In a similar way, it’s marvelous to consider the machines themselves that create the materials we use. The machines that cut wood for woodworking. The machines that are essential for building vehicle engines. Machines that drill, weld, and sand. Fuel tanks. Hydraulic pumps.
“Donn DIY” (whose name is Donald) is an Estonian YouTuber with 908 thousand subscribers, builds with these kinds of future products in mind. As a machinist and engineer, it’s evident he values projects that require problem-solving and creativity. In his own words, he says “I'm a wood processing technologist and a [moto enthusiast] who in this consumerism driven everyday life is trying to spend less and create more while fabricating things mainly out of scrap materials such as steel, aluminium, wood, plastic etc.”
Even seemingly unusable materials that are covered in rust or are starting to disintegrate — such as buckets, catalytic converters, brackets, pipes, and rails — are taken from a salvage pile…
That he does. Even seemingly unusable materials that are covered in rust or are starting to disintegrate — such as buckets, catalytic converters, brackets, pipes, and rails — are taken from a salvage pile on his homestead property. He loads them up on the back of his hand-built utility task vehicle and drives back to the workshop.
Other times, his builds require the customization of newer parts. For example, when building a sawmill, he operates a metal lathe to convert the “housing of a centrifugal clutch… into a simple belt pulley.” In other words, a clutch that would connect an engine to a vehicle for acceleration is transmitting power for the saw. He cuts away the metal with the fast-rotating lathe, bores holes, and makes modifications in size so that all parts fit together.
Over 52 minutes, the complexity of parts, like a hand-crafted tension tube or a truss for the length of the sawmill, is clarified. What started as a whole bunch of drilling, cutting, and grinding results in parts that we can understand more clearly. Donald, the machinist behind Donn DIY, sets up the long truss on some supports and moves the carriage up and down the truss. He effortlessly turns a crank to move the truss from left to right. Once the saw is turned on, the blade cuts out segments of wood from a log like slices of a sponge cake.
Another project that demonstrates resourcefulness is his construction of a “jaw rock crusher,” a machine that compresses waste material like old concrete and bricks into aggregate. In this case, the end product of the jaw crusher is gravel for roads around his homestead.
For readers with a penchant for machinery and engineering, this could be just the channel to watch to visualize your next DIY project.
