Our make-something-practical-out-of-anything contributor, Cabe Atwell, just posted his first in a series of ‘Engineering THE WALKING DEAD’ infographics on Element14. With it, I’m pretty sure he’s solved the problem in creating a solution to perpetual motion. ZOMBIES. More specifically, Zombies on treadmills. The idea is brilliant I tell you. All the energy we can capture,…
We barreled down the street, jumpjets and engines spinning pushing dust through the alleyways and sewer grates. There was too little time to escape, adjust footing and fold another clip into the arm canon, but somehow we did it, and in one single action, fired upon the beast with these links. Tolazzi Swann – Concept…
Take that last swig of cold coffee and check this out. Vectary, the online 3D modeling platform, is now out of beta. We took an early look at Vectary in September. Right after that, in October, they surprised us announcing a Seed round of $2.5 million, led by BlueYard Capital (here’s why), and a move of…
Not sure if you realize this, but Onshape broke out of beta exactly one year ago. They celebrated their first birthday this week with a tiny chocolate cake I’m sure was fought over after this photo was taken. Not sure why Kevin Bacon photo-bombed that lovely picture. Rude. It honestly feels longer, doesn’t it? Especially…
There are two things I never thought I would do. Base jump and wet shave. I’ve not base jumped yet, but for the last two months I’ve lathered up (my face) and used a traditional razor to make me look less like a vagrant and more like a vagrant with the cleanest shave this side…
I just watched the recap of Episode 1 of The Big Life Fix series on BBC Two, and it is A MUST SEE. Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOotr40UBE If you’re not choking back tears of happiness for that boy, I’m a bit worried about you. How amazing is that story? Jude Pullen and crew – hats off to…
Was bound to happen sooner or later, right? We started worrying about this all the way back in 2011 when Autodesk acquired T-Splines. The small Utah-based company had a growing Rhino user base for its plugin that provide a unique take on organic modeling in a solid modeling environment, and they had just released a similar plugin for…
The wraggle bunch of mufflins peeled back the fur from their eyes, peering squint-eyed and tippy toe to see just what strange concoction was in the wooden bucket. The rays had hardly burst over the horizon when they heard a squelch that turned their eye slits wide. For out of the bucket, rose the tentacles…
Right when you think everyone gave up on putting parametric 3D CAD software on an iPad, a small, rebellious group of software developers launches an app that puts those large, money-laden software companies to shame. When we first saw Shapr3D, it was well on its way to cracking the CAD app conundrum – How do…
Mathieu Stern is a photographer, and also a collector of old, cheap and weird camera lenses. So, it makes sense that he would set out to create his own 3D printed camera lens, and you know what? “What?” Well, it takes a dang good photo. Check THESE out. Mathieu says, “I never really learned how…
Down in the alley, there were always more than enough shin nibbles to go around. You never knew if you were going to walk out scarred for life, or with new rat friends singing a quintet on your forearm. Though half of them had eyes and legs missing, they certainly knew where to find the roots…
Think about it. What are you suppose to do with your fingers when you’re not CAD’ing about or peeling through the pages on SolidSmack? You could eat… or make stuff… or give your co-worker a very awkward massage, OR you could fidget. Fidget, fidGET, FIDGET. I’m a pen spinner myself, but Francesco Pantaleone has just…
Presented by If you want to find out what Autodesk is up too, Autodesk University is the place to be each year. Last week that happened… yep, I just checked and we were in fact at AU last week. It was a bit of a blur, but I know two things for certain, nay THREE…
No one quite knew his age or the powers residing within the metal stump at the end of his arm. The children would say it glows just before a rain and the mouse antler swarms. Others claimed it controlled time through dust particles sifted through our nostrils, and others still, said it had the ultimate…
I remember the first 27″ monitor I had. It took a good year to get it requisitioned and cost $899. 1024×768 was the highest resolution and it could bake cookies if you laid it flat. Things have changed just a little bit. BenQ has introduced a 27″ monitor for us CAD/CAM folks with 2560×1440 resolution,…
The chest, arms and legs all opened. Thought it took but two to control, the others were there to be transported from one farm to the next. Sickles and blades in hand, they streamed out, steam bleeding, mixing with the mist, ready to harvest the rooty riggle vooters rising from these links. Jakub Rozalski -…
I don’t know if you’ve ever gotten your hand on a CRKT folding knife, but they are by far one of the highest quality knives on the market. The CRKT Ken Onion knife I have is my favorite, but the CRKT Argus by award winning knife designer, Matthew Lerch, looks tough. Especially with the black…
