Parts directly from China

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Furcurequs
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

Art,

Thanks for the link. That is pretty interesting. I didn't know whether to believe you with that one or not.

Since it's now been over ten weeks and my one order from China that was being held for inspection by customs still hasn't arrived, I have an idea!

Maybe you should pack up some Wombat poo for me and label it "The World's Best Fudge!!" or something to tempt Customs with that one, too! Let's let them unpack some fudge!

...arrggh...

In reality, though, I guess I'll pass on the offer, but thanks anyway!

When the ebay seller from China offered to give me my money back as soon as they found out that Customs was holding my package, I should have taken their offer. I put them off a couple of times, though, thinking my stuff would eventually get here.

It was about $15 worth of stuff, too.

I'm now too ashamed to contact them again, plus it's been so long now that I don't think I can give them ebay feedback, anyway.

I wouldn't want to stiff them because of my faith in U.S. Customs, so I guess I'll just resign my self to the fact that Customs has stiffed me. :(

At least my pepper seeds from China (..shhh...) are sprouting!

When it comes to seedlings, so far I have one purple cayenne, two red Ecuadorian devil's breaths, and four others that are supposed to be a hot variety of small black lantern shaped peppers - though they showed a picture of a big black bell pepper on the listing, I think. I guess I'll be taking my chances with those.

The devil's breath is supposed to have a Scoville heat rating of around 185,000, I believe, which is in the same ballpark as a habanero.

I'm still waiting for my white and chocolate habanero seeds to sprout. I ordered those from individual sellers in the U.S. I'm also waiting for some old Serrano seeds that I had to sprout.

I started my current seedlings in a closed egg carton and didn't transfer them to larger containers so that they could get light as soon as I should have, so most of them are a bit spindly. Hopefully, they'll survive, though one of my devil's breaths doesn't look too good at the moment.

I think both the white and chocolate habaneros are supposed to be hotter than the typical orange ones - with the chocolates having around 400,000 Scoville units.

I guess it's time to re-order some of the stuff that Customs confiscated or lost or whatever.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

Tonight one of my chocolate Habanero seeds finally sprouted!

...after about 5 weeks in the dirt, I guess.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Art »

Good going Dwayne ,

Thats about how long it took for my seeds to germinate too , along with some 25 - 30 degree centigrade soil temperature .

I managed to get about 5 different varieties to germinate and grow into pretty healthy looking seedlings but they didn't thrive where I planted them outside due to too much direct sun .

I lost most of them (which is not surprising because we had a week of temperatures around 40 degrees C , and direct sunlight in that temperature range made them shrivel like they had been 'blowtorched' ).

I'm now left with about a dozen plants outdoors that havn't reached fruiting stage (and probably won't because temperatures are dropping too fast with approaching winter ) and two plants indoors with a total of two green chillies (which I think should go red eventually - I've lost track of what varieties were where though !). One chillie is 3 cms and the other is 1 1/2 cm long.

I'm wondering whether I'm going to have a harvest festival celebration this year : )

---------

Any further developments with that delivery which vanished in Customs ?

I reckon you should do some Tweeting to the Customs Department (and a copy to somewhere that Donald or his critics might see it) , emphasising that stopping mail deliveries of items destined for energy research without properly notifying you , is no way to 'make America great'.

Rattle their cage a bit - we'll back you up ! : )
Have had the solution to Bessler's Wheel approximately monthly for over 30 years ! But next month is "The One" !
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

Hey Art,

Sorry about this year's crop. I guess two chilis is better than none, though.

I'd go ahead and have that festival anyway, even if it doesn't last very long. Hopefully, however, the two chilis are the really hot ones so that the festivities can at least last through the next morning's constitutional.

...lol

I guess you could also pickle the two puny peppers. I don't like my peppers pickled, though. The local Papa John's Pizza joint puts hot pickled peppers in with their pizzas, but I often don't eat them.

I was hoping to get my plants to a pretty good size indoors this year before it warmed up and I took them outside. I've gotten some early peppers by doing that in the past. My Habaneros are really taking their time sprouting, though.

