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A User’s Guide to Screws and Tap & Die
In these two clickclackclunk tutorials on Instructables, he offers an excellent beginner’s class on screws and tapping of screws. Knowing how to tap threads for fasteners gives you a new kind of superpower for your projects. It’s one of those skills that seems complicated and intimidating, until you do it. With a few specialty tools, some lubrication, and few important techniques, and you’re in like Flynn.
Making a Camera Tracking Shot Slider from a Measuring Tape
Via Maker Update comes this very clever project to 3D print a housing for a measuring tape and some ball bearing wheels so that you can use it as a non-motorized camera slider for creating linear tracking shots with your phonecam. You can even adjust the speed of the tracking by adjusting the pressure on the tape measure.
Which Rattle Can Paint is the Best?
In this Project Farm test (which took a year to complete), Todd tested rattle can paints that cost from $1 to $15. The paints were tested on a vehicle hood and on metal panels kept outside for a year and then compared for chip resistance, paint fade over a year, scratch resistance, and rust blocking. In the end, the winners were Rust-Oleum Pro ($6 at time of testing), Valspar ($10 at time of testing), and Seymour ($11 at time of testing). The big loser was the most expensive of the lot, Sherman-Williams ($15 at time of testing).
How to Create a Steam Box for Wood Bending
Xyla Foxlin recently made a cool bass guitar that used steam-bent wood in its construction. In this video, she shows how she created the steam box.
TOYS! DiResta Ice Pick
I’ve written about Jimmy DiResta’s ice pick before, but I can’t believe I’ve never recommended it as a tool. I use mine almost daily and am always surprised at the different uses I discover for it. There’s even an Instagram tag to document them. Sure, it’s not cheap, and yes, part of the allure is the hip maker cred, but buying one supports an indie tool maker and they’re beautifully made and hand-crafted by Jimmy and his crew. I’ve given several as Christmas presents and my recipients enjoy them as much as I do.
Maker’s Muse
A Roman “Swiss Army Knife,” some 1700 years old. Complete with three-pronged fork, spatula, pick, spike, and knife. Probably something of a luxury item, made of silver, and likely used by the wealthy Roman on the go.
Shop Talk
In response to a question in the last issue about ready-made racks for portable storage cases, specifically Stanley cases, I got a lot of responses sharing projects on how to build them. The person asking the question wanted to buy vs. build, saving him time for more pressing projects. I swear I saw a project years ago to quickly modify baker’s racks to use for this purpose. If anyone knows a link to such a project, please share.
In the meantime, for those looking to build a rack, here are a few projects that reader Craig shared:
Making a Small Parts Storage Rack
Making a Rack for Small Parts Storage with Stanley SortMasters
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A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World argues that you can live the life you want without changing the world or even changing a single other person — you just have to stop falling into the mental traps that keep you unfree.
Core Principles
1. You Have Far More Control Than You Think
Your lack of freedom has two causes: you’re not aware of the alternatives open to you, and you’ve accepted assumptions that restrict your freedom without questioning them. Because you’ve accepted certain assumptions, you haven’t even considered that there might be alternatives. Freedom is the opportunity to live your life as you want to live it — and that is possible, even if others remain as they are.
2. Trying to Change Others Is a Trap
You have tremendous control over your own life, but you give it up when you try to control others. Direct alternatives —actions that require only yourself to get a desired result — are almost always more effective than indirect alternatives that depend on changing someone else’s behavior. Stop waiting for others to change.
3. Get Out of Your Boxes
A “box” is any unpleasant situation that restricts your freedom — a bad relationship, job, location, or friendship. You stay in boxes because you’re afraid of the work required to get out. But the cost of staying is often higher than the cost of leaving. The question isn’t whether escape is difficult; it’s whether staying is worse.
4. Make Positive Decisions, Not Negative Ones
A free person spends most of their time making positive decisions — choosing among attractive alternatives. Most people spend their time making negative decisions — choosing the least unpleasant alternative, trying to keep things from getting worse. If you’re constantly choosing the lesser evil, you’ve structured your life wrong.
Try It Now
Identify one assumption you’ve never questioned that limits your choices. What if it weren’t true? What alternatives would open up?
Think of a situation where you’re waiting for someone else to change. What direct alternative — requiring only your own action — could get you what you want?
Name one “box” you’re in — a situation you’d leave if leaving weren’t so hard. Calculate the real cost of staying another year. Is it actually lower than leaving?
Review your recent decisions. Were you choosing among attractive options, or choosing the least bad one? What would have to change for you to have better choices?
Quote
“Freedom is the opportunity to live your life as you want to live it. And that is possible, even if others remain as they are.”
