Electrocardiogram (ECG)
An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a simple test that can be used to check your heart's rhythm and electrical activity.
Sensors attached to the skin are used to detect the electrical signals produced by your heart each time it beats.
These signals are recorded by a machine and are looked at by a doctor to see if they're unusual.
An ECG may be requested by a heart specialist (cardiologist) or any doctor who thinks you might have a problem with your heart, including your GP.
The test can be carried out by a specially trained healthcare professional at a hospital, a clinic or at your GP surgery.
Despite having a similar name, an ECG isn't the same as an echocardiogram, which is a scan of the heart.
When an ECG is used
An ECG is often used alongside other tests to help diagnose and monitor conditions affecting the heart.
It can be used to investigate symptoms of a possible heart problem, such as chest pain, palpitations (suddenly noticeable heartbeats), dizziness and shortness of breath.
An ECG can help detect:
arrhythmias – where the heart beats too slowly, too quickly, or irregularly
coronary heart disease – where the heart's blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of fatty substances
heart attacks – where the supply of blood to the heart is suddenly blocked
cardiomyopathy – where the heart walls become thickened or enlarged
A series of ECGs can also be taken over time to monitor a person already diagnosed with a heart condition or taking medication known to potentially affect the heart.
How an ECG is carried out
There are several different ways an ECG can be carried out. Generally, the test involves attaching a number of small, sticky sensors called electrodes to your arms, legs and chest. These are connected by wires to an ECG recording machine.
You don't need to do anything special to prepare for the test. You can eat and drink as normal beforehand.
Before the electrodes are attached, you'll usually need to remove your upper clothing, and your chest may need to be shaved or cleaned. Once the electrodes are in place, you may be offered a hospital gown to cover yourself.
The test itself usually only lasts a few minutes, and you should be able to go home soon afterwards or return to the ward if you're already staying in hospital.
Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring
The diagnosis, management, and estimated mortality risk in patients with hypertension have been historically based on clinic or office blood pressure readings. Current evidence indicates that 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring should be an integral part of hypertension care. The 24-hour ambulatory monitors currently available on the market are small devices connected to the arm cuff with tubing that measure blood pressure every 15 to 30 minutes. After 24 hours, the patient returns, and the data are downloaded, including any information requested by the physician in a diary. The most useful information includes the 24-hour average blood pressure, the average daytime blood pressure, the average nighttime blood pressure, and the calculated percentage drop in blood pressure at night. The most widely used criteria for 24-hour measurements are from the American Heart Association 2017 guidelines and the European Society of Hypertension 2018 guidelines. Two important scenarios described in this document are white coat hypertension, in which patients have normal blood pressures at home but high blood pressures during office visits, and masked hypertension, in which patients are normotensive in the clinic but have high blood pressures outside of the office. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has made changes in its policy to allow reimbursement for a broader use of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring within some specific guidelines. Primary care physicians should make more use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, especially in patients with difficult to manage hypertension.
What are the features to look for before buying an ECG machine?
Electrocardiography is the process of producing a recording of the electrical activity of the heart, in the form of a graph, using electrodes placed on certain specific spots on the body. This graph is called electrocardiogram.
For the purpose of producing an electrocardiogram, the standard practice now is to place 10 electrodes in the following 10 different positions on the body: 4 Limbs ( Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg and Right Leg) + 6 on the chest on specific locations near the heart. Potential (Voltage difference) is measured between two of the electrodes or a common virtual electrode, called as the Wilson’s central terminal. Wilson’s central terminal is the average potential measurements between three of the limb electrodes – Right arm, Left arm and Left Leg. These voltage difference measurements are called “Leads”.
In all 12 ‘leads’ are required to complete the ECG graph. These 12 leads include, 3 limb leads, 3 augmented limb leads and 6 chest leads (also called precordial leads). While the three limb leads are measurements of potential / voltage difference between the limb electrodes, the augmented limb leads and chest leads (also called precordial leads) are potential difference between the limb and chest electrodes vs the virtual electrode (Wilson’s central terminal).
Often people use the term ‘lead’ for electrodes also and hence cause confusion as to whether there are 10 leads or 12 leads in an ECG machine.
When a patient cardiac activity needs to be monitored for a longer period of time; ECG variants with fewer number of electrodes are used to help aid mobility – such as with 3-electrodes or 5-electrodes (These may be confusingly called 3-lead / 5-lead ECGs – but the numbers 3 & 5 here refer not to the number of leads obtainable but the number of electrodes used). As against the 12-leads ECGs, the 3 & 5-electrode ECGs capture less information. The 3-elecrode ECGs -capture only the limb-leads but no anterior view, hence useful for rhythm monitoring. In a 5-electrode ECG all the 6 limb leads and one chest view is also captured. If someone says e.g. 5-channel ECG or 5-leads ECG, they essentially mean 5-electrodes ECG. So, what is a channel?
Channel – The other term commonly used in reference to ECG machine is number of ‘channels’. ECG machines may come as single channel, 3-channel, 6-channel or 12-channel configurations. Each lead measurement done aPre-owned GE Mac ECG machines detailed above is then passed through an ‘amplifier’ channel and recorded. In a single-channel system, each lead is recorded and displayed one at a time.
In a multi-channel system, the ECG has a microprocessor which manages this processing of signals based on the number of channels. The signals are amplified, filtered and sent to a multiplexer. The multiplexer receives all the inputs, reconstructs signals, de-multiplexes and sends the output to display screen or chart recorder. If it is a 3-channel ECG, the microprocessor groups the signals received from the 12-leads, in 4 groups of 3 and processes them. Similarly, in 6-channel it is in two groups and 12-channel device the same 12-leads are processes simultaneously. Hence, higher the number of channels, faster the ECG recording would be. Clearly, ‘channels’ is different from ‘electrodes’ or ‘leads’.
Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Practical Guide for Primary Care
Ultrasound has head-to-toe applications for primary care, and the newest machines are portable and affordable enough to fit into almost any practice.
Family physicians can order a wide range of imaging services for patients. But barriers such as time, money, and physical distance sometimes prevent patients from accessing those services, causing gaps in care. Incorporating point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) into clinical practice is one way to bridge those gaps.
Technological advancements have allowed more physicians to bring ultrasound services to the office visit or bedside, and to make POCUS an integral part of practice. I [Dr. Deutchman] was an early adopter, adding ultrasound to my rural practice in 1980 after delivering a surprise set of twins in the wee hours of the morning. I have never since been surprised by twins, nor missed an ectopic pregnancy. In addition, I [Dr. Shen-Wagner] first used POCUS during residency in 2011, after a patient complained that it felt like her intrauterine device (IUD) had moved. Everything looked normal on the pelvic exam, but a hand-me-down ultrasound machine from the clinic's obstetrics department revealed the unmistakable flutter of a tiny heartbeat. The patient was pregnant, despite having an IUD for three years.
These are just two examples of the many ways POCUS can benefit doctors and patients. There is robust evidence that POCUS improves care in critically ill patients and improves the efficiency and safety of many invasive ambulatory surgeries that are otherwise performed blindly or by anatomic landmarks. There is also preliminary but growing evidence that POCUS can improve diagnostic capabilities, expedite patient care, and inform bedside treatment and management. Most recently, POCUS has proven to be a valuable tool for confirming COVID-19 diagnoses, as well as monitoring some symptoms of the disease.
The hands-on, “showing while telling” nature of POCUS advances physical diagnosis skills, fosters doctor-patient communication, and increases patient satisfaction. This article outlines some common uses for POCUS and explains how to add it to a practice.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) Solutions
Electrocardiogram (ECG) systems record the electrical activity of the heart over time by measuring electric potentials on the surface of living tissue. A biopotential electrode is used to pick up heart signals from specific locations on the body. The differential voltage between two electrodes, or the differential voltage between one electrode and the average voltage of multiple electrodes, can be measured and displayed as one channel on the ECG printout.
The primary function of the AFE is to digitize the heart signals. This process is complicated by the need to reject interference from strong RF sources, pace signals, lead-off signals, common-mode frequency, signals from other muscles, and electrical noise. Typically, the AFE includes instrumentation amplifiers (INAs), filtering, and ADCs. There are two kinds of ECG architecture design approaches—ac coupling and dc coupling.

