Innehållsförteckning för No 117 October - November 2024 från The Shed

Our main feature in this issue of The Shed is about a young sheddie who has created an internationally successful business doing what he loves and is darned good at. I don’t know about you, but, when I was a schoolboy, almost every adult asked me, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” It was relentless. You couldn’t bump into any adult anywhere who didn’t ask you that question. I mean, am I out of touch – are folk still asking that of schoolchildren these days? When I was asked that all those decades ago, I had no idea what I wanted to be. I was well into my 20s before I started to get a handle on what was going to float my boat in my…

Jacks is a long-established New Zealand company with branches in Christchurch and Auckland. It supplies woodworking machinery, from turnkey production lines for major industry players to home-workshop equipment for shed owners. Examples of the latter are the excellent Tormek sharpening system, Felder dust extractors, Ascent bandsaws, and Hammer multi-machines. With the absence this year of the once-annual Australian Woodworking Industry Suppliers Association (AWISA) woodworking trade show in Australia, and since Jacks recently took over as exclusive representative of the huge Chinese KDT brand, the firm thought it was an opportune time to hold one of its ‘JacksTech’ displays. Jacks teamed up with 10 industry partners to stage New Zealand’s largest woodworking industry trade show. It was held from 14 to 16 August in Auckland, at Jacks’ large East Tamaki premises.…

Ever imagined yourself as a John Bonham or a Jimi Hendrix? The magic of electronic music means that you can set up your own one-man band, create original masterpieces, or rearrange your favourite instrumental In this issue of The Shed, we will start a new adventure: an introduction to electronic music, utilising theory, examples, and electronic projects. Throughout this and the following articles in this series, we will explore the practical side of electronic music creation, looking at hardware and software options. I will provide the essential theoretical knowledge and references for studies, and guide you through the ‘how to’ of some exciting yet achievable projects for you to try. I am not a musician, but I love music and I am a maker. After playing classical music on classical…

Sixty years ago, the Old Time Transport Preservation League, the Royal Aeronautical Society (New Zealand) and the Historic Auckland Society got together on a joint preservation venture. MOTAT came into being on the site of the steam-powered pump house that had supplied potable water from Western Springs to central Auckland. There have been periods of great energy and development and those when the effort and public interest flagged. Then, in 2000, Parliament passed an act that assured funding from every Auckland local body, and today MOTAT has never looked better. Two hundred staff and a similar number of volunteers restore, curate, and display a collection chosen from hundreds of thousands of historic items – from typewriters to enormous World War II aircraft – many of them now in state-of-the-art preservation.…

Whakatāne Airport and the Aeroclub are a regular haunt. Since I reactivated my private pilot’s licence, I’ve taken part in as many of the local flying events as I can – many of which I helped to organise. I have a part share in an aircraft that is currently based in Tauranga. I’d really like to have a plane at the airport but the biggest problem we have at Whakatāne – and an issue shared by many small airports – is lack of hangar space; there is just no free long-term hangarage at the airport. The Whakatāne Aeroclub has been around for many years, beginning life as a microlight flying club. We have had a sealed runway at Whakatāne since the 1960s but the club added a grass runway and…

There is no room for mediocrity nor false modesty in the shed of precision engineer Tim O’Connor. His Instagram tagline is ‘Maker of the world’s finest minibikes’, and it would be a hard ask to find someone more motivated and committed to improving their product than this self-confessed perfectionist. For Tim, designing, building, and marketing his Hustler minibikes is not just about selling units. His scaled-down, pocket-rockets have a deeper, almost sentimental significance. He has been riding small bikes since the age of 12, and remembers building minibikes in the garage with his father. He says, “That is where my love for bikes and engineering started.” Anti junk Quality is Tim’s raison d’être, for all his projects. He believes that his generation grew up swamped by cheap imports and that…

Working on a number of projects recently has made me realise the need for both a better working environment and a better workflow. This has to include timber and sheet storage and improved access to power tools that need space around them in order for large lengths of timber or full-size sheets of MDF, ply, and the like, to be manoeuvred. I have used bamboo panels on two projects recently: the music desk (The Shed Issue No. 113) and a desk for my granddaughter. I love using them, but they are 2200x600x25mm and weigh 21.5kg each. If I’m using several – as I did for the music desk, for which I used four – then I need to be able to store them where they won’t get damaged. Now, a…

