Gareth's Tips

Working with Metal-Infused Filaments

Gareth's Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales - Issue #40

Got a tip to share? Tools to recommend? Shop tales to tell? Talk to me.

The latest issue of HackSpace (#29) is out (free PDF). This month’s theme is working with wood. I have a 4-page piece in the issue (pg 92) rounding up 3D printing tips and tricks (see one of them below).

 

Working with Metal-Infused Filaments

3D printed mold incorporating some copper-infused filament.

3D printed mold incorporating some copper-infused filament.

From my piece in issue 29 of HackSpace: Washington, DC-area artist and curator Dave Mordini shared this discovery with me. “I took an old broken lawn ornament and put new feet on it. I then 3D-scanned it using an inexpensive consumer scanner. I decided to add pizzazz to an aluminum casting of it by using copper-infused filament when 3D printing my mold. The 3D-printed mold is packed in sand. When you pour the hot aluminum into the mold, the plastic part gets burned away, but the copper remains.”

The finished lawn ornament.

The finished lawn ornament.

Magnets in the Shop

Illustration by Richard Sheppard for "Tips and Tales from the Workshop."

Illustration by Richard Sheppard for “Tips and Tales from the Workshop.”

For my next HackSpace column, I am doing a round-up of cool things you can do with magnets in your shop (and in your projects). If you have any good ideas, please share. Here is one of the magnet-related tips from my book, Tips and Tales fr0m the Workshop.
 
Save Your Drill Press Chuck on a Key Ring: Tired of losing the chuck on your drill press? Use a retractable magnetic key ring to store it close at hand by mounting it on the press itself. [Sean Michael Ragan]
 
Make:’s Adhesive Chart

Sticking this to that.

Sticking this to that.

Someone posted the above chart to the “Shop Hacks” group on Facebook which reminded me to share it here. We included one of these charts in the Maker’s Notebook that I edited and on the Make: website. Here is a larger version.

The Maker’s Muse

Sean's DIY twist drill.

Sean’s DIY twist drill.

Via Sean Ragan’s Instagram: “A chuck from an obsolete DeWalt cordless drill fit with standoff and a spigot handle for manual drilling, reaming, chamfering, deburring, etc.”

Using a Sewing Machine Needle as a Drill?

Here’s a tip from the always reliable Emory Kimbrough: “Need to drill a very small diameter hole, but don’t have the needed tiny drill bit?  Or, perhaps you do have the bit, but it’s too small for your big drill chuck to get a good grip on?  In a pinch, you can try a sewing-machine needle.  Unlike needles for hand sewing, sewing-machine needles have an enlarged, sometimes flattened shank that the chuck can grab.   Here’s a second useful trick for using a small-diameter drill bit in a large chuck that won’t quite close tightly onto the bit:  Find some insulated wire with a gauge equal to, or at least fairly close to, the diameter of bit.  Strip off a short segment of the insulation – now you have a little rubbery tube to slide around the base of your tiny bit, providing a larger-diameter gripping surface for the big drill chuck to squeeze.”

 
Shop Talk

Larry Albertelli's homely tool carousel

Larry Albertelli’s homely tool carousel

I’ve been getting some wonderful messages and photos in response to my “homely tools” request in the last issue. Show me (and tell me about) your homely tools.

***

Larry Albertelli writes: I have small plastic bottles with different tips, including needle tips, and small vials, with tiny funnels that fit them all. In them I put homemade lubes, solvents, diluted E6000, diluted Lexel. I have plastic and glass syringes with sharp and blunt tips to dispense minute quantities of various lubes and glues. Microbrushes, small makeup brushes, scalpels of various sizes, a carbide tool sharpener which sharpens any blade, from #11 scalpel blade to scissors blades, razor blades, utility blades, you name it, in seconds. The list goes on and on. These are the backbone of a tinkerer/hobbyist/maker.

Reader John Young also wrote to remind us all of the oldie but goodie of tacking up an old hacksaw blade on the edge of a workbench or elsewhere to use for cutting sandpaper to size. You can also use such an arrangement to cut kraft paper and other similar materials.

04/2/20

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

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Luggage Built to Last/€49 French Rail Pass/Europe on a Budget

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

* Happy birthday to us: we just hit issue #100! Thanks for your support and if you upgrade to being a paid supporter, we’ll reward you with an e-book soon that has 104 of our best travel and living abroad tips from our first two years.

Digital Nomad Visas On One Page

Mark F. stumbled upon this VisaList site that is an alternative to some of the digital nomad visa guides we’ve highlighted before. This one has a clean layout and reflecting the governments’ habits of “announce first, plan later,” most are still listed as “developing.” This is a very minimalist site with frequent grammar errors, but it does show fees and income requirements and it links out to the official government page for each of the 56 countries and territories.

Independent Rugged Bag Companies

You don't see many review blogs talking about USA-based Tom Bihn or Red Oxx luggage because you can't buy them at retailers that pay commission like REI or Amazon. They only sell directly to consumers, allowing them to maintain high standards without having to sell their products for low margins at half the retail price. Also, unlike the big companies that need to keep retailers excited, they can sell the same classic bag for 20 years and not feel pressure to make changes. I just used my 14-year-old Tom Bihn Aeronaut for two recent short trips and forgot how much faster you can move if you have a light carry-on bag with no wheels. (Read the 96 5-star comments to see what real brand devotion looks like.)

€49 French Rail Pass

You’ll need to be 27 or younger and be touring France at the busiest time of year, but if that’s you or someone you know, you could ride the rails around France this summer for just €49 for 2 months. The most populated area around Paris is excluded, but that still leaves a big chunk of the country to explore and it would only take a few trips to come out ahead. See more details here. (Note that Germany runs a similar scheme with fewer age restrictions.)

Europe on a Budget

Last year I spent about five months in Europe, this year I’ll be there somewhere between two and three months. The continent has a reputation for being expensive, but it doesn’t have to be if you’re savvy about the when, where, and how. Here’s my advice based on a few decades of visits: Touring Europe on a Budget: 11 Money-saving Travel Tips.


KEVIN KELLY SITES

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