colours (black, brown and honey). The 100 pieces are sold in cooperation with the Bicycle Film Festival in NY (May 28-June 1). For each sold saddle BROOKS will devolve 100 $ to support the Bicycle Film Festival.The Swallow reproduces the timeless design of the daddy of all modern racing saddles, first in production in 1937. This limited edition features the original chrome plated steel metalwork. The tensioning plate on the underside still bares the original patenting information retaining the word DEPOSÉ, as the patent for this model was first registered in Paris. Back then many of Brooks saddles in fact were exported to the continent for the use of racers in the tours.”
Read more here.
If you’re interested in seeing how Brooks saddles are made, check out a nice Flash based factory tour on their homepage menu. This will give you an idea of the manufacturing processes involved.
By Ron
Broken Thomson Seatposts & The Overtightening Syndrome
I wrote earlier about two recent incidents of Thomson Elite seatposts breaking during use, without any prior warning to the users (see here and here). I persisted in trying to extract as much information from Thomson about these happenings. Two phonecalls and an email to them never went through due to some obvious hindrances but just earlier this week, I was able to converse with David Parett, a manager and PR specialist at L.H Thomson Inc. Although they are a relatively small company, they seem to take pride in the fact that apart from the cycling side of the business, they’re also a contract manufacturer designing and making parts for clients such as Boeing, Trane, Ford, Coors, Reliance Electric and so on. One can imagine that to gain the trust and business of such big name companies, you’d find it absolutely necessary to have sound manufacturing and quality control down on the floor.
One of the owners of the posts (with the broken head) sent it in to Thomson for analysis. When I talked to the user, he made the comment that he was 100% certain he used a torque wrench to tighten the bolts before use (documented here by ‘Apacherider’. He reported he used a Park Tool torque wrench that only goes to 60 in-lbs which is the max torque recommended by Thomson for the bolts). However, the following is what Dave had to tell me from first impressions. Read it, and leave a comment if you would like to roundtable a discussion.
Courtesy : ‘Apacherider’, Mtbr ForumsDIVOTS IN THE SEATPOST CRADLE
Dave : “There is no question that this failure was related to torque. This was easy to see as when I got the broken post, two divots caused by the bottom clamp had formed in the cradle of the post. We know how much torque that takes, and it is a big number. The user may feel they torqued it properly but there is ample evidence that is not true. I think most parts will fail if abused in such a manner. Imagine overtorqued handlebars, stripped pedal cleat bolts, etc. Or think of a car. If you torqued a sparkplug to 3 times the suggested value,what do you think would happen? We know from testing here at Thomson that there is no other way one could create those divots unless you overtightened the clamping bolts.”
DISTORTED BOLT HEADS
Dave : “I also observed that the bolt heads are distorted. The bolts are grade 12.8. We know how much torque it requires to distort the bolt heads, and it is in excess of 125 inch pounds. Further, the metal shows no signs of material contamination, and the post is within spec as far as dimensions go. We have a lab here and we have examined the post. Moral of the story is, 2.5 to 3 times the recommended torque will break things.”
ANODIZATION AND FATIGUE LIFE OF 7075-T6 AL
Dave : “I verified our anodic coating thickness. It is about .001″ thick. Yes, anodizing cuts fatigue life, almost to 50% the original. But we engineer around that. Our post is heavier than it would otherwise have to be to deal with that. If you thinned it out, it would be susceptible to being crushed by clamping. Paint or powder coat cannot provide this kind of corrosion protection.The ridges may help with slipping, help keeps the finish from scratching and is also cosmetically appealing to some people. The finish changes near the radius at the seatpost head to help prevent stress riders.”
Courtesy : Khabar Bike (Road)ABOUT THE BROKEN BOLTING EAR AND THE BENDING FUSE
Dave : “The other post has not come back here as far as I know, but all our testing indicates it takes in excess of 600 pounds of force to cause an ear to fail and it would not fail in the manner it did. A brittle failure like that is again related to torque. Testing here shows that the original design idea is still valid. A riding event or accident results in a bend. All components of the top of the post, bolts, clamps, barrel nuts, ears are stronger in relation to the tube. If there is a big hit, the post will bend and the clamping mechanism will not fail. You can negate this by putting the ears under severe tension with torque.”
SOURCING, STANDARDS AND QUALITY CONTROL
Dave : “The anodizing is done in Reading, PA, The Al ore is from Quebec, CA and the extrusion is done in Minnesota. All the fasteners are from Chicago and Cleveland. All of them are certified and rechecked by us. There are barrel nuts and bolts in receiving inspection right now, placed under a heavy load. If we observe any failures in the entire shipment, it will be tested and possibly rejected. I don’t think anyone does that but us.
