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 stories on SolidSmack this past week.
Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too.
5 Tips on How To Save Money When Backing a Kickstarter Project
We cover our fair share of Kickstarter projects here at Solidsmack. Some projects, like the heavy-duty COMBAR and the problem-solving Triggers Cards, are lucky enough to receive full funding and get shipped to their backers in a timely manner. Others? Well, not so much.
Behind the Design: The Making of a Ginormous Overwatch Cosplay Costume
You may think creating cosplay (the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game) costumes involves locking yourself up in a garage and making do with whatever spare hardware supplies are lying around—and you wouldn’t be far from correct! A lot of good cosplayers do precisely this; but with a little inspiration and a lot of dedication, they can go above and beyond to bring their favorite characters to life.
This Simple Wood Dowel Puzzle Is Easier to Make Than It Is to Solve
For some strange reason, humans sure love to knock themselves on the head with countless mind puzzles. The Rubik’s Cube, Chess—heck, even Candy Crush are all examples of how we have a penchant for exercising our minds in different ways.
Behind the Design: Repurposing Old Skateboards into a Bluetooth Boombox
Repurposing old materials and using them to create something new—also known as Upcycling— is a great idea. Rather than throwing out those used materials, they can be utilized for many ingenious projects if you’re willing to stretch that creative muscle enough.
Autonomous Robot Intelligence Now Tested with IKEA Furniture Builds
From the terrifying Terminator-like models from Boston Dynamics to the slightly less terrifying ice cream-serving Yaskawa-kun in Japan, there’s no denying that the age of robot assistance is upon us. That said, just like humans—no two robot models are the same. And what better way to test the dexterity of one robot from another than the old IKEA furniture assembly experience—itself a test of sorts for human dexterity?
The SwissMak 5-Axis Desktop CNC Wants to Be Your Ultimate Prototyping Machine
When you typically think of a CNC machine, you’re likely to envision a gigantic monstrosity that makes its home in a corner of a factory and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. I mean, you wouldn’t be wrong.
