To Prevent Putty Sticking to the Hands
When purchasing putty buy a little whiting. This is one of the ingredients of the putty. Mix enough of it with the putty to absorb the excess oil. This will prevent it from sticking to the hands. It also gives the putty more body and makes it much easier to handle.
Signal for Lighted Lights in Basement
The Small Lamp near the Switch in Circuit Glows When Lights Are On in the Basement
To avoid the loss of electric current by forgetting to turn out the light in the basement, I placed a 3-cp. lamp in the circuit near the switch at the head of the stairs. The small light is a signal that the light is still turned on in the basement.—Contributed by A. MacCunn, Toronto, Can.
Dies for Cutting Cardboard
An inexpensive, yet very efficient, die for cutting quantities of tin foil, sheet lead, paper, and cardboard can be made from a steel rule such as used by printers. Procure a rule, two points or about ¹⁄₃₂ in. thick, which comes in 2-ft. lengths. The rule can be readily bent without annealing. Bend it to the desired shape and solder, or weld, the ends together. To give it rigidity, fill in the space with melted lead to a depth of half the height of the die.
Place the material to be cut against the die and put both into a vise, or letter press. Apply pressure steadily until the die has cut through the last thickness of the material. As many as 5 pieces can be placed and cut at one time. When cutting designs for static machines, etc., from tin foil, this appliance does away with the tedious work of cutting one at a time, and then, too, they will all be uniform. In making the connection at the ends of the rule, be sure that they meet evenly and do not lap to make the joint.—Contributed by M. H. Granholt, Long Beach, Cal.