Brilliant Tool Design: Drill-Powered Through-Wrench

Izzy Swan invented a very cool tool that should be useful to folks in certain trades, and he's bringing it to market! Check this thing out:

Simple DIY Centering Jig

More Swan: Here he whips up a self-centering jig (for finding centerlines on cylindrical pieces and turnings) that you can easily build:

Finishing Up the DIY Bench Vise

Yet another from Swan, as he shows you how to finish up the DIY bench vise from last week. The more I watch Swan cobble together something functional out of nothing, the more I realize that if he were with Mark Watney in The Martian, the two of them would have gotten off of that planet in no time.

Why Small-Batch Manufacturing Gets Pricey

Matthias Wandel starts off addressing a reader question about the pantorouter dust collection hood from last time, then switches to discuss something ID'ers ought to know well: The curse of small-batch manufacturing.

Octagonal Box-Jointed Box

More Wandel—I don't think I've ever seen a box joint done on an angle like this:

Shop Salt Shaker (Try Saying That Three Times Fast)

April Wilkerson uses the table salt trick during glue-ups, to prevent the pieces from sliding against each other. Here she makes a dedicated shop salt shaker, and gets hooked on a new tool:

Serving Tray with Napkin Hold-Down

For some reason, this project reminded me the most of what we were doing in the shop sophomore year of ID school. Here, Steve Ramsey crafts a straightforward and utilitarian object with this picnic tray, featuring a napkin hold-down, and has to solve a couple of problems due to the angled sides:

Installing a Leg Vise on a 2x4 Workbench

Last week, Jay Bates showed you how he duplicated his leg vise. This week, he brings it over to his friend's house, and shows us how they installed it on the workbench—and of course ran into some problems along the way:

Raspberry Pi Display Sign

Bob Clagett needed an electronic sign outside of his home-based shop—something that would indicate to family members what was going on inside (watch the video and you'll understand). As a result, he cooks up an interchangeable-message LED display powered by Raspberry Pi here:

What You Need to Get Started With Electronics

While most of us ID'ers are comfortable with a table saw and shop tools, electronics, like the Clagett project above, can be intimidating to get into. Here, Linn from Darbin Orvar gives you a desk tour of the items you'd need to get started, for those of you looking to Arduino or LED your way out of problems. She also runs down some helpful basics, like how to select the appropriate resistor for your project: