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Post by the light works on Aug 2, 2015 1:48:11 GMT
Well, we've already discussed the lawnmower throwing rocks. so the question is did they come up with factors we missed, and does reality match our theory?
the B side is Glass Guillotine. only question in my mind is, does it try to tumble? we shall see.
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Post by the light works on Aug 2, 2015 2:42:26 GMT
OK, disclaimer: at this point I've been awake for 16 hours, I may have missed a few things.
they did mention they were defeating the safety mechanism on their mower. I would have liked to see a bit more on the angles the rocks travel.
glass guillotine: spoiler: it tumbled. I would have liked to see a bit more time spent on trying to hit the sweet spot.
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Post by blazerrose on Aug 3, 2015 4:48:56 GMT
I must admit I was stunned at how much force those rocks were flying with. I would never have guessed that they would be so damaging.
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Post by the light works on Aug 3, 2015 14:46:24 GMT
I must admit I was stunned at how much force those rocks were flying with. I would never have guessed that they would be so damaging. being as how I've been using bigger than average mowers for years, I knew they bat the rocks pretty hard, but there is a lot of structure inside the mower intended to prevent projectiles.
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Post by ironhold on Aug 3, 2015 17:42:34 GMT
The city I live in has an ordinance: if you have an alley behind your structure, and there is grass growing in that alley, then you are responsible for mowing it.
US Highway 190 has run through the middle of town for decades now (I don't care if the bypass is the "new" 190; I'm sticking with the old name). When it was first run through, it was fairly narrow. As a result, the city was able to establish empty lots between the highway and the handful of residential streets that jutted off of it. But back around the 1980s, traffic got so intense in places that the highway had to be widened. This process caused the lots to be paved over. Despite this, the city insisted upon having some sort of barrier between residential properties and the highway.
Well, by the grid system that was in place during the 1950s / 1960s, the highway was 000. The 100s block of any side street was immediately adjacent to the highway. The 200s block came next, usually after another road. Then the 300s, 400s, et cetra (if a road ran that long).
My late maternal grandmother's house was #103 on her street, meaning that she was two houses over from the highway. We never minded it, but the city used the "need for a barrier" as an excuse to go "eminent domain" on #101, evict the family living there, and sell it to a contractor. The contractor bulldozed the house and replaced it with a parcel service office. The company promised that their trucks would never use the alley behind the block, but as soon as the facility was operational they went back on their word.
The alley had never been paved, and so fully 50% of it was dirt. This meant that whenever I went to mow the alley, I was forever kicking up rocks with the mower. The guard helped to funnel the rocks aside, but if you were in the wrong spot you could still get a nice gash. Once the trucks began running down the alley, however, the alley deteriorated to the point that it eventually became about 60% - 70% dirt. This led to the unfortunate situations of my having to mow while dodging trucks and the increasingly large rocks that were coming up as the trucks wore the grass away.
We informed the city that the situation was now so dangerous that we could not mow the alley; unless the city forced the parcel service to keep it's promise, it just wasn't safe back there.
The city responded by threatening to fine us for not mowing.
The trucks still ran.
So yeah - I know all about massive projectiles getting kicked up.
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Post by WhutScreenName on Aug 3, 2015 18:10:11 GMT
Well, we've already discussed the lawnmower throwing rocks. so the question is did they come up with factors we missed, and does reality match our theory? Could you post a link to that thread? I'd love to read it
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Aug 3, 2015 19:35:10 GMT
I have a basement window that fell victim to a rock discharged from under a riding mowing - with the discharge chute attached. It was definitely an eye opener for my kids, they now more fully understand why I want them in the house or on the opposite side of the house (in the front yard when I'm mowing the back and vice versa).
Also, I go to teach my 8-year-old daughter a little bit of elementary physics when Adam was discussing the energy of the bullet vs the energy of the rock. I introduced her to the difference between Kinetic Energy (KE) and Potential Energy (PE). She grasped the concept that while she was laying on the couch, she has PE; but, if she fell off the couch, it would become KE. We'll get into the math behind them another day...
In regards to Jamie's "Mower from Hell", I think they may have actually gone too far into the 'ramping up' process on this one. He put 50 lb blades onto what appeared to be the stock 1" shaft...not surprised it failed. Should have put a beefier shaft in place.
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Post by breesfan on Aug 3, 2015 21:17:42 GMT
I didn't care for the lawn mower episode but I felt they were putting the rocks way too close to each other but it was still interesting. I would have thought there were better lawnmowers now.
