#HTE

DIY Vise Design, a Pocket-Hole Jig Shootout, Tool Tips & Reviews, Fix a Hamper and More

Reviving an Old Printing Press

This is super cool! Jimmy DiResta got his hands on some 19th-Century printing presses, which are so damn heavy that folks can’t be bothered to drag them to the dump, so they’ve survived the centuries. The first one he’s got has been rusting outside and looks like it hasn’t been used in over a hundred years. Jimmy gets it going again and starts making posters:

Laundry Hamper, Worth Fixing?

In the quickest Matthias Wandel video we’ve ever seen, he shows you how he fixed a broken plastic laundry hamper, and provides an unexpected answer for why it’s better to fix than buy another.

Edge Belt Sander

And finally, Wandel has completed modifications on his DIY belt sander, enabling it to be used both upright and on its side:

Pocket Hole Machine Shootout: Homemade vs. Kreg Jig

This is fantastic. Izzy Swan pits his ingenious self-made pocket-hole-drilling rig up against the famous Kreg Jig in a couple of time trials:

Failed DIY Bench Vise

Swan also gamely posted a video of an unsuccessful experiment of his, a cam-based design for a bench vise that uses toothed ratchet gears (in the manner of a seatbelt mechanism) to prevent the vise from backing off. While Swan names this experiment a failure, we know it’s just a matter of time until he gets it right, and seeing the mechanisms he came up with is fascinating:

Tool Tip: Using a Surform and Sanding Boards

Yet another Swan video (the man’s on a tear this week). Here Izzy shows you how to use a Surform and self-made sanding boards to quickly achieve results, more accurate than you could get with power tools:

How to Make a Mini-Lathe in 10 Minutes

Swan also launched a new Money-Saving Tips series, and here’s the first: How to build a small, drill-powered lathe on the cheap.

Multipurpose Cabinet Build, Part 1

Frank Howarth needs a purpose-built piece of furniture you’re unlikely to find in a store: A combination microwave stand, recycling station, paper shredder holder and mail tray. Here he runs down the intended functionality, explains his design and starts building the base and tray:

Building a Kitchen Utensil Holder

This week April Wilkerson builds a small shelving unit to organize her cooking utensils. A mid-project screw-up leads to a workaround fix that ends up improving the design:

He-Man’s Shield

Bob Clagett builds a replica of He-Man’s shield, using inexpensive foam and coroplast from the local home center. As always I’m impressed with Clagett’s improvisational fabrication skills–check out the way he gets the foam into a dome shape:

Truck Cab Caddy Cube

Steve Ramsey breaks out some design skills this week, coming up with a much-needed interior storage unit for his 1976 Ford Ranger, which has little more than a bench seat and a glovebox. The only thing I can’t figure out is how he gets it to sit atop the transmission tunnel without sliding off during turns.

Product Review: Stabila Level with Illuminated Vial

Here Ron Paulk gives his review of Stabila’s LED-equipped level. It might sound like a gimmick, but as he points out, it ain’t; and I’m digging the cleverness of the design, where you don’t have to junk the whole thing if the light craps out.

Turning & Carving Difficult Woods

This week Linn raids her cut-offs drawer, pulling out a half-dozen different species of wood to make handles for a new set of files. Next she makes an antique-styled organizer to hold them all:

Gaffer Tape Dispenser

Laura Kampf takes the classic form factor of the Scotch Tape dispenser, and creates a beefy version out of steel to hold a full-sized roll of gaffer’s tape: