Kiteman

Seriously?Bring your *evidence* - not YouTube videos or quotes from Facebook, give me links to the peer-reviewed studies.

At the top of the page, it says "publish" - click that.

Thank you! Just great to get an excuse to be back in the workshop for a couple of hours!

Brilliant job, Kate, I'm proud of you!(Crosses fingers)

Actually, that's a good idea, but the search-term you need is "ball mill". They vary greatly is scale, and generally use ball-bearings or ceramic balls inside a rotating cylinder or ball, but the one I used at university for small batches of pulp used a vessel shaped inside like a motorbike tyre, with a single bronze ball like a cannon-ball, rolling along inside as the "tyre" rotated.

Haha, it's not been a secret for quite some time, it's just that more people know me by "Kiteman" than by my given name.

Yes, because it creates more data in different places that might be useful, not spam.

Thank you!

You're welcome!

Thank you!

That's good to know. Yes, we're fine. A little crowded, five adults in the house, but we're surviving so far.It's very odd being an online teacher of a purely practical subject...

Are the team all OK?

Awesome to know!

If you're using a fibre like nettle, linen or hemp, yes, it is. The length of time depends on a lot of factors, like the temperature, the pH of your water and the age of the plant stems, but it will typically be in the range of one to four weeks.

Hehehe!

Indeed

You're very welcome - don't forget to share a photo of your finished project!

I heard about this via email.Terrible news.

This is really cool - I'll be sharing it with students in September!

I was trying not to make this personal, Randy.That link is good to have, but it is far from useful hiding out here in a forum topic. That's the sort of thing that needs to be somewhere obvious and logical.Anyhoo, three points to be moving on with.> Do you have some sort of timeline on "next"?> Can you please make sure you talk to others whilst "figuring out". For your your first call, talk to the old Community Team. We're all still out there on a single email.(In my mind, there are specific questions that need addressed: Does Instructables want an Instructables Community to actually exist as an entity? "Where" should that community exist? What should the community be about? Who do you want to "own" or "guide" the community?)> Reme…

I was trying not to make this personal, Randy.That link is good to have, but it is far from useful hiding out here in a forum topic. That's the sort of thing that needs to be somewhere obvious and logical.Anyhoo, three points to be moving on with.> Do you have some sort of timeline on "next"?> Can you please make sure you talk to others whilst "figuring out". For your your first call, talk to the old Community Team. We're all still out there on a single email.(In my mind, there are specific questions that need addressed: Does Instructables want an Instructables Community to actually exist as an entity? "Where" should that community exist? What should the community be about? Who do you want to "own" or "guide" the community?)> Remember how I used to nag everybody from Eric down to spend just a few minutes each day on the forums? And how the forums were a much more positive place when staff remembered to do that? Yeh, that.

Thanks for the reply, Randy, really, but this is an issue we've been bringing up for a long time now, and we've made our feelings clear by different channels many times, and generally been ignored or reassured that the changes are good. "You" (whoever's is making the decisions these days) clearly think an active community is a good selling point, else why paste it in big letters on the front page?May I suggest a happy medium?Put all the forum categories back together into one central place, with a clear and obvious link from somewhere logical. Either that, or scrap the forums entirely. They're an embarrassment compared to the rest of the site, so start using social media to build AND INTERACT WITH a community. I look at the FB page, it's entirely made of Instagram posts. No disc…

Thanks for the reply, Randy, really, but this is an issue we've been bringing up for a long time now, and we've made our feelings clear by different channels many times, and generally been ignored or reassured that the changes are good. "You" (whoever's is making the decisions these days) clearly think an active community is a good selling point, else why paste it in big letters on the front page?May I suggest a happy medium?Put all the forum categories back together into one central place, with a clear and obvious link from somewhere logical. Either that, or scrap the forums entirely. They're an embarrassment compared to the rest of the site, so start using social media to build AND INTERACT WITH a community. I look at the FB page, it's entirely made of Instagram posts. No discussion, no chat from members. Instagram & Twitter aren't right for building a community, not when you have to hunt for hashtags amongst the noise.We're not asking for a leap back ten years, we're not asking for a cash investment, we're asking The Powers That Be to remember that their entire income rises on the back of members putting the effort into becoming authors, the best (and cheapest) way to keep authors publishing is to make them feel like they belong to something, and the best way to do that is to have an active community.

A little engagement from staff would be nice, but, three days, and not a peep...

With no response from staff, I fear you may be right...

