Workshop

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for the industrial arts from metal and woodworking to CNC machining and 3D printing.

Tool Review: Fiskars ShopBoss

Tool Review: Fiskars ShopBoss

One thing I wrestle with in my day-to-day, sometimes literally, is shipping boxes — lots of shipping boxes: boxes of MAKE books and magazines, review books and hardware, and boxes of other cool stuff that shows up on my doorstep. And because I don’t drive and live alone, most of my shopping is on the internet. More boxes. So, my most frequent around-the-office tools are scissors and a box cutter. So, I was very interested when Fiskars offered to send me one of their new ShopBoss snips-based multi-tool.

Continue Reading Gareth Branwyn20

Water Cooler Bottle Blaster

British company BCB has developed what is essentially a potato cannon on steroids. Called the Wall Breaker, this pneumatically charged cannon launches water cooler bottles at 984 feet per second.

Need to break through concrete in a hostage situation? No problem. Want to rip a giant hole through a cargo van. They have you covered.

This was developed for the British military, so I’m not sure we’ll be seeing a consumer version available anytime soon. Impressive all the same.

Continue Reading Michael Colombo24
Milling Machine Basics

Milling Machine Basics

Chicago’s American Machine Tools Corporation buys, sells, ships, and repairs heavy machine tools all over the world. They also maintain a curriculum of free, online, non-brand-specific operator education materials, including the best general How to Use a Milling Machine page I’ve seen. There are no videos, but personally I prefer old-fashioned text and diagrams for this purpose. If you are interested in movies, however, check out MIT’s Introduction to the Mill.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
Coffin-Making Class

Coffin-Making Class

There was no corpse in the coffin because it is one day going to be used by Bader herself, who has no plans to kick the bucket anytime soon. Ever since reading a Twin Cities newspaper account of a course titled “Bury Yourself In Your Work: Build Your Own Casket,” she wanted to go the DIY route for her casket.

Continue Reading Jon Kalish6