Presented by What started in 2008 as one woman’s vision of using design and building projects to transform communities and improve K-12 education is now changing the lives of exponentially more young students every year. Project H, founded by designer and builder-turned-teacher Emily Pilloton, is dedicated to exposing youth – particularly young girls – to…
Well, well, well. Just as you were getting comfy with the limited private storage of Onshape’s free plan and dumping your Documents occasionally to clear room for others, they’ve gone and switched things up on you. As of this week, Onshape is offering a new 21-day Pro plan trial with no storage limits, unlimited private…
I’m pretty sure LEGO minifigs have all the fun… except for, ya know, being completely inanimate and having the dexterity of a cardboard box. Besides that, they get to play around on and endless number of cool cars, aircraft and THIS, this LEGO Technic Dune Buggy. Some of you may know this vehicle as the…
The lights flooded the blades of grass, shadows of the hills falling sharp. We ran up and down, roller coasting ourselves through the mist and beams, jumping sometimes, rolling, missing the lasers shooting from their eyes just barely by grappling and swinging on the stringy back hairs of these links. Brian Sum – Ahh, what…
I believe there’s a study somewhere that shows 78% of Engineers and Designers, who plan a move into a management position, plan to light their office with industrial-chic light fixtures using vintage light bulbs… That figure may have been 7%… Numbers, Meh. Anywho, vintage light bulbs are all the rage, and judging by the 2000+…
The dawn splintered through the trees, atop their burrows, and one by one they emerged. Covered in willow roots wrapping them through the centuries, but none the worse for wear, save a patch of fur missing here or there. So we watch from afar, and for days it went on, more emerging, more unwrapping, more…
Microsoft just did what nobody thought they could ever do–Make people fall in love with one of their products. Yet, at Microsoft’s Surface PC event, they did just that. Microsoft revealed the Surface Studio, a 28″ all-in-one PC display. It’s a beautiful piece of hardware. Microsoft nailed both the execution and demonstration to deliver a product on…
I absolutely love design that is so simple, but so massive in the functionality it provides. In general, a shelf is just about the most simple, practical addition to any room you can get – I have no idea why we don’t just have shelves for walls instead of walls. Too far? Maybe. But a nice looking…
Presented by Here we are, 2016, and as you know, SolidSmack likes to look at what’s pushing product development ahead. Well, to look forward, it helps to look back… unless there’s a large bear, then you just want to skip the reminiscing and jump forward, hastily. We’ve got time, no bears, and a hefty dose…
You know that dream you have where you wake up and a robot is removing circuit boards from your chest and printing in new one? No? That’s just me? Well, BotFactory is the precursor to that eventuality, and their technology is so convincing that they just raised a $1M Seed Round of financing through New York Angels, with New York…
There’s one thing cheese balls are good for – pelting your friends and family. I guess you could eat them, but that just seems like a complete waste. Ben, aka NightHawkInLight, creates amazing vidoes of DIY science and awesome. My kids and I enjoyed his tornado machine and the brilliant sci-fi propane pop gun inspired…
Well, THIS is timely. Why it wasn’t but four days ago that Simon, Adam and I were talking about how many tiny, 3D printed, low poly pumpkins we could hold in our mouth and still discernibly say ‘low poly pumpkin’– think ‘chubby bunny’ but with 3D printed pumpkins instead of marshmallows. Sadly, our guesses were…
Aha! He saw the racecar out the corner of his eye. A Toyota that looked more like a tangy gnat than kayak. ‘Enough.’ he a said, ‘If I had Hi-Fi, I could have lived on decaf, faced no devil and eaten in one sitting, a pail of these links. Paul Pepera – A simply delightful…
I’m not sure if all Engineers dream about project management… Who am I kidding. Of course we do. Although for many it’s more on the side of a nightmarish, overtime-induced hypostasis with an awkward high-five from the boss when you print out a perfectly color-coded, wall-size Gantt chart (that will have to be re-printed in…
I once went for a jog. True story. It was a bit challenging holding a cheeseburger and attempting to eat it whilst trotting down the roadside, especially in the incredible jogging shorts I was wearing. While that image sinks in, just imagine yourself in the same situation and how nice it would be to have…
SketchUp is now in the Browser. Trimble sent out an email earlier announcing my.SketchUp and, as you can imagine, it looks just like SketchUp–a wide open modeling area, simple interface and east-to-use tools. All the basic functionality is there and, on top of that, it’s super smooth. The toolbars however are positioned to the left…
