While Apple may be spending millions on advanced recycling robots that can disassemble iPhones and recover valuable metals for reuse, those who are motivated enough can recover their own metals from e-waste in their own backyard – provided they have some patience for the process and a whole lot of junk electronics. Starting with four and a half pounds of e-waste that was pulverized into a fine dust, Cody Reeder of the YouTube channel Cody’sLab demonstrates the process of sifting through the material with a gold pan before laboriously going back and forth between melting and extracting various metals – ultimately ending up with a tiny four milligram gold bead. Although the…
We’ve already made it clear that for those of you who have been on the fence about switching over to Fusion 360, taking advantage of today’s Amazon Prime Day deal of just $25 for a full year subscription (compared to $300) is a no-brainer, but it’s not the only good deal you can beckon from your Amazon Echo. While Amazon’s Prime Day – which is more or less a diabolically genius way of creating their own Black Friday – might not have everything on your wishlist, there are some good finds that just might be too good to pass up. We’re keeping an eye throughout the day, not only for…
In the “YOU MAKE IT WE SKATE IT” YouTube series, a group of skateboarders with a video camera and a penchant for material science create skateboard decks and accessories out of random objects to see if they ride or not. To date, this has included riding on everything from a flatscreen TV to a series of 3D printed wheels of various materials. More recently, the crew tested what just might be the worst possible idea in the history of boardsports: a skateboard made from glass. Presumably created from remolding an existing glass pane and drilling holes for the trucks, the board – while it looks slick – doesn’t quite hold up. In…
This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist knocks you in the pop sockets with head-boppin’ groove tuneage to help propel you through the work week in style. Whether you find yourself inking markers until they’re dry, grinding material through a bandsaw or working that 3D geometry all day, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. This week we’ll start things off with “Pinnacles” from Four Tet and work our way through Clams Casino, Washed Out, Kurt Vile, Mac Demarco, Roots Manuva and others before wrapping up with the new “Best to You” from Blood Orange. Have suggestions? As always, let us know what you listen to, what you want…
Unless you’ve been hiding under a (very deep) rock, we don’t need to get into specifics about Autodesk’s Fusion 360. That said, at $40 per month (or $300/year) for a professional subscription, the integrated CAD, CAM and CAE platform isn’t necessarily a bag of peanuts unless you’re committed to using it regularly. For those of you who have been on the fence about switching over to Fusion 360, Autodesk will be slashing the annual digital subscription price from $300 to just $25 (!) as a part of Amazon’s annual Prime Day today – that’s an impressive 91% off. Although professional users can always get a free trial for a limited…
With a knack for bringing inanimate objects to life, Los Angeles–based multimedia artist Neil Mendoza knows a thing or two about leveraging modern digital and mechanical technologies to his advantage. While previous projects include programming an orchestra of sixteen knives to perform the Bee Gees’ 1977 hit Stayin’ Alive and repurposing discarded mobile phones as robotic birds, his latest is perhaps the most useful – if you’re a hamster that is. With his ‘Hamster Powered Hamster Drawing Machine’, the artist finally brings workout–powered selfies to the animal kingdom with a little bit of DIY ingenuity and a Raspberry Pi. Starting with a simulation of the machine created in openFrameworks and Box2D,…