Cue the Confetti Cannons! It’s our 50th issue! Thanks to all of you who’ve supported this effort and especially those who’ve contributed tips and feedback. Much appreciated. Let’s keep the conversation going!

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I’m still looking for “Tips my dad says,” things you learned from your father or grandfather. I will post the best of these the week of Father’s Day. I will also pick someone at random and send them an autographed copy of my book.

Improving a Cheap Airbrush

I wrote about this video on Make: a few years back, but wanted to resurface it here. I saw several friends writing on social media about purchasing cheap airbrushes to experiment with and thought they might benefit from this. In this video, Rahmi of Scale-a-Ton shows how he improved the quality of a $20 brush, mainly by polishing the needle (with a swab and polishing compound). They use low-quality, roughly-polished needles on cheap brushes. He also replaced the O-ring with a seal made from beeswax. He claims that if you give the needle a good polish after every few uses, the brush will even get better over time. For twenty bones, it’s worth a try.

Laser-Cut Riser for Cutting Mat

Using his Glowforge, Norm from Tested created this versatile little riser for his Alvin 8-½” x 12″ cutting mat. It allows the work surface of the mat to be raised, allows him to more easily move an in-process project around, and it can be changed up with different drop-in surfaces. Pop in a wooden panel and it becomes a general, hard work surface. Add a puzzle frame and it becomes a puzzle table. He also added LED light strips underneath so that he can pop in a frosted glass panel and use the riser as a lighted display or light box. Norm offers the vector files if you’d like to cut and build your own.

Yet Another Tape Tip Tip

 

1. the piece has a clean 90 degree edge
2. a new piece can easily be ripped from the roll later

Using Cards as a Contour Guide and Other Tricks

Here’s one from the ever-clever Leah Bolden of See Jane Drill. Five “card tricks” for around the shop. Some I’d heard of, like using the cards as precise shims or spacers (cards are usually 0.010″ or 0.012″ thick), but I hadn’t thought to use them as a guide for copying a complex contour (above) or as a sanding block for very small crevices.

More Clamping Power

Another great tip from the Acme Tools’ Instagram account. “If you need more clamping power from a spring clamp, just insert the squeezed handles of a second clamp inside the handles of the clamp holding the workpiece.”
Life Hacks

A while back, I posted about my discovery of multi-bagging kitchen and bath trash cans (‘cause I hate dealing with the bags). I’ve added a new twist. I now also store a bundle of the kitchen bags in the bottom of the can, so when I’ve used up the three bags I’ve lined the can with, I just reach in for another three.

Shop Talk

Reader Rj Godin responded to my piece on using paracord and wire to create gear ties:
“Putting wire inside paracord jackets seems like a lot of work for marginal benefit. For years, I have used 12-gauge wire trimmed from either BX or romex. Twist a couple turns around an extension cord, leaving a few inches to wrap around the coil – presto – your cord is tied and the tie is always there.”

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In response to my call a while back about your favorite DIY catalogs, reader Todd Leonard wrote in to remind us of the electronic goldmine that is… well… Electronic Goldmine. I concur. That catalog was a staple for me when I was a regular robot builder years ago.

06/18/20

(Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here. — editors)