Tools

Circle Skirt Calculator

After sewing my Emmy dress, the mere thought of hemming a circle skirt—especially one made of satin—is enough to give me nightmares for a week. But, even though it’s a giant pain to evenly hem all of that fabric, there’s still no denying that circle skirts are incredibly flattering and incredibly versatile. So, if you’re […]

Make: Live Ultimate Kit Episode 11/9/11 (video)

Make: Live Ultimate Kit Episode 11/9/11 (video)

Make: Live‘s Ultimate Kit Episode celebrates the upcoming release of the Special Issue, The Ultimate Kit Guide. Ariel Churi from Sparkle Labs stepped in for Becky as guest co-host. MIT Research Fellow Michael Schrage talked about how kits drive innovation. The Make Labs interns checked in with their kit reviews, including a few siege and ballistics kits (above) and Ariel and Matt played with a few electronics kits in studio.

How-To:  Mini Metal Lathe

How-To: Mini Metal Lathe

Back in Plastics Month, we featured a simple shop-made plastics extruder built by Instructables user Random_Canadian. Now the arbitrary Canuck returns with this pint-sized metal lathe built with a 14″ piece of precision aluminum T-slot extrusion, and some characteristically resourceful salvage including an electric motor from a cordless weed trimmer, a variable speed switch from a cordless drill, and a tailstock center improvised from a countersink.