Without the right connections, your projects are just piles of parts. Knowing the proper technologies and techniques to use for properly and securely joining materials together is a critically important part of engineering anything. Here are some ways for getting the most out of your mechanical connections.

Welding Plastic with a Rotary Tool

Need to bond two plastic pieces together? Consider friction welding. Simply chuck a short length of plastic rod into a rotary tool. Apply the spinning plastic tip to your join and the friction will melt the plastic, forming a serviceable bond. [MG]

Craft a Tape-Dispensing Hammer Handle

If you want to have some tape handy on the job, wrap a small spool of some electrical tape around the base of your hammer (or sheathed knife, and so on) and it’s right there when you need it. [JD]

Fold Your Tape for Easy Retrieval

When using cellophane, packing, or other thin tapes, never let the end of the tape rejoin the roll. Always fold over the end (or put it in a holder, which is what a tape holder is for). [JD]

Tab Your Tape for Easy Retrieval

To keep from losing the end on your tape rolls, stick a plastic bread tab on the end each time you are done. [JD]

Tab Your Tape with a Toothpick

There are many approaches to keep from losing the end of your tape roll and keep it accessible. The most common is to fold the end of the tape under or into a peak after you cut it. Or, some people use a plastic bread tab on the end. (See tips above.) I recently started placing a toothpick across the tape right behind where I plan to cut. I’ve used the folding and bread tab methods, but I find the toothpick method much easier to use. With folding, you have to cut the folded part off when you’ve applied it, and with the bread tab, you have to futz with its placement. With the toothpick method, you simply place the pick across the tape past where you plan to cut. The overhanging part of the pick even becomes a little handle for unwinding the tape the next time. You’ll never have to dig for the start of your shipping tape again.

When I posted this on the Make: Facebook page, I got a raft o’ crap from people saying “Just use a tape gun!”, and arguing that the folding method works fine. I have a tape gun—a big, honking industrial gun—that came with a box of shipping tape. I hate it (and don’t feel like buying another). For me, the toothpick method works perfectly and gives me way more control than the gun. All I can say is to try it before you judge.

Reducing Tape Adhesion

If you want to diminish the adhesion of gaffers and other types of high-adhesion tape (so that it can be more easily and cleanly removed), stick the tape onto cotton fabric (e.g., your t-shirt). The cotton fibers the tape picks up will lower the adhesion value. [JD]

To Duct Tape, or to WD-40?

If it moves and it shouldn’t, use duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it should, use WD-40. [DR]

Make Your Joints Proud

In one of Jimmy DiResta’s project videos, he mentions his penchant for leaving his dovetail joints “proud.” He’s often commented on this practice. Proud in woodworking refers to letting the workpiece protrude over the edge. This allows you to sand or cut the piece down so that it is perfectly flush at your join. [JD]

Close a Hairline Gap with this Hammer Trick

Paul Jackman of Jackman Works shared this tip on his Instagram feed: “A little trick I learned back in ‘Nam! Need help pulling a miter closed when there is a hairline gap left? The curved part behind the head of your hammer is perfect to push that joint shut. Hit it with sandpaper, and you have a nice softened corner.” [PJ]

Improvising a Shop Counterweight

We’ve previously pointed out Jimmy DiResta’s frequent use of chunks of metal and other shop weights to hold things down, ensure square corners, create stop blocks, and so on. Here, he uses a disc of metal as a counterweight when he has to hammer a nail into a long, thin piece of wood with little support. Holding the disc beneath the hammer’s striking point provides this needed support and secures the workpiece for confident hammering. [JD]