{"id":37535,"date":"2020-12-17T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=37535"},"modified":"2020-12-15T13:34:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T20:34:21","slug":"3d-printable-hot-wire-foam-cutting-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/3d-printable-hot-wire-foam-cutting-table\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printable Hot Wire Foam Cutting Table"},"content":{"rendered":"

3D Printable Hot Wire Foam Cutting Table<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A

A tablesaw for foam stock.<\/p><\/div>\n

I have long thought about building my own foam cutting table (for use in scenery building in my hobby gaming).\u00a0Here\u2019s a 3D printed table<\/a>\u00a0that might finally motivate me to get-\u2018er-done. And\u00a0here\u2019s a video<\/a>\u00a0about putting it all together. [Via\u00a0Maker Update<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Free Mesh Editing Tools for 3D Printing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"No

No one wants a toy bunny with a gaping hole in its haunches.<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyone who\u2019s even casually familiar with 3D printing likely knows about slicer programs. This is software that converts 3D design files into 3D printer instructions and allows you to set parameters like print layer height and support structures. Mesh editing programs are what you need if your 3D design files have holes\/errors in them that need repair. In\u00a0this Maker\u2019s Muse video,<\/a>\u00a0Angus<\/strong>\u00a0looks at three different mesh editing tools and shares\u00a0his playlist<\/a>\u00a0of mesh editing videos.<\/div>\n

Making a Shop Dryer Oven<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Turning

Turning up the heat in the shop.<\/p><\/div>\n

In\u00a0this video<\/a>,\u00a0Adam Savage<\/strong>\u00a0extols the virtues of a blow dryer as a useful shop tool. Whether you use a salon-type dryer or an industrial heat gun, having deliverable heat in the shop can be a game-changer. Adam, whose tool-tastes run on the expensive side,\u00a0recommends this dryer<\/a>\u00a0that\u2019s $50, but you can get one that\u2019s\u00a0just as good<\/a>\u00a0at half that price.<\/p>\n

But the real tip here is not just about the dryer, it\u2019s using it (and a cardboard box) to create a shop oven for quickly drying primers, paints, finishes, etc. He\u2019s also just discovered using\u00a0Bondo Filler Primer<\/a>\u00a0for finishing 3D prints. He applies this in many thin layers. Not wanting to wait for it to air-dry, or to hold the dryer, he simply puts the object inside of an overturned box, cuts a hole in the side, and shoves in the dryer. Fancy! (BTW: Again, Adam\u2019s tastes run expensive. You can get\u00a0much cheaper<\/a>\u00a0filler primer that works just as well.)<\/div>\n

Sanding a Box with a Board<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A

A boy and his shop weights.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last week, I posted a tip from a\u00a0recent online interview<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0Jimmy DiResta<\/strong>\u00a0did with\u00a0Adam Price<\/strong>. Here\u2019s another tip that Jimmy shared (at 29:15). Even when you make a solid enclosed box and cut the top off on a tablesaw, you still may not have a perfectly matched cut. To sand both the box and the lid, Jimmy spray-glues sandpaper to a flat piece of wood and then uses that, with one of his beloved shop weight on top, to do a sanding of both the lid and the the top edge of the box. You can also glue a large piece of sandpaper to your benchtop for the same effect.<\/p>\n

Please Sit Around Your Potbelly Stove and Tell Me a Story<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve been putting the word out to my maker friends and newsletter readers that I\u2019m looking for stories to tell in Volume 2 of\u00a0Tips and Tales from the Workshop<\/a>. It\u2019s funny. The thing that attracts me most to tools and shops tips is the stories they often come wrapped in. That\u2019s what motivated the first book: the shop tales part. But when I ask people to tell me a story (a success, a failure, a funny anecdote, something they learned from a parent, mentor, or fellow maker), they frequently go blank. But then when I overhear two makers talking, they\u2019re a world o\u2019 stories. When I lived on a Virginia farm decades ago, I used to go to the feed and supply store in town. In the fall and winter, they ran a potbelly stove in the corner of the warehouse. As you shopped, you could overhear the old timers, in their worn overalls and flannel shirts, gathered around it, trading tales (some short, many tall) about their farming exploits over the years. I bet if I had walked up to them with a tape recorder and asked them to tell me a tale, they\u2019d all have gone silent. So, I\u2019m asking you, dear reader, to pull up a stool around the proverbial potbelly stove here at\u00a0Gareth\u2019s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0tell me a story<\/a>. I\u2019m certain you have dozens. Just make pretend I\u2019m not listening. Send me an email with your story (or talk into your phone recorder and attach that). If I use your tale, I will send you a free copy of the book when it comes out.<\/p>\n

Family Handyman Celebrates 70 Years of DIY<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve subscribed to\u00a0Family Handyman<\/a>\u00a0for years. I mainly mine it for tips and new tool ideas, but there are often worthwhile home maintenance, repair, and building projects in it. And it\u2019s a great deal at $7.50\/year (when you sub for 2 years). The latest issue (Winter 2021) celebrates the 70th year of the magazine! Lots of fun material in here on the history of DIY, then\/now comparisons, and excerpts of some of the tips they\u2019ve run over the decades that are still relevant and useful today. Here are a few.
\n\"guttercleaning\"<\/p>\n

\"keeppartshandy\"<\/p>\n

\"depthgauge\"<\/p>\n

Shop Talk<\/strong>
\nReader\u00a0Tyler S<\/strong>\u00a0had some excellent feedback about the \u201cMaker\u2019s Muse\u201d image that I ran\u00a0last week<\/a>\u00a0showing a set of stairs made entirely out of wooden pallets:<\/p>\n

I felt compelled to reach out to you about the pallet stairs that you included in your newsletter today. I\u2019m in the Bay Area, and while the picture you included really does it for me, I feel that there should also be a word of warning to temper the inspiration anyone might feel. I\u2019m not sure if you remember the Ghostship warehouse fire that happened in Oakland a number of years ago, but from what I recall, one of the primary causes of death was a flimsy, flammable staircase made of pallets. There was obviously a lot of other things at play, that building codes and such would address, but when the fire started and there wasn\u2019t another way out; people lost their lives. Anyways, forgive my ramble, and have a good weekend!<\/em><\/p>\n

I indeed remember this fire. I had friends who lost friends in it. And yes, lots of pallet (and other makeshift) construction provided deadly fuel for that inferno. The point of those \u201cMaker\u2019s Muse\u201d images is to get people to think creatively, outside the box, or give a laugh, but in real-world applications, things like fire codes and safety obviously need to always be considered. I should\u2019ve at least mentioned such safety and common sense sobriety. My bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #72<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":37542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2371],"tags":[2372],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37543,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37535\/revisions\/37543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}