Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top ten stories on SolidSmack this past week. Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too. This Clever Water Bottle Design Leverages Centuries-Old Japanese Filtering Tech London-based design firm Black+Blum recently designed an interesting (BPA free) water bottle to take advantage of a specific type of charcoal…

Code. You don’t have to be a computer science hotshot to take the deep dive—heck, some people are up and running with their first project in a matter of weeks. But knowing where and how to enter can be half of the battle. The Learn How to Code 2017 Bundle is the perfect entry point and includes over 156 Hours of premium coding instruction, from Python to Ruby & everything in between. Consisting of ten courses in total, the ‘Pay What You Want’ bundle covers not just specific code languages, but also how and why you may decide to choose one over another depending on the project at hand. Pay…

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 were very substantial stands from vendors of plastic materials. No, I don’t mean the usual filament vendors that you have seen before, but instead, I mean the chemical giants behind them. Very few 3D printer filament vendors design and produce their own plastic. Most simply purchase bulk materials from monster chemical companies, and some will…

Well, it’s that time of year again folks. Unless you’re busy making and/or eating leftover turkey cranberry sandwiches, Black Friday is the best time to sit down for a few minutes and load up on electronics, workshop supplies, and any other equipment you might need in the coming year. This year, we’ve gone ahead and waded through page after page on Amazon (and a few other places) to bring you only the best and most relevant deals for designers and engineers. But act fast! Many of these deals will sell out quickly! So what are you waitin’ for? Put that sandwich down and get a head start on your wishlist…

Robots. They’re freakin’ everywhere these days, man. While we’re not quite yet in an iRobot or T2: Judgement Day scenario, gaining an understanding of how they work from the inside-out is a skill that will increasingly become handier. And few platforms are better for diving in headfirst than mBot, the world’s friendliest educational robotics platform. The Arduino-based, two-wheel robot comes with built-in sensors and actuators that are programmed via the Scratch graphical programming language. With the Ultimate DIY Arduino Robotics Bundle, you’ll be up and running in no time with mBot. This three-course, 22-hour bundle includes all the information you need to create your own programmable wheeled Arduino robot. Better…

Ugh, not again. You’re digging through the cupboard looking for that triangular mesh fabric to make a mechanoid death eater mask for your chihuahua and you can’t find a sheet of it to save your life. Put that little yappin’ dog in a bag of cheese puffs for a few minutes and check this out. Devin Montes of Make Anything has created some wonderful triangular mesh fabric you’re just going to love – like wrap yourself in it and roll around in the grass kind of love. He’s experimented with 87 different ways (give or take 20) to create a 3D printed plastic mesh and finally settled on a stellar…