I'm back - well, actually, I never went away but you could be forgiven for thinking I had. My last entry on this blog was almost 2 years ago and basically it was telling you that the YouTube channel was becoming a vlog - a weekly summary of what I'd been up to and things that had caught my eye in the previous week. I did that for about a year but never produced anything on the blog to go along with it - the videos alone were taking far too long to edit and there was no time or inclination left for me to produce write-ups too. So I stopped the vlog in May 2022 - it wasn't really a conscious decision, it just kind of happened. But lately I've been thinking about rebooting it, mainly because I've spent the last month or two learning Blender and I wanted to create a lasting record of the things I've learnt. If you don't know what Blender is, it's a brilliant piece of Open Source software for creating 3D models and animations. It does CGI, basically. It isn...

This is basically a transcript of the text from my new talking vlog:  Today I'm going to try something a little bit different. I'm not working on a project - actually I'm working on about 10 projects simultaneously as you know and I never get any finished, but I'm just going to talk at you. Now I used to do this in the beginning of this channel when it was called Keef Talks and it was like semi-scripted and actually pretty hard work. But this is pretty much unscripted - I've just got a list of topics and I'm going to tell you about things that have been going on in the last week so it hopefully could be a weekly thing if I can squeeze it into my skedoolie. I was going to shoot this yesterday, Sunday afternoon, but the sun came out and so did all the kids and they've been sort of locked away for quite a while so it was like a little cluster bomb exploded - all these small earthlings playing football and screaming and shouting and having a great time. So Mr G...

For about the last year I've been using my B-camera on a camera slider and the connection between the two was a 'Z' mount. It was OK, but had a severely limited range of motion, and in the last few months the friction bolts that hold the bits in place have become less able to do their job. I decided to make a mounting of my own based on an old anglepoise lamp. I had begun a project with this a few years ago - I was going to make an adjustable video light using a square biscuit tin with some LED strips inside it. But for some reason that barely got started and I now have enough adjustable video lights so there's not much point in building another one. I removed the light fitting and shade from the lamp, and this reveals a circular holder to connect a new 3D printed part into. This part is basically a mash-up of an Arca-Swiss-style quick release holder and a notched disc that fits into the holder ring on the lamp. It's incredibly simple and hugely effective. The range...

 Suddenly, here we are, 2021! And what a hideous year 2020 was what with coronavirus, insane politics both sides of the Atlantic, a climate emergency and a world turned upside down. I could use all that as an excuse for seemingly abandoning Planet Keef, but that would be too easy. I was actually very busy in the shed in 2020 and started many projects. I just didn't manage to finish any of them as videos. Here's a little rundown of some of the videos that I started but haven't (yet) finished. A SMALL LED VIDEO LIGHT This was intended to be a quick and easy project using an Anglepoise desk lamp as the adjustable stand with a square biscuit tin fixed on as a reflector. My plan was to stuff 10 metres of LED strip inside this, and then cover the front of the tin with some kind of diffusing material. Unfortunately I only got as far as removing the old light and its shade from the stand. I wanted to 3D print a bracket to connect the tin to the stand, but the printer was out of act...

As you may know, I'm a big fan of camera sliders - even made my own a few months ago. So when Neewer got in touch to ask me to review one of theirs, I jumped at it. The slider comes in a decent carrying case, and the internal zipped pocket contains a few bits and pies - an Allen key for if you need to tighten anything up, a couple of rubber buffer studs that stop the slide plate crashing into the end frames (I can't imagination under what circumstances you'd need to replace the ones it comes fitted with), and a ⅜" to ¼" threaded adapter. Neewer's slider is liberally equipped with both  ⅜" and ¼" threaded holes. The actual spindle for attaching your camera or a quick-release plate is ¼". The slider is constructed from a metal alloy, apart from the slide rails which are carbon-fibre. So the rails are super-strong, and super-light. The actual sliding mechanism is a bit unusual - most sliders use linear bearings that fit over the rails, but ...

As a yoof, I could frequently be spotted drawing or painting. I was 'good at art', did a foundation course in Art and Design, followed by a degree in Interior Design. But when I started working as an Interior Designer, the drawing and sketching for fun stopped. I only did those things if I was getting paid for it. Over the last year I've been reviving my interest in art. Mrs Planet bought us a wonderful original painting late last year, and I've been paying more attention to artwork around me. When Aldi had an offer of artist's materials, I grabbed an A3 watercolour pad and a set of acrylic paints. My very first effort was, of course, shamefully bad. Apart from anything else, I flooded the paper with water and got some impressive buckling. I disappeared into the shed, found some beech-veneered board and cut it to size. I tidied up the edges with some thin lath (from a second-hand wooden blind that doesn't fit any of our windows). I quickly realised it would w...

