Monday, 13 March 2023

Large Reused Wooden Cable Drums Donated by Cabinz cic to Save the Children Charity Shop for Store Display

 




Cabinz Donates New Wood to Woodwork to Wellness Charity near Chester, who have made it into Trellis, that will be available for sale

 The trellis in the picture has been made by Woodwork to Wellness members and is approx. 1.8m tall and  cut in half, so is available in twice the width. They also run a food bank, pictured in the foreground 


 

Experiments with 90 Degree Corner Bending of Insulated Metal Panel Sheet (IMPS) for Small Low Cost Shelter

 This was considered a failure as the bend was not that well made, a bending tool would likely be required. In addition the metal sheet delaminated by the bend so, a composite plastic beam was inserted so the metal sheet could be screwed to it












 

Tuesday, 27 December 2022

We've Started a Wood Reuse Section at Cabinz CIC as part of our DIGRS Panel Project

 Here at Cabinz Cic, we hope to expand our sales or donations of screws & fixings by working with local timber companies who have donated wood to us. This forms part of our DIGRS & Insulation & Repair Station Projects to encourage people to make insulated panels & distribute materials to Insulate & repair at home & work  

We have donated treated wood in the pic, mainly in 1.2 to1.8m lengths to local mens sheds groups in Cheshire West & Fintshire such as Woodwork to Wellness & The Port Men in Sheds who have been making trellis and other items to sell to fund their charities.

We've also donated wood to the Tam o'Shanta Urban Farm & Bee Wirral Group to make items for Xmas

Trellis is great for cheaply strenghening fencing & gates, needed to combat stronger winds & storms during climate change as well as reusing wood to grow fruit & veg on. One design is shown in the pics below. 



 




 

Sunday, 25 December 2022

We are looking for partners & donations for a Hardware Reuse Drive - Packaging Screws & Fixings in Heat Sealed Padded Envelopes with Printing Labels

 Cabinz cic & SAHBN (Shelter & Hardware Bank Network) have been donated over 40k of new dvd sized padded envelopes that have been printed on one side. We have donated 1000s to local charities & are sold some at low cost to local small businesses.

In addition, a large pallet of adhesive printable labels and 3 label printing machines (see pics below) .

We aim to find partner groups to seal fixings or other saleable items, that they have donated or supplied from our stock into padded envelopes sealed in appropriate sizes with a heat sealer. These packets of fixings can be sold at low cost or donated to faciltate the reuse of materials or repair / preparation / maintanace of goods. 

We've previously had discussions with other groups such as Mens Sheds on the possibility of encouraging the donation of screws & fixings from those stored in household sheds & garages. 

One problem is that only a small range of fixings are used by Mens Sheds (ie, 25-100mm screws & small hinges) and large amounts of  other size / type fixings are donated, so a market / distribution network needs to be developed for these.     

If you are an interested, contact cabinznet@gmail.com for further info.

Pictures below   

These added envelopes are slightly bigger than dvd size ones, and have been cut in half using a paper guillotine with a wider mouth, so the thicker bubble wrap padded envelopes can pass through to be cut.

A Heat sealer machiine (Do a Google search for  '12" Heating Sealer Heat Plastic Bag Film Sealing Machine uk' to buy from £10 up ) We paid £25 for our one, pictured below.

The bag can be sealed through the paper, but if a clear window of bubble wrap to view the fixings inside is required (see pics below). one side of paper can be removed by peeling it off around the edges,

 ( preferably the side that may have printing on )

One side of the paper has been peeled off to leave a neat edge, then the sideds have been sealed, 2 

seals can be done for extra strength. the already sealed side of the bag can be sealed again to make the bag smaller or tighter. 

