Parts eating carpet

We'll be in trouble if the parts eating carpet ever mates with the sock eating dryer!!!

It's not the carpet that eats it per se. It is the styrene bugs. What has happened lately is that a change in environment (the growth in PE) has caused a mutation of the styrene eating bugs so that a new variety has been born- the photoetch brass eating bugs. You need to clean the carpet with paint thinner, which will kill both varieties of bugs :-)

ROTFL

ISTR an article in Scale Auto many years ago about a spray to prevent styrene from being eaten...

Don Stauffer in Minnesota wrote: : : It's not the carpet that eats it per se. It is the styrene bugs. What : has happened lately is that a change in environment (the growth in PE) : has caused a mutation of the styrene eating bugs so that a new variety : has been born- the photoetch brass eating bugs. You need to clean the : carpet with paint thinner, which will kill both varieties of bugs :-) : They also seem to have an appetite for airbrush return springs. Sigh.

Bruce

So, my ol' kitty-kat, Mr. Furry Fred, sez it's all due to greeblings. They're probably living in the carpet.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ken Leonard ken snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAM.earthlink.net [Edit it to make it work.]

This brings up a question (a serious one). When mentioning how small plastic and PE parts bounce when they hit my vinyl tile floor, a modeling friend says he has a small carpet under his modeling chair. He says parts do not bounce when they hit the carpet and so are easier to find. How do other folks feel about this? What kind of a floor surface is under your building area?

I'm not sure I agree 100% with this. I have an area rug under my workbench (an office-type carpet) and parts still bounce clear off it onto the surrounding concrete basement floor. However, some parts do appear to "stick" where they land. I guess it depends on the weight of the part and what kind of angle it's at when it hits.

My model shop floor is covered with a grey commercial carpet. The woven kind with no nap. I have a 30" x 45" Black carpet under my chair and desk area. I chose black because few pieces are painted black and they would be easier to spot. I also have a black apron that covers my legs. Sometimes the part lands on the apron and stays there, or if it falls off, it won't bounce as far as if it fell between my legs. The apron also serves to protect my pants if I knock over a bottle of paint. I know that I am probably the only one that has ever knocked over a bottle of paint into my lap. :-) I ruined a pair of jeans when I dropped a bottle of brown paint between my legs. Guess what it looked like to the uninformed?

ble edge to form

Theoretically a

Be careful! I had a friend try this in his workshop. It worked in until one evening when he'd been working for about an hour and suddenly he heard his wife scream. My friend sprang up to see what was the matter. In doing so, he suffered whiplash when the apron wouldn't stretch any further. As he lurched back, the workbench jerked, causing most everything on it to go flying - including the Planet Models Me.

329 that he was building. Anyway, he staggered into the kitchen with a huge red welt around his neck and a close-to-$50 resin model now mostly ruined only to find that his wife had seen a spider (okay, it WAS pretty big). I almost wet myself when he told this story.

Bare concrete and it's so smooth you can usually see parts with a flashlight held just off the surface. Note the 'usually'. There are some parts still missing and presumed crossed to the 'other' dimension.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Don't forget all those shavings and sprue pieces carved off the parts down there. Gotta keep one of those dust busters around to clean off the carpet/floor just in case there's a missing piece mixed in with the scraps.

I use an apron. I first used to wear it, but kept getting it caught when I would get up quickly. But I then fastened it to the bench underside so it drapes over my lap. While it helps, parts sometimes miss the apron, especially photo etch pieces. Sometimes the tweezers slip and send the part on a trajectory that completely misses the apron. Plastic parts can also spring on a trajectory. So I STILL end up spending a lot of time examining the floor. I am sure I know every paint drop and every piece of masking tape that has stuck to the floor.

Another thing- my apron is dark blue. Hard to find most parts. I intend to make another out of white or light colored cloth.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota wrote in news:a57c54c3-fef4- snipped-for-privacy@m45g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:

I glad to see all this. I was begining to question my sanity and perceptions of reality. Couple days ago I dropped a tailwheel for an FW-190, 1/72 and I'd had to cut it down as a retracted version wasn't provided and already painted black. I dropped it of course, searched like a mad man for 10 minutes gave up and the next day looked down and there it was in the middle of the search area.

Frank

Usually they wait 'til you find or make a replacement.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

I tried the apron attached to the bench, too, and it can be cumbersome. Simplest solution I've found is to save the large clear plastic bags my newspaper comes in and simply do all fine work, plastic, resin, or photo etched, inside the bag. At least they don't fly very far,

Gary Anderson