Tools

IC squisher from skate bearings, acrylic scraps

IC squisher from skate bearings, acrylic scraps

Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool, this handy homebrew jig from the UK’s oomlaut:

We’ve recently grown annoyed with the slightly bow legged stance DIP ICs ship with (it makes inserting them into sockets ever so frustrating). Rather than continue to spend longer than we liked on less than perfect results we decided to make ourselves a little jig to help out.

Details and laser-cutter files are available at the link above. This post from EMSL is cited by way of inspiration.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan6
Make: Projects – Permanently stain PVC pipe any color you want

Make: Projects – Permanently stain PVC pipe any color you want

I love PVC pipe: It’s weatherproof, cheap, commonly available, easy to work, and easy to join temporarily or permanently. Apart from a slightly icky environmental footprint, the only serious drawback of PVC pipe is that it’s ugly, owing largely to the fact that it’s usually available only in white, off-white, gray, or (sometimes) black. PVC can be painted, sure, but getting a good finish requires careful surface preparation, and even then the paint tends to flake or wear off with time, weather, and/or handling.

But, as you’ll know if you’ve ever tried to remove a purple primer stain, it is possible to indelibly colorize PVC pipe. I got curious about what was in purple primer, and a bit of digging revealed that it’s just clear primer plus purple dye. I reasoned, then, that I ought to be able to make my own “purple primer” in whatever color I wanted by adding solvent dye to clear primer. Long story short: It works, and it works great. You can read all about it here.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan7