Making a Star Knob with Fusion 360 and the Band Saw

I'm in the process of building another bigger project, and I needed to make some star knobs for a clamping application. Normally I would draw up a design and go make the part without much detail on video. I decided to dive deeper into this process and show you how I designed this part in Fusion 360, and how I used model parameters (a key aspect of parametric modeling) to make a flexible design that I could easily tweak until I liked it. After modeling, I walk through creating a drawing from within Fusion 360, and how I make it work best for making the parts on my drill press and bandsaw.

Battery Storage and Charging Station

Plans can be found in the B2Builds store.

As a family of four, we have a lot of toys and devices that need batteries in our home. For years we've had our batteries thrown in a drawer. Eventually we started using rechargeable batteries too. We didn't want to give up valuable counter space for the charger though, so it wanders throughout the house. I decided it was time to organize our batteries and charger and put them in one place where we could easily access them, see what we had and what we needed, and free up some space in our junk drawer.

After seeing some similar, simpler battery storage systems online, I came up with a design of my own that was easier to load, big enough to keep regular batteries separate from rechargeables, and gave us some storage space for the charger and other batteries and battery-related supplies.

Energizer Family Battery Charger: http://amzn.to/299lEiU
Keyhole Fasteners: http://amzn.to/29AfpS3
1/2" x 3/4" Aluminum Angle: http://amzn.to/29ldV27
Square Rubber Bumpers: http://amzn.to/299forb

How to Make a Six Legged, 3-Piece Pole Stand

While building out a basic dowel tree project, I decided to get creative and come up with an interesting design for the base. The result is this six-legged pole stand, made from three pieces of wood with a triangular opening in the middle. The geometry gave me some trouble during the build, but it all worked out and came together nicely.

See the Wolfram Alpha request I used to calculate the triangle size:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=pack+1+circle+diameter+1.25+into+a+triangle

TOOLS AND SUPPLIES:
Table Saw: http://amzn.to/1Z7x9GS

Over-Engineering a Custom Cardboard Box with Wolfram Alpha and Packing Algorithms

After building a simple dowel tree, I started thinking about the long-term life of this build. It would need to be stored for most of the year, and there were several dowels that needed to be kept together. In this video, I'll walk you through my thought process in designing and making (and re-making) a custom-sized cardboard box to hold these dowels. Along the way we'll take a quick look at Wolfram Alpha and the 2-D packing algorithms that helped me design the box.

Making an adjustable Pliers Holder for my pegboard

After dealing with bad pliers holders for long enough, I made a simple but effective pliers holder for my pegboard. Watch to see this basic design take shape, and how it can improve your pegboard space.

L-HOOKS CAN BE FOUND HERE:
10-pack L-Hooks: http://amzn.to/1VuPU9l
100-pack L-Hooks: http://amzn.to/1W42NW4

OTHER TOOLS AND SUPPLIES
Table Saw: http://amzn.to/262R6Ui
Band Saw: http://amzn.to/1ShuImg
Vise-Grip Curved Jaw Locking Pliers: http://amzn.to/1V6RSMq
VISE-GRIP Locking Pliers Set: http://amzn.to/22zQD7C

Modular Spline Jig for the Table Saw Sled

In this video I walk you through the build process for a simple spline jig I built as an add-on to my edge-jointing table saw sled. It's been working well for cutting spline joints on a couple of my recent box-building projects.

TOOLS AND SUPPLIES:
FastCap 2P-10 CA Glue Kit (4 glues, activator, debonder): http://amzn.to/1SR14RK
FastCap 2P-10 Solo Kit: http://amzn.to/1YXXcQt
Table Saw: http://amzn.to/262R6Ui

Tape Measure: http://amzn.to/1p0vG8J
Handi Clamp: http://amzn.to/1p0weLG
GRR-Ripper Push Block: http://amzn.to/1ShuSKc
Glu-Bot Glue Bottle: http://amzn.to/1XxgJqF

Making a Playing Card Box

On a recent trip to a discount lumber store, I picked up some small "hobby size" pieces of walnut & maple. The maple strips were cutoffs that were already milled down smooth and square, which works great for me since I don't have a planer. I figured they would be great for small boxes. When I was asked if I could contribute something handmade to a silent auction fundraiser, I thought a small box might be a fun skill-building exercise. So I set out to build a box to hold some playing cards.

I had an idea for a variation of a locking rabbet joint that would make the bottom easy to attach to the sides, and let the base protrude out from the box. The finish was also a first-time experiment. I used spray lacquer (which I've used before), but this time I gave it a final smoothing with grade 0000 steel wool. I really like how this one turned out, and I hope you do too. Thanks for watching.

Special thanks to Bill Van Loo, as his lift-lid box provided the inspiration for the design of the lid of my box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt_k9nb0qFs


TOOLS AND SUPPLIES:
Playing Cards (2-pack): http://amzn.to/1MvN7t7
5x8 Writing Pad: http://amzn.to/262PH01
Tape Measure: http://amzn.to/1p0vG8J
Handi Clamp: http://amzn.to/1p0weLG
Table Saw: http://amzn.to/262R6Ui
Band Saw: http://amzn.to/1ShuImg
GRR-Ripper Push Block: http://amzn.to/1ShuSKc
Glu-Bot Glue Bottle: http://amzn.to/1XxgJqF
Babe-Bot, Mini Glue Bottle: http://amzn.to/262UHSu
Router: http://amzn.to/1MvMQqd
Spray Lacquer: http://amzn.to/23HwcIj
Steel Wool (0000 Super Fine): http://amzn.to/1p0xkqL

Video Tether: Wifi-Controlled Camera Slider Prototype

Earlier this year I applied to the "World's Largest Arduino Maker Challenge," a contest organized by Arduino and Microsoft to launch Arduino's new MKR1000 board. It's a small form factor Arduino with built-in WiFi. I was fortunate enough to be chosen to receive one of the the boards, and used it to build myself a device for operating a camera slider. For entry into the contest, the project had to be documented on Hackster.io. You can see the completed project (and video) here:

https://www.hackster.io/benbrandt22/wifi-controlled-precision-camera-slider-b6062f