My wife agrees, she’s commandeered it as a fidget plate. Apparently I am now obligated to design and manufacturer “widgets” for her fidget plate.
She wants a satisfying rocker first.
Sounds like a great time for opposing magnets 
2 Likes
OK, now you’ve gotten me thinking about variable-radius rocker profiles that give an increasing restoring torque per rocking angle towards the end of the travel… I guess that would be hyperbolic so that the radius of curvature increases away from the centerpoint. I’m at work now and can’t access Google so I don’t know if conic-section rocker profiles are an actual thing…
1 Like
For folks who have Festools:
3 Likes
Suction hose holder is going on the bed 
1 Like
Nothing nearly as fancy as some of these other posts, but here’s a quick and basic bit holder I threw together. 32 slots at just over 1/4" wide with slots to be able to reach in and grab things. Space between is handy to label. I’m using pencil until I figure out a setup that works well, but it’ll probably just stay pencil because once i’m set, i probably won’t be bothered to add real labels.
bit holder.c2d (60 KB)
6 Likes
I mean, you gotta love a simple fix that gets the job done. Saves you some blood and saves the edges of the tools.
As for the labeling, I keep a mechanical pencil in my pocket at all times. Hard to do that with a label maker 
Speaking of which, a nice pencil is probably a shop improvement.
The Pentel GraphGear 1000 is my defacto. A good pencil with a completely retractable tip so you don’t end up with a narrow tube and graphite under your fingernail if you reach for it…ask me how many times I did that before searching for a solution (hint: too many times…)
https://www.jetpens.com/Pentel-GraphGear-1000-Drafting-Pencil-0.5-mm/pd/639
Though if you want to get really fancy, the rotring 800 also features a fully retractable tip with a gorgeous aesthetic and silky smooth actions. An obscene amount of money for a pencil but it’s something to remember the next time you really want to treat yourself.
https://www.jetpens.com/Rotring-800-Drafting-Pencil-0.5-mm-Silver-Body/pd/6768
2 Likes
Usually I just use a Skilcraft B3 Aviator:
https://www.abilityone.com/b3-aviator-multifunction-pen/product/1710
and I keep a plain Skilcraft mechanical pencil near my machine/3D printers to use when it’s not in my pocket.
Though I do still carry a Rotring Quattro in a bag (annoyingly, that is the only type of pen I have lost (twice!!!) since my junior year of high school when I challenged myself to not lose a pen so as to justify buying a nice pen for my senior year.
My favourites are the Mecha 357 mechanical pencil (seems to be discontinued?)
and a vintage Norma 4-colour pencil (which I need to buy some more leads for…)
2 Likes
Now that is a handsome writing instrument.
Judging by the prices of the Quattro, I’m wondering if you lost it or if it wandered off in someone else’s pocket 
aaaand now I’m off to find a Mecha 357 since it seems to be everything I want in a pencil. Having each thickness ready to go for quick sketching would be just awesome.
I really should have known you would have some secret sauce when it comes to writing. Something about ya just screams “I appreciate a good writing tool.”
It is. The Mecha 357 is well-worth tracking down — it’s quite amazing, and I’ve always been surprised that it took so long to be developed (I’m not aware of a predecessor other than the Norma, but that was 4 colours, not lead sizes) and that it didn’t have any staying power in the market.
And I’m annoyed w/ myself that I didn’t buy:
for my kids.
Guilty as charged. An old fountain pen review of mine:
These days I carry an Aurora Hastil though — the Sheaffer has been relegated to signature duty at my desk, but there is continuity in that the Aurora as well was ground to a crisp italic by the same person, Greta Lostkemper, the former head of grinding and nib quality assurance at Sheaffer back when they were a real company with a real factory in the U.S. (as opposed to the current sorry state of affairs).
1 Like
My pocket carry pencils are a silver Rotring 600 .5mm with 2H lead, and a black Rotring 600 .9mm(!) with red lead. (I did not know that there was a retractable Rotring–I’ve had my 600’s for probably 20 years) I have always used thicker colored lead because it breaks much more easily for me. Also a metal-body Pilot G2 pen with .5mm black ink, another G2 with .5mm red ink, a retractable stick eraser, an extendable “magnet-on-a-stick” and a Mitutoyo 6 inch pocket scale, decimal inches on the front and mm on the back. All, of course, in a clear vinyl pocket protector.
My workshop pencils are a pair of .9mm Pentel 200-series, one each with black and red lead. With the Pentels I like to apply the polymer grip removed from an empty disposable Pilot G2.
2 Likes
fully retractable tip. You press the pocket clip on the side to snap the metal tip completely back into the barrel for protection.
2 Likes
You guys have expensive taste in writing instruments, especially pencils for shop use. My default pencil is a carpenters pencil sharpened with a pocket knife. Maybe someday I’ll get the “Official” sharpener for those bad boys, who knows.
2 Likes
My shop pencil is whatever I can find laying around after my kids have pilfered the obvious ones.
4 Likes
I use the .9mm one (Yellow) for my sketches that I send to my clients. I love that pencil.
It’s not tough enough for shop use. I have a marking knife and then two sizes of Pica shop pencils - [A mechanical lumber pencil(https://kctool.com/products/pica-big-dry-longlife-construction-pencil?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17339898211&gbraid=0AAAAADwYLf4Mz0uOI5LPEVFDZ_sv2KeNt&gclid=CjwKCAjw7KvTBhA6EiwAWnutYY-X0cv1n9wUIBtlyAfxsjnY041RWwOAHPj8PbfENVr1qNAFdUUarRoCbpEQAvD_BwE) and a Pico Mechanical pencil with a thicker lead (I don’t recall the exact size without going into the shop).
2 Likes
Definitely not done organizing it but good enough to share: put up more omniwall
Made in the USA, nice thick steel. I’ve spent far too much money with them over the years and I keep coming back for more. That’s gotta indicate something 
This is the final wall that was missing an omniwall setup in my tiny shop. The shelves are sturdy enough to hold my small foredoom bench tools like my lathe and polisher (hefty little motors)
The variety of shelf depths offers good visibility and prevents banging hands when reaching for items.
Overall, by far my favorite panel system.
Next it needs some good integrated lighting and I might try something clever I saw artisan makes do in a video.
Rivnut through the hole of steel pegboard to thread on hooks so they’re not all floppy.
The omniwall hooks are retained so it’s not as much an issue but I like the idea of threading goosenecks into the pegboard directly for things like lighting.
5 Likes
Nice!
Esp. interesting (though a bit late for me) is:
which looks to have nice sizing/proportions for bins and overall better ergonomics than what I cheaped out and got.
2 Likes
I recently got a water tight overhead shop light to put over my utility sink. The light is led and while I figured it wouldn’t be “good” I was not prepared for how bad it really was 
Couldn’t even take a photo under that light:
So next up on the list is ripping the LEDs out of the enclosure and dropping in my own strips and controller 
1 Like
Interesting, @WillAdams . On the same day over on the Bambu user forum there is the GridLessFinity organizer system that has a very similar concept…
I’m excited to finally have a mount for my Bit Zero.
A 3d printer is a dangerous toy…no I mean … TOOL (YEAH THAT’S WHAT I MEAN) to have!
And I didn’t like the brown, so I have a black one waiting to be installed
8 Likes
