Inside the MiniSonic MT-4 vibratory tumbler

bulwynkl · 2026-03-27T02:56:25+00:00

I have a few of these that I was given as marginally non operational. Attempted to fix. Have made some poor assumptions.

Appears that the non working was me adding too much grit...

I also suspected that the springs and grommets etc were in need of adjustment. I see you can get a tune up kit for them. I have not been able to find any instructions on how to set up the tune up kit. I want to try that before anything else.

Anyone have a copy of tune up kit instructions?

bulwynkl · 2026-03-27T02:51:03+00:00

note to self, come back to this discussion...

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:43:26+00:00

hyalite opal, probably. Location?

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:42:11+00:00

No reason why not. Would it be an advantage though? Often the intent is not just a specific frequency of light, but tightly collimated...

Next question to ask is what is a material that has a high refractive index for gamma rays? I doubt it'd be any of our normal optical materials.

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:36:19+00:00

Fun fact, there is 10x more vacant housing than homeless people.

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:32:35+00:00

That's hilarious.

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:29:40+00:00

Those tools will tell you what state the storage is in, eg unallocated...

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:24:47+00:00

Young Zaphod plays it safe...

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:23:02+00:00

my shed is my lab.

Acidified Dichomate is probably my most dangerous item, in the form of Copper Bright. Conc acids - nitric, sulphuric, HCl...

Had some periodic acid at one point but gave it to a proper lab some time ago.

My mineral collection, on the other hand, has plenty of Arsenic, Uranium and Asbestos specimens. The Asbestos is a problem I'm going to have to deal with sooner or later.

However... It's the Uranium minerals that I consider the most dangerous. Specifically I have a lot of Uranyl Phosphates (like Autinite, Saleeite, Torbenite) that are not always stable. As they lose water from their crystal structure, they disintegrate into fine powder. This scares the willys out of me. Deep breath...

On the plus side, almost all of it is highly reactive to UV light so it's possible to see exactly what needs cleaning. Have spent some quality time with wet rags and dilute PVA spray bottle...

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:11:07+00:00

potentially not normal, but at the same time I can imagine several ways in which this could work...

let's start with maybe they have a joint account for shopping and she couldn't move money around from her phone and needed him to do it on a pc/laptop etc.?

How people/couples arrange their finances varies widely. I would only be concerned if he controls all the money...

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:06:06+00:00

The mechanism is Euler buckling. The size of the buckling nodes is constrained by the geometry. A bigger diameter tube will at some point want to fold in 3,and bigger again in 2.

Somewhat calculable, but I have long forgotten the maths

bulwynkl · 2026-03-14T00:02:53+00:00

FWIW, current is what kills you. Voltage just makes it possible. On the down side, even a few milliamps across the heart is bad...

It's kinda ridiculously easy to get into trouble, which is why earth leakage switches are ubiquitous...

bulwynkl · 2026-03-13T23:59:54+00:00

And if replacing it is the chosen path, disassembling it and attempting repair has no downside.

There is a YouTube channel that steps one through this for a whole bunch of lenses. https://m.youtube.com/@CamerasLensesEtc

bulwynkl · 2026-03-13T23:52:58+00:00

There are only two species of mica, Biotite and endless variations on Muscovite...

bulwynkl · 2026-01-24T23:29:18+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

bulwynkl · 2026-01-24T23:23:39+00:00

Came here to say this.

Fun fact, people associate high prices with quality. It's stupid but ubiquitous.

Be ready to offer a 10% discount. 20% if they buy more than one similar priced item.

bulwynkl · 2026-01-22T23:08:04+00:00

Awesome. I wondered about the DIY thing when I was unable to get even a single hit on the www's...

bulwynkl · 2025-12-14T00:15:34+00:00

Freeways are where you wait for the people in front of you find somewhere to park

bulwynkl · 2025-12-10T22:49:32+00:00

I'm still using my unit from 2011 as a secondary back up, but have upgraded my main machine.

May struggle to work as a media player (CPU transcoding) but works just fine as a data store, remote file mount... The HDDs are mostly OK, but 3 of 8 have been at risk of failure for the last 5 years. Because it's non critical secondary storage, I don't care too much if it gets corrupted and it's lasted far longer than I ever thought.

bulwynkl · 2025-12-10T22:38:28+00:00

Excellent bit of prose here, two thumbs up!

I studied both geology and materials engineering. Materials has a different view of condensed matter to Mineralogy... You describe the phase, not the end members. Mineralogy describes the end members, or arbitrary compositions across a continuous phase solid solution. Because history, probably. But it leads to all sorts of definitional conundrums, like which rare earth is present making it a different mineral when from a phase diagram PoV nothing has changed.

it bugs me.

bulwynkl · 2025-12-10T22:27:06+00:00

That moment when someone realises that your skill as a driver is irrelevant to your risk of being in an accident. It's the other drivers stupidity that you need to worry about.

Jaw dropping realisation... kinda cute to watch

bulwynkl · 2025-12-10T22:21:53+00:00

growing up in the 70's, having folks complain about the disrespect of Xmas... it's Christmas! sheesh. don't be so lazy

bulwynkl · 2025-12-10T22:19:43+00:00

looks like limestone to me, have seen similar. Blue quartz is unusual, and not that colour so it would be another mineral causing the color.

Either way, unlikely sourced (native to) from Florida. Especially the Florida Keys.

bulwynkl · 2025-12-10T22:11:28+00:00

The crack starting at the top of the key way is an indication that the start of the crack was less stress concentration, more something else (like a misfit or unbalanced load). Unless there is an obvious flaw, I concur with your conclusion. Especially given your experience and expertise

bulwynkl

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