I currently have 5 red Ecuadorian devil's breaths - with one having sprouted just a few minutes ago. Most of the other devils are looking pretty nice already and are starting to really leaf out. They are supposed to be about the same heat level as a habanero but have a different taste. I don't much like the taste of habaneros, so I'm looking forward to that.

I have 4 black pepper seedlings that are supposed to be a small hot variety, but I think the pictures on ebay were actually of a large black sweet bell pepper instead. So, those may end up as a surprise.

I also have 3 purple cayennes that supposedly go from green to purple and then to red when ripe.

...and then I have the one chocolate habanero that sprang up last night. It's supposed to be quite a bit hotter than a normal orange habanero.

I've not yet seen any signs of my Peruvian white habaneros or my serranos. I may have to try starting some more of those and also some more of the chocolates.

I started my seedlings in a closed up egg carton I put above my baseboard heater, and high enough above it that the inside maintained about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. That would be just shy of 30 centigrade.

The seedlings which I transferred to larger containers and got under the light the soonest after sprouting definitely are doing the best and have fairly dense leaves already. The others are really "leggy" and their leaves are kind of sparse. They've even lost a few leaves.

Since I live in a wooded area, I don't get much sunlight near my cabin. Because of that I've only grown my peppers in pots up to now so that I could move them around a bit, and I'll probably do the same this year.

I think the plants do a bit better after they get a few years on them, too. I had a few that I kept alive for quite some time by bringing them inside in the winter.

My current seedlings are all under a single compact fluorescent light that I've been running 24 hours a day. They seem to be doing fine with that. It's not particularly bright, though.

I've read that peppers don't need a day/night cycle to bear fruit and that it is entirely temperature related. So, I'm trying to get as much growth as quickly as I can.

I do need to start using my 4 foot fluorescents or wire up my new 10 watt LEDs pretty soon. I pulled a power supply out of an old computer that can put out 48 watts at 12 volts, which is right at what I would need.

---------

I never did get the package that Customs held for inspection. I doubt I'll get it now. It contained the stuff that I joked might look like bomb making supplies - minus the explosives, of course.

I think it was probably the power transistors that got it confiscated if it wasn't just lost.

Although it contained about $15 worth of stuff, since I didn't get back to the seller to accept the refund they offered, I'm just writing it off as a learning experience and a gamble gone bad. It's too late for me to give the seller ebay feedback, anyway, so they probably wouldn't be as eager to give me my money back now.

If anybody is going to be cheated by Americans, it should be me. It's the American way.


"Mr. Customs Agent, could you please send me my counterfeit power transistors? Why would you confiscate them?! I can't afford American made real ones!"

"Pretty please! I'll trade you my illegal Chinese pepper seeds! ...minus a few. You let me have those!"

"...and my lead solder! If you don't let the Chinese send us that, they might start putting the lead back into the toys!"

"America sucks more than ever, the Chinese have my money and you got my guitar strings!!"

Actually, I re-ordered some of the items I needed for one of my experiments just last night but from different ebay sellers.

...different sellers in CHINA!

...lol

I guess I didn't learn my lesson. ...though I figure if only 1 in 6 packages actually gets to me, it's still cheaper than buying American!

So, I'm trying again with the clip on ferrite cores and the diamond coated cutting wheels.

The ferrite cores were around $5 for 20 from China. If I bought American, it would be more like $8 for 5 or $32 for 20. ...like I said, just 1 in 6!

...and so the adventures continue!
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

I got my clip on ferrite beads today!!

They took only 12 days to get here - if the things weren't sitting in the mailbox over the weekend, that is. I don't think I checked my mailbox on Saturday or Sunday.

Anyway, I can get to making my electromagnetic test device now! ...well, if my head pain would ease up.

I may order some other stuff from China including some laser diodes in bulk and a cheap flashlight or two in the next couple of days or so.

-------

I separated my Ecuadorian devil's breaths into individual "pots" this week. I'm using some old plastic sour cream containers for now and will transfer them to larger containers later on.

