2"! I found a matching reference to it but this is not where I bought it (and also sold for waaay more than I paid, which was something like $130 IIRC) https://www.ebay.com/itm/136814704435. The pictures and details in all of the listings are often very mismatched (there are several variations of different lengths and sizes) but that's the model number of the one I ordered.
Here's a funny picture comparing it to a 2 liter https://i.imgur.com/UIzpDMO.jpeg. As far as the matching bolt... I never did find one to order in time so I gave that as a challenge to figure out before next year! So far he has been using it as a doorstop, mostly to cause people to do a double take when they walk through.
If anyone knows of a good pair of comically large pliers that actually function well enough please let me know.
Yeah, it's funny that they list how many cups this coffee maker could theoretically make if it were functional (and if you had a stove big enough, and were willing to risk damaging the no doubt hand painted artwork on your $3000 coffee maker).
I would have to check the size, I think its like 50 cups, but its a commercial coffee maker targeted towards caterers and offices. So 50 cups isn't that unbelievable, its 5 normal coffee pots. But for a moka pot its pretty large.
I vaguely remember reading that Rowan Atkinson stuck to three gags for objects in Mr. Bean skits: something's the wrong size, Mr. Bean uses it the wrong way, or the wrong thing happens when it's used.
(Half of the point of this comment is a hope of being corrected with the actual quote.)
Well I dunno, if you need to attach a car to the roof of your garage to work on the transmission and you've run out of duct tape this seems like the perfect solution.
Electrician here. When I went to school around 2006 or so, we actually learned how to do this. Except more like a historical curiosity. It certainly looks beautiful when done right. Sadly, nobody has time or budget for beauty any more, and that goes for all the trades. And so, I carry around bunch of cableties in my toolbag every day.
If only people would learn to cut the ends off correctly, so the next guy doesn't tear his arms to shreds.
There has been an inversion in cost. It used to be that Materials cost a lot, and labor cost very little. There wasn't cheap plastics. particle board or synthetic rubber, it was real rubber, real wood, real metal. So it was worth it to buy the better quality thing made of nicer materials that was more artisinal and decorative. It was also cheaper to employ people just to enhance the look in a time consuming fashion. Plus since there was no miniaturization if parts broke you could replace them instead of buying a new one.
Or the utilitarian cost has gone down much faster than cost of decorative. If your bulb cost $10, spending $5 to make beautiful lamp post makes sense. But if bulb cost has fallen to 10 cents now to justify $2 is difficult.
It's down to taste and materials too - in the past 50 years or so the general design trend is more minimalist, wood has become more and more expensive (and good quality harder to come by), etc.
But the main reason is of course cost, the linked device looks like a woodworker would spend a few hours to build it (although they probably had machinery to automate parts of the process already).
I learned how to do lacing during an electronics engineering apprenticeship in the 1980s.
After the fact, when I moved more in to systems and networking, I found that flat, nylon, waxed lacing cord, with a small nut tied to the end, was lightweight and perfect for throwing through ducting and ceiling spaces very long distances, so you could backhaul cables through the void. It was a real time saver.
Aerospace Engineer here. In my industry, hand-tied harnesses are commonplace at every level, from homemade garage-built aircraft, throughout all current commercial aircraft, and extending to the Mars Rover. It’s also commonplace in better racecar and motorcycle wire harness builds. I will frequently use cable ties to temporarily assemble a harness, then hand tie the final configuration and cut off the cable ties.
Also, I guarantee you there is no better tool for flush-cutting cables ties so you don’t get scratched by em than the IGAN-P6 side cutters sold on Amazon for around seven dollars. I bypass my Snap-On cutters and grab them every time.
If I am really, really forced to use a cable tie I prefer Cobra Ties, which have a low-profile head that keeps the tail parallel to the band, rather than protruding at a 90 degree angle.
Isn't cable lacing just inferior? Let's say you need to replace a chaffed/damaged conductor. With cable ties you cut the ones around damaged area, splice in a replacement, and slap new ties on there. With cable lacing, cutting the lacing anywhere would cause the lacing of the whole cable to lose tension and unravel?
It's not too hard to slip a new wire into a laced bundle. In the places that still use lacing (aerospace), they use tefzel insulated wires that have the benefit of being super slippery against each other. This makes it easy to slip one in but it also helps reduce stiffness in the bundle because the insulation isn't sticking to itself as much as other things like vinyl.
Step 1: Cut the zip tie tail off using whatever semi-appropriate tool is at hand.
Step 2: Remove nail clippers from your purse.
Step 3: Use them to trim the remaining tail. One single satisfying click is sufficient to leave an end that barely protrudes, is nicely-rounded, and which lacks sharp-and-pointy features.
Alternatively: Use the China-clone of the Xuron flush cutters that your 3D printer came with, or buy some (the real ones are made in Maine). Just cut it as close as you can.
Or for higher volumes and/or better repeatability, Panduit (and others) sell installation tools that tension zip ties and automatically cut them off rather exquisitely once a predetermined tension is reached by just squeezing a handle.
That is still relatively easy to cut your finger on.
I don't know that there's a correct way, really. You would probably have to take the time to file or sand the edges. Which kind of levels the playing field with the cable lacing option really in terms of time spent.
Use a zero clearance cutter which cuts it flat and flush with the lock. The jaws aren’t ’v’ shaped like they are for heavier wires, one side is flat and cuts flush on that side.
Usually these are used for small wires.
Any electrical supply place will have them - search for ‘flush cutter’ and the like.
A razor (surprisingly) also works, but tends to damage other stuff easier if you slip.