The glass one, I wanted to see what happens when the glass that tumbled hit the guy when they had tried it. I didn't think it would work but I thought the glass would just tumble.
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Post by the light works on Aug 4, 2015 5:47:32 GMT
The city I live in has an ordinance: if you have an alley behind your structure, and there is grass growing in that alley, then you are responsible for mowing it. US Highway 190 has run through the middle of town for decades now (I don't care if the bypass is the "new" 190; I'm sticking with the old name). When it was first run through, it was fairly narrow. As a result, the city was able to establish empty lots between the highway and the handful of residential streets that jutted off of it. But back around the 1980s, traffic got so intense in places that the highway had to be widened. This process caused the lots to be paved over. Despite this, the city insisted upon having some sort of barrier between residential properties and the highway. Well, by the grid system that was in place during the 1950s / 1960s, the highway was 000. The 100s block of any side street was immediately adjacent to the highway. The 200s block came next, usually after another road. Then the 300s, 400s, et cetra (if a road ran that long). My late maternal grandmother's house was #103 on her street, meaning that she was two houses over from the highway. We never minded it, but the city used the "need for a barrier" as an excuse to go "eminent domain" on #101, evict the family living there, and sell it to a contractor. The contractor bulldozed the house and replaced it with a parcel service office. The company promised that their trucks would never use the alley behind the block, but as soon as the facility was operational they went back on their word. The alley had never been paved, and so fully 50% of it was dirt. This meant that whenever I went to mow the alley, I was forever kicking up rocks with the mower. The guard helped to funnel the rocks aside, but if you were in the wrong spot you could still get a nice gash. Once the trucks began running down the alley, however, the alley deteriorated to the point that it eventually became about 60% - 70% dirt. This led to the unfortunate situations of my having to mow while dodging trucks and the increasingly large rocks that were coming up as the trucks wore the grass away. We informed the city that the situation was now so dangerous that we could not mow the alley; unless the city forced the parcel service to keep it's promise, it just wasn't safe back there. The city responded by threatening to fine us for not mowing. The trucks still ran. So yeah - I know all about massive projectiles getting kicked up. monobor chlorate would solve that problem.
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Post by the light works on Aug 5, 2015 15:22:29 GMT
Well, we've already discussed the lawnmower throwing rocks. so the question is did they come up with factors we missed, and does reality match our theory? Could you post a link to that thread? I'd love to read it found it. does this justify moving it to the hall of fame? citadelofmyths.freeforums.net/thread/848/gardening-wrongbonus mention for Lex, who came up with the idea of the cutter breaking off and being potentially dangerous! (page 2 of that thread)
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Post by GTCGreg on Aug 5, 2015 16:28:08 GMT
In regards to Jamie's "Mower from Hell", I think they may have actually gone too far into the 'ramping up' process on this one. He put 50 lb blades onto what appeared to be the stock 1" shaft...not surprised it failed. Should have put a beefier shaft in place. I was at my son's house and we re-watched that episode last night. Taking a closer look at where the shaft failed (we actually still framed that), it looked more like a fatigue failure rather than a torsional failure. Probably caused by excess vibration because the blade was not balanced well enough. Also looking at Adams expressions, I think that he was really a little afraid of what just happened. It created a very dangerous situation that was totally unexpected and someone could have been killed.
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Aug 5, 2015 16:41:22 GMT
In regards to Jamie's "Mower from Hell", I think they may have actually gone too far into the 'ramping up' process on this one. He put 50 lb blades onto what appeared to be the stock 1" shaft...not surprised it failed. Should have put a beefier shaft in place. I was at my son's house and we re-watched that episode last night. Taking a closer look at where the shaft failed (we actually still framed that), it looked more like a fatigue failure rather than a torsional failure. Probably caused by excess vibration because the blade was not balanced well enough. Also looking at Adams expressions, I think that he was really a little afraid of what just happened. It created a very dangerous situation that was totally unexpected and someone could have been killed. I think it's safe to say that they will never revisit this one.
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Post by the light works on Aug 5, 2015 16:49:42 GMT
In regards to Jamie's "Mower from Hell", I think they may have actually gone too far into the 'ramping up' process on this one. He put 50 lb blades onto what appeared to be the stock 1" shaft...not surprised it failed. Should have put a beefier shaft in place. I was at my son's house and we re-watched that episode last night. Taking a closer look at where the shaft failed (we actually still framed that), it looked more like a fatigue failure rather than a torsional failure. Probably caused by excess vibration because the blade was not balanced well enough. Also looking at Adams expressions, I think that he was really a little afraid of what just happened. It created a very dangerous situation that was totally unexpected and someone could have been killed. imbalance was also my first thought, because it broke BETWEEN hitting things.
