Patrick Cross on sun 18 feb 07
curb.
Patrick Cross to clayart
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1:13 pm (3 minutes ago) A few months back I needed some sheet metal
for a project I was working on. After scoffing at what Lowe's wanted for
their little project pieces I was on the way home, saw an electric
clothes dryer headed for the landfill and had a little eureka moment.
There's my sheet metal...and for free at that.
Since then I've picked up a handful of dead dryers when I saw them on the
curb and have cooked up all sorts of projects for their gutted carcases and
components. One great thing about old appliances is the really durable
finish that's already on them...tough paint that has and will continue to
hold up to all sorts of abuse. With a little modification like enlarging
the front opening, the enclosures can make very serviceable storage cabinets
in the studio. Group two or more of them side by side and put a common top
across them and you'll have a great work surface for practically nothing.
I've come to notice that even across different manufacturers...GE, Kenmore,
Hot Point etc the cabinets seem to be made by a single manufacture and so
are often identical. You could stack one atop the other and make taller
storage closets as well.
What about the guts?
Well the drums seem like they could be useful for a myriad of things too.
One thought is a drum with kaowool added could be just right for piecing
together that Raku kiln you've been meaning to build. They're already
coated to handle some amount of heat and there are holes in them at
locations handy for buttoning the kaowool in or attaching cables for a
counter weight lift arrangement.
Often it's just the elements that have given out which means there's still a
nice electric motor inside that could be handy for something.
I was looking at one of the circulation fans and considering that with an
added 18"shaft it might make a good glaze/slip mixer.
Then there's all the little stuff inside that might save the day if you need
three sheet metal screws or a short piece of copper wire for something and
don't want to run to town just for that.
One last humorous thing. There really is money in old house
appliances...the last dryer I took apart jingled. When I got into it I
found $3.84. And have you ever wondered where that lost diamond stud ended
up? Not bad for for something picked up off the side of the road eh?...sort
of like a giant Cracker Jack's box
I'd like to hear what other ideas folks might have along these lines.
Patrick Cross (cone10soda)
Marcia Selsor on sun 18 feb 07
curb.
Patrick,
In the 60s dryers were stripped down to be spray booth. The exhaust
system
usually still works if the heating elements are gone.
Marcia Selsor
http://marciaselsor.com
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