Workshop & Tools

Do You Have the Right to Repair and Modify Your Own Vehicle? Should You?

March 19, 2013
Tools

Yes. Next question? — Unfortunately, there are those who don’t agree and in the past few days the discussion of whether you and I should be able to fix or modify things we own has been getting a lot more attention. Right now, cellphones are the issue, there’s quite a debate and some pending legislation dealing with “unlocking” phones so [...]

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Interesting Times and Self Reliance in the New Normal Economy

February 28, 2013
Home workshop

It’s been an interesting week, and if you’ve been around here for a while you know that when I say interesting like this, I’m using the meaning inferred by the old Chinese curse of, “May you live in interesting times.” While my computer was sleeping I was rather involved and, while so occupied, it made me think again of how [...]

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Small Batch Manufacturing Gets Serious with Rapid Injection Molding

February 1, 2013
Protomold shop floor

Though the New Industrial Revolution sometimes makes people think it’s all about 3D printers or rapid prototypes, those technologies are only a part of it. They’ve been getting a lot of press for the past few years, but even now they’re still slow and the end result can be a bit rough, not as strong as a more conventional part [...]

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