As Avengers: Infinity War makes its way towards the box office-shattering $2 billion global earnings milestone, it comes as little surprise that the superhero movie has inspired a small legion of creators to don their maker capes and create their renditions of the iron-clad superhero troop. Among others is the SolidSmack favorite wacky garage inventor…

We all know Eric Strebel is a savant when it comes to prototype making. He’s done a hundred cast parts from a single master part, used a CNC machine to manufacture 200 vaccum-formed panels, and even showed us how to finish and paint different molds. In his latest video, Strebel dips into the world of…

Researchers at CMU’s Morphing Matter Lab have developed a technique for 4D printing that could prove popular. 4D printing, if you are not familiar, is a variation of 3D printing in which the printed object is not static but somehow changes shape after normal 3D printing completes. There are a number of research projects underway…

Back before having a car, having a bike meant you were the coolest kid on the block; it said you could go anywhere, do anything, and cause untold bodily harm to yourself when you fell flat on your face. As you get older though, having a car becomes way more chill than owning a bike.…

Tires are amazing. Until, you know, they run out of air or altogether pop in the middle of a trip. Seeking to make your daily commute less of a hassle, 3D printer manufacturer BigRep just made a bicycle tire which doesn’t go flat or runs out of air. The wheel uses the company’s PRO FLEX…

Though its cardboard applications are definitely finite, you can’t deny the Nintendo Labo is a fine piece of DIY hardware. For those unfamiliar, the cardboard bits can be assembled with the Nintendo Switch and Joy-Con controllers to create some pretty interactive constructs including a fishing rod, a piano, or even a giant mech. While these…

Nike announced a new “3-D Printed” running shoe, but it seems a bit strange to me. The new shoe, released in time for the famous London Marathon, is made using their new “Flyprint” method. This is quite a competitive move, as their major nemesis, Adidas, has been 3D printing amazing midsoles using Carbon’s technology in recent…

We can always depend on industrial designer Eric Strebel to put a ton of effort into every project he makes—especially when it comes to his YouTube videos that unveil many design tips and tricks. In his latest, Strebel showcases how he makes his prototypes look so dang remarkable—from filling imperfections to achieving that perfect coat…

M3D is well known for their inexpensive desktop 3D printers, but now they’ve added a very different machine to their product line. The new “Crane Quad” system is a full-color desktop 3D printer with a price said to be less than USD$500. Previously the company marketed single or dual extrusion machines that proved very popular,…

When you typically think of a CNC machine, you’re likely to envision a gigantic monstrosity that makes its home in a corner of a factory and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. I mean, you wouldn’t be wrong. The SwissMak Desktop CNC Machine, however, seeks to provide the same milling quality at a significantly lower…

Repurposing old materials and using them to create something new—also known as Upcycling— is a great idea. Rather than throwing out those used materials, they can be utilized for many ingenious projects if you’re willing to stretch that creative muscle enough. Many upcycled projects have to deal with reclaimed wood—such as using an old barn…

For some strange reason, humans sure love to knock themselves on the head with countless mind puzzles. The Rubik’s Cube, Chess—heck, even Candy Crush are all examples of how we have a penchant for exercising our minds in different ways. This wooden dowel puzzle by Instructables user mtairymd is no different. It may sound easy…

You may think creating cosplay (the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game) costumes involves locking yourself up in a garage and making do with whatever spare hardware supplies are lying around—and you wouldn’t be far from correct! A lot of good cosplayers do precisely this; but with…

Your product design is ready, your prototype works and you want to hit the store shelves as soon as possible. But how? Manufacturing looks easy on “How it’s made”, whether it’s a Ferrari FF or Jawbreakers, everything sold to consumers has been manufactured to some degree. While things run smoothly in established factories across the…

Need a fix of retro nostalgia mash-up? We’ve got one to make your drool tubs. Colin of Why Not Make It is to blame for your sudden craving to combine a 19080’s boombox and Super Nintendo (Chalmers). Being born in a time where the video games were simpler/better and the music players a lot bigger/doper, he took it upon…

FoldStar provides a very unusual 3D model generation system. The New Jersey-based company’s product, by the same name, is a generative system to dynamically create 3D models of folded geometry. Here’s how it works, in their words: Doubly-Periodic Folding Tessellations are a versatile family of deployable materials that repeat a pattern in “row” and “column”…

If you’re looking for a video game to play with friends or your kids, Rocket League is a great way to remove stress, bond with them, and crush them in race to the finish intensity. It’s basically soccer only, instead of football players, you’re controlling a virtual RC car which can double jump and rocket…

When working on a project for a client, designer Eric Strebel likes to help out his fellow man by dropping some of his own modelling tips and tricks along the way. He’s already showed us how to create casting boxes, approximately a hundred cast parts from scratch, and his personal process for low volume manufacturing.…