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Post by tom1b on Aug 5, 2015 16:54:13 GMT
I use a Stihl FS90 brush cutter/string trimmer. I wear nylon pants, a nylon jacket, gloves, and my forester's helmet whenever I use it. I do this, because when I didn't, I would bleed from from multiple wounds. The debris (little pebbles and twigs) kicked up has enough force to break the skin.
There is always the accident from a few years ago down in Kentucky. I can't find the article. A tractor pulling a brush hog mower had a bolt break and a 15lb blade went sailing over the roof of one house and planted itself in the wall of another.
I wish newspaper archives worked like they did in the movies. 1992 or 93, a man back home was killed when his lawnmower kicked up some debris and struck him in the femoral artery. He died on the steps leading into the house. They assume he was headed inside to call for help.
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Post by OziRiS on Aug 8, 2015 4:34:31 GMT
No arguments on the lawnmower conclusions. Science well done.
On the glass guillotine, however... Already when they began making the dummy, I was thinking, "why aren't they putting bones in there?" It's one thing to slice through "meat", but something else entirely to cleanly split bone.
I suspect the reason is they didn't want to spend too much build time and material on it, because they already knew what was going to happen. As Adam pointed out before they even made the first drop, window glass doesn't have sharp edges, so a clean cut was more or less out of the question right then and there. Also, pointed out after the first drop, windows made for highrise buildings are made of tempered glass, so there wouldn't even be shards when it broke.
But still... When they used "normal" glass with frayed edges, I think Adam was a little quick to call the dummy "cleft in twain". The glass hit the shoulder and cut off an arm. Yes, technically, "cleft in twain" is correct, because the term just means split in two and not necessarily in half, but he gave the impression early on that "half" was what they were going for. Also, this is where bone comes back into the equation. Would the result have been the same if there had been a skeleton inside the dummy?
Seems to me like they rushed through this one. They did three tests and one was a clear miss that didn't even hit the dummy. As breesfan says, it would have been nice to see what happens when tumbling glass hits a person, but they didn't even go for that, so I have to ask: If you're not going to do it right, why do it at all?
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Post by Antigone68104 on Aug 8, 2015 14:00:24 GMT
Finally got the chance to watch this one last night. (I'm guessing Saturdays are a good night for the show, but it does end up conflicting with the D&D game on a regular basis.)
You can tell that episodes aren't being aired in filming order, because they explained the fiber "skin" layer much better here than in last week's drone delivery test. With the amount of "give" the first mannequin had when the tempered glass finally hit it, I fully expect a revisit with a skeleton in place. That had to be affecting their results.
The main thing I've hit with a lawnmower is garter snakes, which is messy but not nearly as destructive as stones. Was there something wrong with the setting of the unmodified riding mower? I've never used one, but I'm reasonably certain they're not supposed to cut into the roots.
Ironhold, after the creek behind my grandparents' home was turned into a buried culvert, all the property owners along the block were told they had to mow it (despite not having any property rights). We didn't have the contacts for the good soil sterilizers, but a jumbo container of Roundup sprayed on that section did a reasonable job.
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Post by the light works on Aug 8, 2015 14:16:15 GMT
Finally got the chance to watch this one last night. (I'm guessing Saturdays are a good night for the show, but it does end up conflicting with the D&D game on a regular basis.) You can tell that episodes aren't being aired in filming order, because they explained the fiber "skin" layer much better here than in last week's drone delivery test. With the amount of "give" the first mannequin had when the tempered glass finally hit it, I fully expect a revisit with a skeleton in place. That had to be affecting their results. The main thing I've hit with a lawnmower is garter snakes, which is messy but not nearly as destructive as stones. Was there something wrong with the setting of the unmodified riding mower? I've never used one, but I'm reasonably certain they're not supposed to cut into the roots. Ironhold, after the creek behind my grandparents' home was turned into a buried culvert, all the property owners along the block were told they had to mow it (despite not having any property rights). We didn't have the contacts for the good soil sterilizers, but a jumbo container of Roundup sprayed on that section did a reasonable job. I suspect it was a combination of the astroturf being loose, which allowed the suction from the blades to lift it, and the trail of rocks helping bunch it up.
