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. Fiverr Introduces ‘Fiverr Pro’ Platform for High-Caliber Design Talent With the announcement of Fiverr Pro this week, Fiverr is offering true professionals the chance to stand above the marketplace noise and…
Turned atop a sizzling plateau, dry and vast as the ice tunnels on the sixth moon of the Mizer galaxy, our capsule glided. The aft booster had gone, but we still had four, a sift torpedo, and the grappling beam. Not sure what hit us, but everything pointed to something spraying from the back orifices of these links. Col Price – Sure, we’ve featured his work a couple times, but Col has been busy this year, as you’ll see in his incredible new artwork over the past few months. InspiroBot – Need an inspiring photo and an inspiring quote. Let your mind relax and let A.I. create it for you.…
I’m trying out a new online service that hopes to enable makers to work together on open source hardware projects. 3D Orchard is a web service designed by three enthusiasts hoping to ignite the development of many more open source hardware projects. To that end, the service offers three features: A browser-based community-style 3D CAD system that’s quite simple to use A collection of 3D designs to share or modify A 3D print service hookup to get any 3D model printed Co-Founder Dan Meisner explains: We’ve built the CAD, and now we’re trying to make it easier for people fabricate their models. We’re trying to repeat the success of the…
In the wide world of manufacturing—from seamless iPhone assemblies to precision watch parts—who would have thought that the manufacturing of ping pong balls would be so dang fascinating to watch? Yes—the little plastic balls, which can often be found in packs of six at your local convenience store for less than $5, have a considerably more complicated and laborious production process than you might think. After all, when you’re smacking the heck out of a little plastic ball for hours on end with shots that need to be accurate every time, there’s a fine balance between precision and durability that can be easy to overlook. In any case, whether your…
Great things seem to happen when you put a video camera in the hands of somebody with fabrication knowledge. We’ve seen this numerous times before with Frank Howarth’s creative woodworking videos—not to mention a slew of other creative types. More recently, engineer Brett Foxwell, who also happens to work as an armature builder on such films as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Boxtrolls, created a mesmerizing piece of stop-motion work that follows various pieces of raw wood through a milling machine. The result is a breathtaking look at the complexities of wood growth over dozens of years—complexities that we’ve never quite seen like this before. https://vimeo.com/196683500 “WoodSwimmer is based…
Are you a dovetail-cuttin’ master? Chance are, old Peepaw (or maybe your high school shop class teacher) taught you the woodworkin’ ropes on ‘real’ woodworking equipment. We’re talking equipment before the days of neon green laser guides, table saws that stop automatically when you stick a wiener in front of the blade, and smartphone ‘measuring tape’ apps… But few woodworking tools are as badass as good old-fashioned hand tools; tools like the SUIZAN Japanese Dozuki Dovetail Hand Saw. Used by everybody from Japanese master woodworkers to our favorite YouTube woodworking star Frank Howarth, this Japanese-style pull saw is the perfect tool for cutting hard or abrasive woods such as maple,…