In this video, I build and test Sienci Labs’ Mill One V2 desktop CNC machine. Along the way, I give my impressions of the build quality and assembly process. Once complete, I walk you through a few test cuts and review the machine.
This is my first experience with a CNC router, so I don’t have much to compare it to. As such, my review is relative to other common wood shop tools, and not to other CNC routers that you may have used.
Filed under Product Review
My buddy Cam runs a unique company called Tinker Truck that hosts maker events for kids and adults. He showed me this technique for making really interesting paintings with some very low cost materials.
While there are loads of other videos about this technique, none of them explain why it works the way that it does. In this video, you’ll learn about the effects of mixing oil, water, and heat; the correct viscosity for the paint; and a little bit of colour theory.
If you’re in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, check out Tinker Truck at tinkertruck.ca
Filed under Art
There’s a local startup here in Kitchener called Sienci Labs that makes a microwave-sized desktop CNC router called the Mill One. I saw it at a maker faire, and got in touch with them, asking if they were willing to sponsor my channel. Instead of a sponsorship deal, they proposed that I make them some work benches for their new office space in return for a CNC router kit that I can assemble.
In this video, I make a pair of standing height 3′ x 4′ work benches from 2x4s and 3/4″ plywood. The benches collapse and can be flat packed, or transported in a small pickup truck or large sedan. All of pieces go together with 3/8″ carriage bolts, so the benches can be taken apart or assembled with a single tool.
Filed under Wood Working
On this week’s show we talk about a recent article called Millennials Are Screwed that’s been making the rounds.
Filed under Podcast
My buddy Andrew has some Christmas-themed lawn ornaments that shine lasers onto his house, and a neighbourhood kid keeps knocking them over. He asked me to help him build some wooden shelters to protect the lasers from vandalism, and we decided to make them look sort of like gingerbread houses.
The houses are simple pine boxes with fat finger joints on the corners, and slat roofing. We painted them flat brown and accented the edges with white paint.
I had intended to get this video out before Christmas, but Christmas happened, so it’s out now. But hey, at least it’s still December.
Filed under Wood Working
On this week’s show Tyler, Derek, and Jon talk some inconvenient truths about mail delivery, Ontario politics and show how little they know about things in general.
Filed under Podcast
I buy a lot of electronic and mechanical junk at garage sales and antique stores with the intention of taking it apart to figure out how it works. In this video, I dismantle a desktop calculator and learn about the inner workings of its printer mechanism.
Filed under Electronics
On this week’s show Tyler, Derek, and Jon talk about how video game giant Electronic Arts angered the rage-filled wasps nest that is the armchair developers of the internet by putting micro-transactions into Star Wars Battlefront II. The company later removed the monetization scheme from the game (at least temporarily), but not before Reddit lost its collective hive-mind about the decision.
Filed under Podcast
The workshop was awfully cold last winter, in large part because the big garage door that makes up the front wall of the building isn’t properly insulated. I haven’t used the door in over a year, so I decided to solve the problem by building a wall in front of it, and properly insulating it to keep the shop from getting drafty. In this video, I stud, insulate, and cover the wall with OSB, and explain how to wire a receptacle.
Filed under Renovations
I recently got a new job that requires me to work from home. I decided to build a custom ergonomic computer desk for my office that’s exactly the right size and shape for me to comfortably work at.
There’s an expensive antique store in town that had a fancy farmhouse style table on display that I really liked, so I decided to try to emulate it. I bought some old barn board to use as the top, glued it together, epoxied the gaps, and finished it with danish oil. The legs and frame are made from old 2x4s and 2x6s attached with mortise and tenon joinery, and finished with chalk paint.
Filed under Wood Working
