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. It’s air-conditioned, comes with cup holders, and most importantly, it has airbags which protect your oh-so-delicate face. The guys at Make It Extreme want to bring back the days when bikes were cooler than cars. How? By taking two used car tires and making a heavy duty bike of their own: Taking inspiration from existing…

When it comes to woodworking, the quality of your work really can come down to the quality of your tools—which is why it’s critical to invest in tools that perform properly for the cuts you need. Thankfully, wood craftsmen have been refining many of these tools and techniques for centuries. And among others that stand out above the rest are Japanese hand tools—which are different from Western tools in that they are minimally designed, which results in a lighter and simpler tool. The SUIZNAN brand of Japanese Pull Saws is a perfect example. Pull saws are popular in both Western and Japanese woodworking shops because they require less power and…

Rejoice, creators of instructables.com! For if you ever wanted to learn how to use a table saw, manual lathe, CNC mill, or a certain crafting machine, Autodesk’s Pier 9 technology centers have heard your plea and made a slew of workshops to help you get your bearings without losing any important body parts. In total, 25 classes—classified into Wood Shop, Metal Shop, CNC Shop, and 3D Printshop categories— are available for enrollment or download. As you may have guessed, Wood Shop covers using the miter saw, the table saw, and bandsaw, the drill press, the sander, the planer, the router table, and the jointer. If the material you’re working with…

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 TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), an industrial grade filament which is nearly just as flexible as any material you would get from a rubber tree. The PRO FLEX bends whenever you need it to, though this could bode ill once you drop your entire body weight on it when riding your bike. As for the remainder of…

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. This week o SolidSmack Radio we’ll get the groove going with “The Atlantic Ocean” from Richard Swift before diving into sweet melodies from Salvia Plath, Vesuvio Solo, Doug Tuttle, Cass McCombs, Grupo Fantasma, and others before wrapping up with “I Saw…

Since screaming on to the rapid prototyping scene in 2013, 3D Hubs has been relentless in making sure their message is heard. Billed as the “AirBnB of 3D Printing”, the company’s business model is based on experienced 3D printer technicians renting out their equipment to other users on a per-project-basis. Not surprisingly, the 3D Hubs crew has learned a thing or two about what makes for “good design for 3D printing” — and now, they want to share it with all of us. The 3D Printing Handbook | Technologies, Design, and Applications is written for design and engineering professionals looking to master the key aspects of 3D printing—from connecting parts to…