Buying an Adjustable Dumbbell Set - What to Look for
Buying an Adjustable Dumbbell Set - What to Look for
Dumbbells are an excellent piece of equipment to buy for a home gym of any size. As you can probably tell from our large video library of exercise videos, we are big fans of bodyweight exercises. You really don't need a gym in order to get fit, but there are a few very simple and inexpensive tools that infinitely increase the number of exercises you can do and the muscle groups that you can hit.
Dumbbells are definitely one of those essential pieces of equipment. In fact, if you were only going to buy one or two things, dumbbells would be one of 2 (including an exercise mat and maybe a physioball) near necessities that I would recommend purchasing.
One popular option available for this particular fundamental fitness device is the adjustable dumbbell variety. When you buy an adjustable dumbbell set you significantly reduce the amount of necessary storage. This can be especially helpful if you don't have an entire room dedicated to your home gym; these can usually be tucked away or stored in a closet without taking up too much extra space. This version also typically ends up costing you less than buying a full set of individual, fixed weights.
With all the different purchasing options out there, you want to make sure that you get the highest quality adjustable kettlebells that with withstand many years of use. Here are what features to look for in terms of quality, durability, and function when you're shopping around for this product.
Look for an adjustable dumbbell set that has plates that are easy to switch out
Because you won't be able to just grab a weight and jump into an exercise, you want to make sure that the set that you choose is one that allows you to switch plate weights out quickly and without a lot of fuss. You don't want to cut into your workout time or let your heart rate slow and muscles get cold in between sets while you change the mass that you're lifting. Research to ensure that the plates are held on in a method that is durable and not going to wear down after six months of use.
Read the reviews of the particular adjustable dumbbells that you are looking at buying
Look for all of the features you would normally look for in a handweight; durability, a comfortable grip, your desired thickness of the handles, and an enduring, non offensive coating. Make sure that the size and length of the overall apparatus is going to work for the exercises that you most commonly make a part of your routine. It doesn't matter if you save money on this purchase if you don't end up actually utilizing them because they aren't user-friendly!
Buy a set that encompasses the both minimums and maximums that you need for your specific workouts
Make sure that the adjustable dumbbell set you buy covers both the lightest and heaviest weights that you need for your exercise program. It doesn't hurt to even think ahead a bit in terms of strength gains; it would be very disappointing to buy the weights and then quickly outgrow them.
Also pay attention to the increments of the weights. Consider whether you will need half pound increments or not. Contemplate before making any purchase what you will be using them for; heavy lifting, strength gains, light toning, etc. This will help you decipher which end of the lb spectrum you need to be on in terms of the ranges of heaviness.
Make sure that the set has plates that wont slide
If an adjustable dumbbell doesn't have a proper securing mechanism, the plates might end up being lose on either side and this would cause a “clanking” that could end up both pinching you (rare) or being just plain annoying. Make sure that there is a securing agent that holds the weights securely in place, and then that there is also a bumper of some kind or another that goes in between the plates and the fastener to allow for very little wiggle room.
Choose a set that stores away efficiently
This is one of the least important factors to consider while you're shopping around but considering that the saving of space is one of the perks of this type of weight, it's worth considering. Make sure that the adjustable dumbbells come in a case that allows you to quickly and ergonomically store away your mini home gym.
Why the Rowing Machine Deserves Your Attention
Whether you're getting to know the lay of the land in your local gym, or you're considering a new fitness machine for your home, it's time you got to know the indoor rower, also known as the ergometer or rowing machine. While it may look intimidating at first, it's actually more beginner-friendly than you might think—and it provides one hell of a workout. All the deets, here.
What Is the Rowing Machine?
The ergometer is essentially mimicking the rowing of a shell (aka boat), like those you see in the Olympics, according to Evan Tyrrell, owner of F45 Training in La Jolla, CA.
"The rowing machine is like the Swiss Army knife of the gym," says professional rower Michelle Sosa, a Hydrow athlete. "Its multiple purposes include low-impact workouts, high-intensity sprint intervals, low-intensity endurance development, full-body strength training, core training, heart health, and posture control." Swiss Army knife is right—the rower seemingly does it all.
How Do You Use a Rowing Machine?
The motion you use in a rowing exercise is not always intuitive, but it's actually pretty simple once you dial it in. Here's a handy way to remember how to row: legs, core, arms (on the way out) and arms, core, legs (on the way in). Meaning, when you start from the bottom of a stroke (in the catch position), you should extend your legs, hinge your core, then use your arms to row the handle toward your chest. Then you reverse it to go back to the beginning: Extend your arms, let your core hinge forward, then bend your legs. (You can repeat it in your head as a sort of mantra while you're rowing: Legs, core, arms, arms, core, legs.) A lot of the power actually comes from the legs, but you need to keep your core tight while you push back and eventually pull the handles with your hands/arms.
Sosa notes that the biggest misconception about rowing is that it's an upper-body-only exercise. "The bulk of your rowing stroke is accomplished by the legs and core," says Sosa. (See: Rowing Machine Mistakes You're Probably Making)
"Rowing is about 60-percent legs, 30-percent core, and 10-percent arms," says Joseph Illustrisimo, creator of Let's Dryft in San Francisco (a workout that's half on the rower, half strength training—think Barry's with rowers instead of treadmills). "Most of rowing will be working out your hamstrings and booty, but only if you are hinging properly. It should feel like a deadlift. There's also a large amount of core activation. Your core should be engaged the whole time, so you should learn how to dynamically engage those abs and you should feel a burn throughout."
You can ask a trainer at your gym to show you, or opt for an at-home program with instructional videos. Hyrdow is like the Peloton of rowing machines, so if you're in the market for a home gym addition, this would be a useful way to get some live instruction on how to use a rower. "The instruction piece is critical for beginners to ensure you're maximizing your efforts and doing it safely and correctly," says Sosa.
If you want to try a class that incorporates rowing, you ca try CityRow in New York City, Let's Dryft in San Francisco, F45 Training in multiple locations, and Orangetheory Fitness (in certain locations). These all offer workouts that incorporate the rowing machine into their classes. This would give you more IRL intel on how to properly use the rowing machine and how to vary your workouts to keep things interesting.
Rowing Machine Benefits
Let's break down what you actually get out of using the rowing machine. What are some of the benefits of using a rower, and why would you want to hop on one at your gym?

