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 ...

While handheld plunge routers are fine for light usage and small pieces, if you want to move on to routing longer lengths of wood a router table is pretty much essential. But a good router table can often cost more than the router itself, so I decided to make my own. Like many of my projects, there was a bit of scope creep as I developed the design. The finished item contains a Triton JOF001 router mounted upside down in an oak cabinet I made from, essentially, a larger oak cabinet. It has an adjustable fence with homemade featherboards. There is space on top for my sliding mitre saw (Evolution Rage 3-S), a cupboard containing the router and a wet & dry vacuum cleaner (Titan TTB350VAC), a shelf for router bits and accessories, and three drawers. The drawers were upcycled from another source. The whole unit is mounted on locking castors so I can move it about easily. MAKING THE CARCASS The material I used was mostly rescued from a vintage oak cabinet or sideboard that I got vi...