I use my PanaVise Jr for all kinds of small holding tasks, particularly for holding circuit boards while soldering. One complaint I’ve always had is how darn long it takes to crank the vise’s jaws open from a closed position, or vice versa. The tiny knob takes many, many turns to do much work. One […]
The Makafone was a mail-order kit produced by the Modern Phonograph Supply Company starting in 1919. This ad and others like it were printed in Popular Mechanics and various trade magazines that catered to craftsmen. With the recent resurgence of interest in vintage vinyl and other archaic forms of media, I’d be curious to get a look at the plans for a Makafone and maybe build one myself.
Fancy file-work along the spine of the blade, like that featured in this step-by from custom knifemaker Bruce Evans, is commonly applied after the steel has been heat-treated. Which means, I believe, that you could apply it to a factory knife, for instance, if you wanted to customize it for yourself, or personalize it as a gift.
Interesting notion for a Lego-based enterprise Eli Carter, who wants to sell you a custom-packed kit (complete with custom instructions) to build a Lego nameplate with text and colors of your choosing. Check it out at Brick-Built Nameplates.
Welding! Welding is a glorious, mystery-infused, thoroughly bad-ass way to stick things together. Welders move in their own cloud of mythos and danger- they are dirtier, tougher, and sexier than any other kind of maker, and the things they build are big and strong and hold our world together. This positive stereotype permeates at all levels of pop culture: if a character is introduced while welding, you immediately know that they will be some kind of blue-collar superhero, or some kind of cliched contradiction- the welder quoting Hegel after winning the bar fight, or the classic trope of seeing a welder at work, and then they flip off the helmet and OMG IT IS A GIRL! A GIRL WELDING!
Remember the new Panavise handle that resulted from Lee C’s wooden crank modification? It hasn’t been released for sale yet but we have them in the Maker Shed! As a way to say “thank you” to the MAKE community, Panavise has given us the handles in advance so that we can give them to you. For a limited time, with the purchase of every Panavise Jr. Model 201 we are including the #239 Speed Control Handle absolutely free!
My colleague Collin Cunningham has an iPad app called Circuit Sidekick which consists of several tools for assisting electronics aficionados with their work. Let’s start with the Resistor Values function, pictured above. It helps you determine the value of a resistor by selecting the color bands you see on the actual resistor. The image also […]
