DIY shrinking and washing machine
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I tried out various motors and stuff on my washer. Even a powerful air motor (that works great until the tank on the compressor runs out in like two minutes) and settled on a hand crank.
I made it out of an old corroded combination wrench I had. This is ready to wash some pants now.
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These long vertical creases are why I don't like washing my jeans in my washer. This happened on both my Samsung and LG front loaders even in the delicate cycle, no spin.
The clip inside and the internal dimensions of the five gallon bucket keep the jeans from twisting or skewing while the water circulates around the jeans.
I just cranked them for about ten minutes and am leaving them soak for a while. Then I'll crank em some more. Then rinse as usual.
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The washer seems to work really well. Plenty of dirty blue water was in the bucket.
I rinsed them in the tub twice and am leaving them drip. When they stop dripping I'll put the jeans over a couple box fans to dry.
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I might be crazy IRL, but Id like to think I'm more of a redneck engineer.
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Drying on some fans. Should be dry by morning.The part of Hoahmaru (from Samurai Spirits) is now being played by Robert Smith of the Cure
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LMAO I'm glad someone does. I've had that poster since the 90s and I always thought it was funny.
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I just love the way @Filthy2123ozjunkie was exploring this stuff.
And I would like to share my shrinking story with all of You.One of my first IH pairs is the IH-888S-21 in size 36. I was still trying to nail the right fit and size and I ended up with something that fit more like roomy sweatpants. They wanted to drop from my waist constantly, so I bought suspenders and made it work. They were so comfortable, easy to put on and non-restrictive that I started to use them constantly around the house. I knew there was nothing to lose, and they can become my test pair before I do anything with my properly sized pairs. So, I washed them for the first time in 60 degrees Celsius and surprisingly there was not much shrinkage at all. I kept the suspenders and did few more 40 degrees Celsius washed over the year, thinking that there is not much more I can do.
I then came across @Filthy2123ozjunkie exploration in shrinking and then pair it with some research on the OD process and what it does with cotton, I decided that there is no reason not to try putting the jeans into 95 degrees water and not in to gentle cycle but rather one for dirty clothes. I wanted to get plenty of agitation and prolonged exposure to high temperature.
Living in Sweden comes with benefits of always having a laundry room in the basement of your apartment. And there is usually an industrial grade washing machine and dryer available.
And so, I set the program on cotton 95 degrees Celsius, with extra agitation and extra rinse. No limitation to spin. And this time I didn’t bother to give them the usual soak, they were just inside out.
After ~70 min I put them in the dryer on max heat for 45 min and the outcome was spectacular!
I got it from size 36 into the dimensions of something like 34,5. And all of this without losing any more indigo compared to 40 degrees washes. The fabric retained all its characteristics, but I might have created a 22oz version
Photos will follow when it gets brighter here in Stockholm. -
As You see the only thing that really suffered from hight temperature was the patch. It came out super dark, and imidietley after taking it out of the dryer I coated it with Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative.
I also want to claryfy that I did not use the tumble dryer but rather something of this sort - https://www.electroluxprofessional.com/commercial-laundry-equipment/drying-cabinets/ so no tumbling while drying. The drying was done inside out.
