Small mod to a small (but lovely) screwdriver

Peter Marin

Sep 1, 2024 — 2 min read

Context:

I love small, useful tools - in this category, the HOTO precisions screwdriver is a delight EXCEPT...

Problem:

The body of the screwdriver GRINDS against the cap, making the experience annoying enough to want me to pick up a different tool.

Solution:

Add a spacer in (somewhere), so that the two metal surfaces don't have to rub against each other.

User Story/ User Experience:

I'd love to use this, retain the same satisfying click that the magnet offers, with an added cousin of air between the surfaces to let the body rotate easier.

Upskilling approach/ Implementation steps:

(rapid deployment for a small annoyance = ❤️)

Disassembly - easy, only with a hex (which came from inside the screwdriver, well done HOTO)
Assess the situation - the spacer couldn't come to the rear since that would mess with the magnet click, but there was enough space in the top/ cap!
Quickly design a one-sketch wonder, 3d Print, reassemble
Screw away, with the Rolls Royce experience of ballbearings riding on air!

Outcome:

The HOTO precision screwdriver is amazing - love the simple design language, and the amount of functionality hidden within. With this small mod, it's now a lot smoother to operate and, as a bonus, I suspect the lovely colour will also stay on for longer.

(included below the dimensions of the sketch, just in case you want to replicate it)

Bespoke vs de-facto organisation - prologue

Considerations: This Might Not Be for Everyone As we're getting more serious about becoming a product design company with Albastru Creative, a massive office reorganisation was in order. To effectively prototype and iterate through designs, I need a variety of components, which I’ve been slowly accumulating—mechanical

Brother nailed it with this product!

I use a label maker to organise the space around me at the office. We often work with digital assets, but physical assets management is just as essential to enable human ingenuity to thrive. Since my business crossed into tangible product design, this is a product I interact with often.

Buy it for life - a story of 2 label printers

My buying philosophy has changed over time in no small part because of disappointments with products. These are my current thoughts on the matter, with a small use case. Hope you find this useful in your own buying decisions. What stayed the same? The frugality of pragmatism behind purchase decisions.

Too big to succeed

In business and economics, you'll often hear about organisations which are "too big to fail". If you've been around the 2007 financial crisis, you'll know what this refers to - something integral and vital to a healthy economy, so much so that