Nutrient-rich compost is great for your garden, but can take a lot of time and space to produce. Well, thanks to this counter-top gadget called the NatureMill Pro XE Electric Composter, you can conveniently enjoy an endless supply of concentrated mulch while reducing your kitchen waste by up to 70 percent. … Read More

If you think you’ve seen this somewhere before it’s because you have. Ryobi’s auto hammer is the second “automatic hammer” to market and claims dominance over the Home Depot territory while its competitor, adorned with the Craftsman logo, lives at Sears. … Read More

Sanyo yesterday announced their new Xacti VPC-HD2000 and VPC-FH1 Dual Cameras, which are the world’s first camcorders to record in the next-gen iFrame video format – to speed up the importing, editing and sharing of recordings on your computer. … Read More

If you are one of those meticulously organized types who require a printed label for everything that you own, then you are probably very familiar with Dymo. I had a chance to try out the Dymo LabelWriter 450, and I am surely tempted to label everything in my home, my city, and the world!

As you can see by the photo, the LabelWriter 450 comes with two spools for printing. This second roll can be used as a backup in case your primary printing roll runs out, or for printing large batches faster by loading two rolls of up to the same label. I’ve heard that you can print up to 71 labels a minute.

The best part about it is that no expensive ink or toner is required. According to the QuickStart Guide, the LabelWriter “uses heat from a thermal print head to print on specially treated labels. Labels are the only supplies you will ever need to buy”.

Set up for the LabelWriter was very simple. All I had to do is insert the software, which took quite a while to download programs that it needed to use the LabelWriter 450. It was very specific about not plugging in the printer into the USB drive until all the software was installed. Once I plugged it in, my computer recognized it right away, and I printed my first address label in seconds.

The Dymo LabelWriter 450 comes with a roll of Stamp labels and a roll of address labels. It is available for purchase off the DYMO site for about $210.

Originally by Mark R from Coolest Gadgets on July 17, 2009, 10:51am

For those that are interested in making custom parts for your next DIY project, this mill is a very cost effective way to make your next project the GEEKER way.  This was the cheapest CNC setup I found that had the quality and precision I was looking for.  Imagine, cutting metal or plastic parts using your computer designed drawing.  Sweet!!!  Just one step closer to building a robot to take over the world…. Hee Hee Hee

I purchased the Proxxon MF70 with the CNC conversion from JakobsTools for about $1,400.  A great online store that is a licensed distributor of Proxxon tools (ask for TJ).  This Mill is made by a German company that specializes in small high quality tools for hobbyists and  jewelers.  I beleive its primarily used by jewelers to carve wax for casting.  But having said that, this will be perfect for cutting out the parts I need to make my small robotic projects.  I actually own a Sherline Mill and Lathe, but without the CNC conversion. And to get it converted would cost me more than purchasing this mill.  So, now I have two mills.

The MF 70 is very well made. It has a cast iron base, extruded T-Slot table for mounting things and adjustments for the backlash.  For it’s price and size,  this is a perfect little tool if you want to dabble in CNC and make small parts (I mean really small parts. Travel of  5.26 x  1.8 x 2.7 inches).   The mill came fully assembled and only requires me to fine tune the backlash and hook it up to the computer (Ready to go… well sort of).

Because this is a German made mill, there is very little documentation for this product and the info I did find were in German of course.  So needless to say, it was a little difficult setting the specs up in the software to get the measurements just right. But after figuring out the threads per inch (TPI) and the pin settings, it was smooth sailing from there. Ready to start making my parts.

So, this concludes the first part of my review of the Proxxon MF70 CNC converted mill.  I’ll start on the next part soon as I start my project and provide more info on the software I am using and the specs I used.