Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dirt

Ducar 124cc (125cc) engine rebuild

jakubsnm — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:43:42 -0800

I want to rebuild my 125cc dirt bike engine, never done it before but I want to learn. I recently purchased a 2nd hand dirt bike and would like to rebuild the engine (something to do). I've never done this before, I'm good with cars though (pretty much everything except gearbox and bottom end). I need a workshop manual or something like that, looked everywhere but have been unable to find anything useful even youtube is useless.

This is the engine Ducar 124cc (China) designed in japan.

I've tried contacting the manufacturer and got no reply.

Canon Lens Dirt.

disillusioned — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:09:25 -0800

CanonFilter: It appears I have dirt inside the my Canon 28-135mm lens... Rather, it looks to me like it's on the inner optics, and not the prime lens... I was cleaning my UV filter which has been on the lens ever since I bought it, a year ago, and noticed that some specks seemed to still remain. I removed the filter and looked carefully at the prime lens, but I've never touched it and, frankly, the cloth I was using to clean the filter wasn't aces, so I wasn't about to touch my actual lens with it.

There appeared to be no dirt or dust on the lens itself, but two or three specks were visible on the moving piece of glass beneath the prime lens... which was, to the best of my ability to determine, not an optical illusion, though I could be wrong.

Is it at all possible there's dirty on the inner optics? I also pulled the lens off and looked at the back, but couldn't see anything there at all. The specks seem to bend and fit the inner lens when I move it... so how do I clean it? Do I care?

Some of my pictures at 28mm show dirt specks, but I think that was just the obvious stuff that was on the filter. I haven't shot again since cleaning...

Do I need to worry or care at all? It's my only lens for my XTi, but still, it bothers me... I imagine about the only thing I could do is send it in for repair, so I guess my question is this: is it at all likely or even possible for there to be dirt on the inner optics, or am I just being tricked?

How do I get dirt stains out?

otherwordlyglow — Fri, 15 May 2009 08:22:55 -0800

How do I remove dirt stains on pants? My daughter came home from daycare with the knees of her pants totally saturated with a mixture of sand and dirt. She's a crawler and I expect this to happen a lot but have no experience with dirt stains. (I don't do a lot of stuff that leads to dirt stains on me). For the most part it doesn't matter too much: the pants were cheap and I'm sure she'll grow out of them in another month but what's the best way to treat these kinds of stains? I'm sure there will be plenty more.

The complicating factor is that they've already been washed and dried and still have stains on the knees. Is there any hope of getting them totally clean? Generally, I know to pre-treat stains but I neglected to do that this time. So the question really is two-fold: What are best practices for dirt stains and then what do I do in this case where it's already been laundered but the stain remains? I'm in the U.S., so product recommendations will be most helpful if they're available here.

Bonus side question: Does anyone remember a solvent/stain removal product that used to be available maybe up to the 70s and 80s? It was alcohol based and came in a narrow, tall-ish glass jar with a felt tip that you dabbed on to stains? I can't find it anymore which leads me to believe it was toxic and so they've taken it off the market but it worked like a charm on a lot of things.

Cleaning the mouse every day is getting old.

sailoreagle — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:27:41 -0800

Boyfriend has really sweaty hands. Any computer mouse he gets his hands on very quickly becomes really gunked up. The mouse gets what looks like a mixture of sweat and dead skin, not very sticky once rubbed off, greyish colored, both caught in the various cracks and joins and stuck to the mouse buttons (roughly in a finger shape).
What, exactly, is causing this, and is there anything we can do to stop it? He washes his hands rather often but it doesn't seem to help any. (Meanwhile, no matter how sweaty my hands are and whether I wash them or not, I don't have the problem.)

Help me cover or clean a grimy windowsill

CunningLinguist — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:54:18 -0800

Urban dwellers: how do you deal with windowsill grime? I'm not much of a housekeeper, but the window thing is getting to me. I live on a lower floor in NYC and the grime that builds up on my kitchen windowsill is really vile. The sill itself is very old, pockmarked painted wood and very hard to clean, but I rent so can't really change it. I wondered if anyone has any tips about covering the sill - maybe with contact paper or some kind of foil? (How would I deal with the pockmarks?) Or maybe top it with a wooden board? (But then how to secure the board?)

