Level up your DIY game with the Shaper Tools Origin router

NEWS – Hobbists, makers, and wood crafters will want to check out the Shaper Tools Origin router. It uses computer-guided technology to make sure the shapes that you want to cutouts to be as precise as possible.

This router can cut inlays like the one you see above. Check out the video below to see how it works?

The Shaper Tools Origin router looks like an awesome tool, but the price will probably turn off all but woodworking pros. Starting at $2400, it isn’t going to be a spur of the moment purchase, but wow would it make a great father’s day gift! Head over the shapertools.com for more info on the Origin router.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: ,

Level up your DIY game with the Shaper Tools Origin router originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 30, 2019 at 10:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Lexip Mo42 Ceramic Glide Feet review

REVIEW – While I’m a HUGE fan of the Trackpoint navigation device–to the point of not buying laptops without it and having used TrackPoint-equiped keyboards for the past 25 years, navigating 2K and 4K displays using a TrackPoint is an exercise in frustration and loss of patience, and I’ve resorted to using a mouse when using my big screens. I’ve been happy with the general performance of my Logitech Anywhere MX (on my second one currently), but, after 5 years, it was starting to feel long in the tooth, so for the past year or so, I’ve been auditioning new mice for my daily-driver computer.  I haven’t found any that I like well enough to spend the money to upgrade from my trusty MX, including the new MX Anywhere 2. Each model that I tested was either just a bit off in the way it felt, way more expensive than what I wanted to spend, or worst of all, corded. So when Lexip offered the chance to upgrade my current mouse with some new shoes, I decided that I would give them a try.

What is it?

Lexip Mo42 Ceramic Glide Feet are add-on upgrades for your existing mouse which provide a more precise mousing experience.

What’s in the box?

The Mo42 Ceramic Glide Feet, like beer, come in a 6-pack in a colorful container. This is where the libation simile will stop.

The full-color packaging shows off the mouse feet via transparent window and cutout on the front of the package. The rear of the package provides some basic sales information in a variety of European languages, including English. Lifting the magnetic side latch allows access to the package contents which are housed in a plastic sleeved foam and cardboard holder.

The package includes

  • 6 ceramic mouse feet
  • 8 3M adhesive dots
  • 2 cleaning wipes (alcohol swabs)
  • 1 cleaning cloth
  • 2 Lexip sticker
  • Instruction booklet

Hardware specs

Each of the individual Mo42 Ceramic Glide Feet is 12 mm in diameter and approximately 1.2 mm thick. The adhesive pad holding the foot to the mouse adds less than 1 mm to the overall height.

Design and features

In-depth description of the product and what it can do. This is the meat of your review. If there are additional sub-headings that you want to add in the main part of your review, use H3 titles (use the drop-down menu that is set to paragraph by default). Here are some examples that you might want to use but can remove if you don’t need them.

Setup

Installing the feet involves

  • cleaning the bottom of the mouse with one of the included wipes
  • drying in / removing lint and debris with the included cloth
  • removing one of the feet from the package
  • removing one of the adhesive dots from the sheet and adhering it to the foot
  • carefully removing the backer paper from the other side of the adhesive dot
  • placing the mouse foot on your mouse
  • repeat 2-5 times (3-6 feet / mouse)

By far the most difficult part was getting the mouse-side adhesive exposed once the dot was adhered to the feet. I had to fall back on my model decal placing skills to get the round backer paper loose from the identically sized adhesive disk.

Here is the patient waiting for pre-op

Peri-operative cleaning

Post-operative recovery

I chose to only install 4 of the 6 feet as this matched up with the number of original pads on the mouse.

Performance

I would love to provide a detailed specifications about the coefficients of static and dynamic friction, but I sadly do not have access to force gauges that have fine enough resolution to measure the movement of the mouse. However, I did perform some surrogate testing by building an a-frame and swing arm from LEGO Technic pieces and used a large novelty eraser as both the swinging weight and striker to measure how far my mouse traveled when given an impulse from test rig. The mouse was not constrained as to travel direction. Measurements were made perpendicular to the axis of the swing arm.

The raw results were not as impressive as I had hoped based on the sales material, but showed a both a practical difference and a statistically significant difference between the two groups. The increased standard deviation in the Mo42 data is due to the mouse traveling at an angle to the the perpendicular measurement axis. All distances are in cm.