Since 1996, Tool Barn has been a staple in New Zealand for anyone seeking quality second-hand tools. As a family-owned and -operated business, Tool Barn has developed a strong and loyal following, thanks to its commitment to excellence and passion for tools. Founded by the father-and-son team of Ross and Roger Exley, the company quickly established itself as New Zealand’s premier second-hand tool dealer, known for its dedication to quality, service, and customer satisfaction. Ross Exley, who has since retired to pursue his love of fishing, remains an active supporter of the business, while his son Roger continues to drive the business forward. The company mission The Tool Barn team maintains the original mission: to provide customers with the best tools from trusted makers across the US, England, and Western…

Life’s simple pleasures should not be taken for granted: for instance, a good cup of tea. I was always under the impression that tea originated in India, but no, it was the Chinese we need to thank, and – surprise, surprise – the English are the world’s biggest guzzlers of tea. A reliable source suggested that, on average, the British consume 165,000,000 cups a day. Blimey! That’s a lot of tea breaks. Some years ago, I had the good fortune to meet one of the most iconic faces of tea, all-round good chap Mr Dilmah: “Do try it”. I recollect that he was a regular visitor to these shores; his philanthropic generosity extended to supplying all of New Zealand’s hospices with free tea. Mr Dilmah told me that he understood…

After enduring several rounds of redundancies in the corporate world, Martin Smith of Auckland found the ticket to freedom in a home-based – better yet, a shed-based – business. When Martin and his wife Jan spotted an advertisement for a mobility scooter repair and service business for sale, they knew it was just the thing for them. “Having worked in large sales and service-oriented companies, I gained a good understanding of sales processes as well as the importance of service support when dealing with equipment and machinery,” Martin says. Although Martin had no formal qualifications, he says that he has always had an enquiring mind and he likes to know how things work. Fortunately, he has the support of his wider family members, one of whom is an auto-electrician, whose…

FAST FACTS NUMBER 9 FAST FACTS Don’t delay! Costs for this magazine are increasing as fast as the costs for all New Zealanders. If you are thinking of subscribing to The Shed, don’t delay. We don’t know what price increases are around the corner for us, but one thing is for sure: the cost to subscribe to the magazine won’t ever be lower than it is now. Subscribe now and save. SUBSCRIBE TODAY ONE YEAR $84 SAVE 22%! SIX MONTHS $45 SAVE 17% $35 TO SUBSCRIBE VISIT MAGSTORE.NZ OR CALL 0800 727 574 The Shed magazine subscription terms and conditions: • Prizes/Gifts are as stated, not redeemable for cash and the publisher’s decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. • Prizes/Gifts are administered by the respective magazine publisher.…

It is Tuesday evening: volunteer night at the Auckland Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) rail workshop. Marty Radford (The Shed That Ate the House, The Shed Issue No. 114) is the head workshop volunteer here and has invited me to come and look at their work. Marty has been volunteering since 1987 – back when “all we had was a lathe and two benches”. Marty introduces me to Jacob Stuart and Cameron Teague, who are working together on a trailer for one of the museum’s many railway jiggers – once a familiar sight on New Zealand’s railways. Railway workers rode jiggers from job to job; some were motorised, but others were manually propelled by the cranking of a handle in the centre. Jacob took up volunteering here two years…

“Then he said, ‘Why don’t you join the New Plymouth MenzShed?’” On our way to Tony Ashton’s shed in Bell Block, New Plymouth, Tony stops beside the rear of a large camper-van and pulls out a wooden slider. It’s one of two that he has made to avoid whole body dives for essentials into the bowels of the van. The slider is among many projects, simple and complex, that he will show us during the visit. Behind the van sits the pride and joy that he built with mates, “the two Davids”, from the local Menzshed. This large, steel kitset shed is a place for creative meditation (“What will I make next?”) and the making of whatever he dreams up or that takes his fancy on YouTube. Five years ago,…

A shed brings men together in one community space to share their skills, have a laugh, and work on personal projects or within a group for the shed or community. Sheds and their members decide the projects to undertake. However most sheds throughout New Zealand take on some community projects, examples include repairing toy library stock, building playgrounds for early learning centres, repairing old bikes for community distribution, building planter boxes for the main street of the local central business district, the list goes on. The shed is a great place for blokes to learn new skills. We see builders teaching engineers some of their skills and vice versa. Sheds have been operating in New Zealand since 2008. The last decade has seen the number of sheds across both urban…