1. Burn a lot of calories. Because the rower offers a combo of strength and cardio training, Tyrrell says it's a "super-efficient way to burn calories." Depending on your body weight and how vigorously you're rowing, you could burn between 400 and 500 calories an hour on the rowing machine.
   
   
2. Improve your aerobic fitness. Tyrrell noted that rowing for even just 15 minutes is "a serious aerobic workout." Rowing regularly can help increase your stamina and endurance while improving your overall cardiovascular health.
   
   
3. Get a full-body workout. You'll truly get a full-body workout with a rowing machine. Get this—this machine uses 86 percent (!!) of the muscles in your body. (Just smile a lot during your workout and you might use 100?)
   
   
4. Improve lower-body conditioning. Because you use your leg muscles so much in this workout (contrary to how it might seem, they're doing a majoring of the work in rowing), he noted that targeted lower-body conditioning—building strength and endurance—is among the top benefits. Strong stems, here you come.
   
   
5. Work out with less injury risk. You have a lower injury risk on a rower machine because it's low-impact, says Tyrrell. Plus, because it's of this, you can work at a high intensity without as much wear-and-tear on your joints. "Higher-intensity exercises like plyometrics and sprinting can sometimes be hard on the body, but low-impact tools like rowing machines and bicycles are great for the body," says Illustrisimo. "You also have many variables to change in your workouts like resistance, pace, and distance."
   
   
6. Build better posture. "Since the rowing machine primarily uses your legs, core, and back, it has loads of postural benefits, and is a great tool to engage the posterior chain [backside] of the body," says Illustrisimo. Working your posterior chain is super important for balancing our muscle strength, reducing injury risk, and helping correct the bad posture that's common in our sedentary society.
   
   
7. Keep your workout beginner-friendly. One of the additional benefits is that it's easy for beginners to try, says Sosa. "You see and feel results quickly, which is great for beginners," says Sosa. But you have to stick with it for more than just a few minutes to make this happen. "Gym goers tend to hop on and off a rower within five minutes due to boredom or confusion, foregoing those results," she explains. Stick it out for 10 to 20 minutes to see an improvement in your form and work long enough to get your heart pumping.
   

Servus Leute,

hoffe jemand hier kann mir mit einem Tipp weiterhelfen... Ich bin auf der Suche nach einem guten Steuerberater. Kennt ihr einen guten?

Guten morgen alle,


eigentlich wollte ich mir schon zu Weihnachten mal eine Spiegelreflexkamera gekauft haben,
aber ganz ehrlich, die sind ja so teuer, also die echt guten Modelle, klar können die auch was,
aber das muss man erstmal aufbringen und nun hab ich gesehen, 
dass in einem Fotogeschäft auch gebrauchte Spiegelreflexkameras verkauft werden,
meint ihr, dass sich sowas dann doch mehr für mich lohnen würde?

Hallo Leute,

wisst ihr, wo ich gebrauchte Mühlen kaufen kann? Könnt ihr einen Anbieter empfehlen?