From filming riding, we have a series of in-house tests that were used in design and are still used on every lot of material. Bolts, washers and everything are checked for ultimate strength, fatigue life and corrosion resistance using a 500 hour salt spray test. We also had a German lab check our posts to the CEN standard. We think the CEN is a poorly designed test, but we passed it as well. The 500 hour salt spray test is run on samples from each anodize lot to verify quality. Further, we have a fatigue tester. We can put a post in it, set the bolts at the level the customer had them and create that failure. There just is no question of what happened after that.
We expect our products to last for 10 years in the field under normal conditions. If a customer experiences an issue, we replace the part for goodwill. My frustration with all this is there is not a single company out there that does 10% of what we do to check incoming material quality, 100% checks at each machining operation, and certification and testing of all components. Our bike parts are built to the same standards, in some cases higher, than the airplane parts we make.”
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES :
Thomson Factory Tour Gallery
Torque & Tightening Components : Perspectives from Easton R&D (pdf)
Thomson Elite Setback Seatpost Failure
Thomson Elite Bolting Ear Failure
Torque Wrenches, Their Types and History by Charlie Zarek
Torque Wrenches - How Good Are They?
By Ron
How Its Made : Bicycles
1. Mass Produced Metal Alloy Bikes : Episode 3 from Season 1 of Science Channel’s How Its Made series explores the making of bicycles. The narrator was the show’s first ever anchor, Mark Tewksbury. Now some of you might be bothered that this is not the “enthusiast” level bicycle and may even ridicule it for its lack of craftsmanship. The manufacturing steps are really interesting to look at regardless. Some of you may also be bothered by Mark’s accent. It may help to know that he’s a Canadian with an interesting athletic background and How Its Made is a Canadian documentary. For nerds like me, watching this show is better than having ice cream. Let’s hope they run it on Discovery forever.
The part on bicycles starts from 0:43 seconds. Video courtesy –> bamboopasia.
2. Colnago & Milano Carbon Bikes : Part of Bike Radar’s ‘Industry Insider’ series, they have a video revealing the full production process of a Colnago EPS frame. It shows how the filament wound carbon fiber tubes are cut and glued together with lugs. They are then placed in a jig to ensure proper alignment and cooked in an oven to cure the bonding agent to create the carbon frame, after cooling ofcourse.
While you’re there, also check out the recently uploaded section on how Milani Bicycles in Italy create carbon fiber prototype frames. The video shows the laser cutting of carbon fiber sheets, making of small prototype parts, and the vacuum bagging and autoclave baking process for carbon fiber frames. There’s a really hilarious section towards the last 3/4th of the video when an employee at the company comes from behind, blocks the camera and admonishes out in Italian yelling “Hey kids, what are you doing here? You can’t film. Everyone out!!” Ha, that was classic. I really think it may have been a joke. Or else, Bike Radar may have forgotten something in the editing process. Surely that uomo can’t drive out a bloke like that. Che cazzo…?
3. Cyfac Custom Carbon Frames : Chris from Texas shared with me this video from French custom bike manufacturer Cyfac. The video shows carbon tube assembly and “Carbon Stratification” which is basically their multi-layer reinforcing procedure. In this process, they combine custom molded carbon fiber tubes, epoxy, and three layers of carbon - Kevlar, serge carbon (twill) and taffetas carbon (crisp, smooth, plain woven). Now I have read that as a result of the differentiated fiber layers, stratified composites are particularly susceptible to bending at the side of the composite where the lower denier fibers are located, or in other words, its not as stiff as a homogeneous composite. I wonder whether this structure affects the Cyfac frame in certain situations. Feel free to comment.
Thanks Chris, and thanks also to Teamcyfac1.
ADDITIONAL READING :
See All My Articles Tagged With ‘How Its Made‘ to Learn How Bicycles Are Designed And Created.
By Ron
Bringing Your Kids to the Office
The kids are home from school. You were supposed to have the day off of work but you’ve been called in to the office. There’s no one available to babysit so you have to take the kids with you. Here are some tips to follow when bringing children to your office for the day:
- Call your boss in advance. Make sure that your boss knows the situation and approves of your children coming in to the office.
- Pack activities that they can do quietly. Books to read, crayons and paper to draw with and handheld video games that can be put on silent are all sufficient to keep your kids entertained while you work.
- Dress them in comfortable but cute clothing. Think Jean Bourget or Catimini - comfy clothes that are totally stylish and reflect well on you at the office.
- Discuss your plans for the day with the kids. Before you leave the house let your kids know how long you expect to be at the office, what your expectations of their behavior are while you are there and how much time (if any) you’ll be able to spend with them during the day.
