What's New at 120studio.com

2017 September 18
Monday

Blacksmithing

Angle Grinder With Sparks

@ EI 400, dev in DD-X 1+9
September 2017

New Article: Side-Blast Forge From a 55-Gallon Drum. This, because a plain old fire in a circle was not very efficient as a heat source. Mainly because it didn't really allow shaping the fire area to reflect in the heat. I had tried rocks for that, but some of them exploded quite severely ("not recommended"....). And even the good ones were unwieldy and never quite the right shape.

I'd read about making something better from a 55-gallon drum, so I decided to try it. Here's the build article.

2017 September 12
Tuesday

Radio, Electronics

A reader from Canada asks if the Sangean WR-11 always includes a backlit panel and an external antenna. He said that Amazon.ca says no backlit panel, and no external AM hookup. You folks in Canada couldn't have a different variety of WR-11, could you? This is a bit of a mystery. The reader says he's going to try one out, so I'm really curious to see if he gets one with a backlit panel.

You can't very well enjoy AM radio at night (best time to listen to it) without a proper light-up panel. I can't imagine they wouldn't include one on the Canadian variant; however I've read elsewhere that someone got a WR-11 without the external antenna connectors.

Whether it has the connector or not, a passive external AM antenna such as this one

will improve reception on almost any AM radio. It works by inductive coupling with the internal ferrite antenna. They don't have to be connected with a wire to each other. (The main reason for having actual connectors on the radio is so you can attach a long-wire antenna.)

Metal & Shop

I knew that Taiwan bench vise with its welded-on anvil would be useful sooner or later...

New Article: Fixing A Cheap Lawn Cart. Sort of an intermission until I get the next article ready in the "Cart Build" series.

This repair was just a notch above "duct tape and super glue". Hack fixery at its finest.

2017 September 6
Wednesday

Deals

Right this moment-- and I have no idea how long it will last-- there's a super deal on the great Yost 104 machinist vise. ~~At the moment it's about $30 less than the lowest I've ever seen it for sale.~~ Sale was over within a couple days, but it went back to a lower price than I usually see it for elsewhere, so it's still a good deal at the moment I write this.

One thing about these sales, you never know when they're going to happen or when they end, so now's the time to buy. (By the time some of you read this, the sale could be over, so no guarantees.)

What's New (& What Was)

"What's New" Archive Index

"What's New" - Current Page

As always, thanks for visiting my website. If you purchase your stuff through the links on here, it helps me keep this site on-line.

Thanks again; I hope you enjoy my work.

Contact me:

3 p

o.t o

. 1 2 0 s t u d i o.. c o m

This won't directly copy and paste. Please manually type it into your mail program.
No spaces between letters.

Home Page

Site Map