No, it's not an alternative shipping forecast, it's Malty Mail.

This one's a 3 minute read

Outernet

things I've been up to

Life has very much been life-ing but I'm starting to get a better handle on the workshop. You might remember me buying a gantry crane a while back and although I did put it to good effect moving the heaviest machines in the shop, I've only now had a chance to capitalise on the space that created.

The 'clean room' is now setup with my 1st 3D printer, a digital printer, vinyl cutter and a few other fun things (see if you can spot them). This should give me a bit more space to work around the tools I have and make it easier to get things done when I do have time in the workshop.

Drop me a message if you've done anything to optimise your 'maker time'

I'm also working up to creating a new YouTube video... shock! This one will be about making an smart air quality sensor using an open source design that currently in use for some national research projects! Read on if you want an extra bit of juicy info...

Internet

Spiffing things to focus on and grab your attention

Check out Episode 158 of 2/3rds Focussed where I had a great chat with Jan and said things to Rasmus who may or may not have replied... it's certainly an interesting one!

Well here's that extra info! PCBway reached out to me spontaneously (maybe after seeing my last video about electronics repair?) and offered to work together! It's only a small sponsorship but after many years of doing the YouTube thing just for fun it's amazing that anyone would even consider giving me money if I made a video. Even better, there's no 'ad read' and (of course) they don't have any say in what I do. I'll let you know more details in the future but as a frequent viewer of their ads on YouTube it's cool to see them supporting some of the 'smaller' makers out here.

Othernet

Tools, recommendation and tips

Having compressed air in the workshop is great and most often I used it to blast air at something to clean off dust, quickly dry it or blast out grime from places I can't easily clean. Hence, why I often think a portable version would be great to have. Yes, 'air in a can' exists but it's disposable, expensive and thanks to the chemical/'gas' inside works far better at cooling than blowing.

That's were you need this - a battery powered blower. A reported 130,000rpm kicks out 52m/s of air which I was sceptical about but really does feel like a match for compressed air.

Here's an affiliate link to buy one for yourself

or in plain text if you prefer https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dklp6ax

I love it for blasting down the shed-shop (or even me) to clear dust. Of course, I also count using it around the house as 'cleaning'!

I spent a good while trying to figure out the knock-offs from the originals so this link is exactly what I bought, seems to be the original and doesn't add unnecessary features or miss the outlet duct/separate trigger and power buttons.

The only way I could think of trying to prove that it's powerful (in a newsletter format) is this picture... please enjoy!