- Do what you need to do and get out of the office. If you don’t have to put in a full day at the office with your kids there then don’t do it. Cut out early if you can.
With some planning and patience, this can be a good experience for both you and your kids.
Tips For Buying Art Prints On The Internet
With everyone on a tight budget these days, most people are looking to move into apartments or rental homes. Because of this no one is spending a lot of their hard earned money to decorate their homes. If you have just moved into a brand new place, you should be able to take a little bit of extra money to shake things up a little bit. Art prints are an incredibly classy way to show off your style and make your new place feel like an actual home. you should get a good idea of the size of your home and how many prints you are going to need. Prints will come in all sorts of sizes and they will come from different artists as well. If you have a favorite artist or two in mind, write it all down. This will help to narrow down the search.
Anyone who’s been to an art museum quickly gets an idea of just how much those original works of art cost. There’s no way you’d ever be able to afford them - unless you were going to buy art prints instead. Though just recreations, these are as detailed and give just the same effect as their originals, but are actually within the budget of the average person interested in buying them.
The prints are so strikingly like the pictures they came from and many people are mystified as to how they are created without damaging the original work in any way. Typically, this is done through one of three methods, the first being lithography, a chemical process that is used to actually reprint the art. There is also serigraph, where ink is pushed through a screen, giving a final image formed by a stencil.
Having a set budget is also a very good idea. The price of any art print will depend on size and artist. As long as you can keep this in mind, you should have a head start when the time comes to shop. You should also find out how much framing is going to cost you. This will make your home look even more classy.
When you know what you want you are ready to start looking for your prints. If you shop around at your local art store, you will notice a huge spike in prices. When you choose to use the internet for your shopping, you are enabling yourself to save a lot more money. Not only can you get free shipping, but you can get great discounts as well.
Look around at various online stores for art prints. There are stores all over the world that will offer various types of prints from different artists. If you have the extra time, you may want to browse around and compare prices and prints. Look for great promotional deals from sites and make a point to look at online auction sites.
Those looking to save even more money need to stop at online auction sites. These sites are great when looking for cheap or even rare art prints. Now, you may not always find what you are looking for which can be looked at as a downfall. Simply take a look around and find out which auction sites have the best selections.
Framing is another expense that needs to be considered. When you first buy some art prints they are just going to look like posters on the wall. When you decide to have your prints framed, you are adding some more elegance to your home.
Art prints are a great and cost effective way to decorate your home. There are plenty of places that you can buy these prints, you just need to know where to look. When looking around online, make sure that you take these tips right along with you. You never know what kind of art you will stumble upon, even when you are not looking.
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Annie Deakin is a journalist, fashion and furniture expert and editor at mydeco.com who is currently interested in interior design, kitchen furniture, and sofas.
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By mydeco
Cold Forging Technology At Shimano
If you read descriptions of Shimano’s products, you’ll often come across the words “cold forged aluminum”, mentioned with great pride.
Forging is a metal shaping process in which a malleable metal part, known as a blank, billet or workpiece, is worked to a predetermined shape by one or more processes such as hammering, upsetting, pressing, rolling and so forth. Cold forming is a precision category of forging which does the same thing without heating of the material (room temperature), or removal of material.
Most of Shimano’s products in the bike and fishing business utilize cold forming technology, which was established by the company more than four decades ago. It was in 1963 that Shimano introduced a cold forging plant to press precision parts for bicycles using dies and high pressure in order to form metal at room temperature. Plants such as these use presses, punches and dies that see very high working pressures, upto 1500 N/mm^2.
But why such specialized equipment?
The plasticity of aluminum at room temperature is low. The flow stress of aluminum decreases with increasing temperature. For alloys that are very easy to forge, such as 6061, there is nearly 50% decrease in flow stress between 700 deg F and 900 deg F.
Forgeability and forging temperatures of various aluminum alloys. Note that 810-900 deg F is the recommended forging temperature for 6061 alloy. Credits : Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys (ASM International)Therefore, at room temperatures , because the flow stresses are higher, large machines capable of ramming and hammering the hell out of these alloys to get accurate shapes are needed. Of course, its more a delicate operation as opposed to the violence I have described above as great care has to be taken to prevent microscopic defects from developing in the cold forged piece, while it works at the upper limit of its strength.
On the other hand, because cold forging allows one to make parts without introducing the need for heat treatment and additional machining processes, it is an economical manufacturing method to produce precision, net-shape parts.
This is exactly what was needed by Shimano back in the day when it started designing integrated shift levers and gears that demanded high precision but which invariably suffered from the disadvantage of having a specialized and small market without much economy of scale. It has been mentioned that Shimano is one of the few companies in the world that can produce cold forged aluminum parts with close tolerances as those needed in the STI mechanism.