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 13, 2015 5:28:37 GMT
I has to ask, ,if you threw a penny off the Empire state.
Why?. Because I want to know how old the empire state is, alongside the history of tempered glass..... This is an example to illustrate how long Glass has been "Safety" in tall buildings, and its a common building for myths to be born of things falling off from, as its a PTD building from the old boards.
See where I am going with this?.
So if I was walking along side a historical building, say an old church, or even a large Cathedral, and a bit of the lead on a stained glass window that has been there since Liz [one] had a spot of bother with the Armada, if that lead decided today was the day to be a bit loose, and a chunk of stained glass fell out.....
I dont think I am going to be getting that close to the walls of old buildings in high winds any more.
This brings maybe a separate myth... Hard hats. I work in Hard Hat area's at times, some of them building sites. If Sid the Stupid drops his number 4 claw hammer out his tool belt at 100ft up, is my hard hat saving me for anything?... Heck, lets try a whole BRICK from that height. I have an even better one, because this DOES happen quite often, a loose slate. If you are a slate short of a full roof, and one starts to slide, thats is a guided missile from the start. And they aint "safety"... The last time I looked, a few pounds of welsh slate with a hurry on, at a slight angle off a roof, is going to give you more than a haircut?...
Loose slates in high winds are a common problem, and something we all know to be wary of in storms in UK. Is this the same elsewhere in the world?... How high does the building have to be for that to be a fatal shot?.
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Post by silverdragon on Aug 13, 2015 5:55:08 GMT
Lawn mower mayhem. I have hit a few chunks of the harder stuff with my large fly-mow hover mower in its time. Thankfully, the underside is shaped as a dome, and anything coming off the blade is defected downwards into the mud, which as a bouncer, if it exits the side, is a lot slower and devoid of much of the energy having been absorbed by the ground first. However it does sting if it comes out the back and rasps your ankle, so I wear boots and heavy jeans when mowing.... But.... I suggest I have an older motor about physically three quarter the size of one of Jamies beasts, so maybe less than half the power. (Its a plug-in mains powered 240v A/C motor) I know it will shred a cabbage with ease, but suspect it may stall on a whole water-melon. Even so, I have a new respect for the thing.
But I do have a garden shredder.... this think will shred branches up to two inch thick without breaking stride. I wonder what a stone flying off the rotating blades in that would do if the safety cage failed...
I have new respect for garden power tools.
The rip-a-carpet thing... May I suggest that on the ride-on mower, if it caught an loose edge on the carpet, it would just pull it up, and that is why it was such a total shred on the test. Having stones fly with power in all directions may have punctured that carpet and created a few loose edges underneath?... the blades on a mower are often designed to be at an angle to pull up the grass to get a decent cut?... I dont think they glued the carpet down that well. Turf, you aint supposed to mow turf that much when freshly laid to give the roots time to bed in to stop that happening.
Mowing public spaces.
If you own the ground, in UK, you are responsible for its upkeep, and must make it "passable" for public if it is a public footpath. If it is not a public right of way, you are supposed to keep it "tidy" If you dont own it, you can not be held responsible for its upkeep, thats the councils job.
As for mowing any public place, "Elf and safe tea", you must use suitable safe equipment, and as the public are not sort of expected to be able to own such expensive equipment, requiring them to do so is counter productive.
Trucks using a public highway .. The highway over here must be metalled if its public access or works access, again the Councils job, if the trucks are not supposed to use that as an access point, they can be banned by the council. The road must be suitable for heavy goods, or have signs stating unsuitable, with a weight limit. Trucks using an unsuitable road surface over the weight limit are breaking the law. Especially if the are passing close to domestic property and making noise and nuisance late at night. If they are degrading the road surface, the company owning them may be charged with repairing the road. If the road is privately owned, the owners have the right to deny access to anyone they wish. They also do not have to provide a suitable road surface. If it is a footpath with public access rights, it must be kept suitable, but then only to foot passage, not vehicle. I am not aware of any vehicle access rights by Public over Private land. As in, you may b granted access, by the owners, but you do not have the right to demand vehicle access at any time. Except emergency vehicles, of course... but would anyone refuse an ambulance parking on your lawn if they were saving your life?... I think not?...
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Post by the light works on Aug 13, 2015 14:33:05 GMT
if a road here is covered with metal it must be clearly posted.
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