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How To: Solder a wire onto a switch when building circuits

This is an instructional video featuring Doug Prime, founder of the Future Engineers Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Strip the wire and make sure the wire is tied on tightly before soldering. Don't drip balls of solder. Make sure the tip is clean. Then hold it on the joint to be soldered for 4 seconds. Then poke the solder on the surface and it will melt with the heat.

How To: Make a latex skin over carved foam

Are you in need of some kind of mold or cast for your next feature film, but need to save a few bucks? As an alternative to casting (making a shape from a mold) one can carve foam into a desired shape and then coat the foam with liquid latex. This will not create a perfectly smooth surface, but is much less expensive than casting as it requires fewer steps and less resources. So, with this video tutorial, you can learn what you need to know about making a latex skin over carved form.

How To: Clean an Apple Mighty Mouse

If your Apple Mighty Mouse is covered in fingerprints or its surface has become soiled, it can be gently wiped with a clean lint-free cloth. If necessary, moisten the cloth using only water, making sure not to oversaturate it. Be aware that the mouse contains electronic components that may be damaged if water drips from the cloth into the mouse via the seam around the scroll ball or around its underside.

How To: Do a flatland BMX move

Flatland is a freestyle BMX bike riding style on smooth, flat surfaces without any ramps or jumps. Learn how to flatland from our BMX biking expert in this extreme sports video tutorial. Take action: feather the brakes, shift your weight, and practice, but remember not to pull up too hard on the handle bars. Patrick, the instructor in this how-to video from Live Strong, resides in Campell, CA and has been riding for several years. His sponsors include Mongoose Bikes, Fox, Monster, and Calabas...

How To: Make an oval box

This is a video tutorial on how to make an oval box using card stock, rubber stamps, and ribbon. Decorate paper to use as surface to your cardboard oval box. You can also use an oval stencil to make varying sized oval shapes for the box and lid shape. Have fun crafting this nifty and elegant little container.

How To: Update drywall

When faced with old, damaged plaster walls, one technique to dress up the room is to install drywall over the existing plaster. A drywall overlay gives the walls a smooth, fresh surface that's ready for new paint, paper or trim. This is a common technique used among professional contractors hired to renovate houses bought under foreclosure. For example, real estate companies that invest in foreclosures often deal with houses that are more than 50 years old and exhibit serious signs of aging. ...

How To: Install a butcher block kitchen countertop

Butcher-block kitchen countertops have traditionally been very popular and these days are often used as companion tops with other materials, such as solid-surface tops. In addition to their aesthetic appearance, they can receive hot pans without damage. You can make up your own butcher-block countertop, or the same technique can be used to create cutting boards, or a top for a roll-around cart. The steps in creating the top are fairly easy, but the project does require some special tools, esp...

How To: Snap set tension mounts for jewelry making

One important part of jewelery making involves properly doing setting snap tension mounts. This jewelry how-to video demonstrates the proper way to set stone with a tension mounts. With the crimp bead on the wire place the bead in the first notch of the crimping pliers. Begin with your stone face down on a flat surface. Place the casting over the stone. Firmly press the casting over the stone and you stone should snap into place. Use this technique to create beautiful earings.

How To: Autofold with the move tool in Google SketchUp

Autofold is part of the move tool and allows you to automatically create folding edges for new geometry. Take a look at this instructional video and learn how to use the move tool to autofold in Google SketchUp. The autofold can be activated by pressing the Alt key on the PC or the Apple key on a Mac. Autofold let's you move a point, edge or surface in any direction automatically creating fold edges as needed to do so.

How To: Use the paint bucket tool in Google SketchUp

Take a look at this instructional vidoe and learn how to use the paint bucket tool in Google SketchUp. Selecting the paint bucket tool will open the materials browser. The materials browser is different for windows and mac users. On windows, the browser has two main tabs to select and edit materials. On the mac, you have several tabs giving you different ways to paint colors into your model. To start using the paint bucket tool, simply pick a material and choose a surface to paint it into you...

How To: Use the rotate tool in Google SketchUp

Take a look at this instructional video and learn how to use the rotate tool in Google SketchUp. When you pick the rotate tool, the icon orients itself to any surface you hover over. Click once to set the rotation and move away to set a rotation base. This is the controlling arm you will use to rotate your object. This tutorial covers how the rotate tool works, examples of the rotate tool in action, and how to lock or define the orientation of the tool.

How To: Draw rectangles in Google SketchUp

Take a look at this instructional video and learn how to use the rectangle tool in Google SketchUp. Drawing rectangles takes two clicks of the mouse. Click once to start, pull away, and click again to finish. Remember not to draw rectangles that cross over edges, but you can draw rectangles over the top of other edges. This tutorial covers how to draw rectangles on any surface, how to draw a perfect square or golden rectangle. and tips on being accurate.

How To: Get up to speed with Excel 2007

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 has a new design that makes your work easier, faster, and more efficient. The new Ribbon puts the commands you use most often in plain sight on your work surface instead of hidden in menus or dialog boxes. Ready-made cell styles let you quickly format your worksheet to make it easier to read and interpret. The new Page Layout view shows how your printed worksheet will look as you're creating it.

How To: Trim and prepare a beef tenderloin for cooking

A beef tenderloin can come out dry and tough if not properly prepared. This how to video shows you how to prepare a whole beef tenderloin for smoking in the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. Watch and learn how simple it is to do. Start by removing the surface membranes, the fat and the strip of meat along the side of the tenderloin. Finish up by removing the silver skin which tends to make the meat curl when it cooks.

How To: Make a glass out of a beer bottle

This video tutorial shows how to make a cool beer glass out of a beer bottle. This is also a great trick for cutting the bottle; forget the glass cutter or tricks with string and acetone. Just pour oil up to the level where you want the bottle cut off and place a red-hot piece of metal into it. Because of the great heat conductivity of oil and at the poor heat conductivity of glass, it will expand at the edge of the oil surface, cracking in a nice even line. Watch this instructional video and...

How To: Tie the gulper special when fly fishing

A parachute-style dry fly has several advantages over a standard hackled dry fly. The parachute name comes from the fly's propensity for soft, upright landings that don't spook trout. The body of the fly rides lower the surface film like a real mayfly and some people find the parachute wing is easier to see. Another important quality is that because the hackle rests horizontally on the water, parachute flies float well and also imitate mayfly spinners laying flush in the water, as well as dun...