My one chocolate (I think) habanero is growing a bit slow, but it may soon have more than the two original leaves. I think the Ecuadorian devil's breaths are growing the best of all in the soil that I'm using - which I scraped out of the woods several years ago now.

I started some more serrano, white habanero and chocolate habanero seeds today in another egg carton. Hopefully unlike the others (not counting the one brown) this batch will sprout.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

I ordered some more items from China earlier today!

10 laser diodes, and all for under $2, a cheapie zoomable LED flashlight(/torch) that runs off a AA cell, and some dual sided perforated circuit board with plated through holes!

I may use some of the perf. board for the circuitry of my electromagnet test device. I'm getting 5 5x7 cm boards.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

I got my diamond coated cut off wheels for my Dremel tool today - two different packages, each containing 5 disks and a mandrel, from two different Chinese sellers. I placed both orders at the same time I ordered my ferrite beads and so these arrived in 19 days. The beads arrived in 12.

Now, if I could just force myself to get something done...
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Art »

"Now, if I could just force myself to get something done..."


--------

Yeah : ) .. Try sitting quietly with yourself for an hour and get yourself annoyed by repeating over and over "procrastinate now - procrastinate now - procrastinate now " .

Usually that has the effect of depressing me for wasting an hour (almost as much as wasting an hour watching or reading rubbish on the www) and then I usually jump onto another project which often isn't even on my list and work mindlessly to shake the depressed feeling off !

Quite often what actually gets done is another project started , - to add to the list ! . And then that can depress me a bit again , and then I try to sort and shorten the list - and then I actually feel like I have got stuff done !

But I actually havn't because the Wheel is still number one on the list and its still there ! :)
Have had the solution to Bessler's Wheel approximately monthly for over 30 years ! But next month is "The One" !
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

While procrastinating, I decided I would respond to your post. ...lol

I certainly know all about procrastination, and sadly my health issues make it even worse. I really have to fight through my discomfort to get anything done these days and there are many other necessary real life things I should be doing, too. ...like grocery shopping. Wow, it seems like I just went two or three weeks ago! ...lol

Anyway, of the partial builds I currently have, almost all of them took me tremendous willpower to get built. It is nice having real physical devices to piddle with (and sometimes show off to friends), but man, it is hard to get motivated when in discomfort.

My electromagnetic device that I need to construct out of my ebay beads and things, I've been trying to get built for years now, but I didn't really have the right materials before. I had the basic idea sometime around 2000, I believe, and I still don't have much of a clue whether it will actually work or not.

There seem to be some hints in nature that the principle I'm exploring might be valid, but I'll really be in uncharted territory with an actual device. If it were to work, it would extract electrical energy from permanent magnets - which, of course, is not believed by the mainstream to be a possibility nor even by some in the "free energy" community.

The magnetic field that emanates from a permanent magnet does, of course, contain energy, but like with the energy in the gravitational field, most don't believe someone can access more of it than what can be gotten by simply allowing magnets or masses to pull together due to their own attraction, basically. ...energy which, of course, one normally loses to separate them again.

I think that if excess energy can be harvested from a gravitational field, which some here are trying to do, then doing the same from a static magnetic field should also be doable. The way to go about that would be different, however, due to the differences between the two types of fields.

I have very specific ideas that I've never seen anyone try before, so I am looking forward to doing some real experiments eventually. They will require careful electrical measurements, though, of the energy going into and coming out of the device.

Until I get some things built and make some basic measurements of some inductances and resistances and whatnot, I won't have much of an idea as to what to expect. I'd, of course, like to have not just more energy out than I put in but enough out that I could also power the control circuitry and remove any source of external power.

...but that is currently wishful thinking.

When I actually get to the point of doing tests, I will need to be very diligent when accounting for all electrical losses and gains in the device. One possibility would be that there could be an energy gain but still not enough to have break even - as hot fusion researchers know about all too well.

