Author Archives: james

Compost temperature

Posted on January 10, 2026 by james

It’s ok if it’s not in the red, right?

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Laser cut jewellery display

Posted on January 10, 2026 by james

My daughter asked if I could make a little display stand for the earrings she makes to sell and suchlike. “Shouldn’t be that hard,” I thought. Here’s the actual stand. FreeCAD for the win, once again. Just need to make … Continue reading →

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Bait hive floors

Posted on January 10, 2026 by james

I’ve never had purpose-made bait hives. I just use old brood boxes that aren’t really good enough for bees to over-winter in. I paint them a dark green/grey so I can tell them apart from all the others. Then I … Continue reading →

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This is not one of Trump’s hands

Posted on January 10, 2026 by james

It is a normal human adult male hand. So pretty much completely the opposite 😀

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My honey jar box is evolving…

Posted on January 10, 2026 by james

I don’t feel that I’ve reached the final iteration yet, but I wanted to do something that made the box rather more visually appealing. Here’s what I came up with.

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Skoda Octavia lock failure #4

Posted on January 10, 2026 by james

It is done! Well, not quite, if I’m honest, and it turned into even more of a pain before the lock was usable again… I fitted my new lock and reassembled the door, which is considerably easier to do with … Continue reading →

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DIY laser bed

Posted on January 10, 2026 by james

After making a few items with the laser cutter I’ve come to the conclusion that a cutting bed is probably desirable, but I want to see how much difference it actually makes. I’ve therefore had a dig around in my … Continue reading →

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A new box for honey jars

Posted on January 9, 2026 by james

Now I have the laser cutter, I thought I could make a better box for displaying and transporting jars of honey. Then I found the “laser cut interlocking” plugin for FreeCAD and I was away! This is my first attempt.

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It’s messy desktops all the way down…

Posted on January 9, 2026 by james
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A paid bit of laser engraving

Posted on January 9, 2026 by james

For a wedding. I was asked if I could do this. First I tested it on a piece of ply, to get the placement and layout of the text correct. And then onto the slice of tree itself. I thought … Continue reading →

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