{"id":37774,"date":"2021-01-28T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T16:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=37774"},"modified":"2021-01-27T11:02:30","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T18:02:30","slug":"tips-on-the-snips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/tips-on-the-snips\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips on the Snips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greetings, Tipsters! I want to start a new series here. Called \u201cTips Testers,\u201d I want to deputize you, my readers, to pick a tip (from this newsletter or anywhere), give it a good test, and send me the results (extra credit for a video tips-test). In the spring, I will do a random drawing from those who\u2019ve submitted tips tests, and 3 people will receive signed copies of both\u00a0Volume 1<\/a>\u00a0and the forthcoming Volume 2 of my\u00a0Tips and Tales from the Workshop<\/a>. Let me know if you have\u00a0any questions<\/a>, but that\u2019s about it: Pick a tip, subject it to honest, real-world testing,\u00a0report back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tips on the Snips<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"It's

It’s all about how you hold ’em.<\/p><\/div>\n

In this\u00a0YouTube video<\/a>, the Bob Ross of metalworking,\u00a0Ron Covell<\/strong>, shares what he\u2019s learned over the years about the proper use of\u00a0aviation snips<\/a>. These metal-cutting shears come in three configurations: right, left, and straight snips. How these different tools are supposed to be used is often confusing and the subject of much debate, even among professionals. Ron breaks it down. Tl;Dr: It\u2019s all about how you hold the snips and how the metal you\u2019re cutting interacts with the center pivot as you cut. You have to consider whether the waste is to your left or right and whether the handles are above or below the workpiece. Watch the video for a clearer understanding.<\/div>\n

Stop Motion Animation Tricks<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Peeling

Peeling out in stop motion.<\/p><\/div>\n

In this\u00a0Edu Puertas video<\/a>, he shows eight simple and effective stop motion animation tips and effects tricks. The light effects were the big eye openers for me.<\/p>\n

Sprue Hacking<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Squeezing

Squeezing out the “Ooey Gooey Spruey.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyone who\u2019s done any scale modeling, game modeling, dungeon crafting, or other plastic modeling is no doubt familiar with sprues, those ubiquitous frames that hold plastic model parts and are part of the injection molding process. In\u00a0this four-part video<\/a>, game modeler\u00a0Jon<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0Miniature Hobbyist<\/em>, shows close to 40 different things you can make from this plastic waste material, from doors, walls, and cobblestone streets to piles of treasure, tents, barricades, cages, and even tools for your workbench, such as painting sticks and paint-pot holders. In part 4, he shows how you can turn sprue material, broken down in acetone, into a goopy plastic material (that he\u2019s dubbed \u201cOoey Gooey Spruey\u201d) for casting, gap-filling, turning into pipes and thick cables, miniature bases, and more. Fascinating stuff.<\/p>\n

Take Multiple Passes When Razor-Cutting<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Patience,

Patience, Grasshopper. Patience.<\/p><\/div>\n

In\u00a0this Adam Savage video<\/a>, he reminds us all to take our time when cutting material with any sort of razor knife. We all want to rush it. Don\u2019t. Let the material tell you how many passes you need to make.<\/div>\n

Vacuum Pump from a Jar and Plastic Syringe<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A

A simple vacuum chamber using a glass bottle and plastic syringe.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been completely enchanted by a\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0I just discovered.\u00a0Xiao Qianfeng<\/strong>\u00a0is a young Chinese maker. Her videos are like DIY\u00a0ASMR<\/a>. In a video on making a \u201cthermal katana\u201d sword from the new video game,\u00a0Cyberpunk 2077<\/em>, she creates a simple vacuum chamber (3:26) for getting the bubbles out of her casting resin. Ingeniously, she makes it from a large glass jar and a plastic syringe for sucking the air out. I also like the way she makes a handle out of shipping tape to lower the resin container into the chamber.<\/p>\n

Delivering a Spray Liquid to a Set Spot<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Spot

Spot on!<\/p><\/div>\n

On\u00a0Jimmy DiResta\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0Instagram stories<\/a>, he shared this tip (taken from\u00a0Derek Forestier<\/strong>). If you need to deliver a spray liquid to a set spot (and avoid a lot of overspray), use a wooden skewer or similar. Spray the liquid onto the stick and let it drip down to the desired spot.<\/p>\n

TOYS! Recomendo: The Expanded Edition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Your

Your toilet tank needs this book!<\/p><\/div>\n

My colleagues at\u00a0Cool Tools<\/em>,\u00a0Kevin Kelly<\/strong>,\u00a0Mark Frauenfelder<\/strong>, and\u00a0Claudia Dawson<\/strong>, do a weekly newsletter called\u00a0Recomendo<\/em><\/a>. In it, they recommend \u201ccool stuff\u201d that they\u2019ve encounter in their life-travels. In 2018, they gathered 500 of these recommendations of tools, books, apps, websites, YouTube channels, tips, and more into an on-demand book. This past holiday, they released\u00a0Recomendo: The Expanded Edition<\/a>, which has 1000 recommendations. I cannot tell you how much I love this book. It\u2019s done in the same basic style as the old\u00a0Whole Earth Catalogs<\/em>\u00a0(where Kevin was an editor). It\u2019s so rewarding to just open it at random and browse. It has everything from work and domestic tools to recommendations for leisure and travel. Every time I poke my head into it, I find something new and interesting.<\/p>\n

Leave a Toolkit Behind in Your House<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Kitchen

Kitchen cabinet scratch pencils that came with my house.<\/p><\/div>\n

Speaking of\u00a0Cool Tools<\/em>. Years ago, I was on the\u00a0Cool Tools Podcast<\/a>, talking to Kevin and Mark about tools around the house. I was telling them about how, when I bought my house, the former owners left behind a drawer of tools, including a\u00a0Gilhoolie<\/a>\u00a0(lid wrench) which has become one of my favorite kitchen devices. Kevin thought that would be a great tradition to adopt. Whenever you sell a house, you leave behind a box of tools for the new owners, especially things that you\u2019ve used to maintain the home. Let\u2019s all d0 this!<\/p>\n

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

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #77<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":37782,"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\/37774"}],"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=37774"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37784,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37774\/revisions\/37784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tkdev.kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}