I'm surprised Google hasn't been much help here. I would have thought this was a common problem. It wasn't so bad when I lived higher in the sky, but this close to the street means there's a new film of grime every day and wiping with windex seems to just smear the dirt around.

Mystery dust.

prefpara — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:29:11 -0800

A mysterious gray film/residue is appearing on all of the plastic in my apartment. What is going on? It's on the ice cube trays, the tupperware, the coffee maker, my printer, the dishwasher, etc. It's all over a plastic grocery bag that has been lying in the living room for only two days (close-up). My roommate and I have never seen anything like it before. Is it mutant dust of some kind?

If anyone can identify this substance, we would love to confirm that it is not going to kill us.

Where can I put this dirt?

alice ayres — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:56:06 -0800

does anyone know of a good way to preserve/store dirt? this isn't just any dirt - it's from shea stadium. i got about 3/4 cup at the mets' final game, and would like to store the dirt it in some sort of commemorative display dirt holder. any good suggestions for places where I can buy existing dirtholders or create/customize one? extra if i am able to customize this display.

What is this sand-like dust under my rug?

kmel — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:51:51 -0800

What the hell is the sand-like dust under my rug, and why won't it go away? The rug is from IKEA, Skagen I think. It seems to be shedding a powdery sand and it just won't stop. Seriously, it's been over a year with frequent vacuuming on both sides. And there's a lot of it -- not just a light dusting, I sweep up piles of the stuff every time. Is the backing slowly disintegrating, or is the rug filtering room dirt? (shudder) Can this be stopped, or do we just need to get rid of the rug?

accident involving lots and lots of soot-like dust and my bedroom...

krautland — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:01:04 -0800

accident involving lots and lots of soot-like dust and my bedroom... my landlady has a bunch of guys converting the loftspace below her roof into a proper attic she can store items in. one of them broke through the floor and into my bedroom below. we're talking a big hole here - he actually landed in my bed.

the whole room is covered in 2cm of soot-like fine black dust. it went into all the cupboards and closets. all my clothes are severly blackened. it looks sort of what you'd imagine the inside of a chimney to be like and the stuff it itchy and makes me cough.

if you have dealt with this kind of problem before, would you mind giving me some basic info on what to do? I'm not talking financial issues here, obviously that needs to be worked out but my questions at this point are more basic:

how do I clean that kind of mess thoroughly?
are all my clothes ruined or can I get that stuff out?
is this something dangerous beyond just a hassle or nothing to be too worried about?
I'm also not sure what to ask her to do before I go back and sleep in there again. the mattress is covered, the sheets are ruined, do we need professionals to clean this or how do I do it?

one more thing on the soot: I washed my hands four times now and I still feel it all over them. this stuff does not go away easily.

Important book damaged, how can I fix?

arniec — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:18:35 -0800

A book that is very personal and valuable to me got damaged due to a leak in a car which allowed rainwater in. The book cover acted like a sponge dragging up the water as well as dirt from the upholstery. I've talked to two book repair places, but I have my reservations. Any suggestions? Even more desired: anyone have EXPERIENCE with book repair shops? The damage is mostly to the bottom corner of the book where the spine is located, though the other bottom corner has some discoloration and some warping. The pages of the book closer to the cover (beginning and end of the book) have perhaps 3-4" diagonal of warping and a brownish discoloration that looks like iced tea (though it was water and dirt).

Towards the middle of the book it is about one inch diagonal.

The book is oversized with coated pages.

Now this book is still in print in its exact format, however I have had many pages of this book autographed by some people who no longer sign. So I am thinking the best solution would be:

a) get a new book
b) Repair only the pages in the old book that contain autographs
c) Merge autographed pages of old book in place of non-autographed pages in new book.

My wife and I have found some book binding places online. The first, http://bookrestoration.net/ seemed great online, but when we sent pictures they said they "can't work miracles with coated pages" and said they were unable to present any type of quote without seeing the book first-hand.

