Boxerworks.com

Freezing the head will work. The inside diameter of the hole increases as it cools. A structural engineer proved this to me by freezing a large collar to insert a bushing.
Guy

guy wrote:Freezing the head will work. The inside diameter of the hole increases as it cools. A structural engineer proved this to me by freezing a large collar to insert a bushing.

That would depend on the geometry of the object we're talking about, wouldn't it? A thought experiment might be useful. Imagine a hoop make out of aluminum wire. The inside diameter of the hoop would be the "hole". Heat up the wire and both the outside diameter of the wire and the inside diameter of the wire will expand. Cool the wire and both will shrink. (This is, in fact, how iron tires were shrunk onto wooden wagon wheels back in the olden days.)

Now picture a disk of aluminum, of the same outer diameter as the hoop. Then drill a small hole right through the center. We still have an aluminum hoop of sorts don't we? Now heat up that aluminum disk. I can very well imagine the hole getting smaller as the disk is heated, supporting your idea.

The question becomes, is an airhead head more like the hoop or the disk? This could be analyzed mathematically, Back to the punctured disk. We would all agree that the outside diameter of the disk will grow with heat. And we can even stipulate that the inner diameter, that is the hole we drilled, will shrink with heat. There will be some diameter between the outer diameter and inner diameter where the radius will neither grow nor shrink with increased heat. With the hoop, we can safely say that both the inner and outer diameters are far outside that imaginary "neutral" radius.

So, back to the question as to whether an airhead head is more like the hoop or the disk with a hole in the center. Frankly I'm way too rusty to set up the problem for a mathematical analysis, or at least I think I am. So, failing that we are left with empirical data. More than one person here has reported that heating the head works for them. The question became how much heat might be too much. If you have personal experience of cooling the head making the spigot easier to remove, that would be one. There might be more, but those people haven't spoken up here yet.

All that aside, I think that if we could manage to heat the head and then quickly cool the spigot itself, that would seem most likely to work.

My thoughts anyhow.


Ken

Ken in Oklahoma wrote:

guy wrote:Freezing the head will work. The inside diameter of the hole increases as it cools. A structural engineer proved this to me by freezing a large collar to insert a bushing.

That would depend on the geometry of the object we're talking about, wouldn't it? A thought experiment might be useful. Imagine a hoop make out of aluminum wire. The inside diameter of the hoop would be the "hole". Heat up the wire and both the outside diameter of the wire and the inside diameter of the wire will expand. Cool the wire and both will shrink. (This is, in fact, how iron tires were shrunk onto wooden wagon wheels back in the olden days.)

Now picture a disk of aluminum, of the same outer diameter as the hoop. Then drill a small hole right through the center. We still have an aluminum hoop of sorts don't we? Now heat up that aluminum disk. I can very well imagine the hole getting smaller as the disk is heated, supporting your idea.

The question becomes, is an airhead head more like the hoop or the disk? This could be analyzed mathematically, Back to the punctured disk. We would all agree that the outside diameter of the disk will grow with heat. And we can even stipulate that the inner diameter, that is the hole we drilled, will shrink with heat. There will be some diameter between the outer diameter and inner diameter where the radius will neither grow nor shrink with increased heat. With the hoop, we can safely say that both the inner and outer diameters are far outside that imaginary "neutral" radius.

So, back to the question as to whether an airhead head is more like the hoop or the disk with a hole in the center. Frankly I'm way too rusty to set up the problem for a mathematical analysis, or at least I think I am. So, failing that we are left with empirical data. More than one person here has reported that heating the head works for them. The question became how much heat might be too much. If you have personal experience of cooling the head making the spigot easier to remove, that would be one. There might be more, but those people haven't spoken up here yet.

All that aside, I think that if we could manage to heat the head and then quickly cool the spigot itself, that would seem most likely to work.

My thoughts anyhow.


Ken

Somehow, I am convinced that Ken's filibuster will be enough to persuade that damn spigot
to fall out onto the ground without further intervention ...

I'm surprised dynamite hasn't been mentioned as a method of spigot removal.
Much less risky than putting motorcycle parts in the oven. (at my house anyway)

ME 109 wrote:I'm surprised dynamite hasn't been mentioned as a method of spigot removal.
Much less risky than putting motorcycle parts in the oven. (at my house anyway)

For the reason implied in your post I'm convinced that a well equipped shop ought to be equipped with an oven.

For that matter a dishwasher can be useful for cleaning parts too. And a sink in the shop too would improve harmony in the household by allowing you to clean up your dirty hands without messing up the kitchen or bathroom sink. And wouldn't it be efficient to have a nice john to pee in, avoiding a lengthy trip into the house? And perhaps more important than any of those things would be a refrigerator to keep assorted liquid refreshments cool. And if you smoke the occasional cigar like I do, or like to sit in a comfy place when quaffing a drink, an easy chair for you and another for your friend would be just the ticket. And while sitting and smoking and drinking occassionally a popcorn snack would be nice. For that a small microwave would be the ticket. And wouldn't a modest CD player be nice to listen to your favorite tunes while wrenching?

A stove top would be nice for heating up some soup, but I guess that would fall into the luxury category.



Ken

I guess divorce would be more expensive than that luxury workshop, but then the luxury workshop might be grounds for divorce.

A lovely rave about hoops and disks, Ken. You deserve a nice drink and a bit of a rest. I do too, because I started to think about the mathematical analysis and realised that I wouldn't have a hope in hell of differentiating a simple function. Then I felt good about the lack of need of such frippery. It's kind of nice to be getting older if you look at it that way. Good health, sir.

guy wrote:Freezing the head will work. The inside diameter of the hole increases as it cools. A structural engineer proved this to me by freezing a large collar to insert a bushing.
Guy

You may want to do a little research on that.

Ken, I can't believe there wasn't a bed mentioned in your ideal shed. Sort of an anti climax to a good book.
If my wife read your post, she would also note the lack of a bed.
But she'd soon buy one.
And I'd be up in the shed!

How about a big fat couch man! No! two fat couches!
Ooh, and a p.a. yeah! and some amps!
And a big fire place!
And.......a big shadow board! I like shadow boards, they're a great reminder of what I no longer have.

ME 109 wrote:Ken, I can't believe there wasn't a bed mentioned in your ideal shed. Sort of an anti climax to a good book.
If my wife read your post, she would also note the lack of a bed.
But she'd soon buy one.
And I'd be up in the shed!

How about a big fat couch man! No! two fat couches!
Ooh, and a p.a. yeah! and some amps!
And a big fire place!
And.......a big shadow board! I like shadow boards, they're a great reminder of what I no longer have.

Those are great ideas ME 109, and certainly appropriate for a decently equipped shop. What I posted was more of a minimalist approach, something the wife might be convinced of as being entirely reasonable and non threatening.

One of the things I ommitted on purpose was the mention of a shower. One reason is that men don't need to shower all that often, but more than that, I made no mention of one because a wife might construe that as her husband's attempt at building a place to escape to, in other words, getting away from her. It takes an exceptionally secure wife (or one totally disgusted with her husband) to see the wisdom in a truly well equipped shop.

Since I'm not married I'm personally in no great danger, no matter how I equip my shop; that is, unless some sweet sexy lady comes along and decides that I'm the one for her. . . . . . . . .

Editing: And we all know what happened to gpsd. Well, OK, we don't know, but we have a pretty good idea.



Ken

When you are building your new shop (in your mind) don't forget a small work bench and room for a few bikes.