BOTTLE CUTTER – DIY
After trying for some time to get to a bottle cutter through
online trade sites without much luck, (they were either not shipping to India
or were expensive) I decided to make one myself. I came across lots of help and
instructions with photos to make a DIY bottle cutter while scanning the
internet. Most of them were really simple with either a wooden or a metallic
base and many where of really good finish.
I used a wooden base to assemble my makeshift bottle
cutter with the below that was available locally. If you can use a heavy wooden
base then there is no need to use the clamps to hold the set to a table.
3 plastic rollers
Few plastic bushes (to support the bottle base)
2 L” shaped
clamps
An elongated screw with a wing nut and metal fasteners
1 Vise Pliers
2 grounding clamps
1 Glass cutter (detach the cutter segment)
The set up is pretty straight forward and simple.
Attach the rollers to the base board. I used 2 small wooden pieces on top of
the base board to match the screw size.
The recycling process for glass bottles will
have 3 steps
1. Scoring the
bottle ( marking a perfect round line across the bottle with a glass cutter)
2. Getting the
bottle to separate at the score line ( through rapid hot cold temp change)
3 3. Grinding of the
edges and polishing to finish
The pics below will give you a clue as to how the set up is done, to get a perfect score line across the bottle. I used a beer bottle for my first score line. It didn’t quite work well as i applied less pressure for fear of breaking the glass.
In the picture on the right you can see the score lines towards the top of the bottle. I ended up having two as the first one wasn't a straight line.
Whether you roll the bottle away from you or towards you- make sure you hold it firmly and you go the same direction. There is a crunch sound that you hear as you roll the bottle and that is the cutter scoring the glass :)
Be happy to start with some random bottle that you are ready to discard before you can get to some level of expertise. Generally after the first bottle you are ON!
On the right check the glass cutter touching the bottle and the score line.Press the bottle towards the cutter's edge as you roll.
The work is half done if you can get a good score line.Once you have that done use a candle to heat up the bottle along the score line evenly( as even as possible- judge by your eyes).
The tricky part is heating and the subsequent quick immersion in cold water or holding it under a cold water tap till the bottle snaps through the score line.
Be ready to see some uneven lines if you are doing it for the first time, maybe it was the score line not being clean or the heat wasn't sufficient. ( i don't have a video of the bottle separation- search for a video @ youtube, there are plenty)
Once the bottle is separated, use some sand paper of varying smoothness to get to a nice finish.
My first bottle didn't have a nice finish, second attempt was better and did some sanding to smoothen the edges.
I used sand paper grades starting from 80 and going up through 120 and 220 for the final finish.
Safety Points-
Use just enough pressure while scoring the bottle.
Use only a candle light to heat up the scored area.
Put a thick wet cloth at the sink base when pouring tap water on heated glass.
Happy Re cYCliNG
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| drink glass/flower pots/hanging lights/candle holder/ |
If i don’t scare you or excite you then it’s not worth the adventure you are trying to seek in me.
This
life was never by my will and this life will ever be now. For the forces that
have decided my life here on earth will also direct a path and destination to
it, the one we conveniently call destiny. Living is an illusion that we have
created for ourselves while we run this path. And so i jumped? Negative!
:)
I
took the that leap of faith with diver instructor "Fully" ,
with two metal clips bonding all the faith that two human beings can form and
share in a span of four minutes of conversation, because sky diving was the
wackiest i could think of after spending an year and a month in the nerve
grinding cocoon of an office cubicle.
..And
thus began that quick journey with 200km/hr wind on my face and white cold
clouds swallowing me whole towards its belly while i trailed a path of
unpredictable conclusions but a predictable landing!
The
answer to the question of whether i jumped or was pushed to the oblivion is as
debatable as the theory on origin of universe. I want to recollect from those
moments of haze that i was dragged for sure from the edge of that single prop Cessna.
( i will want to meet Mr. Tully for a talk ,in this or his next life ).
Previously
i had seen pictures of skydivers floating in mid air enjoying whatever they
thought they enjoyed hanging around there. Personally speaking, in a tandem
dive when done for the first time you don’t enjoy much, you just try to find
out first whether YOU are upside down or the world and secondly, you want to
find out if you are really hooked to your tandem instructor or if you are going
to die.
After
you’ve had your initial acceleration experience and that free fall craziness,
once the canopy opens and you straighten up, that’s when you are generally
allowed to pee, in your pants while (if you have the mind ) you scan the ground
below for the nearest exit from the hell hole.
Like
in most of the airborne adventures – gravity has the final word !! And i landed.
I could kill- defending this.
Much of
what happened on that trip was unplanned and thus began our meetings too with
the unexpected. All journeys start for a reason and this again was no different
in anyway. The trains and buses were so oddly on time! People around were nice
and helpful and because it was my first outing in the state of Himachal i did
know to some extent what to expect through some reading but after a whole night
in the bus when the terrain revealed itself in the daylight –the journey with
the unexpected started.
Though the
journey was to end at Kullu”the possibility of reaching Rohtang and then beyond
was too exciting to pass up. So then this extension to the trip was made and we
started off to “Manali the next day (thanks to the roads getting cleared after
a landslide the day before) and then towards Rohtang.
The first
views of the valleys and snow laden mountain peaks were so beautiful and
dominating in its raw form. It was the view of the green valleys and the
intriguingly beautiful landscape that transformers the traveler to a dreamer.
The beauty of the place just left me in a state of awe and then knew within,
that this was a place that needs to be preserved for what it was, full of raw
nature and for how it dissolved us humans around to inconspicuous specs.
 |
| Beautiful and frighteningly calm |
The
mountain spreads could easily freeze you and transport you back many centuries
and make you a monk too – all in few seconds if you let it. The vastness and
immensity of the terrain is both magical and solid real before you. That is
when i decided – I could kill defending this mystical sanctum of nature.