Anyway, this is one of my oldest untested ideas, so it should probably be near the top of my procrastination list. ...though as close as I am to having answers, whether yea or nay, with the still incomplete gravity device in the floor in front of me, I should probably be focusing on finishing it!

Procrastination List:

1 - (tie) Start building electromagnetic device to potentially extract electrical energy from permanent magnets (idea from around 2000).

1 - (tie) Complete Gravity device (in the floor in front of me) to potentially extract mechanical energy from the gravitational field of the earth - which is a more recent variation on a basic idea I had in 2010.

3 - Finish the incomplete potential permanent magnet powered motor - idea from maybe 2000ish?

4 - Finish the potential gravity powered device that is the second major incarnation of the idea I had in 2010.

5 - Get back to building my thermoelectric conversion device - potentially akin to a Maxwell's demon.

6 - Start build on the other potential permanent magnet powered motor idea - from whenever that was.

7 - Finish the most recent potential gravity powered device - the one that uses springs that I came up with last year (or so).

8 - Try another build of earlier gravity device that uses a spring - from whenever that was.

...arrgghh...

When I have untested ideas that date back nearly two decades, it's hard to know which ones should have priority.

I think I have the most promising near the top of the list.

So, that's 4 gravity motor ideas, 2 permanent magnet motor ideas, 1 permanent magnet (mechanically motionless) electrical generator idea, and a thermoelectric conversion device.

Of my 4 gravity motor ideas, the one I'm concentrating on the most may work with a single mechanism (or set of mechanisms) as opposed to needing all mechanisms in place and functioning. This might be along the lines of Bessler's device working with a single "crossbar" - whatever others may take that to mean.

...still procrastinating... ...but while sharing publicly.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

Still procrastinating!!

I haven't even done that grocery shopping yet! ...and it's been another week!! I've been living off some eggs, bread and junk food from the local convenience store instead! I did have a nice chicken dinner from their grill today, though.

Maybe I'll finally get to the grocery store this evening.

Anyway, I got one of my most recent China purchases today. I got the 5 5x7 cm double sided circuit boards. Seem to be pretty nice quality. They took 14 or 15 days to get here.

Still waiting on the 10 laser diodes and the cheapie flashlight.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

I got my 10 laser diodes today! 20 days from China. $1.59 for all 10 of them and free shipping. That's less than 16 cents a piece! ...and delivered to my mailbox!

I've been playing with one this afternoon and it seems to be working fine. Nice red dot across the room. Nice round brass case and the lens looks nicer than I was expecting, too. It has something like a 35 ma current draw at about 5 volts, it seems.

When I was a kid, to get a laser beam like this, I would have had to have paid hundreds of dollars (I think it was) for a helium-neon laser. Now I can get my laser beam for 16 cents, which would probably be less than a nickel in 1970s money!

...and I could have 10 laser beams all beaming in just a matter of a few minutes if I wanted!

Unfortunately, dichromate gelatin isn't sensitive to red light or I'd be making some holograms soon, too. I either need to get some holographic plates with the silver emulsion, or buy more expensive green and/or blue diodes and the dichromate and gelatin, though.

I need to put this at the bottom of my procrastination list, however. I have much more important things I could be thinking about and putting off today. I can procrastinate with the best of you!

Believe it or not, though, I was actually piddling with one of my magnet motor ideas today. I know what I want my mechanism to do, I've known for quite some time, but I haven't really got it all designed yet.

When I do individual experiments testing the basic principles which when combined I believe might work to extract/produce energy from permanent magnets, the results seem to be as I would expect. So, I'm actually kind of excited to get it all sorted out, built and tested.

I expect that with the right design, the actual build should be pretty quick and, of course, rather small in comparison to gravity devices. It shouldn't cost much more than just the magnets I use, either, and I already have quite a few of those on hand.

I should be able to make parts from my plentiful supply of crafts sticks and wire nails and rubber bands and springs and glue and stuff. ...if necessary.

Anyway...

