Category: Free Advice

Free Advice #003: Use a magnet, inside a plastic bag or beneath multiple layers of plastic wrap, to clean up shrapnel from drilling, cutting, or tapping metal

  • September 26, 2024
Categories
Free Advice HerpDerp Makin' stuff and breakin' stuff Swarf + Copeaux + Scobs TØØLS
Earlier this month, I wanted to replace the bolt-feet on the bottoms of some filing cabinets with wheels, so I flipped one of them on its side, unscrewed one of the foot-bolts, and tried it in the closest-looking (size-wise) pieces of my bolt size-and-thread-check set, and found that it went smoothly into the female end […]

Never forget that rubber bands eventually go bad.
AND, if you need less-ephemeral, non-messy rubber bands, use silicone rubber bands (FREE ADVICE #002).

  • May 4, 2024
Categories
Free Advice HerpDerp Is that the way it is? Mucking About With Things RECCIES The Diary of Lupin Pooter
Fragments of deteriorated rubber bands. At upper left: bits from rubber bands that were, IIRC, bluish-green originally. Or were they purple? They’re bluish-green now. At lower-right: parts of what were once white rubber bands. Rubber bands (here taken to mean solid, non-woven elastic rings) degrade. Whether they’re made from natural rubber or synthetic rubber (e.g. […]

Dishwasher-safeness claims are often fibs: Free Advice #001

  • March 11, 2024
Categories
Free Advice Is that the way it is? The Diary of Lupin Pooter
Remember… free advice is worth every cent you’ve paid for it. Rule of thumb: If it’s not all-metal (e.g. a plain stainless steel saucepan) or all-ceramic (e.g. an unadorned coffee mug) or a solid lump of plastic like a one-piece, you perhaps ought to hand-wash it. Dishwasher detergents are less sudsy but significantly more chemically […]