Nifty nuggets from an obsessive tips collector By Tim Anderson
Figure A: Fix your >broken blender bottom
Figure B: C-clamp lock for casters
Figure C: Hanging bins for parts
Figure D: Landfill consciousness photo
Figure E: Water bottle mic stand
Figure F: Clean ends to synthetic rope
Instructables über-author Tim Anderson loves to collect tips, tricks, simple hacks, and ingenious workarounds. He shares these in a series of Handy Tricks Instructables. Here are just a few to whet your whistle. (Gee, I wonder if he has any tips on whistle-whetting?)
Jar-lid blender fix: A canning jar lid happens to be the same size as the bottom of many blender jars. If your blender bottom breaks, you can use one of these lids as a replacement. And if your blender glass breaks, you can use a canning jar in its place! (Figure A)
Lock casters with clamps: Vincent put a boat hull on a big dolly to move it around. The only problem is it tends to move around when you’re sanding or drilling on it. Solution: attach some C-clamps to the wheels! (Figure B)
Hanging parts bins: Here’s a handy way to organize small parts without using up shelf or bench space. Just screw a bunch of lids to your ceiling and put the parts in the jars (Figure C).
Landfill consciousness wastebasket: This photo is pasted on the lid of the wastebasket at Instructables HQ, SF, CA, USA (Figure D).
It reminds people that each piece of trash is a nail in the coffin of our beloved mother earth.
Water bottle mic stand: I couldn’t find my mic stand and needed to type while talking, so I tied the mic to a water bottle with a jumper cable. It works so well I’m still using it this way (Figure E).
A perfect ending: To create a neat, unravel-able ending to any synthetic cord, tape the end, slice off the fray, heat the end to melt strands together, and remove the tape (Figure F).
For dozens more of Tim’s awesome tool tricks, search for “handy tricks” at instructables.com