The second, http://thebookdr.com/ seemed good at first, we provided pictures of the damage as they asked, and then they stopped replying to our e-mails.

We are both very upset about this book being damaged and would like to restore it to original condition as much as possible. I can't say "cost is no issue" but the book is very valuable to us, but we want to get service worth the price we pay.

Can anyone recommend a book repair place, perhaps some that specialize in coated books? Please, no "do-it-yourself" options...neither of us are very handy and would likely make the problem 1000 times worse.

Thank you!

how do you keep fingernails clean?

krautland — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:47:14 -0800

how do you keep fingernails clean? since I've relocated to london, I can't keep my fingernails clean any longer. I'm not quite sure what to blame, perhaps it's that nasty ink they use on newspapers here, perhaps I should keep my fingers out of certain dark spots. alas, suddenly they're dirty a couple hours after having left my house with them pristine, clean, nice, washed.

I'm a guy and I keep my fingernails relatively short, yet I see people with considerably longer nails have no problems with dirt all day long and into the night. so what's the trick? do other people dash into closets with files and scissors every couple of hours? or how do they do it?

Dirt Floor

chuckdarwin — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 13:16:27 -0800

I need a carpet cleaner that won't break the bank. What current model do you recommend? (UK models/links only, please) Are there features that are essential? (ex: Do I need one that uses hot water?)

Dust spots? Water marks? Crud on film?

Geckwoistmeinauto — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:59:57 -0800

Why am I getting blotches on my black and white negatives? What are the marks? Are they dust? Water spots? How do I fix this? I'm a relative newbie when it comes to film photograhpy, but I've been doing digital photography for a few years. I develop my own black and white film at home, and I've been less than pleased with the results when I scan my film. I have the dreaded 'crap on the negative' issue. It's started off so bad that I couldn't even print my negatives using an enlarger due to the amount of junk on the negs. Exhibit A - a crop at 100% of a corner of a negative.

Here's how I develop, and what I've done so far to fix this:

I mix all my chemicals using tap water. I'm using the standard Sprint developer and quick fixer, and stop my film using plain ol' tap water. I do a first rinse using tap water. This is all deemed fine by general consensus of photography dorks everywhere. I am using a plastic 2 135 roll development tank, capacity for two rolls of film 650ml.

I dry my film hanging from the shower bar, after the hot water was run to make the room nice and steamy and left to clear. The bathroom isn't dusty, and there hasn't been any dust on any surfaces, really, since we moved in. I make sure no one cleans the bathroom at least I24 hours before I hang film to dry. I determine dryness by curl (towards emulsion), and if the curl is correct, I test a 'spare' area of film for tackiness. Once I deem the film dry, I cut and place the negs in new archival sheet holders.

The first few rolls I developed came out disgusting, with obvious spots, water marks around the sprockets, and other disgustingness.

After much discussion with the guys at the darkroom I use to print my photos, they felt I should try a squeegee for my film. I also decided to use distilled water for a final rinse, about half a gallon of water. When I asked about a wetting agent, they claimed that it will cause more problems than it solves with regards to spots.

My negs were slightly cleaner, but still spotty and I could see a few nasty, large water spots here and there. Also, I have noticed some gnarly scratches that may have been caused by the squeegee OR the archival sleeves I put my negatives into once dry.

So, please, take a look at that shot, and let me know if you think those are dust spots or (more likely) water spots. Should I look into photoflo, or another wetting agent? Is the squeegee the cause of the scratches, or could it be more likely my negative holder sheets? I'm starting to get sick of fixing dust scratches in the gimp, and I'd like to make some nice analog enlargements of some of my negatives!

Thanks!

Why are there holes all over the lawn?

desjardins — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:24:32 -0800

What did the landscapers do to the lawn? We rent a condo and the association hires landscapers. They were here yesterday, and today I noticed these little holes all over the lawn. The dirt from the holes was deposited on the lawn in neat little cylinders. They're about 1" in diameter and 4" long. At first glance I thought it was poop, given the appearance. At second glance I thought it was some burrowing animal. But there are way too many holes, and I don't see how an animal could consistently push up neat cylinders like that.

