Chances are, if you’ve got something with sufficient volume and a rigid body, you can probably put a speaker in it. With a little trial and error you can come up with a unique speaker enclosure that will be both pleasing to the eye and appealing to the ear.
Our Toolsday guest contributor this week is Stuart Deutsch, whose review of C.H. Hanson’s self-adjusting locking pliers appeared in MAKE Vol 29. Stuart writes regularly about tools and the tool business over at ToolGuyd. Look for more of his work, both online and in print, in the near future. Welcome, Stuart! – Ed. Mnpctech’s PC […]
Maker extraordinaire Craig Smith shared another quick work tip with us: Sometimes I grab the cordless drill/driver, some screws, and perhaps a small pilot drill bit on a quick construction/repair project. The screws would be better if they were 100% flush and I didn’t grab a countersink bit, or perhaps I’m at a location without […]
Embossed aluminum is pretty much the ultimate labeling material. Without wanting to be morbid, there is a reason why military services around the world choose it for personnel identification tags. Secured with mechanical fasteners, instead of adhesives, an embossed aluminum label will stand up for years against water, extremes of heat and cold, prolonged direct sunlight, and any organic solvent you care to throw at it. This is a true “industrial-grade” labeling tool, and if you can snag a used one for a reasonable price, you can expect a lifetime of use from it.
If you ever had a project with a lot of measuring in one area, with a lot of cutting in another, you’ll do this to your measuring tape. (Ever put up drywall?) By simply sanding the shine off of the plastic casing on a measuring tape, you have a writeable and erasable surface to jot down those numbers.
Of course the most prominent feature of VCarve Pro is it’s ability to make designs using a v-shaped cutting bit. You can easily generate g-code for sign and texture creation as well as engraving tool paths. The software automatically calculates the depth for the v-shaped bit to give sharp corners and intricate lines. Also, colors can be added to each toolpath to allow customers to preview the finished product.
“Toolbox” has been a staple of MAKE magazine since Volume 01, back in February, ’05. We’ve done plenty of online tool reviews, too, since then, but somewhat informally, and it’s only this year that we decided to launch a regularly-scheduled, official online weekly tool review column. When we were gearing up, back in April…