OEM Mouse Pads: 21.5, 22, 22.25, 23.25, 23.5, 24,  24.5, 26    mean:   23.38   standard deviation: 1.48
Mo42 Ceramic Feet: 22, 26.5, 27, 27, 28.5, 30.25, 30.5, 31.5    mean:  27.91    standard deviation: 3.02
Student’s T Test: p = 0.003

 

From a purely subjective standpoint, I will say that the Mo42 Ceramic Glide Feet feel like they have a smaller difference between the coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of dynamic friction. The practical upshot of this is that it takes less effort to get the mouse to start moving and keep it moving than it did with the OEM mouse pads. With the OEM pads, it took a bit more effort to get the mouse moving and then less to keep it moving.

The Mo42 Ceramic Glide Feet also seem to provide a better “road sense.” By this I mean that I can feel the texture (including debris) of my mousing surface which I think give me better control of the mouse.

What I like

  • Easy to install
  • Upgrade any mouse to move like a more expensive mouse

What needs to be improved

  • Nothing

Final thoughts

While I’m still not 100% happy with my Logitech Anywhere MX mouse, I’m much happier with my post-upgrade mouse. I’ll probably stick with my upgraded mouse for the foreseeable future, but will, like all Gadgeteers, be on the lookout for the next cool mouse.

Price: $19.99 MSRP
Where to buy: Lexip’s US store front and Amazon.
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Lexip.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: ,

Lexip Mo42 Ceramic Glide Feet review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 30, 2019 at 9:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Use Eustachi to equalize the pressure in your ears

NEWS – Have you ever had problems with your ears when there is a change in atmospheric pressure like when you’re flying or scuba diving? This is called ear barotrauma according to Medical News Today. You can use Eustachi to help alleviate this common problem. But before we talk about how Eustachi works, let’s briefly talk about what ear barotrauma is and how most of us normally treat it.

When you look at the above illustration (Merck Manual) of the structure of the ear, you can see that the outer ear (ear canal) is separated from the middle ear (an air-filled cavity) by the eardrum. The eustachian tubes, which are part of the middle ear, connect to “an area behind the nose” and remain closed most of the time (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center). In order to hear normally, the pressure must remain the same on both sides of the eardrum.

However, when there is a change in pressure, the eardrum will bulge outward when the pressure is greater inside the middle ear or it will bulge inward when the pressure is greater in the ear canal (shown above in the drawing on the right, Merck Manual). As you can see, the eustachian tube has remained closed during the pressure change, thus causing the imbalance of pressure and pain in the ear. This is ear barotrauma.

Many of us use techniques like yawning, swallowing or chewing gum to open the eustachian tubes which equalize the pressure in our ears. (See the following fascinating video (Merck Manual) illustrating ear barotrauma and how the eustachian tubes function in equalizing ear pressure.)

However, sometimes the common techniques used to equalize the pressure in your ears just don’t work.

Eustachi might help in these cases. It is a device that gently blows air into your nostrils (one at a time) and while it is doing so, you swallow to open up your eustachian tubes which thereby equalizes the pressure in your ears.

The reviews of this device are mostly positive but there are some that say this device does the same thing as holding your nose and blowing air gently into your nose to equalize the pressure. The Eustachi is also rather expensive. It is available at Target for $59.99.

I suppose that most of us will use the old fashioned (and free) techniques to equalize the pressure in our ears, but if you don’t have a lot of success with those or you have a child that does not know how to perform those techniques, then perhaps this is worth a try.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged:

Use Eustachi to equalize the pressure in your ears originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 30, 2019 at 8:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Inbox Co-creator Wants to Improve Gmail with Chrome Extension

It’s been almost a month since the Inbox app has been officially gone. Are you still mourning the loss? You’re not alone. The co-creator of Inbox wants to help ease that loss for you. He has created a new Chrome extension that is designed to give the desktop Gmail experience the same simplicity that you enjoyed in Inbox. Simplify Gmail Michael Leggett was a design lead for Gmail from 2008 to 2012 and helped create the Inbox app that we still can’t seem to forget. He left the company in 2015 but understands the loss everyone is feeling. He remembers the experience of creating Inbox…. Read more

Posted by / April 30, 2019 / Posted in News

4 of the Best Alternatives to AutoCAD

AutoCAD is a flagship product by Autodesk, the drafting industry’s juggernaut, designed to help its users with product or building design, manufacturing planning, construction and civil infrastructure. The sleek, three-dimensional, computer-aided design software is fully-featured but costs a lot more than other programs that match its capabilities. Since 1982, when it was made available, AutoCAD’s wide range of features and versatility for use in several industries make it the go-to product for professionals, students, and hobbyists alike. However, Autodesk no longer offers perpetual licensing for AutoCAD and switched to a subscription-based licensing instead, which forces users to seek out alternatives. In the long run it may be… Read more