These are extremely meticulous landscapers, so I'm sure this has some purpose, but I'm intensely curious as to what it is. (They won't be back until Thursday.)

How do you train for cyclocross races?

mathowie — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:13:44 -0800

How do I get started with cyclocross? I've been a spectator at a cyclocross race and I'm looking at picking up a low-end cyclocross bike, but what's the best way to get started doing it? How do you practice the odd obstacles and challenges found in courses? Cyclocross reminds me of drifting in cars -- it looks great at demos and competitions but I wonder how people actually prepare/practice for such a thing. It's not like anyone I know has access to a partially muddy steeplechase course on which to really practice all they want for cyclocross races.

I understand I should get a bike, get in really good shape, and be ready to race for about an hour or so. I figure I should learn how to dismount and remount quickly, but after that, I'm stumped.

I've seen cyclocross courses with stairs, mud, hurdles, hills, rivers, and all sorts of odd obstacles. Before I try my first beginner race, I was wondering how on earth should I train for such obstacles?

Do I look around the dirt roads where I live for downed trees and practice dismounts and jumping over stumps, then back on? Do I just practice dismounts then jumping over curbs in my neighborhood and remounting? Do cyclocross race organizers let you practice on the course a day before an event (if they allow this, I would drive out to an upcoming cyclocross event just to try my luck at a few practice laps). Should I just try hanging out with mt. bikers for a few weeks and doing every singletrack thing they can do. Is that enough?

Any other tips for anyone trying a cyclocross race for the first time?

Washboards FTW

SirStan — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 06:53:01 -0800

Local Knowledge: Looking for an application that can tell me if a road is paved/dirt/unmaintained. I enjoy biking moderate distances (20-50 miles), but living in Vermont its common to come upon a dirt road. I try to scout out nice loops on Google Earth, but sometimes end up picking a connector road that is 5 miles of washboard dirt. My 700x23c tires aren't exactly setup for this, and while I could buy more appropriate cross tires, I would rather just avoid dirt.

So mefites -- Is there some way, or some application that works similar to any other mapping application, but will tell me a road is dirt?

Out, out, damn dust!

minervous — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:48:14 -0800

City dwellers! How do you dust? I live in New York City, but I assume this issue can be found in any big, dirty city.

I'm the tidy sort, and I generally dust and vacuum and clean 3-4 times a month. But the dust that accumulates in my apartment is a whole other kind of dust than what I'm used to. There is a lot of it, which I expect. But ... it's black. And it's sticky - for example, when I wipe my windowsill with my usual method of damp, clean rag, the dust doesn't get picked up, it's just smears around at most. It takes persistant attacking with cleaner, numerous rags, and sometimes, for goodness' sake, scrubbing. What is this madness?

I've tried Swiffers - no better (and I don't like paying for them). I've tried vacuuming first - not great. And keeping my windows closed is a winter-only option, as I would much rather dust more often than use an air conditioner. I just want a better dusting option.

Any and all help - different materials, home-made ideas, etc - much appreciated. Thanks!

Dust in my digital eye

backseatpilot — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:23:54 -0800

How do I get dust out of the inside of my lenses? I've been noticing some black spots on my photos lately, and I've tracked it down to dust inside my lenses (my dSLR seems much more sensitive to this than my old film cameras). Is it possible for me to clean the inside of my lenses out by myself? How do I do it? If it's really a professional job, how much should I expect to pay for it and where should I take them?

Who made this dirt pile in our dining room?

copystar — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 18:50:58 -0800

This small pile of dirt appeared under our windowsill in our dining room. Can anyone ID the culprit from the crimescene?