You can run your skin over them all day, no issues.
They're 47 inches long. Amazon (UK) has 48 inch long zip ties for $14.45 (pack of 12), 60 inch long for $18. Not quite as thick or wide, sure... But that's not what was in the headline :P
Also utility plenums. Or other things. Literally available retail at Home Depot up to 36" for a dollar a tie. We use them to hold temporary fencing together.
I used 250lb zip ties to hold down my convertible top in the open position, as an alternative to paying $2000 to replace the motors. When I'd need to put up the top I'd cut the zip ties and when I'd want to put it down I'd put on a new set.
With California weather and an indoor parking spot I only ended up using about one pack (10? 12?) a year.
I can't help thinking that people here in Scotland with convertibles (of which there are a surprising number) would probably use less than you per year ;-)
The convertible is still the car, not a convertible kilt(?!), GP is saying with Scottish as opposed to Californian weather there would be less changing. Say, a single open-top-weather period (two changes) per year. Or none.
(I imagine the Californian poster is changing twice per year too, just using 5-6 ties. With that reading the joke is Hey in Scotland you just keep it closed, never need any more ties.)
Let me guess, you don't need to look at the weather, you know it is THE day when your inbox is full at 9am of messages from most of your colleagues taking the day off?
Should be doable on consumer hardware nowadays, if you cheat by using a file system that either supports sparse files (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparse_file) or block-level deduplication (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_deduplication). You may need to use raw block I/O to create such file, and there will be lots of duplicated content in the archive.
Also: how hard is that limit? ZIP archives have their TOC at the end of the file and allow for inserting ‘junk’ that is never referenced in the ZIP’s table of contents. Isn’t it possible to add such junk to make an archive go over that limit (assuming that your file system allows files larger than 2⁶⁴ bytes)?
The problem is once you zip them to full compression, you really can't use them ever again. That is unless you get the good ones that let you technically unzip without requiring destruction.
This would need quite a lot of force to overcome friction and cinch tight, no? Aside from some fun marketing, the problem is already solved by items like ratchet tie downs, Velcro straps or even just cord/rope with the right bundling knots.
Can I buy one for a belt? I'm periodically needing to add another notch to my belts and this seems a good replacement! Maybe another few colors, please?
I've got a belt like this [1] which works great. It is a braided belt and the prong on the buckle simply goes through the braiding so you in effect can have a hole wherever you want one.
I often adjust it depending on what I'm doing and after a few years I've not noticed in damage or degradation from sticking the prong through the braid.
That one reminds me of the NATO straps popular in combination with Casio watches, I used to have that.
But for a belt, I also have (used to have?) a canvas belt with a buckle that would pinch the belt instead of go through it. Two actually, the one had two D-rings, the other had a more involved system with a bar going through a slotted box of sorts.
I don’t know. It feels like a really large zip tie would be hard to easily tighten, as in it would need a lot of force that you wouldn’t be able to easily put on it. Ratchet straps are the gold standard for this situation.
"To be clear, we’re not just talking about length, although at 47 inches long it’s certainly substantial. But extremely long zip ties already exist for things like wrapping large bundles of cable. This one is also cartoonishly thick, and features a similarly upscaled locking mechanism that allows it to hold up to 2,000 pounds, according to the company."
I'm not gonna go down the list, but any "looks down his nose at everyone without a degree" type mechanical engineer (you know the type I'm talking about) can provide you a litany of reasons that a zip tie gets inefficient at this scale and why other options are better.
This product likely exists because of a stupid bureaucracy somewhere that has approved zip ties but is such a labor wasting pain in the ass to deal with $75 zip ties are cheaper than getting permission to use more reasonable options.
Zip ties get used for lots of things, including as a part of the termination of flexible ductwork. In this capacity, they hold the outer insulating layer in place.
There are also other methods by which to do this, but some tradespeople prefer it.
Anyway, round ducts are girthy things to encircle. A circle with circumference of 48 inches has a diameter of just over 15 inches, which is not big at all in ductwork world.
(But such zip ties aren't shaped like the $75 wanktastic dumb shit that the article is about. They're just long.)
If there was a way perhaps to restrain the protester(s) in such a way that they can remain upright, present and vocal; but immobile, I’m confident that it would be so effective that law enforcement would be criticized for using anything but these apparatuses. Cost would not be a deterrent in this case.
I read comments like this and am always amazed at people's understanding of how protest works. I don't advocate for violence and destruction, but protest absolutely works because it makes things inconvenient for the people they are protesting.
When people complain about protesters getting in the way and being noisy and generally being inconvenient, they are bemoaning effective protest. That's a constitutional right.
>When people complain about protesters getting in the way and being noisy and generally being inconvenient, they are bemoaning effective protest. That's a constitutional right.
Since you did not exclude it, i will assume that by "being inconvenient" you mean all sorts of things done nowadays as parts of protests, like blocking roads and such... Thing is, it is not nearly as clear cut as you might think.
> Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
There has not yet been a SCOTUS test on whether impeding others' free movement is considered peaceably assembling. I expect we'll see such a test soon. You indeed do have a right to petition government, and assemble peaceably, it is not clear that you have a right to inconvenience unrelated persons whose only fault is living in the same town and trying to get to school to pick up their kids while you block a road.
Inconveniencing unrelated persons is not nearly as clearly legal as you seem to claim it to be.
Last week I chuckled upon seeing this online store's inventory of coffee makers: ...10 cups, 12 cups, 18 cups, 50(!) cups: https://www.bialetti.com/it_en/shop/coffee-makers.html?cups=...
(The 50 cups option turned out to be a decorative piece.)
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