Practically everyone who has an Ender 3 and a YouTube channel will, at some point, do a video about upgrades they've done to make their printer work / look better. I'm no different, so here's my collection of improvements. Bear in mind I've already done some major work as a result of breaking the printer six months ago - a new mainboard, hot end, Bowden tube, limit switch and bed springs. Anyway, here goes: 1) MAGNETIC PRINT BED The original print bed is held onto the heater plate by 4 mini bulldog clips. Actually 3, in my case, because I lost one. It really needed replacing because it was generally worn and had a number of grooves gouged into it from where my bed-levelling wasn't remotely correct. The magnetic print bed costs about £10 and comes in 2 parts.There's a magnetic base with an adhesive backing - you stick this to the printer's heated bed. The flexible top sheet is what you print on, and at the end of a print you can easily remove it and flex i...

When it comes to streaming TV and Video On Demand, I'm a bit late to the party. Sure, I watch YouTube videos on my computer, iPad and phone, but never before on the actual telly. And the reasons for that? Well firstly I'm not a big consumer of TV - I might watch an hour or two each night, or none - I'm just as happy to read a book. And secondly, we don't have a smart TV and I really didn't understand how it works. But here we are, just getting used to the idea of it being the 21st Century, and now the proud owner owner of not one, but two streaming TV devices. You might think that's a bit excessive, and so do I. Here's what happened... Many moons ago now, Amazon announced it had commissioned a 6-part dramatisation of Good Omens by the late, great Pterry Pratchett and the admirable Neil Gaiman. Others have tried to bring Terry's novels to the screen, but missed the mark by about a million miles - somehow the people involved just didn't get it. B...

From watching my KeefCooks cooking videos, you might think my kitchen is blessed with an island unit that I can stand behind and you can see the action from the front. But actually, it isn't. For the last few years I've been using a ramshackle assemblage of our dining table with one leaf folded down, a Black & Decker Workmate, a folding support thing that spans from table to Workmate and raises the height by about 6 inches, and a big, solid slab of oak sitting on top of all that. It took a long time to set up and put away, and also I've been getting fed up of the overwhelming oakiness of our kitchen. I decided to create a new solution - basically a tabletop with folding legs - long ones to reach down to the floor, and shorter ones to sit on the table. And then I needed a fascia to help stabilise the thing, and to conceal what lies beneath. I chose some grey slate-effect laminate flooring for the top - it's only 8mm thick, so it's not too heavy. The only...

I damaged my old electric planer when trying to change the blades. I would have read the manual, but I'd lost it. A quick trawl of the interwebz showed cheap and tacky planers (like my old one) at about £25-£30, a few around £50 and big name brands from £150 and up. I'm not one for buying professional-quality stuff, and I don't have a favoured brand that I would always buy. And let's face it, even well-known brands can produce the occasional lemon. One planer that caught my eye was the MacAllister one - MSHP900 3MM PLANER 230-240V. Like all of their tools, it has a pleasing light grey and black colour scheme - a bit like a Star Wars Storm Trooper - with sky blue highlights. It promised to be able to cut up to 3mm at a time, unlike most of the others which can only do 2mm. But I think what sold it to me, as a left-hander, was the ability to fit the dust bag on either the left- or right-hand side. It was £50 from Screwfix. It was a new product, so there were no...

Evolution R255+ Sliding Mitre Saw Having bought and reviewed the  Evolution Rage 3S  about a year ago, it's now time to have a look at its big brother, the Evolution R255+ Sliding Mitre Saw. Full disclosure: Evolution Power Tools sent me this to review, and I have received no payment. I've seen the basic model on sale for about £150-£170. The Plus model, which I reviewed, is about £20-£30 more. The first thing you notice as you open the box and decant the contents, is its size. It's ENORMOUS! There's a single-sheet assembly diagram, accompanied by a small booklet of detailed instructions. Both these items use line drawings rather than photographs, and they are extremely clear. Assembly is quite straightforward, but I did make the error of inserting the slide rail unit upside down and it wasn't until I'd fitted the machine head and tried to fit the slide rail cover that I realised. So I had to do a bit of disassembly. Get the handle the right way up ...