Sad to see that others agree with me...

Best fix I have at the moment is to log out and in occasionally.Inconvenient, I know.

Hi,Sorry it too so long to answer - the fibres you need are in the stem, and the leaves just boil down to mush and goo that clogs things up. You can experiment with leaving leaves in, though; nettles are basically free.

First preference is by Key Stage, since that matches the exam system (main assessment is based on KS4 work), primary schools often have mixed year-group classes, and some high schools start KS4 work in Year 9 to get a head start on the exam work).

Yes.Varies: primary schools (KS1 & 2) do a bit, but not with a name. High schools (KS3&4) have it as a range of subjects. Small schools (like mine) have "D&T" as a class. Larger schools have a D&T department, split into various mixes of Resistant Materials ("RM" - woodwork, metalwork, plastics), Textiles, Food, Graphics, Control Technology (microcontrollers etc), Engineering and sometimes ICT falls within their remit.Unfortunately, D&T is not well supported, nationally. It's an expensive subject to maintain, is not compulsory, and doesn't always contribute to the government-defined measures of progress.Traditionally, D&T has been the preferred subject of many disaffected and/or less able students, but recent changes have made the subject now cal…

Yes.Varies: primary schools (KS1 & 2) do a bit, but not with a name. High schools (KS3&4) have it as a range of subjects. Small schools (like mine) have "D&T" as a class. Larger schools have a D&T department, split into various mixes of Resistant Materials ("RM" - woodwork, metalwork, plastics), Textiles, Food, Graphics, Control Technology (microcontrollers etc), Engineering and sometimes ICT falls within their remit.Unfortunately, D&T is not well supported, nationally. It's an expensive subject to maintain, is not compulsory, and doesn't always contribute to the government-defined measures of progress.Traditionally, D&T has been the preferred subject of many disaffected and/or less able students, but recent changes have made the subject now called "Design & Technology" much more theory-based, so much so that students could go months without picking up a tool, and still end up with a much lower grade than previously, reducing the value of the subject to the school. Some schools are now closing D&T departments entirely.Others are taking the same route as my school is, and switching to "3D Design", a portfolio-based subject in a similar vein to Art; researching specific designers and then producing pieces on a given theme, influenced by the work of the designers.There is no specific national curriculum we follow, schools tend to shop around to find an examination board with a course that matches the needs of the students, the equipment available, and the skill-set of the staff (hence the drift towards subjects like 3D Design):https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/art-and-design/gcs...

The vast majority of schools will buy pre-built laser cutters, with all the associated ventilation built in or provided.Biggest mistakes I've seen teachers make are cutting PVC (and venting the fumes directly into a class of 11 year old kids!), and cutting mirrored acrylic with the shiny side up, melting the lid of the cutter.Never leave the cutter running unattended, and keep a CO2 fire extinguisher or powder extinguisher within reach.As well as cleaning the optics, you need to make a routine of cleaning inside the cutter as well - small scraps and offcuts can accumulate in hard-to-reach places, presenting a real fire-hazard.A networked cutter is a luxury most schools cannot afford (we only have a cutter at all because a charity stepped in). I find it easier to keep the cutter safe &…

The vast majority of schools will buy pre-built laser cutters, with all the associated ventilation built in or provided.Biggest mistakes I've seen teachers make are cutting PVC (and venting the fumes directly into a class of 11 year old kids!), and cutting mirrored acrylic with the shiny side up, melting the lid of the cutter.Never leave the cutter running unattended, and keep a CO2 fire extinguisher or powder extinguisher within reach.As well as cleaning the optics, you need to make a routine of cleaning inside the cutter as well - small scraps and offcuts can accumulate in hard-to-reach places, presenting a real fire-hazard.A networked cutter is a luxury most schools cannot afford (we only have a cutter at all because a charity stepped in). I find it easier to keep the cutter safe & controlled by funnelling the cutting jobs through my laptop - students create files on low-spec laptops using InkScape, email them to me, then I turn them into files for the cutter with propriety software, load them onto a pen drive and the drive goes into the cutter. This means I also get to monitor settings and material use more easily.

Number one tip: let the students see you play.You won't properly know what the cutter can do if you don't try things out, so why not try them in class? If the class is busy doing something else, let them see you try a new material or range of settings. Let them see you be excited about a success, but happy to fail.Tip Two: use junk.Collect scrap (corrugated) card and other scrap materials for test cuts.

In the UK, "Grade 6-8" is the first part of High School, also known as Key Stage 3.

