Invent Design Make

After struggling to hand plane timber to correct and precise dimensions, we have finally taken the plunge and got a planer thicknesser. The planer part should allow us to make two precise, flat surfaces at an exact angle to each other. And the thicknessing facility should, well, let us work a bunch of wood to [...]

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm” – Winston Churchill Today I have broken things attempting to tweak the scroll saw / sewing machine with a splinter guard. The idea was that I would use a piece of transparent polycarbonate (scavenged from some old safety goggles) to sit [...]

It’s all about the magnets! Check out the new project page on turning a regular, or even broken drill into a SUPERDRILL… I’ve done a few of these upgrades/ fixes now and

After a week of getting frustrated waiting for my source of seasoned oak to come through, I have been up to some other jazz, helping Sam with the ‘cubby-under-the-stairs shoe draws’, and doing a scroll saw to sewing machine conversion experiment. Having had this old sewing machine sitting about for several years collecting dust (we [...]

have been in the process of renovating a pillar drill for a while now (PhD work kept getting in the way). I thought I would share some of this drill press jazz.

The idea was that by getting a second hand three phase drill, it is possible to get a really high quality and functional machine, if you are willing and able to convert it to run off single phase electricity supply.