Pencils haven’t changed much over the last century, at least not for the General Pencil Company, one of the last pencil manufacturing companies in the US. While they do use conveyors and other machine shop tools, the pencils crafted there are still made by hand and have been done this way since the company opened…

At CES last week, I noticed something interesting at the T3D booth. If you recall from our previous stories, T3D is a 3D printing startup that produces a clever desktop 3D printer that re-uses your own smartphone as the printing engine. The T3D mobile desktop 3D printer uses a resin process to create solid objects. Photopolymer resin is…

It turns out that Microsoft has now officially ceased production of their popular 3D sensor, the Kinect. What does this mean for 3D printing? The Kinect’s purpose originally had nothing whatsoever to do with 3D printing; it was designed as a method for Microsoft’s gaming console system, the XBox, to have an unusual input method.…

The web-based version of SketchUp is now official. Trimble’s SketchUp is a very popular 3D modeling tool that is used worldwide. I believe a large component of its popularity is due to the fact that for a time Google-owned SketchUp before it was sold off to France-based Trimble, who has managed the product since then.…

First used to carry items in nomadic times, then later sold as a way to sustain life, woven baskets have played a critical role in the history of human culture across all continents. While we may not have a massive need for them anymore, the craft of making woven baskets from scratch is still very…

Back in the summer of 2016, MillRight CNC burst onto the scene with their surprisingly affordable M3 desktop CNC machine ($299 for the kit)–a barebones setup which featured an MDF frame, NEMA 17 stepper motors, a modest 10.25″ x 10.25″ (260mm x 260mm) work area and powered by an Arduino Uno control board. Consequently, the company…

A 3D printer manufacturer has a new application target: foam! Foam, you ask? Everyone is familiar with foam, as it’s been around for decades. Foam has been traditionally produced with a chemical reaction process: resins are mixed that produce countless small bubbles. These bubbles become fixed when the resin solidifies shortly thereafter. Foam is incredibly…

You’d never realize flooring was such an important factor in a living space until it isn’t there. Stepping things up from self-made toys and coasters, Good Works Studio is using 3D printing to do more than profit. The Houston-based company comprised of Scott Key and Sam Brisendine has a mission to relieve unnecessary suffering for…

When it comes to zany, off-the-wall projects that actually work, it takes a lot for Colin Furze to outdo himself—yet, the ingenious (and ballsy) garage inventor from Stamford Lincolnshire in the UK may have finally done it. In celebration of the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi this week, Furze partnered with eBay to…

Formlabs announced a new “color kit” for their equipment. The company has marketed resin-based desktop 3D printers for years now, but until recently had a rather limited selection of resins. At the beginning they had only a standard utility resin available in grey and clear colors. Times have changed; Formlabs now offers a wide variety…

Industrial designer Eric Strebel is at it again – this time with a how-to guide on making reusable mold boxes for casting silicone or urethane parts. Eric has already skipped the boring part and cut the pieces out, so it’s just a matter of predrilling the sides to prevent the wood from splitting. He overlaps…

Created in 1998 by the now-defunct Tiger Electronics to be a demon furball companion to children, the infamous Furby saw widespread success before being repurposed by countless modders. Among others, Zach Levine, an electronics enthusiast at howchoo.com, has taken a 1998 Furby and outfitted it with some modern upgrades. He replaced the original Furby’s processor…

When 3D printing arrived, the public waited to see how it would change the world. While no major changes can be noted yet, as the cost of 3D printing drops and it slowly enters the mainstream market, businesses revolving around the technology are beginning to appear. By blurring the line between producers and consumers, and…

Before you get to work on the final product of your design, it’s in your best interests to make a prototype first, right? Of course. You’ll have a physical sample to test and abuse, plus you can adjust the aesthetics of the design without worrying about the cost. We’ve covered plenty about 3D printing, but…

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos aren’t the only renegades out there building rockets. “Mad” Mike Hughes is a 61-year-old limo driver who apparently has had enough of driving on land and has set his sights to the stars. The ‘Flat-Earther’ has spent the past few years using his self-taught knowledge of rocket science to create…

Despite the onslaught of VR 3D modeling apps, there aren’t a lot of ways to use a tablet and a spoon-like device to make the process more awkward. Fortunately, Kickstarter has brought us one. The Yeehaw Wand might look like any ol’ spoon of colorful mosaic tiles, but it’s actually an electronic sculpting paddle that…

When it comes to smuggling contraband, criminals have developed some very creative ways over the years. This method, in particular, is far more outlandish than a stealth submarine or a pack mule: a makeshift bazooka consisting of a tubular mechanism and a compressor, along with 203 marijuana packages weighing a total of 1,800 pounds, has…

Something quite interesting was observed at the recent FormNext exhibition. This year’s FormNext was indeed the largest dedicated exhibition of 3D printing equipment, materials, and services ever held in human history, with 420 exhibitors and over 20,000 attendees. However, I noticed something very interesting when compared to the same show last year. This year there…

In other robotic and A.I. advancement news, robots aren’t just becoming all-terrain, hazard-traversing back-flipping machines; now they can play musical instruments just about as good as mathematically-precise humans, too. Nigel Stanford, an ambient dance/ electronic musician, has repurposed a number of robotic arms for his newest album, Automatica. Designed and manufactured by KUKA, the robotic…

Plagued by a loss of his Native American identity, booze, and drugs, Master carver Wayne Price was once a drifter who no longer had a connection to his warrior spirit. Today, the Tlingit wood carver from Haines, Alaska calls upon thousands of years of his ancestry in the form of wood carving to help both…

Electricity does way more than light up your home and toast your Pop Tarts; it’s raw power which, when improperly used, can lead to some extremely dangerous—and highly entertaining—science experiments. The guys at Photonicinduction know this all too well. Their YouTube channel is filled with videos of overpowered transformers being used on everyday objects. In…

Washington DC is not known for a being a manufacturing town, which is why I was so surprised when I first heard that TechShop was opening a location here in Spring 2014. When I went on a tour I was smiling ear to ear in wide-eyed disbelief. Had I won a golden ticket? How is…

We’ve just done a quick test of a new 3D model repair tool, CUR3D Maker Edition. The need for 3D model repair tools has never been higher, with the number of 3D printers increasing rapidly around the world. 3D printers and their software typically treat poorly formed 3D models in a bad way, often resulting…

4-Mation Is A Series of 3D Modular Zoetropes With Swappable Animations Before the introduction of film and movies, pre-animation devices like zoetropes presented a glimpse into the future of moving images. Using a series of paintings or drawings in different phases of animation, a person could paint the illusion of an object (or objects) in…

Who could ever dislike Mario? The virtual plumber has been capturing the hearts of gamers worldwide since his first appearance in the 1981 classic, Donkey Kong, and has become synonymous with the video game industry as a whole. To celebrate the mustachioed mascot’s newest game on the Nintendo Switch, YouTube user TheDominoKing spent the last…

Cardboard generally isn’t the first material that comes to mind when discussing sculptures, models, and prototypes—but legions of designers and artists have shown us otherwise. From quick and dirty product models to functional skateboards, it’s difficult to imagine what can’t be made with a little creativity. More recently, artist James Lake has been slicing and…

AstroPrint is on a roll. They’re announcing the release of another app today that does two things for 3D printing. Toy Maker is a free app that 1) introduces kids to the world of 3D printing and 2) introduces developers to the capabilities of AstroPrint’s Cloud platform. Toy Maker On the surface, the Toy Maker app is…

3Devised is about to launch their new “PLUTO” desktop 3D printer on Kickstarter. The machine is resin-powered and uses the “top-down” approach, unlike almost every other SLA-style 3D printer, which tends to illuminate (usually with lasers) through the bottom of a transparent tank. Instead, the PLUTO fires its light downwards onto the (hopefully) flat and…

No matter what anyone says, machines will never fully replace humans in the food chain. Having a human supervisor on hand beats out a cold, robotic heart any day. The guys at Sarcos Robotics aren’t trying to make manual labor obsolete. In fact, their newest creation requires a human helping hand. The Guardian GT is…

This could be big news for 3D printing of all types: iMakr intends on opening up 40 new 3D print retail shops across the globe. It’s actually a franchise arrangement, whereby local entrepreneurs can gain iMakr’s expertise, brand and processes for deployment in a regional setting. This leverages the experience iMakr has gained over the…

If you were not paying attention to AstroPrint, the startup that changed the pains of makin’ with their 3D printing software and wireless capability, then you’ll want to take notice of what they’ve been up to lately. AstroPrint has had a string of product launches this month. AstroPrint Mobile First, they announced the public unveiling of AstroPrint Mobile, their…

New Matter has released a new desktop 3D printer that improves on their original design. We first encountered the company some years ago and were impressed with their approach. While their device was quite inexpensive, it distinguished itself with a sophisticated cloud system to manage and operate the 3D printer. In other words, it was…

Not everyone has buckets of money to burn on industrial-grade construction supplies. Not surprisingly, some of the most clever DIYers have figured out ways of getting the same results using simple household supplies. Dejan Kirevski is a YouTube creator who makes various DIY projects on his Mr. DK DIY channel. He has made candle timers,…