High school D&T teacher here, UK-based

Still happening on both my Windows/Firefox laptop and I just had to clear cookies & cache on my Android/Chrome phone to be able to post this reply.

I'm using Firefox (up to date).I get no error messages, I just click on discussions, drafts, inbox etc and get sent directly to the front page.Interesting update: my browser automatically updated a few minutes ago, and this is the first time in weeks that I haven't had to delete my cache & cookies to reply to a comment.

Will you also be fixing the bugs that currently mean I have to clear my cache and cookies *every* time I want to look at almost any part of the site?

It's getting (getting?) annoying, having to clear my cache & cookies every time I visit the site.

These are wonderful pieces - bravo!

...and the bug is back...:-(

Seems to be fixed now?

Not so far, no.

Oops, "museum" was a predictive text error!

Like I said, this is just my opinion, but I might want to hear how it sounds, and that it really works.There are at least four videos of me blowing different noise-makers, but there are at least two "whistles" I have made from good-looking online instructions that didn't actually work

Could you, please?

I got the email alert for your PM, but this redirecting bug is stopping me looking at my actual inbox.Those standards are *old*, and very basic - three steps plus pictures has been the minimum for... years. You asked "why would I need images showing how I designed it?"My personal answer would be "because that's interesting". I love to see the "creative journey" people take. If there are pencil sketches before the digital design, I like to see those, and see how the final product differs from the original thoughts.Other folk might like to see whether your approach was worth adopting, or adapting.Putting my teacher or contest judge hat on, I'd like to see evidence that the idea is *yours*, and the best evidence for that is to see the design process.That's not a…

I got the email alert for your PM, but this redirecting bug is stopping me looking at my actual inbox.Those standards are *old*, and very basic - three steps plus pictures has been the minimum for... years. You asked "why would I need images showing how I designed it?"My personal answer would be "because that's interesting". I love to see the "creative journey" people take. If there are pencil sketches before the digital design, I like to see those, and see how the final product differs from the original thoughts.Other folk might like to see whether your approach was worth adopting, or adapting.Putting my teacher or contest judge hat on, I'd like to see evidence that the idea is *yours*, and the best evidence for that is to see the design process.That's not an official answer, just mine, but I hope it makes sense.Regarding the editing and formatting issues, I totally agree.

Please poke them - this is a major useability issue for the people creating your content.

Do you remember, ages ago, the contest to create projects with specific titles?That's how I ended up writing my highest-viewed project, so maybe we could try that again?

At the museum moment, ibles are only source material, but I hope to start the kids publishing this coming term.

Hey, Jess,I'm a teacher. I've been here a while, but I'm now in a position to deliberately push students to the site as part of their homework, and I will soon be getting them to sign up and create teir own instructables of projects we do in class.

It's the same for me on all devices.I saw the site was down for a while yesterday, I thought that was folk fixing stuff, but I'm now unable to get to my draft projects!Any idea when it's going to be fixed?

Huh?Where are these "standards"? I haven't seen them...?

I didn't use a template. I just started with three lines drawn 120 degrees around a point, and built out from there. I you want a "proper" template, check out the link in step two.

:-(

Don't feel bad: https://xkcd.com/1053/

You're welcome!

You're very welcome!

I'm sure every image interests somebody, but I'm personally interested in Tower Bridge.

Oh, very cool.Is there a chance you could upload the files for the actual cards?

How did you paint him?

I've passed this on to the bug-stompers.

Any specific links?

"Thou Shalt Post!"

That's entirely up to you! We did a lot of hand-waving and holding lumps of metal at the right height while the other person sketched directly onto the metal.

As they say; google is your friend.Alternatively, rulers and tape measures can be bought with both imperial and metric measurements.For example: https://amzn.to/2GBabce or https://amzn.to/2E0jQ8h

Thank you!

Thank you!

Ugh, seeing it online, I realise the proportions of the lid are all wrong... :-(

Yes it is still a thing, yes there is a list, but, no, you can't see it (it's secret to stop spammers circumventing it).

Oh, that's awesome!

I think that sounds like a brilliant idea! Let me know how it goes, eh?

CC-BY-NC-SA is the default setting here.It should be changed now...

As I said elsewhere, I clean forgot to add it - I was working from a photo of a print, not from the original build, and spent so long remaking it to be laser-cut, it simply slipped my mind to go back and hunt for the source of the photo.The link is now added.

Oh, that's very cool!