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New Electronics Series from Becky Stern
My old Make: colleague, Becky Stern, has a new video series that she’s doing for the electronics component company, Digi-Key. Becky has always done an impressive job of explaining what can be intimidating technical information in an entertaining and digestible way. If this first installment, an introduction to LEDs, is any indication, this series looks to deliver more of her welcome brand of accessible tech education.
How to Get Clearer and Stronger Transparent FDM Prints
In this CNC Kitchen video, Stefan shows the special settings you can use to create superior-looking clear prints using an FDM (Fused deposition modeling)printer and clear filament. He also looks at how these parameters make your parts super strong.
Making Your Own Vinyl Stickers
If you’ve been attracted to the idea of creating your own custom vinyl stickers, this video shows you how. All you basically need is a crafting vinyl cutter (a few hundred dollars) and some sheets or rolls of vinyl material.
CA Glue Accelerator from Baking Soda and Water
One of the best takeaways from this Bill Making Stuff video (where he celebrates his 50th episode) is his tip for creating your own accelerator for CA glue. As you likely know, there are commercial accelerators, but they smell funny, have nasty stuff in them, and are combustible. You’re even supposed to wear eye protection when using them, though nobody does. You may also know about using baking soda as an accelerator. It works great, but it leaves a dusty powder on everything that you have to clean off. Bill mixes his baking soda with water in a spray bottle and has found that it works great and creates less mess. I will definitely be trying this.
How a Gas Pump Knows When to Turn Itself Off
If you’ve ever wondered how a gas pump nozzle knows when to shut off when your tank is full, this video reveals the clever design. Venturi tubes, Bernoulli principle, negative pressure — it turns out the design is far more complicated that you might expect. I always assumed it was some sort of an electronic sensor, but it’s purely mechanical.
“I was surprised to see a recommendation for the OXO sink strainer. I love OXO products, but that strainer is a disappointment to me. I do like the inversion feature, but stuff still gets stuck in and around the holes. The silicone gets slimy. I have black slime after a week in my kitchen drain, probably from teensy bits of lettuce and herbs and salad dressing. UGH. (Cleaning out the bowl with a paper towel before washing it seems to help.) I don’t know that a standard issue strainer would make me any happier (though I’d love to quit using so many paper towels). I’m glad yours pleases you; my experience is just different.”
This is a great example of that adage made popular by early hacker culture: “Your mileage may vary” (YMMV). When I posted my review of the strainer on Boing Boing, the first few responses were similar to Candy’s and I got nervous, thinking I had prematurely decided a tool was a winner without giving it an honest testing myself. But then the positive reviews came and they were the overwhelming sentiment. And on Amazon, it has 17.5K reviews at 4.7 stars. After a month, we are more than happy with ours, but, as in all things, YMMV. Thanks for sharing your experience, Candy!
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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.
David Riddle’s video on J-B Weld (and J-B Kwik) is one of those tutorials that instantly upgrades your knowledge and approach to a material or process. His whole philosophy for using J-B Weld boils down to: Preparation is everything. Sand until you’ve got some adequate tooth, clean with acetone, mix on something non-absorbent (don’t use paper, card, etc.), spread a thin, even film (he uses a plastic knife like it was a tiny mason’s trowel), and warm the epoxy so it flows into the tooth instead of sitting on the bonding surface. No heavy clamping, no cardboard mixing trays, no wishing. Just clean surfaces, good texture, and slow-cure J-B Weld doing what it does best.
Some Practical 3D Printed Tools
https://youtu.be/A9cE3QF3A8M
As you likely know, there’s such a profusion of 3D printable tools out there (with many of them less than adequate as serious tool replacements) that the whole category of videos about them are easy to ignore. In this video, Peter Brown prints and tests five actually useful tools. The big aha for me here was the hex-key handles. I hate futzing with hex-keys, especially went you can’t bring proper torque to bear. These handsome little handles solve for that. Other stand-out prints include a snappy one-handed broom hook, a router bits organizer (from Zack Freedman’s Gridfinity system), and a rare earth magnet dispenser.
The History of the Allen Hex Key Wrench
https://youtu.be/rOOEc8ubwhA
We are all intimately familiar with that little L-shaped tool that carries a dude’s name. The Allen hex key wrench is so ordinary it’s basically shop and household wallpaper. Yet its impact on manufacturing and domestic life are undeniable. This episode of History of Simple Things (a channel I just discovered) explores how a small Hartford company, and an engineer named William G. Allen, helped de-thrown the slippery, injury-prone slotted screw and reshape modern manufacturing in the process. It’s a century-long tale of safety, standardization, and one odd bit of branding that stuck like Velcro and Kleenex. The video is a reminder that even the homeliest of tools have hidden lineages worth appreciating, especially the ones rattling around the bottoms of your kitchen junk drawers.
Regularly Rethinking Your Org
I’m not the most organized person in the world. I’m not terrible—I have my moments of clarity and tidy thinking, but I’m not obsessive or even particularly consistent about it. An example: For years I’ve had a 5-drawer wooden rolly cart by my workbench. I have most of my day-to-day tools on or around the bench, and this cart has additional tools and drawers organized by different activities: small supplies, painting, sanding, etc. Only the top drawer is tool-devoted, and over the years, it has become crammed with tools. Yesterday, I realized that the top drawer includes tools I use on a regular basis mixed in with tools I rarely use. This while some drawers in the cart are filled with materials I might only use once or twice a year. So, I moved those materials to shelves and created two tool drawers: one for everyday tools, one for special-use tools. I can already tell what a difference this will make as I quickly reach for a tool and don’t have to spend 5-minutes shifting and untangling stuff to get it in hand. The takeaway for me is that I’m going to start re-organizational thinking on a regular cadence (every quarter?). Pick some area of my shop and ask myself: Is this really the right system? How am I actually using the space and the tools, supplies, and materials within it? What can I improve?” I don’t do this type of thinking nearly enough. Do you?
Maker’s Muse
Some real eye-opening and inspiring ideas here for gates, doors, windows, skylights, pool covers, and more.
I created this Artistic License years ago and have been selling them every holiday season. I hear from people all the time that they still have theirs in their wallet and get a kick out of it when they encounter it. Come on, admit it, we all want to feel like we have artistic license. I sell them for $5 each, postpaid, or 5 for $20 (pp). Foreign orders require the exact shipping cost. Message me at garethbranwyn@mac.com if interested.
Your Chance to Win a Flashlight!
I was so intrigued by the Olight iMini flashlight that Chris Notap recommended above that I immediately bought one, and man, is it a cool little bit o’ kit. It’s everything he says and more. Every keychain (and home, car, boat, shop) needs one. So, I decided to give three of them to newsletter readers!
Here’s how it works:
Every existing newsletter subscriber will get one entry in the drawing. Paid subscribers will bet two entries.
For everyone who brings on a new subscriber, you’ll get one drawing entry for each new signee (just email me the addresses they used to sign up).
For everyone that upgrades to a paid subscription, you will get three entries.
I will do the drawing on Dec 16th and have the lights direct-shipped immediately. I can only mail to US subscribers. If you are out of the country and you win, I will send you a PDF copy of my book Tips and Tales from the Workshop, Vol. 2.