If you thought 3D printing an entire jet engine was a ambitious task, you aren’t thinking big enough… at least as far as size is concerned. 3D printed houses have been attempted in various ways, but we’ve been keeping our eye on what non-profit organization New Story and for-profit construction firm ICON is doing. They…

It’s always nice to see well-designed creations built from relatively cheap materials. With a little ingenuity and (in some cases) a lot of hard work, you don’t need a fortune to craft something worthy of a showroom floor. Among others, master builder Mike Clifford recently proved this with his homemade white glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC)…

YouTube user kiwami japan has a bit of an odd obsession with making homemade blades and other weapons from obscure and unusual materials. Case in point. This knife wasn’t made from a hard-to-find metal, but from a roll of aluminum foil you likely have stashed in your cupboard to wrap a sandwich or make tin…

You know what’s more satisfying to watch than a thousand soda cans being crushed? Seeing them get turned into solid blocks of pure aluminum bliss. After consuming an unhealthy amount of soda products, Ben from PressTube decides to crush and melt the cans into reusable aluminum ingots (which can be used as bricks for a…

From simple song requests to complicated trivia questions (not to mention painlessly ordering new bubble gum), the Amazon Echo Dot is undoubtedly a fun little gadget to have around. But for some, the minimalist Roomba-like puck design could use a little work in the TLC department. Baard Fleistad has always wanted a gramophone of his…

A French company, Bombyx Prod, has devised a different way to provide 3D print services to manufacturers. The problem being attacked here is the low-volume production market. This market exists because there are those who require smaller volumes of products than would otherwise justify the expense of setting up a traditional manufacturing line. Several 3D print…

On March 9th, 2018, mHUB in Chicago celebrated surviving its first year and it’s showing a strong start to its 2nd. A product of Chicago’s rich manufacturing history, mHUB refers to itself as a “manufacturing and physical product innovation center”. It provides incubator-type resources, fabulous and expensive prototyping equipment & software, and coworking spaces. Their 1st…

You know Eric Strebel likes to show you how to make stuff, right? Did you also know he’s a science fiction fan. Upon watching a movie involving a magical, glowing amulet (which narrows the potential number of films down to about a thousand), he felt inspired to create his own wearable glowing rock – one…

This could be a very big idea: 3D Hybrid Solutions announced a system to convert everyday CNC machines into powerful 3D metal printers. The startup company, based in Los Angeles, offers add-on hardware that could become a tool in a multi-tool metal CNC machine. Typical competent metal CNC machines today offer the ability to mill…

As plastic continues to pollute our oceans and overtake our landfills at an all-time high, it’s clear that to reverse the effects of a potentially unlivable planet; it’s up to consumer product manufacturers to take matters into their own hands. Along with Nike and Apple—both of whom are spending billions to try to reverse the…

With their rickety structures, questionable harness systems, and lack of insurance waivers to sign, wooden roller coasters offer daredevils a glimpse at death from the (relative) safety of a fast-moving cart. While most modern roller coasters are built of metal, there are still some amusement parks that stick to the tried-and-true method of making thrilling…

Most professional and amateur filmmakers and photographers have probably used a camera dolly at some point for everything from time-lapse imaging to creating smooth horizontal camera movements. Suffice it to say, those dollies can be costly depending on the rig, which is why some creative aficionados decide to build their own, which is precisely what…

Call me surprised, but Ultimaker is moving ahead rapidly. The company embarked on a tricky strategic change a couple of years ago and now it seems to be paying off with a blockbuster announcement from Bosch. The giant manufacturer has agreed to equip their worldwide offices with Ultimaker 3D printers. This could amount to thousands…

Homemade weapons have come a long way since the traditional slingshot. Since nearly everyone, their dog, and old aunt Emma now has access to a 3D printer and the internet, more designs for must-have office battle weaponry are poppin’ up like inflamed nostrils. Case in point: this devilishly deceptive mini-crossbow. Created by Etsy user Edwards for…

You know the book you’re reading is excellent when it escapes your imagination and enters the reality. Fan fiction, cosplay, recreations – these are just a few ways fans show their (sometimes creepy) appreciation for fictional worlds made up by an author. But Zack Mclaughlin is more than just a fan – he’s an illustrator…

We’ve heard a lot about “personal” 3D printing in the past, but perhaps it’s time for “personalized” 3D printing. By “personal” 3D printing, I mean the ownership of a 3D printer and production of objects for personal use. This was, and probably still is, the vision for consumer-based 3D printing. While there was a great…

I’m reading more about the concept of “metamaterials”, and believe this is a lot more important than I imagined. What Are Metamaterials? But first, what are metamaterials? They are simply 3D objects that gain their properties from an ingenious internal structures. In other words, an object made of metamaterials may adopt different engineering properties compared…

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…