Challenge — can you get these cups unstuck?

No. You have to wash them. WD is mainly comprised of fish oil in any case.

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I didn’t know that, thought it was petroleum-based, and was worried there could still be tiny amount left after washing.

I suggest you find the eigenfrequency of one (or both of) the cups, play that frequency as a note on a synthesizer, and gradually increase volume while trying to (gently) pull the cups apart…

Either that, or sacrifice one to save the other?

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Pivot!

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I was going to suggest dish soap.

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Both cups were made in a kiln; they can take quite a bit of even heating. If this happened to me my first move would be to blast the outside cup fairly liberally with a heat gun and just tap it on a hard surface or something.

But given that they got stuck together without heating or great force, it must be possible to separate them the same way, and it’s interesting to think about how that works. The shapes of the cups don’t seem to have any obvious way they could lock together such that they couldn’t be pulled apart in a straight line. I think what makes it tricky is that there’s no way to apply force in a straight line – you can only grip the edges or handle of the inside cup, so you can’t pull on it without also rotating it. So I would be interested to try using a suction cup to pull on the inside cup from the bottom.

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Was presented with this the at a new job in a commercial kitchen. Mythical stuck cups. Seriously what works is (and how I pissed off the chef who quite enjoyed giving the challenge to people)

  1. Put cups in freezer for a few hours
  2. Take out of freezer
  3. As quickly as possible, pour hot water from a tap over the outside of the bottom cup and jiggle them apart
  4. Be called a smart-**** for about 5 weeks
  5. Leave kitchen after graduating university and lead a wholesome and productive life, some of which involving answering blog posts from strangers.
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Announce a competition –
Whomsoever can separate the cups will be king.

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This is the correct answer. Once they are unstuck they can be washed and used again.

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Sigh. This is why I suggest lubrication and ultrasonic.

https://www.radleys.com/blog/how-to-separate-stuck-glass-joints/#:~:text=If%20you%20can%20empty%20your,a%20sonicator%20or%20ultrasonic%20cleaner.

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That is what I was going to suggest. Dropping them would also unstick them…

Have you tried unplugging them, waiting 15 minutes, and then plugging them back in?

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Will this be another Safe Thread?

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It never does!

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Mark
It seems you have reversed the polarity. There is no going back from that.

(Unless you are prepared to let the streams cross, of course.)

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This actually, really happened to my grandfather. He and my grandmother was moving on old couch down their stairs, and it got stuck in the bend. They could not figure out how to get it unstuck.

His solution was an electric chainsaw.

It was, by his account (and lack of couch in stairwell) an enjoyable and valid solution…

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Listen- Strange bloggers on the internet posing riddles is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical tableware ceremony!

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I’m not the one shaking ceramic cups over a brick floor.

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Buy two new cups: this clearly is a conversation piece now.

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It’s petroleum and mineral oil, the formula varies a bit from country to country.
You can check out the relevant data sheets for your country here:

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