I bet it’s been YEARS since you dressed up in a costume. What’s up with that? You’re a creative type, right? Able to model up a doomakahizzy or a shnizzle in five minutes flat, AND look good doing it. You probably have a 3D printer (or access to one) too. Well, we’ve rounded up five…
Robot hands. There was I time I wish I had a lab with robot hands hanging from the ceiling and the constant hum of industrial machining all around. Who am I kidding. I still wish that. The team at RightHand Robotics has a lab. They’ve got the robot hand making process down too; a process…
Here it is October and you haven’t put any thought into a public display of your talent and creativity for that one day a year where dressing a baby like a taco is perfectly fine. FOR SHAME. You’re a creative person. This should be easy. Here are some ideas: a Minotaur with a cupcake addiction,…
Ropes from trees where bottles hung, split beams of distant lights lit by the robot hoards. Unconscious they moved, on a single wheel and five arms, low, high, in between broken brick and bones, always hunting, hunting for these links. Mathieu Latour-Duhaime – Lots of lovely complex lines in all sorts of rich environments from…
When I reviewed the ALPAKA 7even messenger bag, I didn’t realize how much I was going to use it. Like previous bags I have loved, it’s hard to imagine going anywhere without it. With the wild success of their Kickstarter campaign, knowing they failed on a previous project and learning that the bag was primarily…
You know how it goes. You make one Archimedes screw and it goes missing. You make another Archimedes screw, it goes missing and you discover a small band of pygmy gopher people have been stealing them for their underground rhubarb growing racket. You want to deal with it, but… THEY’RE JUST SO DANG CUTE and…
His face was bone, chiseled and knobby as a bald cypress root. The rain ran between the creases, with the eerie appearance it was pouring forth from his face itself, down onto the trench coat and pistols, all caught and painted in the flashes of light from these links. The Dualyst – The artwork for…
What’s that you say? Your wallet can store five stamps and a breath mint? That’s nothing. The Dango Tactical Wallet can do all the things a regular wallet can do PLUS saw down a small tree, open a can, open a bottle, measure your bicep, tension a rope, break glass, tighten bolts, drive screws, pry…
Why aren’t there more excessively long, undulating-legged centipede style robots?! That’s the question I always ask a packed room at the local retirement village. Sure, they throw mashed potatoes and teeth at me, but late at night, they wonder the same thing as they fall asleep to the sound of sci-fi battle sounds on that…
People have been building unique creations using LEGO bricks since Ole Kirk Christiansen (The Lego Group) began manufacturing the toy bricks back in 1949. Over the years, LEGO bricks have evolved into multiple revisions over basic blocks, including Duplo and Technic, which is the more popular among makers. One such maker took his Technic set…
I’m pretty sure, that if you built a geodesic dome fort with your kid, you would be classified as the best parent ever… which is part of the reason why we’re SUPER EXCITED the geodesic dome HUB KITS are now available! The other reason we’re excited is this is secretly a reason for us to…
Crackling, layers of grass snapped beneath our toes–All the way to the shore we thought we would never reach. The edge of the sky was behind us, seeming to keep up with the swarm of small, fur-laden creatures–a mat of them spreading across the valley, with the awe-amplifying, juice box convenience of these links. Wojciech…
Well, we’ve been waiting a long six months, but we’ve finally received access to Vectary, the highly anticipated, online 3D modeling tool, and we’re all sorts of excited to pop open a browser and see what it can do. When we first saw Vectary, we got a glimpse of a simple, intuitive looking interface with…
“Ello Pip!” Why hello yourself! I’m glad you showed up because I need to talk to someone about storage. I have 397 Mason jars filled with nuts, screws, stamps, snail shells, dried shellac, dry lint… well, you get the idea. I need a better storage solution. “Did you see this splendid, stackable, sensational set of…
2nd Shot is the Ontario-based company that takes a love of skateboarding and its culture, turning discarded decks from local skaters, skate shops and skate parks to create just about anything imaginable – watches, art, and yes, knives–beautiful. The company is the brainchild of John Gibson, mixing his former freelance job painting cars and customizing…
Loosening the sap strings, he let fly the shard bow sprites. The spores of a million mosslings struck light and made way. Leaping through the branches, he pursued the fury, the roar or the fire spreading throughout the land, from the beast’s chiseled scales, and eyes metal, molten with these links. Gliulian – Far off…
If you were to walk into my house, you would tuck your chin and say, “This space is a perfect illustration of a complete lack of modern design aesthetic.” And that’s ok. I would still invite you in and give you two handfuls of spicy, meat-laden chili. You would then say, “You need to have…