Solar LED Street Light: Why Is It So Popular?
The LED technology has significantly made the street lights more eco-friendly by reducing the amount of energy consumption. However, most of the existing street lights often face the problem of energy shortages. We can end this dependency on conventional sources of energy to power the street lights by harnessing the sun's power.
Solar LED Street Lights are popular because they are designed to produce light 90% more efficiently than any other street light. The LED technology converts almost 95% of the energy into light. On the contrary, incandescent street light bulbs convert only 10% of the energy into light while 90% is wasted as heat.
In addition to its efficiency, governments around the world are promoting the use of solar energy and LED technology to reduce their carbon footprint without compromising on the availability of energy.
How Does Solar Street Light Work?
Solar street lights are never at the risk of running out of power because they’re based on the most abundant and perpetual source of energy in the world-the sun.
They are designed to be compact and self-sufficient in terms of their power source. The solar panel captures the daylight energy and store it in the battery unit, which powers the street light as required when it is dark.
Today, most solar-powered street lights systems are controlled by sensors.
To maximize the efficiency of solar street light, we have to consider optimizing its components to reduce costs and overall energy usage. The solution is to use energy-efficient technology like LED Street Lights.
How Do I Choose The Best Solar Street Light?
The outdoor solar street lights come in different shapes, sizes, and capacities. There are many alternatives available in the solar LED street light market. Before you decide on the best solar street light, you should consider it in terms of quality, features, design, power consumption, durability, and the most important, customer service.
The choice of a solar street light depends on the place and purpose of its application. The solar street lights requirements for household use are maybe quite different from that of businesses and communities. We have gone through several brands and products of solar LED street lights to help you with your decision.
The following section includes the 10 best LED solar street lights that we picked and tested, along with their ranking and reviews.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using LED Street Lights
Now in cities, street lights can be seen everywhere, and they provide convenience and safety for our life every day. After a long period of development, LED lights are now mostly used in street lights. Compared with high-pressure sodium lamps, the use of LED street light has more benefits.
1.It is a unidirectional light source, without light diffusion, ensuring light efficiency.
2.The LED street light has a unique secondary optical design, which irradiates the light of the lamp to the area that needs to be illuminated, while this further improves the light efficiency to achieve the purpose of energy saving.
3.The luminous efficiency of LED has reached 110-130lm/W, and there is still a lot of space for development, with a theoretical value of 360lm/W. The luminous efficiency of high-pressure sodium lamps increases with the increase of power. Therefore, the overall luminous efficiency of LED street lights is stronger than that of high-pressure sodium lamps.
4. The color rendering of LED street lights is much higher than the high pressure sodium lamps. The color rendering index of high pressure sodium lamps is only about 23, while the color rendering index of LED street lights is above 75. From the perspective of visual psychology, to achieve the same brightness, LED light is more than 20% lower than high pressure sodium lamp.
5. The light decay of LED light is small, it is less than 3% in a year, and it still meets the road requirements after 10 years of use, while the high-pressure sodium lamp has a large decay, which has dropped by more than 30% in about a year. Therefore, the design of the power of the LED street light can be lower than high-pressure sodium lamps.
6. The LED street light has an automatic control energy-saving device, which can achieve the greatest possible reduction in power and energy saving under the condition of meeting the lighting requirements at different times. It can realize computer dimming, time period control, light control, temperature control, automatic inspection and other humanized functions.
7. It can be used for more than 50,000 hours and provides three-year quality assurance. But the disadvantage is that the battery life cannot be guaranteed.
8.Using chips ≥100LM, LED street light can save more than 75% of energy compared with traditional high pressure sodium lamps.
9. It′s easy to install, no need to add buried cables, no rectifiers, etc., directly connect to the light pole or nest the light source into the original lampshade.
10. Excellent heat dissipation control: The temperature in summer is controlled below 45 degrees, and passive heat dissipation is adopted, and the heat dissipation in summer is insufficient.
11. Reliable quality: All circuit power supplies use high-quality components, and each LED has individual overcurrent protection, so there is no need to worry about the damage.
12. Uniform light color: No lens is added, and uniform light color is not sacrificed to improve brightness, so as to ensure uniform light color without aperture.
13. LED does not contain harmful metal mercury, and will not cause harm to the environment when it is scrapped.
Types of indoor lighting
After thousands of years of living with very natural forms of lighting such as moonlight, campfires and candles a massive change came in the late nineteen century. Along came Edison with his incandescent light bulb and DC electricity, and a few years later Tesla with his Alternating Current (AC) electricity.
In the 1940s, fluorescent lighting took off and in the 1960s came LED lights in various colours. The white bright light LEDs are a much more recent invention, really only coming into play from 2010.
This brings us to the two main types of indoor lighting when it comes to the quality of light: thermal lights and non-thermal lights.
Thermal lights are made from heat. With non-thermal lighting, heat isn’t used but other technologies.
Thermal lights include incandescent (that is, old school light bulbs and halogens) whereas non-thermal lights include LED and fluorescent (or any type of energy saving lights, otherwise known as CFLs).
Incandescent light bulbs and halogens are therefore more akin to daylight. Not only because the light is a product of heat but the spectrum of light is also fairly similar to natural light. There are no severe peaks and troughs, the spectrum is gradual and it’s also full of colours. They primarily give off light in the yellow, orange, red, and infrared spectrum.
LED Light Bulbs
Lighting has become something that's easy to take for granted until a bulb goes out. When that time comes, the number of choices available is higher than it's ever been. When shopping for light bulbs, you can sidestep the bans and continue using incandescent bulbs, despite their limited lifespan, so that you don't have to give up the familiar glow you’re used to. Some have taken the first step to using energy-efficient lighting use compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.
Compared to incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs seemed like a great upgrade. However, the reduced power consumption and heat output came with two drawbacks. Many compact fluorescent light bulbs don't achieve full brightness immediately or work well with dimmers. This has made it difficult for some to replace their incandescent lights until they could upgrade without these compromises; this is where LED lighting comes into play. When compared to incandescent and CFL bulbs, LEDs generate the same amount of light while using a fraction of the energy. LED bulbs turn on instantly to full brightness and last far longer.
What Is A Solar Panel?
Solar energy begins with the sun. Solar panels (also known as "PV panels") are used to convert light from the sun, which is composed of particles of energy called "photons", into electricity that can be used to power electrical loads.
Solar panels can be used for a wide variety of applications including remote power systems for cabins, telecommunications equipment, remote sensing, and of course for the production of electricity by residential and commercial solar electric systems.
Using solar panels is a very practical way to produce electricity for many applications. The obvious would have to be off-grid living. Living off-grid means living in a location that is not serviced by the main electric utility grid. Remote homes and cabins benefit nicely from solar power systems. No longer is it necessary to pay huge fees for the installation of electric utility poles and cabling from the nearest main grid access point. A solar electric system is potentially less expensive and can provide power for upwards of three decades if properly maintained.
Besides the fact that solar panels make it possible to live off-grid, perhaps the greatest benefit that you would enjoy from the use of solar power is that it is both a clean and a renewable source of energy. With the advent of global climate change, it has become more important that we do whatever we can to reduce the pressure on our atmosphere from the emission of greenhouse gases. Solar panels have no moving parts and require little maintenance. They are ruggedly built and last for decades when porperly maintained.
Last, but not least, of the benefits of solar panels and solar power is that, once a system has paid for its initial installation costs, the electricity it produces for the remainder of the system's lifespan, which could be as much as 15-20 years depending on the quality of the system, is absolutely free! For grid-tie solar power system owners, the benefits begin from the moment the system comes online, potentially eliminating monthy electric bills or, and this is the best part, actually earning the system's owner additional income from the electric company. How? If you use less power than your solar electric system produces, that excess power can be sold, sometimes at a premium, to your electric utility company!
There are many other applications and benefits of using solar panels to generate your electricity needs - too many to list here. But as you browse our website, you'll gain a good general knowledge of just how versatile and convenient solar power can be.