Presuamably, the heat sealing will work for used padded envelopes. By talking to craft makers, the sides of irons of curling tongs have been used to heat seal these envelopes, but we have not tried these methods



The paper side can be written on by hand or a printed label can be added (pic below)



120mm wide thick paper adhesive labels on a roll, can be cut to the required size & applied in various ways

Labels can be cut to the required size
Label with edges wrapped around the other side for extra strength
Type & Manuals for Printers
Donated Printing Machines that can print bar codes & QR codes as well

 

 Our pallet of donated labels

Single Roll of 120mm wide labels



Saturday, 22 October 2022

A Big Thankyou to buyers & sellers at Chirk Boot Sale who have supported our community group over recent years selling & buying at this wonderful market

 

As the last few weeks of Chirk Boot sale are upon us, we hope to support more reuse in local boot sales & covered markets over the winter, and will continue to visit Ellesmere Port Flea market.

I believe there is a boot sale market at st Asaph livestock market every other sunday from the 9th Oct, but times may change please check with the organisers here 
Tel: 01745 583260
e-mail: stasaph@jonespeckover.com

Given the very tough economic & environmental times, an increase in reuse market places for low income folks & small businesses to buy & sell goods is deperately needed. This will reduce waste going ot Council waste sites and save money & resources.

PIC - Our wide range of new hardware, screws & fixings sourced from split boxes & clearance stock from TIMCO, travis Perkins & Wickes. This good quality, low cost stock is for sale as delivered by our trusty fully electric van. 



Wednesday, 14 September 2022

The Insulation Station Idea to help address part of the current Energy Crunch Crisis by providing low cost or donated insulation materials at local collection points

The Insulation Station is an idea by Paul Ridley of Cabinz cic  / SAHBN  to help address part of the current Energy Crunch by providing low cost or donated insulation materials at local collection points . 

With the proposed warm banks at museums and libraries, providing heated spaces for people needing to warm themselves in winter. Insulation Staions could be cupboards or mobile racks containing these items for users to take home & install in their homes.

I have contacted local Food Banks to see if they are interested in distributing insulative materials as there are current news articles saying some Food Banks are running out of food. 

.....................................................................................

Edit:

Following a Tweet today 15-9-22 by Martin Lewis of MSE, who is funding Warm Bank guidance, I have sentthe following email to the organisers at warmbanks@cilip.org.uk who welcome useful ideas:

......................................................................................

Hi, thanks to Martin for the tweet and you taking up the challenge here

We are a N.Wales / Chester social enterprise & vol group suggesting a distribution point at the
 warm banks for donated non bulky items to help insulate the home /room, that users can take home with them to install.

My first thoughts are that these could include:
 
 Bubble wrap / cling film to insulate windows
Cardboard to put in gaps / insulate.
Fire resistant sealant in a tube & applicators to seal drafty cracks in window frames / doors
Padded fabric draught excluder rolls
water pipe insulation to stop pipes freezing
Warm clothes ( you probably thought of that)
rolls of sticky tape to tape on the inside hinge side of the door to stop draughts
rolls of draught excluder tape 
energy saving light bulbs (not LED) as they give out a little heat while having low energy cost
Materials to make insulative curtains over door or add to window curtains
rolls of fabric & scissors to cut off a length or off cuts of fabric
screws or nails to fix  curtain rails to top of door frame
wood or metal tube curtain rails
curtain hooks
needle & thread to stitch top of fabric over to slide curtain rail into.

Keyhole covers to stop draughts , (we have several 100 of these )

We would be interested in a trial in the Nw / n. Wales area and we could provide a storage trolley with shelves. We have 20 used of these which cost £1k new They are on castor wheels, are double sided , twice as deep as seen in pic & HDuty to take 2 deep ice cream tubs )



I am calling this shelf on wheels full of insulating accessories, the INSULATION STATION  InsulationStation.org.uk
Currently talking to designer of the hexayurt Vinay Gupta about hexayurt -like room divider systems

New ideas will be posted here -  www.Energycrunch.co.uk


Edit - 11-12-22: I am talking to food banks about trialling the ideas here in the NW . I'm now thinking it might
be best to widen the focus from Insualtion to insulation & repair.

Best Regards Paul Ridley
Founder / director Cabinz cic / SAHBN