Maker Project Lab
July 6, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Tools Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kreg Rip-Cut Circular Saw Guide Review

The Kreg Rip-Cut Circular Saw Guide (Amazon link) is a $32 guide for a circular saw. It’s great if you have a small workshop, or no workshop.

If you have a table saw, there’s probably no reason to buy this. But if you have a small garage like mine and you don’t want to surrender the space and money to have a table saw, this and a circular saw are an effective way to accurately break down sheets of wood.

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July 5, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Tools Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dremel Versa Tip Precision Butane Soldering Torch Review

This is review is for the Dremel Versa Tip butane soldering torch (Amazon link). It’s sells for around $38 on Amazon Prime. This is a portable soldering iron/heat gun/hot cutter/wood burning tool, that runs on butane. You click to light it, use the lock to keep the flame on, and then you adjust it for the temperature you need.

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June 27, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Alexa Grows a Finger [Maker Update #85]

This week on Maker Update, Alexa presses buttons, Google gets a laser, robot fish, robot dogs, 1-dimensional pong, drill bits, speed squares, an unholy union of DeWalt and Ryobi, and a resistor kit roundup.

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June 20, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: News Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

L3 Liberates Alexa [Maker Update #84]

This week on Maker Update, an Alexa-powered L3 droid, a pedal-powered art machine, a robot snake, robot bread, an FPV rover, last call for cocktail robots, and creative clamping techniques.

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June 12, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Tools Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Poster Tack for Electronics

If you do any soldering you probably have a pair of helping hands, or some bulky heavy thing like this that can hold your project or components steady while you wire them. They’re useful, but a little clunky to travel with, and often overkill if you’re just splicing a wire or two.

In terms of price and portability, poster tack (a.k.a. poster putty) is a great alternative.

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May 4, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Tools Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MagnoGrip Magnetic Wristband Review

Have you ever held screws or nails in your mouth as a way to keep them nearby while working on a project? This week for my tool review I’m going to show you a better solution. This is the MagnoGrip (Amazon), it’s a $14 magnetic wristband available on Amazon. I found it through the Cool Tools blog

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April 30, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Tools Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Portable Soldering Irons Compared

We’re going to take a quick look at three very different options in portable soldering irons. The point here is really just to give you a demo of each on the same table and you can draw your own conclusions on what might work best for you. 

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April 23, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Tools Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bone Folder Review

In this Cool Tools video review I’m going to show you a bone folder (Amazon link), or as I like to call it THE BONE FOLDER! I learned about this from Kevin Kelly’s review on the Cool Tools blog. If you’re interested in picking up this exact one, using the Amazon link in the description helps to support my videos and the Cool Tools blog.

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April 23, 2018 AUTHOR: Donald Bell CATEGORIES: Tools Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Manfrotto Magic Arm Kit Review

For this Cool Tools review, I’m going to show you the Manfrotto Magic Arm and Super Clamp. You can pick up this combo for around $154 on Amazon Prime. Not cheap, but I rely on this every single week and it’s been a worthwhile investment. If you happen to pick one up using the link in the description, you help support my videos and the Cool Tools blog. 

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