Jake Gevorgian, founder of Palo Arte Woodworks, is a master of the woodturning craft. His YouTube channel is filled with tons of projects where he carves out various pieces from solid wood blocks—relaxing videos where you just want to indulge in watching an object take form: This project, in particular, is a small goblet carved…

We recently featured a couple of LEGO Sony PlayStations smaller than your finger, but those things can’t really play video games. These miniature arcade machines, however, can play retro games and don’t require skipping school and a pocket full of quarters to operate. RepliCade is a series of miniature arcade machines designed to play classic video…

I’m a bit giddy. It would seem the spirit of open source is alive and well at MakerBot… Well, as much as it can be for a corporate-owned, publically-traded entity beholden to shareholder demands and selling product shrouded in IP protection. Be that as it may, for the first time in a long time, we’re…

MakePrintable announced an interesting integration with Cura that should make life much easier for many 3D printer operators. Recap: MakePrintable is a startup that offers a very powerful 3D model repair service. Their cloud-based software seems to be able to repair even the most awfully formed, but still STL-syntactically correct 3D models. I’ve tossed some…

Sponsored by So you’ve got the concept model and a 3D printer that prints buttery smooth prints. But how much time do you have to tweak it to get the right clearance when working with assemblies or sliding components? This can be a grueling process or a glorious process. But, it depends on the approach…

Despite its namesake, this has to be one of the smallest CNC machines you will ever lay your eyes on. The Goliath CNC, unlike most other CNCs, isn’t fastened to the floor or destined for a dedicated space. Quite the opposite in fact. The Goliath CNC is capable of carving, milling, and engraving difference materials,…

A new handheld 3D scanner is announced, and it sports a very attractive price. The new “peel 3d” is a simple-to-operate handheld 3D scanner that uses structured light to collect 3D point data on a subject. The associated software then quickly interprets the points into a usable 3D model and even provides very straightforward methods…

Origami, which comes from the Japanese words ori meaning “folding” and kami meaning “paper”, is a pretty niche field which requires dedication, delicate hands, and a lot of free time. While most of us can make a paper plane or boat, the more obscure origami designs require numerous steps and intricate folds to create. This…

Based on the title, you may be wondering why antiquarian horologist Brittany Cox doesn’t look centuries old. It’s because she isn’t. While her age has nothing to do with her profession, her job is ancient as it gets. Brittany is one of the few people in America with a masters in horological conservation. This means…

MatterHackers announced a new, upgraded 3D printer set-top controller, the MatterControl T7X. MatterHackers, a California-based 3D print reseller, markets a variety of different 3D printer brands and a wide set of filaments as well, but to us they are most well known for producing a very interesting set top box for typically “dumb” desktop 3D…

Remarkably resistant to water, acid, and in some cases, heat, lacquer—a natural plastic—has been used by East Asian craftsmen for centuries to create highly-detailed inlaid decorative boxes. Although it can take up to twelve months of labor to make one of the treasured boxes, the results are nothing short of stunning. It comes as little…

Who needs guns that shoot bullets when you can fire a ball of plasma? The ‘plasma popper’ is a slice of future created by Mr. Al Stahler. It’s an ingenious use of transparent plastic tubing and an ignited ball of methylacetylene-propadiene propane (MAPP gas). It isn’t a kid’s toy, but it sure does look pretty…

Next to duct tape, WD-40 is the second best solution people look to when something isn’t working properly. Squeaky door? Spray some WD-40 to make it sound as quiet as a husband who knows he’s in trouble. Stuck zipper? WD-40 will loosen it faster than a person loosens their pants after a trip to the…

Between sporadic viral social content and entire YouTube channels, the hydraulic press is certainly having a moment. While most of that content is focused on the fascinating destruction of everything from cell phones to mountain bike suspension forks, a new Kickstarter project aims to take an entirely new angle: creating unique tableware from clay scraps.…

3DAGOGO, the startup company behind 3D print cloud service provider Astroprint, is attempting to raise funds through crowdsourcing. The MicroVentures campaign intends on raising at least USD $50,000 for the company, with a maximum amount set at USD $500,000. As of this writing, early into the campaign, they’ve raised a little over USD $20,000. On…

Stella, a “Polyhedron Navigator” provides a way to very quickly view and generate almost any type of 3D polyhedron you can imagine. What’s a 3D polyhedron? While you may bump into them in real life constantly, it’s a geometric concept that encompasses a broad set of possible objects. Wikipedia defines them as: In geometry, a polyhedron (plural…

For sneakerheads who would happily sell their offspring for a chance at exclusively designed shoes, listen up: You won’t have to! Nike recently opened its Nike Makers’ Experience at the Nike By You Studio at 45 Grand in New York which will allows users to create their own one-of-a-kind pair of shoes. If you thought…