{"id":40794,"date":"2023-01-22T15:11:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T22:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=40794"},"modified":"2023-01-17T15:16:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T22:16:52","slug":"fantastic-round-up-of-hobby-tips-for-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/fantastic-round-up-of-hobby-tips-for-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantastic Round-Up of Hobby Tips for 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gareth\u2019s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up\u00a0here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fantastic Round-Up of Hobby Tips for 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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52 Minitaures<\/em> has a really useful round-up<\/a> of tips and tools for tabletop gaming and other types of hobby modeling. Tips include things like using soda\/beer can tin as a modeling material, mixing Green Stuff<\/a> and Milliput<\/a>, 50\/50, to get a more easily workable epoxy putty, keeping the tip on a super glue bottle from drying out by simply not<\/em> screwing the cap on tight (what!?), using large make-up brushes in modeling for things like drybrushing and weathering, using Pigma Micron pens<\/a> to add eyeballs to miniatures (something I\u2019ve been doing for years), 3D printing tips, and lots, lots more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are High Output Tool Batteries Worth the Extra Dough?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Todd<\/strong> at Project Farm<\/em> was curious to know<\/a> if tool batteries sold as \u201chigh output\u201d (said to have 50% more power and run cooler) actually live up to their claims and are worth the extra money. Watch the video<\/a> for more, but bottom line, the answer is No. Todd comes to the conclusion that, unless you\u2019re working in extremely cold conditions, there isn\u2019t enough of a performance increase to justify the added cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reader\u2019s Favorite Tools of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a couple of newsletter readers sharing some of the more memorable tools they employed last year.<\/em>

Michael Keaton:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHanging stuff on drywall can be a real pain.  Those little plastic screw inserts fail if there\u2019s any weight to what you\u2019re hanging.  Other options are molly bolts or toggle bolts.  I\u2019ve always had good luck with toggle bolts (metal ones)<\/a>, but they don\u2019t fit all situations, like when you need a screw head standing out to hang something on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMolly bolts<\/a>  are great, but if the base against the drywall wall starts turning when you turn the screw to expand it, you\u2019re hosed, which seems to happen to me more often than not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe solution is a Molly Bolt Setting Tool<\/a> like this one on Amazon.  You unscrew the screw a little bit, hook on the tool under the head, squeeze the handle, and it pulls the screw away from the head, expanding the wings to hold the molly bolt in place.  At $15 or so, it it is very handy to have around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn your \u2018My Favorite Newsletter Tips of 2022<\/a>,\u2019 you showed the iFixit electronics driver set<\/a>.  I\u2019m a fan of Wiha tools and their 65 Piece Micro-Bit Ratchet Set<\/a> if great.  Comes in a metal box and includes bit driver, extension and rachet.   Can be pricey at around $100, but well worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My ol\u2019 pal Stefan Jones<\/strong> writes:<\/em>

\u201dI saw your recommendation<\/a> for Carhartt work shirts<\/a>. They make a line of ventilated, sweat-wicking summer shirts<\/a> that rock. Multiple pockets with Velcro or zippers. Good variety of colors, too. It looks like the specific Force line I have 2 – 3 of is discontinued. This <\/a>looks very similar to the three-pocket version that is my favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And here is my favorite tool of 2022:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I wrote about this<\/a> in issue #128. It\u2019s Mike Taylor<\/strong>\u2019s hardware kit for 1-2-3 blocks<\/a>. It allows you to connect blocks in whatever configuration you desire with all of the hardware below the surface. The $11 kit<\/a> comes with 6 hex-head screws, sized for 1″, 2″, and 3″ attachment, 4 threaded through-hole dowels, a hex key, and a slotted driver head \u2013 all housed in a handy little plastic box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More on the Williams Ratcheting Screw Driver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paul Cryan<\/strong> writes:

\u201dThe cavity in the Williams screwdriver <\/a>is fairly vast. It doesn\u2019t give me much heartache to break up an inexpensive set of miscellaneous bits from Harbor Freight to fill it. Tonight, I experimented with Williams handle stuffing and found that it can easily hold 6 additional handy bits (hollow hex M2, M2.5, M3, M4; hollow Torx M8, M10) from the HF set to keep the 5 bits it comes with (PH1, PH2, 2 flathead, T15) company. Lots to choose from, and although the screwdriver gets a bit heavier, it rattles less! I was able to stuff even more in there and keep it rattling at all, but that seemed silly after I\u2019d tried it a few times.

\u201dBonus tip:<\/strong> What to do if your ratcheting screwdriver bit is almost long enough to reach the screw inside a recess, but can\u2019t quite reach it because the magnetic bit-holding neck of the screwdriver is too wide? Pop a nylon M3 hex nut (like the type used for mounting electronics) into the ratcheting screwdriver\u2019s open end, slide in the bit you need until it magnetically holds, and VOILA you can get a couple mm further in. If you\u2019ve got a Williams screwdriver, go ahead a toss a few of the nylon hex nuts into the handle cavity so they\u2019re there when you need them!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maker Slang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slang, jargon, and technical terms for the many realms of making things<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hand cramps<\/strong> \u2014 Another name for aviation snips (This Old Tony)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slap chop<\/strong> \u2014 A speed painting technique for miniatures where you prime the model black, drybrush it light gray from the top-down, followed by a dusting drybrush of white on edges. Then, you paint your main colors with Citadel Contrast, Army Painter Speed Paint, or other one-coat paint product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Big Orange Store<\/strong> – Aka Home Depot (aka Home Despot).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Forget: Unclassifieds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a product, service, tool, newsletter, app, book, or anything else you\u2019d like to share with your fellow Gar\u2019s Tips & Tools<\/em> readers? Consider taking out an unclassified ad here, which will run at the bottom of each issue. Get the word out on what you\u2019re doing and support this publication at the same time. Click here<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #144<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40795,"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\/40794"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40796,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40794\/revisions\/40796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}