Awesome Hacks

If ajw61185’s flying scale model of an A-10 Warthog fighter wasn’t awesome enough, it’s got a cool trick up its sleeve – there’s a modded NERF Rival Zeus blaster inside, which can launch a dozen foam balls on command. You can see it fire at 1:02.

The Xbox One S just came out, and modder Ed Zarick has already transformed the console into laptop form. The slimmer, lighter console makes for a more portable machine than ever. It’s got a 19″ display built in, and a 4K HDMI output. Enter on twitter for a chance to win one.

Musician Rob Scallon proves that just because a musical instrument is designed for one thing, there’s no reason it can’t be used for another. We wonder if Flea would ever consider giving up his bass for one of these. Probably not.

PyroGirl turns into the Mother of Dragons with this awesome mod. You see, she took a toy figure of Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, and added a tiny flamethrower to it. Now the little guy can actually breathe fire, laying waste to everything standing in its way.

(LOUD) If you’ve ever used a Roomba vacuum cleaner in your house, you know that it’s not the speediest thing on Earth. Takuji Aoki’s modded version is not only much faster, but can even drive on grass. Even Roomba Shark Cat couldn’t hang on to this thing.

Paweł Zadrożniak’s complicated computer hardware orchestra consists of 64 floppy drives, 8 hard drives, and a flatbed scanner. Here it performs the song it was truly meant for, Darude’s 1999 hit Sandstorm. Seriously, the DJ should ditch his turntables, and tour with this.

While you could run out to the hardware store and just buy a leaf blower, there’s something to be said for making your own stuff. MrGear shows us how to turn a DVD spindle case, a soda bottle, a drink can, plastic pipe, a motor, and hot glue into a homebrew mini blower.

YouTuber DaveHax shows a simple way to use the ink from several markers to create a single marker which can gradually fade between the colors of the rainbow. Neat idea, but we wonder if the nib will eventually become a muddy grey mess.

If you’ve ever played the mobile music game Piano Tiles or its sequel, you know how the difficulty level ramps up quickly. Since his fingers couldn’t possibly keep up with ever increasing speed, DenverFinn built a robot to play the game on his behalf.

Builder Peter Brown melted together 256 Crayola crayons in a cake pan, then transformed the resulting block into a colorful flower vase using a drill press and a lathe. There’s something immensely satisfying about watching the waxy shavings go flying.

FoodBeast shows us how to transform one of life’s guilty food pleasures – an In-N-Out 4×4 burger with fries – into a delicious, if a bit messy, breakfast meal. We’re thinking you could just slap a fried egg on the burger and then wrap the whole thing in a tortilla.

While you probably won’t have all of the items needed to perform this hack in your duffel bag, it’s still pretty amazing to know that you can actually get a fire going with a lemon, some paper fasteners, and nails. Looks like Cave Johnson finally got his wish.

We’ve seen lots of fancy “making of” videos from blacksmiths making awesome metal weapons. But it turns out that with a mix of frozen water and layered toilet paper, you can make a sword that can also smash helpless fruits – at least until the sun melts it.

“Finding a better way is all I do. You’re welcome, world.” For once comedic inventor Simone Giertz made a machine that doesn’t threaten to maim her. It’s still a piece of crap, but hey, baby steps. Check out her Pop Sci article for more.

The whole point of NERF weapons is that they’re supposed to be harmless. But that didn’t stop weapon maker and modder Joerg Sprave from amping up the a NERF gun’s spring, and transforming the soft foam darts into deadly projectiles. We love Joerg’s maniacal laugh.

Watch musician Rob Scallon shred some tunes on an ordinary garden shovel that’s been converted into a one-string guitar. Given its rudimentary design, it plays surprisingly well. Keep an eye out on How to Make Stuff on 3/3/16 for DIY instructions.

YouTuber Mike created the world’s noisiest pencil sharpener by powering it with a remote-controlled car’s nitro engine. To paraphrase a commenter’s suggestion, we already have the engines. All we need is a big enough sharpener.

A while back we saw this fast way to wrap gifts with minimal cuts and tape. YouTuber BeatTheBush breaks down the wrapping technique so any of us can do it this holiday season. As one snarky commenter asked: “How do I gift wrap a ball in this manner???”

This clever build by Caliixxs is designed to serve a single, but hilarious purpose – to play those familiar musical soundbites from Seinfeld any time the door opens. We can picture Kramer barging in already.

While most Arduino-powered gadgets are either useful (or useless), this one is just deadly. YouTuber outaspaceman rigged up a servo-driven tentacle that does just one thing – it wildly thrashes around while wielding a knife.

The Crazy Russian Hacker shows off a simple trick which allows the pressure build-up from dry ice to pop out pieces of a pre-cut pumpkin. It’s a silly effect, but a fun Halloween party trick. We’re guessing that a more tightly sealed pumpkin would be much more explosive.

Foodbeast presents two handfuls of simple tips and tricks to make your beer drinking more enjoyable, from opening bottles without an opener, to keeping them cool, and making sure your drunk buddies don’t get their cooties on your drink.

Modder Matt Gruskin took one of those 1980’s Fisher Price cassette players and transformed it into a Bluetooth speaker for his iPhone. With the help of his mechanical and electronic knowhow, the buttons and volume know even work.