So how exactly did Shimano get around to having this precision, cost cutting technology? It turns out that the company has to thank a brilliant electrical engineer who basically re-created the entire company in the 1950’s by helping it adopt the cold forging process, way before any other company in Japan at the time, even Toyota!!
Shuzo Matsumoto joined Shimano in 1954 with a dream. A graduate of the electrical engineering department of Osaka Prefecture University, he saw his mission as introducing cold forging technology to the replace hot forging then used. To achieve this goal, he was dispatched to the United States for 2.5 months by the company President, Shozaburo Shimano (died in 1958). In those days, only a limited amount of foreign currency could be taken out of Japan by any individual. Therefore, before departure, he was handed a lot of dollars obtained from the black market by Shozaburo and was simply instructed to “enjoy the trip”.
The following snippet from page 76 of the book “Japan : Moving Towards A More Advanced Knowledge Economy, Vol. 2 Advanced Knowledge Creating Companies “ describes briefly how Matsumoto went about accomplishing his mission of introducing cold forging technology to Shimano. Zoom in to enjoy the read. If you’ve anything else to share about Shimano and their production processes, give me a buzz.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES :
Cold Forging In Bolt Production : A Video From Discovery Channel’s How Its Made
Shuzo Matsumoto Patent : Rear Hub With Built-In Three Speed Change Mechanism For A Bicycle
By Ron
Have yourself a very vintage Christmas
Do you collect vintage Christmas ornaments? Perhaps you just enjoy the look of yesteryear at Christmas. Or, you may want to recreate the remembered warmth of your childhood Christmases. In any case, it’s possible to have those beautiful old-fashioned Christmas decorations for your home this year! Re-create the vintage look this Yuletide by saying bah, humbug to mass-produced decorations and embracing simpler times. Find out how with these top tips.
1. Create Scandi-chic
‘Christmas decorating is a tradition in itself and tradition is important,’ insists interior designer William Yeoward. Return to Santa’s lair with warming Scandinavian red and white patterns on toasty textiles, and recapture a childhood of wooden toys and homemade treats. See more Scandi decorating ideas.
2. A festive welcome
First impressions begin at the front door so greet your guests warmly with a Rosy Christmas Wreath from The Cotswold Company. Kit Kemp, owner and interior designer of the Firmdale Hotels, recommends hanging coloured pieces of string above the door frame. ‘On each string at various heights place circles of Oasis foam, each with something different pressed into it - holly, berries, cloves, cinnamon sticks, or mistletoe.’ See all our wreaths.
3. Whip up a treat
‘Christmas food is the best sort of food because it’s about proper, unpretentious home cooking,’ says Nigella Lawson. Slip into a patterned pinny and use this snowflake Cookie Cutter from John Lewis to make simple, quaint biscuits. Top with nuts, dried fruit and icing, then place around the house for hungry fingers to find. Want more kitchen goodies? Drop some hints with our gifts for domestic Goddesses.
4. Be a good Santa
A vintage-styled stocking is the perfect accessory for an original fireplace. Fill this Kraftwork knitted stocking from House of Fraser with tantalising treats. Shop the UK’s largest selection of stockings.
5. I’m dreaming of an aromatic Christmas
Try placing these cinnamon sticks from John Lewis in a brightly coloured bowl with some satsumas and allow the fruity cinnamon flavours to spread through your home. Gael Boglione, of Petersham Nurseries, suggests ‘bowls of oranges studded with cloves to lend aromatic warmth, and vases of holly and bay.’ Browse all our festive fragrances.
6. All is calm, all is bright
Light up your home the old-fashioned way. This pretty candle garden from The Pier makes a charming centerpiece. ‘Use glass paints to decorate a selection of glass containers with warm, Christmassy colours and patterns. When they are all lit up by candles, the finished effect is particularly magical,’ suggests Florist Simon Lycett.
7. Let it snow, and snow and snow…
Timeless toys are captivating for all ages. This gilded tree snow globe from M&S will not only catch your eye, but charm your ear too with its rendition of ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’.
8. On the tree top
Dressing the tree should be a happy family ritual. Unwrap grandma’s baubles and hang them alongside new additions like these White Flock Design baubles from the Dotcomgiftshop for updated vintage chic. ‘Stand back at regular intervals to see your tree taking shape and make sure the baubles are evenly spread,’ suggests Idealhome magazine.
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Annie Deakin is a journalist, fashion and furniture expert and editor at mydeco.com who is currently interested in table lamps, radiators and bathroom suite.
Article Source:
By mydeco
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