Tools

Bulbdial clock has no moving parts, casts shadows for hands

Bulbdial clock has no moving parts, casts shadows for hands

This clever clock kit from EMSL has an analog-style face, but no hands. Instead, kinda like a sundial, it has a “gnomon” that sticks up in the middle. Three rings of inward-pointing LEDs are positioned around the rim, each a different color and each at a different angle relative to the face. The blue ring is at the shallowest angle, and thus casts the longest shadow representing the “seconds” hand. The red ring is at the steepest angle and casts the shortest shadow to make the “hours” hand. The green ring, in the middle, is minutes. Check the video above, courtesy YouTube user amandachou, to see it in action.

The “Bulbdial” clock is available as a kit with four different case options, but the clear/black variety shown above is definitely my favorite because it shows off the cool retro-futurist logo on the circuit board. Here’s a time-lapse video of YouTuber jcorsaro building one from a kit.

Toolbox: My little repair kit

Toolbox: My little repair kit

In the Make: Online Toolbox, we focus mainly on tools that fly under the radar of more conventional tool coverage: in-depth tool-making projects, strange, or specialty tools unique to a trade or craft that can be useful elsewhere, tools and techniques you may not know about, but once you do, and incorporate them into your […]

How-To: Drill into a ceiling without getting plaster in your face

How-To: Drill into a ceiling without getting plaster in your face

Instructables has a good thing going with their regular “theme” contests. They just finished up with paracord; now they’re starting in on coffee cups. Reminds me of the “MacGyver Challenge” that ReadyMade magazine used to run back before their facelift. Shown above is user bertus52x11’s simple hack for catching the plaster that would otherwise fall everywhere when you drill into the ceiling.