Minimalist Kitchen Equipment List: Everything You Need
When I moved into my first apartment after college, my mom and I made one epic trip to Ikea to pick up life essentials. I'm talking about a bed frame, a night stand, some shelves, and of course, kitchen equipment. And man, do I wish I had a kitchen equipment list like this when we did our major equipment haul!
Kitchen stuff is something you don't really start to accumulate until you've graduated college. Up until then, you're probably using what you brought from home and your college roommate's pots and pans. When you're finally on your own, though, you have to start somewhere, but even the most basic list of kitchen essentials is still dauntingly long.
To start, here's a quick kitchen equipment list that will help you get started:
Cutlery (knives, forks, spoons)
A few glasses/cups
A few plates (we currently only have 6 plates for 2 people)
One eight-inch chef’s knife (more on that later)
A medium-sized pot and 10-inch pan
A spatula
A large stirring spoon
Oven mitts
A glass baking dish
A metal baking sheet
A colander
A can opener
You can do a lot with just that kitchen equipment list, but most people tend to accumulate more than the bare minimum of equipment over time. This is what I want you to avoid!
After all, it's hard not to when there are a plethora of random kitchen tools just a click away, and they're all pretty tempting. Have you been inside a Williams-Sonoma? Just the sight of all the pasta machines and coffee accessories will have you dreaming of becoming that person that makes lattes and pasta from scratch. But, if we're being honest, you probably won't. Because, despite my best intentions, I've only used my milk frother twice in the last 2 years.
Kitchen Gadgets
One of the earliest recorded uses of the term "gadget" was in 1886 as a nautical term referring to a small, somewhat specialized contrivance. It is unclear when the term first entered kitchen parlance, but the Oxford English Dictionary records the earliest use of the expression "kitchen gadget" as 1951 in the Good Housekeeping Home Encyclopedia, which remarked that kitchen gadgets are often discarded because it takes too much time to clean them.
A popular contemporary taxonomy of kitchen technology must account for the essential ambiguity of the term. Terms like "gadget," "utensil," "accoutrement," "tool," and "appliance" overlap. A kitchen gadget may be a specialized artifact used for the preparation of a single kind of dish or for performing one specific function across a variety of dishes. As such, it can be distinguished if only in a general sense from the broader term "kitchen utensil," which would include multipurpose and essential kitchen equipment, such as chefs' knives and large appliances like ovens and refrigerators. In modern usage the term "kitchen gadget" also may be pejorative. It is often used to refer to novelty items, gimmicky and cheap kitchen equipment that purports to ease the burdens of homemakers. As the usage in the Good Housekeeping Home Encyclopedia indicated, gadgets may be the kinds of products that accumulate in the back of kitchen drawers until they are discarded. Another aspect of the gadget is its symbolic character. Gadgets may be displayed as items that represent taste, newness, or status.
Although the term "gadget" originated in the late Victorian era, it is often used retroactively to refer to pre-Victorian forms of specialized kitchen equipment. Providing an account of early kitchen tools is difficult as such items rarely made their way onto household inventories. It is well established that, apart from the kitchens of the aristocracy, pre-Victorian cookery, at least in the British Isles, was almost entirely a matter of boiling in a pot, cauldron, or kettle; baking in an oven or on a bake stone; and roasting on a spit. A number of devices were designed to assist the pre-Victorian cook with each of these kitchen tasks.
Are Pet Supplies A Good Niche For Drop Shipping?
Selecting the right niche is the foundation of a dropshipping business. When choosing the niche for your dropshipping store, you have to consider a few things. With this, a good niche good is something that your market love. And that includes pet supplies. In this post, we will talk about pet supplies as a niche for your dropshipping store.
Are pet supplies a good niche for drop shipping? Yes, pet supplies are good niches because people who have pets are emotionally attached to their pets that they always want to buy something for them. It is just like a new parent having a baby. Pet owners are likely to make purchases often for their pets.
We understand that there could be multiple niche or products on your dropshipping stores. Getting a profitable niche is the backbone of your business. Without getting the right niche for your market, your store will not earn money. Pet supplies are one of the many niches that you as a drop shipper can sell online.
Pet supplies is a wide range of niche that can help your sales for your dropshipping. As we go along this post, we would know further why pet supplies are a good niche, and what products you could sell for your dropshipping store.
Why Does Pet Supplies Make A Good Niche for Dropshipping?
Large Market to Target
Did you know that sixty-eight percent of the household in the United States have pets? This is roughly eight five million families owning a pet. Imagine the number of people you target as a market for your dropshipping. Considering the number of potential customers, pet supplies are good niches in dropshipping.
For Pet Lovers, It Is a Sign of Love
Aside from the number of pet owner, pet owners consider their pets as a family. To some, they treat their dogs, or cats as their child and part of the family. They have an emotional connection with the pets and would treat them special. Having said that, buying supplies, treats and pet stuff would be common to the pet lovers.
They Use Pet Supplies as a Gift
Thirty-five percent of pet lovers are millennials. Because they love their pets too much, they want to buy stuff that will make them look good or things that could possibly help in caring for their pets. These pet lovers would regularly buy stuff for their pets as a gift at least once a month. To some, with more than one pet, it could be more frequent.
Classification of sports equipment
There are three main categories of sports equipment classification:
1, according to the sport classification of the project, which is all the same sports related equipment and equipment, such as a class of methods, such as track and field equipment, weightlifting equipment, ice and snow equipment.
2, based on the nature of the classification of sports equipment, generally can be divided into designated equipment, owned equipment, equipment and other equipment 4 categories. Designated equipment class is the common use of the two sides of the competition, in order to avoid differences arising from the need to specify the equipment in advance of the brand (trademark), manufacturer and specification models; owned equipment is the athletes use their own equipment, such as racket, sailing and rowing , Paddle, sports clothing, protective gear, shoes and hats, etc .; site equipment category refers to the facilities of competition and training venues equipment and equipment, such as a variety of goals, ball, baffle, time scoring equipment, referee appliances; Equipment mainly refers to non-competition use of equipment, generally physical training, fitness activities, sports recreation equipment.
3, according to the classification of sports equipment, sports equipment is divided into sports, national defense military sports equipment, Chinese folk sports equipment, physical fitness rehabilitation equipment, children's sports recreation equipment, sports equipment disabled persons, auxiliary equipment. Competitive sports equipment: Sports equipment used for athletes, including equipment listed in the table, in addition to bicycles, cars, motorcycles, equestrian, fishing, aviation model, navigation model and other items of equipment, as well as non-Olympic Games (Bowling), golf, cricket (paddle ball), shuttlecock ball, tennis ball, bowling ball, bowling ball, tennis ball, ball hockey ball, ball hockey, tennis ball and so on in the international are professional sports organization sports equipment, Board tennis, back to the ball, pocket tennis, goalkeeper, billiards, to throw the ball, skills and other items with equipment.
Beauty Salon Equipment List
A beauty salon is an institution that provides women with facilities to improve their appearance, including painting, manicuring, facial treatment, and massage. Equipment that is of the highest quality you can afford is always better to buy. You need to look at the beauty salon equipment like beauty salon chairs, salon trolleys, etc. as an investment that both pays for themselves and brings long-term profits for you. Of course, instead of buying outright, you can always lease beauty salon equipment, so look at what suits your budget best.
1. Salon Facial Machines
Salon Facial machines are important for a skilled treatment of the esthetics. Without a simple steamer or mag lamp, esthetic rooms wouldn't be full but can be improved with single or multifunction systems. Below are five basic resources that every aesthetician requires on his face computer.
Facial Steamer
A facial steamer is considered one of the most valuable devices for every salon as it performs several critical tasks on clients and patients. Used mainly to help moisturize and cleanse the skin, it may also use steam to widen the pores of the skin, allowing increased blood circulation across the face and other body parts.
Facial Vaporizer
A facial vaporizer, similar to a facial steamer, also combines steam and ozone to revitalize a person's face and other areas of the body. But along with this, the aromatherapy therapies also use a facial vaporizer. A vaporizer is particularly popular in day spas and can use aromatherapy to help a person not only get revitalized skin but also relax and get rid of the stresses they have experienced in their lives.
Ice Roller
While many patients and clients use facial vaporizers and steamers well, many others often turn to ice rollers to help them achieve their desired results. An ice roller is mainly used to treat acne, reduce redness of the skin, to reduce lines and wrinkles, to relax the skin, and to relieve muscle pain.
Ultrasonic Skin Scrubber
An ultrasonic skin scrubber is an essential tool for any aesthetician's facial machine becoming more popular with customers at day spas who want extensive facials. The ultrasonic skin scrubber is also commonly used on patients who have undergone facelifts, ideal for clients who want deep cleaning, and full penetration of serums and moisturizers.
Skin Scanner
Just looking at the mirror, we do not get many ideas about the skin problems faced by us. For the same reason, a special machine is needed. A skin scanner is often required to fully understand what's happening to their skin. Used by most estheticians to conduct an initial examination of a person's skin condition, a skin scanner relies on blacklight blue lamp technology to penetrate under the skin's outer surface, exposing various conditions using fluorescent colors. By using this tool, aestheticians can detect conditions such as sun exposure below the skin's surface, obstructed pores, poor circulation, dehydrated skin, and much more.
2. Beauty Beds
Beauty Beds form an essential part of the experience of beauty and spa. Buying premium beauty beds and beauty sofas that will keep you and your clients happy. Beauty beds provide a great way of relaxation and comfort to customers. As clients need support while receiving facial treatment, a comfortable and soft bed for facial massage is the crucial way to give their customers such feeling. The Beauty bed is also used for waxing. Most salon beds and couches are made from PVC or vinyl. This has the advantage that they are easy to clean. Some well-known brands for Beauty bed are Lotus, REM, Affinity, and many more, etc

What is Aluminum Extrusion? The Process in 10 Steps
The use of aluminum extrusion in product design and manufacturing has increased significantly in recent decades.
According to a recent report from Technavio, between 2019-2023 the growth of the global aluminum extrusion market will be accelerating with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost 4%.
Perhaps you’ve heard of this manufacturing process and are wondering what it is and how it works.
Today we’ll discuss what aluminum extrusion is, the benefits it offers, and the steps involved in the extrusion process.
We’ll begin with the most basic and essential question.
Step #1: The Extrusion Die is Prepared and Moved to the Extrusion Press
First, a round-shaped die is machined from H13 steel. Or, if one is already available, it is pulled from a warehouse like the one you see here.
Before extrusion, the die must be preheated to between 450-500 degrees celsius to help maximize its life and ensure even metal flow.
Once the die has been preheated, it can be loaded into the extrusion press.
Step #2: An Aluminum Billet is Preheated Before Extrusion
Next, a solid, cylindrical block of aluminum alloy, called a billet, is cut from a longer log of alloy material.
It is preheated in an oven, like this one, to between 400-500 degrees celsius.
This makes it malleable enough for the extrusion process but not molten.
Step #3: The Billet is Transferred to the Extrusion Press
Once the billet has been preheated, it is transferred mechanically to the extrusion press.
Before it is loaded onto the press, a lubricant (or release agent) is applied to it.
The release agent is also applied to the extrusion ram, to prevent the billet and ram from sticking together.
Step #4: The Ram Pushes the Billet Material into the Container
Now, the malleable billet is loaded into the extrusion press, where the hydraulic ram applies up to 15,000 tons of pressure to it.
As the ram applies pressure, the billet material is pushed into the container of the extrusion press.
The material expands to fill the walls of the container.
Step #5: The Extruded Material Emerges Through the Die
As the alloy material fills the container, it is now being pressed up against the extrusion die.
With continual pressure being applied to it, the aluminum material has nowhere to go except out through the opening(s) in the die.
It emerges from the die's opening in the shape of a fully-formed profile.
Step #6: Extrusions are Guided Along the Runout Table and Quenched
After emerging, the extrusion is gripped by a puller, like the one you see here, which guides it along the runout table at a speed that matches its exit from the press.
As it moves along the runout table, the profile is “quenched,” or uniformly cooled by a water bath or by fans above the table.
Step #7: Extrusions are Sheared to Table Length
Once an extrusion reaches its full table length, it is sheared by a hot saw to separate it from the extrusion process.
At every step of the process, temperature plays an important role.
Although the extrusion was quenched after exiting the press, it has not yet fully cooled.
Step #8: Extrusions are Cooled to Room Temperature
After shearing, table-length extrusions are mechanically transferred from the runout table to a cooling table, like the one you see here.
The profiles will remain there until they reach room temperature.
Once they do, they will need to be stretched.
Step #9: Extrusions are Moved to the Stretcher and Stretched into Alignment
Some natural twisting has occurred in the profiles and this needs to be corrected.
To correct this, they are moved to a stretcher.
Each profile is mechanically gripped on both ends and pulled until it is fully straight and has been brought into specification.
Step #10: Extrusions are Moved to the Finish Saw and Cut to Length
With the table-length extrusions now straight and fully work-hardened, they are transferred to the saw table.
Here, they are sawed to pre-specified lengths, generally between 8 and 21 feet long. At this point, the properties of the extrusions match the T4 temper.
Aluminum profile advantages
Aluminum profile advantages,why choose aluminum profile, not brass, not iron, not stainless steel? It is aluminum profile.
1 The density of aluminum profiles is lower than other commonly used metal density, light weight; the density is only 2.70 g/cm3, 1/3 of copper or iron.
2 Hot and cold both treatment process, it has strong corrosion resistance
3 Global aluminum has rich reserves and it has high aluminum content in the earth
4 Good ductility and elongation, which can be alloyed with many metal elements to produce light alloy material quality
5 Strong deformability, good yielding ability, has the advantages for the production
6 Good casting properties
7 Good performances for the surface treatment
8 Stable chemical properties, non-magnetic, can be recycled and reused, it is a good and recyclable metal materials
9 Small elastic coefficients, no spark in collision and friction, the best performance in automotive technology
10 Anti-nuclear radiations
11 No metallic pollution, no poison, no volatile metal in the surface oxide layer
12 Good thermal properties and electrical conductivity, it is outstanding performance in the short-distance power transmission.
The aluminum profile is common metal materials in the social production, which has a wide range of applications in the aviation, construction, condenser, auto parts and other industries. Its excellent performance and many advantages, make aluminum profile got favors by the industry at large.
What is a Door Profile?
Door profiles are useful accessories used to fill the gaps at points where a floor ends, and another floor begins. For example, say your hallway has wooden floorboards running along the length of the hall, but your living room has a carpet, you would use a door profile that slots under the door to bridge the gap between the two rooms/floors. It is useful to note that there are different names for these accessories like: door bars, door thresholds, door trims, or door strips. While there are minor differences for some of these, they all perform the same function.
There are various types of door profiles depending on the flooring you have, as well as the material and height of the flooring. Take the example mentioned above, if you have two rooms, one with a wood floor and another with a carpet, you would need a special type of door profile where one side will hook into the carpet to hold it down, and the other side will simply sit next to the wood floor, allowing it room to expand while bridging the gap between the two together.
For floors that are of different sizes, say a wood floor in one room is 14mm, then you have a vinyl to a connecting bathroom that is 7mm, a normal door profile will not fit as it would be unlevel with a 7mm gap on one side. In this case, you would need a ramp, which is a door profile that curves upwards to account for the differences in length and joins the rooms adequately.
Door profiles can come in a range of colours and materials depending on your interior and the general aesthetic of your room. You can get solid oak door bars, which then come in various shades like lights, darks, greys, etc. Then you can get metal ones, most commonly in the gold and silver colours. These tend to be the go-to options as it is generally recommended that you match your profiles to the colour of your door handles. This is because if you try to match the door profile with the colour of your floor, you will struggle to find an exact colour match, as flooring manufacturers do not make their own door profiles, so you run the risk of it looking discoloured.
uPVC Windows Profile Options
uPVC windows profile come in various shapes, sizes and colour options. The different uPVC systems are suitable for both domestic and light commercial use. Once you have made the decision to purchase new uPVC windows, the cost will be determined by a number of factors:
Number of windows and doors required
Size of windows and doors required
Colour and profile type, also called the system chosen
Choice of glass, whether double glazing or triple glazing for uPVC windows
Specification of glass, e.g. toughened, laminated, decorative etc.
Hardware options, handle type and colour for example
Cost of installation if not supply only
Other personal preferences
uPVC Profile Options
There are various uPVC windows profiles available for you to choose. The profile type, also referred to as the system, determines what the finished window looks like. Here, we we are concentrating on the profile options that Deceuninck extrude. We use these profiles to manufacture our uPVC windows and doors. The profile types are:
Chamfered (referred to by Deceuninck as Traditional 2500 Series)
Sculptured (referred to by Deceuninck as Heritage 2800 Series)
Flush (2800 referred to by Deceunick as Heritage Flush Sash)
Why choose a Deceuninck profile? Deceuninck are a leading extruder of premium PVCu products. They are renowned in the industry for quality and excellence.
We cover in more detail what the main differences are below, but to summarise:
Chamfered (2500) sash windows offer a similar look to sculptured but with a sharper looking detail
Sculptured (2800) sash windows on any outward opening window stand proud of the frame, overlapping it all around
Flush casement windows have the opening sashes sitting within the frame and flush with the outside and inside face of the window
uPVC Product Options
Deceuninck Chamfered (2500) and Sculptured (2800) series profile can be used for:
Casement Windows
Tilt & Turns
Residential Doors
Patio Doors
Painted Windows
Angled/Arched Frames
If you require the uPVC Casement Flush Sash, this is only available in Deceuninck 2800 series profile.
What is the Difference Between Extruded Aluminum and Cast Aluminum?
Aluminum is an extremely versatile metal in that it is a great candidate for a wide range of manufacturing methods, two of which are extrusion and casting. You might find yourself asking, “What is the difference between extruding and casting of aluminum?” Extrusion is a process by which aluminum billets are forced through a die, resulting in a desired cross section. Whereas, casting is a process in which molten aluminum is poured into a mold and then allowed to solidify. Each method of manufacturing aluminum parts has both its advantages and disadvantages, but both offer a savings over machining the part from a solid by creating a near net shape and reducing machining time. Whether you think you need aluminum extrusions or are considering aluminum castings, you can count on the team at Howard Precision Metals to point you in the right direction.
Extrusion: An Economical Manufacturing Process
Aluminum extrusion is a generally competitive and economical production option especially when dealing with very complex cross-sections. A new design of a custom shape aluminum extrusion can be produced in as little as 8 weeks. Such shapes and features that can be extruded are: press and snap, sliding fits, tongue and groove, self-tapping screw boss holes, hinges, snap-fit joints, flanges, screw ports, anti-skid surfaces, and much, much more. Initial costs of extrusions are attractive as well. Die engineering fees for new custom shapes are much less than when compared to castings. Extruded aluminum shapes are also produced with an excellent surface finish and are typically stronger in comparison. Some products produced by the extrusion process are heat sinks, window and door frames, manifolds, and lighting track equipment. The possibilites are endless. A disadvantage of extrusion when compared to casting is the size constraint. Aluminum extrusions are limited by the size of both the billet and the capacity of the cylinder on the extrusion press. Castings have no such limit and are often used to produce very large items. Even with the size limitations of extrusions, there are still a myriad of applications of which this method of manufacture is the preferred choice.
Aluminum Casting
Aluminum can be cast using any of the available casting methods. Some of these casting methods are continuous casting, investment casting, plaster casting, sand casting, permanent mold casting, and die casting. Additional casting processes such as hot and isostatic pressing, squeeze casting, and lost foam are also possible with molten aluminum. Despite the different names and methods, all casting has one thing in common: Molten aluminum is poured into a mold that makes a pattern when the aluminum is cooled. When compared to extrusion, casting is a much slower process. Seams and mold imperfections can also be present in cast parts. This often requires a secondary process, known as fettling, to be necessary to remove such imperfections by cutting, grinding, or sanding. Nonetheless, casting still has its place in manufacturing. Casting of aluminum is a very common manufacturing method of such products as cookware, small appliance components, or decorative parts. The most common and largest market for aluminum castings is in the automotive industry. More than half of the aluminum used in cars is produced by casting.

Choose the right chair for your workspace at home
Work from home is the new normal!
Mostly everyone is working from home nowadays hence creating a comfortable and productive workplace has never been so important. People make the mistake of underestimating this task and instead of looking for a good ergonomic chair, they go for the cheapest one. The drawback of this mindset is not just that low-quality cheap products require to be replaced more frequently but it's the bad chairs lead to several health problems and also loss of work productivity and efficiency.
A chair on its own is not enough. It has to be individualized as per the anthropometry of the individual and also with the height of the table and the lighting of the workspace. If we go by the calculations one will get to know that we all spend a lot of time working hence you need to buy the right chair for both office and home.
Let's know some of the reasons behind it.
Reasons why you need the right ergonomic office chair –
To maintain comfort and good health.
The best chair is the one on which you can sit for long hours without discomfort or pain. Some chairs will seem to be fine at first but by the end of the day, the pain in the back will speak for itself.
If your chair isn't right, it will affect your sitting posture and it will cause serious health issues.
THE RIGHT ERGONOMIC CHAIR SHOULD–

• Keep your feet flat
  
  
• Provide a little gap between the back of your knee and the front edge of the chair
  
  
• Allow your knees to be a little lower than the level of your hips
  
  
• Allow you to change positions
  

• Two-position. The most basic option, this lift chair reclines to a 45-degree angle, allowing the person seated to lean back slightly. It contains one motor, which controls the chair's lifting capabilities, reclining capabilities and the footrest. “When the backrest reclines, the footrest must extend,” says Rhoades. “They cannot operate independently of each other.” These chairs are generally used for watching television and/or reading, and they don’t take up too much space.
  
  
• Three-position. This lift chair reclines further to an almost flat position. It is powered by one motor, which means the footrest doesn't operate independently of the backrest. “The person seated will be positioned in a slight ‘V’ formation at the hips with the backrest reclined and their knees and feet higher than their hips,” says Rhoades. Because it reclines so far, this chair is ideal for napping and helpful for seniors who aren't able to sleep lying flat in a bed.
  
  
• Infinite position. The most versatile (and typically the most expensive) option, an infinite position lift chair offers a full recline with both the backrest and the footrest parallel to the floor. “Infinite position lift chairs usually contain two motors,” says Rhoades. “The first motor typically controls the backrest, and the other controls the footrest, allowing for seniors to be properly positioned in seated position with their legs extended in front.” Before buying an infinite position lift chair (sometimes called a zero-gravity chair), consult with your doctor, as it's not safe for some seniors to be in this position.
  

