{"id":36399,"date":"2020-06-18T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T16:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=36399"},"modified":"2020-06-16T11:26:15","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T18:26:15","slug":"improving-a-cheap-airbrush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/improving-a-cheap-airbrush\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving a Cheap Airbrush"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cue the Confetti Cannons! It\u2019s our 50th issue! Thanks to all of you who\u2019ve supported this effort and especially those who\u2019ve\u00a0contributed tips and feedback<\/a>. Much appreciated. Let\u2019s keep the conversation going!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I\u2019m\u00a0still looking for<\/a>\u00a0\u201cTips my dad says,\u201d things you learned from your father or grandfather. I will post the best of these the week of Father\u2019s Day. I will also pick someone at random and send them an autographed copy of\u00a0my book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Improving a Cheap Airbrush<\/strong>
\n

\"Crappy

Crappy brush? Try polishing the needle.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

I wrote about this video on\u00a0Make:<\/em>\u00a0a few years back, but wanted to resurface it here. I saw several friends writing on social media about purchasing cheap airbrushes to experiment with and thought they might benefit from this. In\u00a0this video<\/a>,\u00a0Rahmi\u00a0<\/strong>of\u00a0Scale-a-Ton<\/em>\u00a0shows how he improved the quality of\u00a0a $20 brush<\/a>, mainly by polishing the needle (with a swab and\u00a0polishing compound<\/a>). They use low-quality, roughly-polished needles on cheap brushes. He also replaced the O-ring with a seal made from beeswax. He claims that if you give the needle a good polish after every few uses, the brush will even get better over time. For twenty bones, it\u2019s worth a try.<\/p>\n

Laser-Cut Riser for Cutting Mat<\/strong>
\n

\"A

A CNC-cut riser for a cutting mat.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Using his Glowforge,\u00a0Norm<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0Tested<\/a>\u00a0created this versatile little riser for his\u00a0Alvin 8-\u00bd” x 12″ cutting mat<\/a>. It allows the work surface of the mat to be raised, allows him to more easily move an in-process project around, and it can be changed up with different drop-in surfaces. Pop in a wooden panel and it becomes a general, hard work surface. Add a puzzle frame and it becomes a puzzle table. He also added\u00a0LED light strips<\/a>\u00a0underneath so that he can pop in a frosted glass panel and use the riser as a lighted display or light box. Norm offers the vector files if you\u2019d like to cut and build your own.<\/p>\n

Yet Another Tape Tip Tip<\/strong>
\n

\"Fold.

Fold. Crimp. Tear. Tabbed!<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tywen Kelly\u00a0<\/strong>(Kevin Kelly\u2019s son) shared this tip, spotted in a\u00a0Potato Jet video<\/a>\u00a0:<\/div>\n
At @12:05 in the video, this YouTuber sneaks in a quick minute-long description of the best way to take a piece of tape from a roll such that the piece can easily be removed after it is applied<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. the piece has a clean 90 degree edge<\/li>\n
  2. a new piece can easily be ripped from the roll later<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    You get all of these benefits from a single, fluid motion, so it\u2019s at no extra cost to normally removing a piece of tape!<\/div>\n

    Using Cards as a Contour Guide and Other Tricks<\/strong>
    \n

    \"Copy

    Copy complex contours with a stack of playing cards.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s one<\/a>\u00a0from the ever-clever Leah Bolden of\u00a0See Jane Drill<\/em>. Five \u201ccard tricks\u201d for around the shop. Some I\u2019d heard of, like using the cards as precise shims or spacers (cards are usually 0.010″ or 0.012″ thick), but I hadn\u2019t thought to use them as a guide for copying a complex contour (above) or as a sanding block for very small crevices.<\/p>\n

    More Clamping Power<\/strong>
    \n

    \"Back

    Back ‘at thang up!<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

    Another great tip from the Acme Tools\u2019\u00a0Instagram account<\/a>. \u201cIf you need more clamping power from a\u00a0spring clamp<\/a>, just insert the squeezed handles of a second clamp inside the handles of the clamp holding the workpiece.\u201d
    \nLife Hacks<\/strong><\/p>\n

    A while back, I posted about my discovery of multi-bagging kitchen and bath trash cans (\u2018cause I\u00a0hate<\/em>\u00a0dealing with the bags). I\u2019ve added a new twist. I now also store a bundle of the kitchen bags in the bottom of the can, so when I\u2019ve used up the three bags I\u2019ve lined the can with, I just reach in for another three.<\/p>\n

    Shop Talk<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Reader\u00a0Rj Godin<\/strong>\u00a0responded to\u00a0my piece<\/a>\u00a0on using paracord and wire to create gear ties:
    \n\u201cPutting wire inside paracord jackets seems like a lot of work for marginal benefit. For years, I have used 12-gauge wire trimmed from either BX or romex. Twist a couple turns around an extension cord, leaving a few inches to wrap around the coil \u2013 presto \u2013 your cord is tied and the tie is always there.\u201d<\/p>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    In response to my call a while back about your favorite DIY catalogs, reader\u00a0Todd Leonard<\/strong>\u00a0wrote in to remind us of the electronic goldmine that is\u2026 well\u2026\u00a0Electronic Goldmine<\/a>. I concur. That catalog was a staple for me when I was a regular robot builder years ago.<\/p>\n

    <\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #50<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":36400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[2371],"tags":[2372],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36407,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399\/revisions\/36407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}