They say it’s always good to get some exercise in wherever you go, but I don’t think “they” meant anything like this. Novice Garage, a group of YouTubers who thrive on making tires out of anything remotely round, are at it again. They’ve already made dune buggy tires out of soft saran wrap, so why not try the polar opposite and make ATV wheels out of some cold, hard gym weights? The poor ATV to be experimented on this time is a 2002 Honda 400EX. The team aims to strap a couple of 25-pound bench press weights onto the rear and to do this, they have to add some extra…
As the old adage goes, “You either go big or go home.”; and in the case of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, they DEFINITELY went big. Using their ginormous in-house 3D printer which has a printing space of 22 by 100 feet and 10 feet high, they were able to print out a 25-foot long boat made from cellulose nanofibers (CNF). Now before you jump to conclusions, the university is NOT entering the boating industry. The whole purpose of the project was to test whether large-scale 3D printed biobased materials can be used as a suitable substitute for metal when creating large objects. See, as it…
Huddle around the computer a little bit, your digital detox is a farce! How can you stay away from great stuff that you can read and chew on … mentally that is! We got you covered, while you were away, busy with your digital detox diet. Don’t be shy, take a look at the week that was, right here on SolidSmack. Cause we are ROCKIN! Behind the Design: How Urwahn 3D Printed a Bike for Urban Riding Conditions Since the 19th century, the bicycle has undergone thousands of different design iterations for different riding styles and rider sizes. While you could say frame designs have varied based on road or offroad usage, the…
3D printing is additive. CNC milling is subtractive. Vacuum forming is transformative. It transforms a sheet of formless flat plastic into extraordinary complex copies. It transforms preconceived limitations about functional part thinness — the interplay between “consumable goods” (foodstuff) and “durable goods”(not food) — and low-volume throughput speeds. It transforms endless eternities (hours) staring at CNC machines into making parts as fast as you can say, “where a heated plastic sheet and replicable shape meet.” The Mayku Formbox I got my hands on a cool tool, a molten-melty-makey machine, a device that takes plastic from a boring sheet to oh so neat — The Mayku FormBox! Unboxing and First Impressions…
Though LEGOs have been used to create lots of things such as robots and life-size vehicle models, they never really move as smoothly as you would want them too. It might be due to their blocky nature, but without the aid of outside parts from different manufacturers, LEGOs move in a clicky, clacky manner unique to themselves. So how do you make LEGOs move more smoothly while retaining their uniqueness? Stop motion animation, of course! Using a heap of LEGOs, a camera, and an endless supply of patience, YouTube creator Bebop has created a short stop motion video of the cooking of a LEGO pizza: The video required a mind-boggling…
Get that stretch out of your system with this week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist. It’s fashioned up, ready to make you pull your shoulder blades back and knock out another week of meaningful work while you bob your head to the beat. Whether you’re in the shop milling aluminum, sketching the latest product prototypes or modeling up a 3D storm, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. Have suggestions? As always, let us know what you listen to, what you want to hear and what tunes get you through the week. Shoot us an email or leave a comment down below!! *Note: if the embedded playlist below doesn’t…