Still waiting on the cheapie flashlight.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

My cheap flashlight still hasn't arrived. That's 2 orders now that haven't made it to me from China. If the flashlight doesn't come today, I'll probably try contacting the seller through ebay. It was only about $1.70 in total, though, anyway.

I bought some LED bulbs from Walmart this weekend, so they didn't come directly from China, but they were made in China.

Wow, and I'm impressed with these things, too.

These 14 watt LED bulbs put out 1100 lumens - which is the equivalent light output of a 75 watt incandescent bulb. I think they cost me about $4 a piece for the 4.

I replaced my 26 watt compact fluorescent bulbs in my light fixture with these and I see no difference whatsoever in the light output. So, I'm getting the equivalent of 300 watts of incandescent light for 56 watts now. That's a lot of light for less than 6/10 of a cent per hour.

I can have these LED bulbs on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, then, and they will only cost me about $1 a month in electricity per bulb. My cabin is so dark inside even during the day that I pretty much have to have them on all the time anyway. ...but it's neat to know that my lighting needs should now only cost about $4 a month.

I could save 4 cents a day if I turn them off when I sleep. ...but since both the old incandescent bulbs and the compact fluorescent lights are more likely to burn out when being turned on and off and thus actually have a shorter life span when they are cycled, I got used to just leaving my lights on all the time.

These LED bulbs supposedly have a 25,000 hour life. That's about 3 years continuous. They're probably better about cycling on and off than the other bulbs, but I'll probably still just leave them on all the time, too.

Oh, one of my white Habanero seeds finally sprouted! That's only 1 white and 1 brown total from the seeds I've tried to sprout from the 2 U.S. sellers. I suspect they didn't let the peppers ripen enough before they harvested the seeds.

I had much better luck with the seeds that were packaged for commercial sale (that I ordered through China... ..shhh.)

I bought some Plaster of Paris at Walmart this weekend, too, to use with one of my magnet projects. I have to make a mold to help me in creating special electrical windings for my experimental device. ...well, at least I'm going to attempt doing that.

...and, yes! The Plaster of Paris was also manufactured in China!

There were two types of clay at Walmart that I could probably use in a way similar to what I'm planning on doing with the plaster. One was a wet clay which might tend to crack, though, as it dries. The other was a self hardening plastic clay that might work better. If the plaster doesn't work for me, I'll probably go back and get the plastic clay.

I'm still working on my magnet motor design. In all the tests I've thus performed, it does seem like I"m seeing an energy gain from the magnets. I still have to do the calculus in my head, but it really does look like I'm seeing something very promising.

To feed back energy while making the device cyclical, I need energy storage elements. I think using levered springs for proper impedance matching - while using some springs I already have - is my best bet. As with combustion engines, I could also use a flywheel, I suppose, but I suspect it would be less efficient than springs.

I'm more used to thinking about electrical devices than mechanical ones, so this is exercising my brain. An advantage of a flywheel over springs would seem to be that it wouldn't have to be "tuned." As energy is added per cycle, the rate of rotation and thus the cycle rate would simply increase.

With springs for feedback, everything may have to be carefully tuned by adjusting spring tension based upon the operating point.

...anyway... ...interesting stuff yet to do.
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Sam Peppiatt
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Sam Peppiatt »

A good place for parts is: McMaster-Carr, an on line hardware store here in the US, Sam
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by Furcurequs »

Hey Sam,

Yes, I ordered the springs that I mentioned in my last post from McMaster-Carr. If I remember correctly, I even received them the very next day after placing my order, so their shipping is super fast, too. I think I spoke of that order somewhere in this thread, even.

If you need parts in a hurry, with their huge inventory and speed, they seem to be the go to people. Of course, that all comes with a price, so you have to be willing to pay a bit more.

Unfortunately, I have to be very frugal with my money, so cheap and slow from China sometimes has to suffice.
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re: Parts directly from China

Post by rlortie »

Grainger is competitive with McMaster-Carr and sometimes cheaper on various items. https://www.grainger.com

i use to do my shopping for machinist tooling with Enco, but they have been bought out by MSC.
https://www.mscdirect.com

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