Zach from MakerBot on the Design Process

The Workshop: Pegboard "Book" of Tools

Pregnant... with power tools 

3:10 PM | by Christin@Pregnant with power tools

 

This is the guest post I did for The Frugal Designer (now The Design Confidential) awhile back.  I love my pegboard!

And I love to create and fix up my house! except one thing that makes it hard (besides the newborn...)

I have a teeny, tiny, itsy bitsy garage.

I'd describe it as a one-car, but that's being generous.  It also serves as our laundry, pantry and my "workshop". 

So I have to try my hardest to be frugal with my space and fit things in with creativity and an eye for using the space wisely.

Enter my pegboard "leaves" (like in a book).

This pegboard "book" will use 32 square feet of pegboard and store a ton of tools in only 6.7 square feet of wall space!

I love 'em!  This has solved many a problem of tool storage in this tiny space, and they were super easy to make!  I think every small workshop should have 'em.

There are no real rules for making these "leaves"... I think 3 leaves is a good number.

1.  Make your cuts

A 4'x8' sheet of pegboard can make three 24"x32" leaves.  But go ahead and pick a size that works for your space. 

Cut your pegboard into rectangles of this size (2 rectangles per leaf, a front and a back).

Cut your 1x2 into matching lengths (-1.5" on the short sides)

Cut a 2x4 for the "book spine" on the wall (I think the leaves work best if they are about 10 - 13 inches apart), so use 2 pieces at least 20" long for 3 leaves.

2.  Screw together the leaves

Screw the 1x2 pieces together to make a frame the exact dimensions of your "leaves".

Screw the pegboard onto the frame.

3.  Build your "spine"

Just like for a book, the pages need to attach to a spine, 2 pieces of 2x4 mounted on the wall with screws.  Screw 2 pieces of 2x4 onto the wall where your pegboard leaves will go, 1 on top , 1 on bottom (keep in mind the height of your "leaves").

Add some "blocks" (I used scrap wood) where the leaves will be mounted.

This creates a little space between the 2x4 and the leaves, so they can move easier

4.  Attach leaves to "blocks" with hinges

the edge of the hinge should be just at the edge of the block

(Optional)  I added little handles to my leaves to make "flipping through the pages" easier!

I hope you like my pegboard leaves!  I can't tell you enough how much I love these!

"all things paint"

sanding "section"

There you have it, and hopefully I’ll be guest posting for Rayan again soon!

How-To: Make a peristaltic pump from an appliance timer

Make

This clever hack from Nederlander Ruud Setteur is written in Dutch, but the pictures tell the story pretty well.

Squishy circuits

Make

Squishy Circuits is a project to teach kids about electricity and electronics by having them form circuits out of Play-Doh-like dough -- with two varieties, conductive and insulating.

Squishy Circuits were developed at the University of St. Thomas by undergraduate Samuel Johnson and Dr. AnnMarie Thomas. The purpose of their development is to facilitate electronics education to younger students. Research is being done to determine the most effective implementation of this learning tool in a middle school science curriculum. Our hope is that through the use of this tool, students will better understand electronics concepts, become more interested. The simplest circuit to build consists of an LED, battery pack, and three small "tubes" of dough (Two conductive and one insulating). To build this circuit, separate the two conductive tubes with a tube of insulating dough. Now, insert each of the battery pack wires into a separate tube of conductive dough. Do the same with the leads from the LED but be sure that the short end of the LED is inserted into the same tube that holds the black, or negative, battery pack wire.

Posted by John Baichtal | Jul 17, 2010 05:00 PM