Stainless mesh vents tutorial

Quick tutorial on how I embed stainless steel mesh in bins:

Cut mesh. I like to cut the corners off to make it neater. Square corners are fine too.

Put mesh on top of where you want it, draw around it. I use a fancy micron drawing pen, because I have them, but anything not permanent on plastic works.

Cut with wood burning tool. I use the leaf tip. I'm very practiced, so I cut pretty close to the line. Give yourself more fuckup room the first few times.

Wipe the ink off with a cloth. 

Get your mesh in position and tack it down in several places, so it's aligned.

Then very gently press it into the plastic along the edge. I use an awl to help hold it down as the plastic cools, but I'm not an octopus so I couldn't take pics of that.

USE A FAN. 

Ventilation is very important. Outside isn't enough unless it's actively windy. Hot plastic fumes are bad for you. Do not breathe them.

Resources:

This is the exact wood burning tool I use:

https://a.co/d/0i4yDuKR

These little gasket bins are great for starting isopod colonies:

https://a.co/d/02g9WrZZ

This is the bin I use for starting roach colonies, which is what I was installing vents in for this tutorial. They're slightly cheaper at Walmart in store:

https://a.co/d/067jV96o

This is the mesh I'm using in this tutorial:

https://a.co/d/01m5aEO0

And this is a great little fan - cheap as heck, adjustable and powerful. Plug it into a little USB brick from an old cell phone. It's what I use for cutting plastic:

https://a.co/d/0dbgNGPf