Invent Design Make

This tale is about trying to run carbon-neutral by converting our 1.9 tdi PD diesel engine to run on straight vegetable oil. It’s an experimental and somewhat controversial procedure, which is why we hadn’t done it long ago! We are using a conversion kit from a company called Biotuning, here in the UK. The basic […]

In the latest video I give my rusting old van a new lick of paint using the new upcycled air compressor setup. That is to say, I did a complete re-spray – quite the project, that involved learning a lot and making quite a few mistakes. But ultimately, it was successful and we get into […]

I’ve been busy milling up this wind felled Oak, and thought I’d put together another tips vid for you! Click the photo above to watch the five milling tips. They can basically be categorized into ‘setup tips’ and ‘post-milling tips’. Tip one is a manifesto on the importance of setting the straight edge and getting […]

This is the concluding video of the wall mounted camera phone tripod I made. First impressions are that it works well, but could do with a few tweaks. If I was to do over, the most serious change would be to make it somewhat shorter. At the moment it’s a bit longer than necessary and that […]

Time for a few updates. Lets start with the chainsaw mill build documentation, which we published as an instructable step-by-step guide. It is quite a comprehensive resource and has plenty of tips and tricks for using and maintaining the mill, as well as the build info. It’s not super ‘flowering elbow’ in style, as it […]

Winter is here and we finished the plastering of the workshop straw-bale walls before it arrived. It may have taken a little longer than anticipated, but objective achieved :) ! To put the final nail in that side of things, we’ve written up the whole process, our research and experiences as a ‘make your own’ step-by-step: […]

After a long spell of inactivity on the Dust Sniper front, I finally got going on the write up again. The full ‘Dust Sniper (quiet extractor system)‘ is now live on instructables. It is sturdy, quiet and very deadly to dust ;) If you find it useful please be sure to vote for it because […]

It’s been raining and grey here today, but the workshop has not been plunged into darkness by the closed doors. Not any more! This has been an interesting project for us- big triple glazed, composite oak double doors are certainly a little out of the ordinary on the DIY scene. You can get the condensed story/ […]

Here comes the sun, and for those of you with an interest in cycling I have just posted an Instructable about mountain bike grips (nice real leather ones too!). Using some punches (made from old bike parts), it is possible to make nice grips, that will not get