DIY and Home Improvement
Hands-on work on the home: repairs, renovation, installing fixtures, tools, workshop technique and materials. Tech DIY (home labs, PC builds, electronics) stays in Computing. An extra channel alongside an episode's main one.
#5371: Corded vs Cordless Jigsaws: What Actually Matters
Amps and SPM are the least predictive specs on the box. Here's what actually determines whether a jigsaw cuts square.
#5369: Pouch Full of Doubt: The Inner Critic at Urgent Care
A tool belt full of emergency supplies, two curious strangers, and the question: is your weird choice yours, or an echo of old ridicule?
#5361: Choosing a Foldable Workbench for a Tiny Jerusalem Apartment
What actually matters when your workbench has to fold into a closet — and why plastic tables fail at the joints, not the top.
#5329: One Box of VESA Mounts, Three Wrong Assumptions
Daniel's box of orphaned VESA mounts raises three questions — and the answers all point away from welding.
#5328: A Shabbat Radio That Can't Be Paused
A soundproof box that plays podcasts continuously — no pause, no skip, no volume. Just open the lid and listen.
#5318: Rebuilding the Dremel 4250 Manual for One Task
A 48-page Dremel manual, filtered down to only what you need to engrave four-digit inventory codes.
#5287: Does an Engraver's Practice Material Kit Exist?
Hand engravers have practice plates. Designers have plastic sample sets. Nobody's combined them — here's how to build your own reference library.
#5286: Soldering Isn't Dead — It's a Hiring Bottleneck
Robots build the boards, but humans fix them — and the industry can't hire enough people who can hold an iron.
#5283: PH vs PZ: The Screw Bit Difference Nobody Notices
Two cross-head bits sit in every driver set. One was an accident that became a standard; the other was engineered on purpose and almost nobody can ...
#5274: A Broken Dremel and the Hidden World of Parts Distribution
A dead rotary tool leads down two rabbit holes: warranty economics and how components actually move around the world.
#5272: Soldering for Beginners: Badges, Fumes, and Real Safety
The smoke you see isn't the lead — and the cheap fume extractor most beginners buy doesn't work. Here's what actually does.
#5270: Teardowns as Documentation: Inside the Hardware Repair Playbook
A dead Dremel sparks a deep dive into teardowns as a documentation discipline — and why board-level knowledge matters more than ever.
#5268: 10 Absurd Power Tools That Actually Got Made
A motorized leaf pruner, a chainsaw bayonet, and the Suck Kut — ten power tools that solve problems nobody had.
#5265: Repairing a $50 Dremel When the Warranty Costs More
A $50 tool, a 90-minute drive, and a warranty that costs more than the item. How macro PCB photography and public documentation make repair possible.
#5263: Why Micro USB Ports Break and How to Fix Them
Micro USB ports fail mechanically, not electrically. Here's why they break, how to diagnose it, and whether a USB-C swap is worth it.
#5257: Dremel 4300 vs Foredom: Which Engraver Lasts?
Daniel's Dremel Lite is dying. We compare the 4300, DeWalt, Bosch, and Foredom on power, durability, and repairability.
#5250: Building a Shortwave Monitoring Stack on Linux
What it actually takes to scan, capture, and crowdsource HF radio from a Linux box — and where automation hits a wall.
#5237: Drill Bits: Sharpen or Replace?
A dull bit needs 3-4x more force to cut — and it hardens the material it's failing to cut. Here's how to know when to sharpen and when to toss.
#5235: Wiring Smart Patio Lights Through Home Assistant
Picking a Zigbee RGB controller is the easy part — sizing the power supply and keeping mains water out is where patio lighting projects live or die.
#5225: Carving Paleo-Hebrew Into Everyday Objects
Custom metal stencils, the right vector files, and tasteful ways to bring an ancient script back onto everyday objects.