Best Motorcycle Grips: Add Some Comfort to Your Ride
Motorcycle grips are essential for comfortable and safe riding, especially on long trips. If you don't have the right grips on your bike, it's time to find the perfect pair.
Benefits of Motorcycle Grips
Wrist and hand comfort. Some say that the numbness you feel in your hands is from the vibration or poor circulation. The right grips can cushion your grip and give your hands comfort.
Control. Depending on the type of aftermarket grips you buy, you can improve the control you have over your throttle. The right grips will prevent your hand from slipping.
Style. Changing out your stock grips for aftermarket ones is about more than comfort. You can choose a set of grips that can enhance the look of your bike. You could choose chrome accents or a color that matches your bike.
Types of Motorcycle Grips
ISO GRIPS
These grips are ideal for long-distance riding or bikes that have a lot of vibration through the motorcycle handlebars. They’re designed with vibration-isolating features that will relieve the pressure transferred through your hands.
BILLET RUBBER GRIPS
These are the most common types of grips with varying combinations of rubber and metal. They’re typically anodized and come in a wide variety of color schemes. These grips will give you the ideal combination of functionality and style.
HEATED GRIPS
If you like to ride in cold climates, then heated grips will be a lifesaver. These grips come with special wiring that will connect to your motorcycle battery. You can then change the temperature of your handlebar grips throughout the seasons.
How do you rebuild a carburetor?
There's heartache and joy that come with owning, and caring for, an older vehicle. It's helpful if you can sort out a number of problems on your own, it will save you cash and trips to your local mechanic. One of the more seemingly puzzling aspects of old-car ownership occurs when you drive a carbureted vehicle. Hagerty is here to demystify the deliverer of air and fuel for you.
The best way to familiarize yourself with any car part is to disassemble it. So the first part of Hagerty's two-part video guide involves a walkthrough of a carburetor teardown. There are floats, jets, needles, valves, and springs all waiting for your venture into the world of your carb. You don't need of tools to get started, just a few pliers and screwdrivers should get you moving. And a bottle of carb cleaner will get plenty of usage as well.
If you're going to tear down and rebuild your carburetor, you'll want a simple rebuild kit handy. A proper kit includes all of the diaphragms, seals, needles, seats, and more.
As you tear down the carb, you'll find parts that are either due for replacement or just need a simple cleanup. That's the beauty of a carb rebuild. Once properly addressed, and the carb rebuilt, your car will be running better than ever.
Once you have the carb completely broken down and cleaned up, it's time to crack open the rebuild kit and put everything back together. It's an entertaining puzzle, but a puzzle that makes more and more sense every time you tinker with it.
These two videos serve as a great guide for carburetor rebuilding. While we love the Hagerty time lapse videos, it's also nice to see one that's teaching us as well.
How it works: Brakes
If you've ever experienced brake fade or, god forbid, brake failure, you'll have an appreciation of just how important it is that brakes work consistently. Here are the basic principles and components for modern brakes – and by that we mean hydraulic ones, with discs not drums.
It's all about hydraulics
Modern motorcycle brakes work by transferring movement and force at the lever through an incompressible liquid to the caliper pistons, which then press the brake pads against the disc. For that force to be transferred efficiently, the brake lines must not expand, there must be no leaks and the fluid must not compress. If any of those happen, you get spongey-feeling brakes, or indeed no brakes. Gulp.
There are pistons at each end
The brake lever operates a piston, which operates as a plunger in what's called the master cylinder. Both are housed in the casting that holds the brake lever. A master cylinder piston is pretty small - around 10-20mm in diameter. The pistons at the other end, in the calipers, are much bigger – around 25-50mm. Why the different sizes? That leads us to…
Forces are amplified
The first way that forces are amplified are at the lever itself. This is purely mechanical – if your fingers are 10cm from the pivot point, and the master cylinder piston is 2cm the other side, then forces will be magnified 5 times, but there will be five times less movement. Then there's amplification due to piston sizes. The smaller the master cylinder piston, the more pressure it will apply to the system for a given force at the lever. If that sounds counter-intuitive, imagine your foot being trodden on by someone wearing a stiletto heel. It'll be a lot more painful than if they're wearing a broad shoe. The pressure in the system is then transferred to the caliper pistons, and the force they generate depends on the ratio of the areas of the piston faces. So let's say the master cylinder piston has a diameter of 15mm, meaning its area is 177mm squared. Our caliper piston has a diameter of 25mm, giving a surface area of 1964mm squared. So the force is multiplied 11 times. Combine that with the lever, and in this case you're magnifying the force 55 times. And that's just with one caliper piston. On a modern front end there are usually four pistons in each caliper, and there are two of those. That gives a 440 times force multiplication in our example. No wonder you can use two fingers to make the bike stand on its nose.
Changing piston sizes changes everything
A smaller master cylinder piston will apply more pressure and create more braking force but it will move less fluid, so the lever will have to move further to move the caliper pistons enough make the pads grip the discs. That means there is a limit to how small you can go with master cylinder pistons, and how big the caliper pistons can be. Also, big caliper pistons mean you need big discs (check out a cruiser rear brake), which are heavy.
Different size caliper pistons are a good idea
Many modern four-piston calipers have two smaller pistons. This is to increase feel. The smaller pistons will move further than the larger ones and therefore push the brake pad before the others join in.
Caliper design has changed
There have been two main caliper innovations in the last couple of decades. Radial calipers (named because they are attached by bolts which radiate from the wheel centre, rather than laterally from a mounting bracket) are stiffer and perform better under extreme conditions, such as racing. For 99% of us, they make no difference. Monoblock calipers, as the name suggest, are made from one lump of metal, rather than two bolted together. This eradicates the tiny amount of flex between the two halves of a normal caliper and in theory gives better feel. Again, most of us can't ride hard enough to notice the difference.
What is a carburetor?
Gasoline engines are designed to take in exactly the right amount of air so the fuel burns properly, whether the engine is starting from cold or running hot at top speed. Getting the fuel-air mixture just right is the job of a clever mechanical gadget called a carburetor: a tube that allows air and fuel into the engine through valves, mixing them together in different amounts to suit a wide range of different driving conditions.
You might think "carburetor" is quite a weird word, but it comes from the verb "carburet." That's a chemical term meaning to enrich a gas by combining it with carbon or hydrocarbons. So, technically, a carburetor is a device that saturates air (the gas) with fuel (the hydrocarbon).
Carburetors have been around since the late 19th century when they were first developed by automobile pioneer (and Mercedes founder) Karl Benz (1844–1929). There were earlier attempts at "carbureting" in other ways. For example, the French engine pioneer Joseph Étienne Lenoir (1822–1900) originally used a rotating cylinder with sponges attached that dipped into fuel as they turned around, lifting it out of its container and mixing it into the air as they did so.
The diagram below, which I've colored to make it easier to follow, shows the original Benz carburetor design from 1888; the basic working principle (explained in the box below) remains the same to this day.
How does it work？
Air flows into the top of the carburetor from the car's air intake, passing through a filter that cleans it of debris.
When the engine is first started, the choke (blue) can be set so it almost blocks the top of the pipe to reduce the amount of air coming in (increasing the fuel content of the mixture entering the cylinders).
In the center of the tube, the air is forced through a narrow kink called a venturi. This makes it speed up and causes its pressure to drop.
The drop in air pressure creates suction on the fuel pipe (right), drawing in fuel (orange).
The throttle (green) is a valve that swivels to open or close the pipe. When the throttle is open, more air and fuel flows to the cylinders so the engine produces more power and the car goes faster.
The mixture of air and fuel flows down into the cylinders.
Fuel (orange) is supplied from a mini-fuel tank called the float-feed chamber.
As the fuel level falls, a float in the chamber falls and opens a valve at the top.
When the valve opens, more fuel flows in to replenish the chamber from the main gas tank. This makes the float rise and close the valve again.