Author: ylab_admin

Main dome Main dome

Update on the DDO Restoration

New paint job on the dome Ylab’s home at the DDO has been undergoing an extensive restoration since the spring. As scaffolding is starting to come down,  it’s looking amazing. The work has been extensive. Removing all the old lead paint without getting it in the environment. Carefully restoring all the windows to their original...

Continue reading

Tool warranty honored. Finally.

We’ve had  post or two about problems with certain MasterCraft tools. We also posted about it on facebook where Canadian Tire responded, asked us for contact info, and then… crickets. So just to show that I’m not just a whining complainer… I’ve had a Craftsman ratchet for… decades. Let’s not give...

Continue reading

Another fix-it night. Sorry, Crappy Tire.

We just happened to pick this one Our recent fix-it night posts here and here seem to have a common thread: crappy Crappy Tire tools that need repairing. This week… well, we didn’t intend to pick on them. It was just the luck of the draw.   Small 12V tire compressors – the type that plugs into the cigarette lighter 12V...

Continue reading

Closing up the desktop project

Case closed. Desktop too. We posted earlier about our project to make a lockable enclosure for the reception desk of our home, the David Dunlap Observatory. We left that post with a pretty crappy picture. Protective plastic was still covering it.  Test usage showed an area for improvement. Sliding everything into place would work better...

Continue reading

More tool repair

Nose to the grindstone Last week we posted about our evening repairing crappy Crappy Tire tools. One tool  could not be fixed. Here once again is our picture of a pair of side-cutters that broke simply doing what side-cutters are supposed to do. Reminds us of the old mechanic’s joke about there being two types of tools – Snap-On...

Continue reading

Ylab Final Fall Update: New materials. New possibilities.

Persistence pays off. For our last bit of catching up on what’s been happening over the last few months, we get to show off some of the new materials ylab members have introduced to our maker space at the David Dunlap Observatory. The laser cutter is always the touchiest thing. Before any new material goes on there, we look into the safety...

Continue reading

Fix-It Night for Crappy Tire Stuff

We have a bunch tools at ylab, and some of them from Crappy Tire. We can call them that – after all, Canadian Tire fought for the use of that name. You would normally think we would be using their tools to fix other things. Nope. We had to fix the tools. This  Mastercraft drill is about 4 years old, the first 3 1/2 years being unused...

Continue reading

Ylab Fall Kick Off update: New gear for more metalwork

A few of our posts involve some metalwork. That would not be possible without some serious hardware Thanks to some donations and astute purchases we’ve picked up a couple of things over the summer. We now have our own drill press. Bigger and better than the loaner unit we had sitting on the workbench. Just in time, too, since the loaner unit...

Continue reading

You’re doing *what* with a microwave???

Don’t be a hero. Many pages on the Internet tell you how to make a spot welder from a discarded microwave oven. We always thought it was a crazy idea. And then a couple of the more experienced ylab members told us it made sense and would not result in electrocution or being nuked into a medium-rare meat sack. That explains some of the...

Continue reading

YLab

Located inside the Richmond Hill David Dunlap Observatory
123 Hillsview Dr, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 1T3
© YLab Inc. All rights reserved.