We just moved into a rental house, and found the place filthy! What do we do?

itchi23 — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:36:30 -0800

We just moved into a rental house, and found the place filthy! What do we do? This past weekend, my wife and I moved cross-country to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a pretty arduous trip - I drove a crazy, rickety moving van and the heat was unbearable, among other things. After a two-day trip, we arrived to find our rental house in an almost uninhabitable state.
It was filthy. Everything needed to be scrubbed within an inch of its life with bleach and everyother anti-bacterial, anti-microbial cleaner we could find. My wife's hesitant to use the kitchen! Holes in the walls, stains on carpeting, etc.
We saw the house about a month and a half ago, and while we saw it definitely needed a good washout, we were assured by the "property manager" that it would be given a good cleaning before we arrived. In fact, if given a good hardcore scrubbing and basic maintenence, the house would be really great. There were some other issues we needed to have taken care of before we arrived (knobs and handles missing from various appliances, some maintenence, etc.) and we noted them on the lease when we signed. Most of those things were taken care of, but our biggest issue is how dirty the house is.
Our landlord lives out of town, but explained that most of the day-to-day and maintenence issues would be taken care of by the "property manager." I only use that term in quotes because I'm not sure exactly her official role or title. Apparently, the landlord and the "property manager" used to have some kind of relationship, and after it ended they remained friends. He now lives out of town and left his ex-girlfriend to take care of this property for him. She was the one who told us that she'd "clean it up really well" and the place would look great once we arrived.
Once we did arrive and saw the places wasn't clean, we called our landlord and briefly explained the situation. He said he paid the "property manager" a lot of money to clean it up, and was interested in knowing how she did. It could seem like the "property manager" just didn't realize that we were moving in on that date - but I'm not sure.
Now here's where we don't know how to proceed.
We'd like to maintain a pretty amicable relationship w/ our landlord. He wasn't around to supervise the prep for the new tenants. All we would like is for the place to be cleaned real well and a fresh coat of paint. We'd be willing to do the work ourselves, and receive a discount in rent if he can't get someone to clean and paint. How would we address this in a way that will ensure we get some results, yet still maintain an amicible relationship? That's key for us, because our landlord hinted that he may be interested in selling the house in a year or two, and if that's the case, we might be interested in buying (if it passes inspection) and don't want to burn our bridges in this crazy housing market.

How do I get rid of the stink around my 5 month old's ears?

Chuck Cheeze — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:01:07 -0800

How do I get rid of the stink around my 5 month old's ears? I am not sure if it is from inside or behind the ears, but we bathe him every night and we don't bathe him in garbage...so I am not sure why there is a faint stink near his ears. We clean them every few days with baby sized Qtips, but they aren't dirty at all when we are finished. We do see a little wax (or whatever it is) on the Qtip when we clean around the outside of his ears (as in, not the ear canal, but the outer ear).

Any ideas? He smells baby fresh everywhere else.

How can I clean a dirty pasta maker?

teem — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 19:42:54 -0800

What is the best way to go about cleaning a very dirty pasta maker? I bought an Atlas Marcato at a very reduced price because it had been sitting on the display shelf of a supermarket's deli section (along with the other props they use to make it look like a cosy little Italian grocer). It is in great structural shape, and there is no rust or corrosion to be seen, but it is covered in grease. What would be the best way to clean this thing up?

It says here strictly not to wash with water. I'm trying to understand why. If it's to prevent rusting, would thoroughly drying it be enough to combat rust? Or is there something inherently damaging about the machine contacting water?

What cleaning methods would be fine to try, and what should I definitely not do?

What is apple fuzz?

grouse — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 14:02:27 -0800

What is apple fuzz? Is it safe? The apples at my grocery store seem to have a lot of fuzz on the bottom. I'm told this is just dirt, and can be washed off, and not something like mold to be more worried about. Is this true?

baked dirt?

Tryptophan-5ht — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 20:22:41 -0800

Ive had some problems with mould killing my house plants so Id like to sterilize the dirt from an old pot before i plant some thing new. Can I just bake the dirt or will that hurt the nutrients/good microbes? Other ways to sterilize dirt? I suppose the better question would be how to stop/prevent the mould in the first place - aside from moving away from the PNW.

Crud-tolerant DVD players?

NortonDC — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 13:59:54 -0800

Crud-tolerant DVD players. My new-ish Sony commonly locks or hiccups on Netflix discs, but I've read that other people go years without problems, and googling reveals that Sony players may be particularly prone to this. What models or brands of DVD players (not PC drives) are good at handling worn/scratched/dirty discs?