Rudolph’s Sleigh On A North Pole PCB

Each Christmas, [Adam Anderson], [Daniel Quach], and [Johan Wheeler] (meanwhile going by ‘the Janky Jingle Crew’)—set themselves the challenge of outdoing their previous creations. Last…

3D Printed Blaster Does It With Compliant Components

The ease of integrating bendy parts into designs is one of 3D printing’s strengths. A great example of this is [uhltimate]’s six-shot blaster which integrates several compliant mechanis…

Walkie Talkies, Jedi Style: Building A Communicator

Playing Star Wars Outlaws sparked an idea with [3DSage]: why not recreate the game’s wrist communicator as a functioning gadget? Inspired by the relatively simplistic design, he and his frien…

Tiny PONG, Big Ambitions: World’s Smallest Arcade

London, Ontario college student [Victoria Korhonen] has captured the attention of tech enthusiasts and miniaturization lovers with her creation of what might be the world’s smallest arcade machine.…

Do 3D Printers Dream Of LEGO Sheep?

Imagine the power to clone your favorite LEGO piece—not just any piece, but let’s say, one that costs €50 second-hand. [Balazs] from RacingBrick posed this exact question: can a 3D scanner re…

Stepping On LEGO For Science

You might say that the worst LEGO to step on is any given piece that happens to get caught underfoot, but have you ever thought about what the worst one would really be? For us, those little caltro…

Barbie’s Video Has Never Looked So Good

For those who missed it, there’s been something of a quiet revolution in the world of analogue video over the last year, due to the arrival of inexpensive “MiniDVR” devices. These…

The Turing Machine Made Real, In Lego

The British mathematician and pioneer of computing Alan Turing published a paper in 1936 which described a Universal Machine, a theoretical model of a computer processor that would later become kno…

An ESP32 Delivers Perfect Slot Car Control

If your memory of slot cars as a childhood toy is of lightweight controllers with wire-wound rheostats inside, then you’re many years behind the state of the art when it comes to competitive …

Real Time Hacking Of A Supermarket Toy

Sometimes those moments arise when a new device comes on the market and hardware hackers immediately take to it. Over a few days, an observer can watch them reverse engineer it and have all sorts o…

3D Printed RC Crane Has Epic 3-Foot Reach

Have you ever looked out the window at traffic and seen a giant crane driving alone the road? Have you ever wanted a little 3D printed version you could drive for yourself without the risk of demol…

Taking A Spirograph Mill For A Spin

Spirographs can make some pretty groovy designs on paper, but what if you want to take it a step further? [Uri Tuchman] has used the pantograph on his milling machine to duplicate the effect in har…

Driven To Over-Engineer A Kids’ Car

You know, it feels as though it’s getting more and more difficult to compete for Father of the Year around here. And [Jon Petter Skagmo] just laid down a new gauntlet — the incredibly o…

Talking Milk Jug Says Glug-Glug-Glug

Children can be a great source of daily inspiration, especially when they are just beginning to speak in full sentences and starting to let their little personalities show. [Franklinstein] has the …

Make A Catch With A 3D Printed Rod

When we think of fishing rods, the image brought to mind is one of a tweed-clad fisherman in his waders in a wild salmon stream, his line whipping about as it guides the fly over the surface of the…

Help The LEGO Camera Become A Reality

Some time over a year ago, we told you about a camera. Not just any camera, but a fully-functional 35mm film camera made entirely of LEGO, and with a pleasingly retro design into the bargain. It&#8…

Stemfie, The 3D-Printable Construction Set

Construction kit toys are cited by many adults as sparking great creativity and engineering talent in their youth. LEGO, Meccano, K’NEX, Lincoln Logs—these are all great commercial options. B…

RC Submarine Build Starts With Plenty Of Research

[Ben]’s a 15-year-old who loves engineering and loves taking on new challenges. He’s made some cool stuff over the years, but the high water mark (no pun intended) has to be this impres…

Cardboard R/C Plane Actually Flies

Many makers start by building mock-ups from cardboard, but [Alex-08] has managed to build an R/C plane that actually flies, out of cardboard. If you’ve been thinking of building an R/C plane …

OSHW Model Rocket Kit Embraces The Hexagon

If you’ve ever built a model rocket, you’ll know there’s not a whole lot to them. Essentially it’s a cardboard tube, a plastic nosecone, some fins, and a little clip that wi…