Video of power tool racing in Belgium

In late April, the city of Gent, Belgium, hosted the annual Gent Maker Fair (https://www.makerfairegent.be/nieuws), an exhibition dedicated to all the crazy inventions of makers in Belgium. On the fair’s opening night of 30 April, the Belgian Power Tool Drag Racing Championship entertained the visitors in a one-off event. Popular in many countries around the world, this is a spectacular race of electric ‘vehicles’ powered by 220VAC and built with one or two power tools such as drills, chainsaws, and any other kind of electric-powered hand tool. The only rule is that it must be a tool that can be used by hand. In the next issue of The Shed, issue 110, I will give more detail on the challenge. If it sounds like your kind of fun, there is the option to participate in the 2024 event.

Belgian power tools racing
Who wouldn’t love to see this event fly in NZ!
By Enrico Miglino

In late April 2023, the city of Gent, Belgium, hosted the annual Gent Maker Faire (https://www.makerfairegent.be/nieuws), an exhibition dedicated to all the crazy inventions of makers in Belgium.
On the fair’s opening night of 30 April, the Belgian Power Tool Drag Racing Championship entertained the visitors in a one-off event.
Popular in many countries around the world, this is a spectacular race of electric ‘vehicles’ powered by 220VAC and built with one or two power tools such as drills, chainsaws, and any other kind of electric-powered hand tool. The only rule is that it must be a tool that can be used by hand.
In the next issue of The Shed, issue 110, we will give more detail on the challenge. If it sounds like your kind of fun, there is the option to participate in the 2024 event.

Share:

More Posts

Soldering on Part One

Everyone knows that at some stage you need to blame your tools (after the other excuses have run out), and like most things you can pay a little money or a lot, and sometimes there is little difference in the result … or so it would seem.
The purpose of this article is not to separate you from your hard-earned cash, but to share a few tricks and provide some information to make an informed choice when buying equipment.
Everyone knows that the best soldering iron is some large lump of material that you throw into the fire until it is red hot and then apply to the job and hope that some of the exploding material fuses the bits together.
That might work for joining two bits of metal together but it is not going to work for electronics.
Soldering electronics is not only mechanical bonding, but also making an electrically conductive joint. The solder used has a particular temperature range and too hot will ‘cook’ the joint and make it porous, while too cold means it sticks to one or other part but doesn’t bond.

Video of from Rust to Rrroarrr Part two

From Rust to Rrroarrr Part Two
As featured in The Shed magazine, February/March 2025 issue 119
A six-part magazine series on the restoration of a 1952 AJS Motorbike
PART TWO – Metal plating:
The secrets of successful nickel plating
In part one of this restoration series, Peter described how he started rebuilding, as cheaply as possible, an old bitser AJS 500 motorbike, and discussed the start of his nickel-plating tasks.
For this Rust to Rrroarr project, he has decided on a nickel-plating finish instead of chromium for his AJS. In this part two of the six-part series, Peter describes his nickel-plating process

The Shed magazine February/March 2025 issue 119 on sale now

On the road again – new life for old caravans
The allure of a classic caravan can be strong, and many of these gems are being lovingly restored – in fact, Beach Hop even has a prize for the best retro caravan.
In this issue, we showcase three very different caravan restorations—one by a man who owns a company that has been building caravans commercially since the 1950s and is now a household name in caravans and Motorhomes.
The second is a lovingly restored 10-footer that started off a real basket case, and the third, well, friends christened it a turd emoji when they saw the project bought by Marty and Zoe.
Their caravan was destined for their annual pilgrimage to Beach Hop, where thousands gather to show off their super-primped or lovingly restored classic vehicles and caravans