The freezing
cold and breathlessness that we felt initially slowly receded and we could move
around more freely, exploring through some remains of earlier landslides and
rocky paths. It is a very exhaustive terrain for the unused and the elevation and
the low pressure could make you blurry eyed too.
 |
| blurred vision ! |
We came
across a company of army men patrolling down with their huge trucks lined like
marching ants. No we cannot imagine how tough it is for those brothers in arms-
the terrain itself is a battle!
 |
| Inside a makeshift tent |
The road
goes past Rohtang and then leads you to Leh with some only once in a life time landscapes
along the path which also has the highest motorable road in the world. But then
that journey in sum is another tale. The world never stops for a traveler and
his magic word is “beyond!
 |
| and Beyond ! |
Note: The “we in the writing
represent me and my good friend Arjun Kumar!
How i wish to live a pheasant's life - but for the nomad in me.
Its a confusing experience to be on a train, but surely not always. At times the noise and the speed and the wind and the dirt and the smell, it is all too overwhelming and brings out such memories too, and the mind slides into that amalgam of feelings. While on other occasions the fast but constant and steady rocking and the sway along with the ever repeating typical sound can slowly take you to another world of detachment and your thoughts assume a different level from where it feels as though the rest of the world’s business is nothing and suddenly nullified and one goes into a trance of complete blankness.
If this sounds too weird then probably you ought to travel more distances and take you along alone. Let the travels weather you new climates. When the wind blows your eyes close, let the eyes of the mind lead you to places and senses and hold them close to your heart.
Finally it turns out, its not the distance one did travel. Instead, it is how well one did enjoy the travel. Same applies to life as well, the learned have said.
THE NEW CIRCUS MONKEY
The new monkey in the circus..............
So it will jump and summersault and walk on two hands and eat a banana with the free legs.
World over most of the circus acts are the same. The monkeys always jump to get a
banana, some peanuts or on the swish of a whip. This one too will get its share. At the end of every act the crowd cheers or mocks.
The tiny flickering night stars are out and the monkey walks to the other end of the cage where it has a large opening with barbed wires, with a shiny apple in its one hand and the other gripping the barbs , it looks up to the sky over the trees and wonders if somewhere out there, is a small tree with wild berries to trade the apple for.
Dreams are nice. Especially when they remain as dreams.
The apple lies on the cold iron cage floor, the monkey practices for the next play.
AFTER THOUGHTS- IHM KOVCATS 2011 MEET
Getting serious –
Its time to kick up some serious dust from the reunion dance floor !
Starting a page with immense thanks and gratitude to all those souls who made the event possible both by organizing the event and by joining the event as active members to see it through the way we all had hoped – a success.
We never miss stepped all throughout except at the way we expected a larger turnout and the way we wrongly anticipated the numbers, we have only ourselves to blame or we may blame the light of pride that blinded us from the real world for a while .
We all are not from the same batch !
Not all may take the same pride being an Alumni as the initial batches did. Our pride of being an IHM ite comes from what the schooling at IHM gave us and how it influenced our later lives, how we felt grateful to what IHM did greatly depends on what we are NOW when we compare to what we were THEN, and the difference, for many decides if they want to turn up at the reunion or not. I seriously doubt if the Institute did the same magic to batches which joined in the later years and it is debatable for sure as we saw only increase in facilities and expansion of premises, so was there a wrong doing some where?
Different levels of career ladder.
The majority of the crowd were either seniors who were well settled into their careers and who could afford the time and money or those who just finished academics and college and has not really started with the grind.
All those who passed out around 2002 and after, if they are still with the “hospitality industry” they might be in the middle of their career growth plan or happily negotiating a promotion or even fighting for a survival somewhere in the globe and it will be devilish from our part to expect them to turn up for a night’s meal and a dance, though it was more than that and one had to be at the scene to find out .What an irony!
Migratory Birds
Birds fly (Cocks don’t. ha….) and migrate too. We too had many birds from among our batch mates and they have migrated. The visas and citizenship procedures keeping them busy and many wont surely be here in India to meet some guy or girl (now that’s arguable) who stole their potato peeler years back from near a quantity kitchen burner. Sure we can spare them for not being with us here, after all we are just some bloody Indians yeah.. mate? !!
The FB clickers
We sure are happy to see the immense presence of our IHM KOV mates at the FB. Just one request though, when an event is announced and an invitation is send, you see three options- “Yes, No and Maybe”. Please do not click on all three, even if you have downloaded an application to do just that. Please ..don’t. You don’t need to have balls of steel to choose one, but if you still think you lack any thing there try Nerolac’s new steel coat, but choose only one. (This is a special request from the organizing committee).
Our e GO!
If I were still working as a captain at a local restaurant it would take iron like confidence and selflessness of predatory nature to shake hands with a hotel general manager who was a class buddy years ago. You might want to intervene and say this happens either because you were not friends or the writer has an incurable level of low esteem. We all can have opinions a million, but there will be only one truth and that is – Size DOES matter ;).
There can be a few who shy away from being seen at a place where it can be a dress parade, when donkeys and cheetahs steal a tiger’s stripe. C’mon … it’s a world out here at IHM KOV and if you were a part of it some time, you are very well a part of it NOW. So welcome!
The organizing committee I feel were all based at Trivandrum
Let me earnestly thank all those who did travel by a flight or a train or a bus or a car or by all of these to reach the venue and share their presence with other similar souls, for it is you who made the laughter merrier, the music louder and sweeter, it is you who made the moments last longer and memorable. We don’t mind a banquet hall not being filled, cause it is hearts that we intend to fill, now and forever.
Cheers Buddies…! Life is once. And no rewind button too.
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