Awesome Hacks

GingerofMods shows off an amazing portable game system that he built using parts from a Nintendo Wii. The trick to building the handheld was cutting up the Wii’s original circuit board and wiring them together with a mix of custom boards and circuits designed by Ginger and others in the modding community.

Grind Hard Plumbing Co. continues to upgrade and retrofit their insane 100hp Power Wheels Jeep. For extra winter fun, they swapped out its tires and replaced them with Camso UTV tracks that can tear through snow like it’s nothing. Though they don’t seem to be the most durable things.

Now that Hacksmith Industries is done playing around with their jet-powered canoe, they’re ready for something better suited to winter sports. Rather than start from scratch, they swiped one of the jet engines from the boat and attached it to the rear end of a snowboard. If the idea seems familiar, it’s because it’s a remake.

The whole idea behind SD and MicroSD cards is that they’re small enough to carry around in your pocket. But that also means they’re easy to lose. Useless Mod solved this problem by building a 10x size scale replica of a SanDisk SDXC memory card that’s guaranteed not to get lost, and actually works as a storage device.

The guys from Braille Skateboarding love to test out unusual skateboards. In this clip, they show off an insane custom board with 10 trucks and 20 wheels. You might think that would make it faster, but all of those wheels increase friction and also mess with its maneuverability. Still, it’s fun to watch them attempt to ride this mutant.

The guys from Russia’s Garage 54 are usually trashing cars for fun and profit. But in this video, they decided to build a form of transportation from scratch – a flying carpet-slash-hovercraft. It lifts off the ground using 10 car heater fans powered by a pair of big batteries. It looks like a ton of fun gliding across the snow.

If you had to pick the most simultaneously annoying and disturbing thing you can buy, it would have to be Big Mouth Billy Bass. Simon the Magpie modified one of these singing fish novelties and incorporated it into a bass guitar. Billy not only can slap the strings with his tail but has been circuit bent to produce some insane noises.

You don’t see vector-based video games these days, but there was something really cool about systems like the Vectrex and games like BattleZone. Electronics wiz Mixtela was longing for the days of vector graphics too, so he built himself an impressive little system, complete with game cartridges. More details here.

We’re not sure if they’re street legal, but we think every car should have taillights like the ones on this 1991 Nissan Skyline GTS-4. Steve Molans of Skeptik Innovations built these custom lights which use RGB LEDs and mirrors to create an infinite effect and can change colors. They still work as normal brake lights and turn indicators.

William Sun Petrus took an old 1920s Remington Portable typewriter and modded it into an electronic drum machine. Basically, it works as a MIDI controller, so it can play whatever sounds he loads into Ableton. He had to remix the live audio so you could hear it over the mechanical clacking sounds though.

See-through computer screens are a staple of sci-fi design. While they look really cool, they’re not the most practical way to view content. Still, makers Evan and Katelyn wanted to give it a try, set to building their own by modding a standard LCD screen, removing its LED backlight and polarizing filter, then building a new frame for it.

William Sun Petrus previously showed off a vintage manual typewriter that he converted into a drum machine. Since it’s really just working as a MIDI controller, the keyboard can be used to play any digital instrument, in this case, the fat synths from The Weeknd’s hit Blinding Lights. That’s a Novation Launchpad S to the right.

Last time we checked in with musician Mezerg, he was playing the watermelon. This time, he performs on a more conventional instrument – though Voël Martin rigged up this upright piano with an electronic circuit and pumps that dispense a variety of juices and liquor to make a custom cocktail based on the notes he plays.

Using an ordinary computer keyboard as a starting point, maker SKM managed to create a fully-functional keyboard that’s made out of cardboard and popsicle sticks. We’re not sure how long it will last, but it’s definitely more functional than his cardboard mechanical typewriter.

NERF modder Coop772 combined three Rival Nemesis blasters into a tripod-mountable turret that’s perfect for the old spray-and-pray tactic. Thanks to a custom hopper on top, the triple gun can rapidly load up to 1200 rounds with minimal user intervention.

Joel Creates previously showed off two different designs for a weapon that can fire hot glue. Now, to prove that the third time’s a charm, he created an even more dangerous version. It’s basically like a Super Soaker, except it shoots a stream of molten glue instead of water. Needless to say, don’t try anything like this at home.

In order to improve his hit distance, engineer Shane Wighton Stuff Made Here created a baseball bat with the ultimate sweet spot. If hit just right, explosive charges fire, pushing a piston forward, and launching the baseball into home run territory. Along the way, he shows off his fancy new Tormach 24r mill.

Electric bicycles are a fast and fun way to get around. However, they have limited range due to their small battery packs. Peter Sripol wanted to see if he could build an eBike that never needs recharging as long as the sun is shining. The downside? The trailer of solar panels he has to drag along. Build starts at 2:20.

If you’ve ever been in a NERF war, you know it can be a pain to pick up the ammo lying all over the ground. Out of Darts shows us how a tool designed for picking up acorns does the trick brilliantly – especially when it comes to those NERF Rival balls. And it handily beats NERF’s own picker-upper.

With COVID-19 running rampant, it’s a very good idea to wear a mask. Face shields are also part of our defense against the virus. Well thanks to Andy Clockwise, we now know how to make a quick and easy face shield using nothing more than the box from a package of Krispy Kreme donuts and some tape.

Maker of things The Q has been on a bit of a roll lately, producing all kinds of nifty things for us to enjoy. Watch as he takes a copper coin, flattens it out, and turns the sheet metal into a working “paper” airplane. While it isn’t one of his more complex builds, it’s still a cool build.

Using a thermal sensor module out of a FLIR One smartphone module and some Zeiss Cinemizer goggles, The Hacksmith and engineering intern Ben managed to create a Predator-inspired helmet that actually displays heat and infrared vision just like what the creepy movie creature saw when it gazed upon on the world.

Tool company Litheli recently sent a bunch of their cordless power tools to the guys at The Hacksmith. Rather than use the chainsaws, leafblowers, and battery packs for their intended purposes, they strapped them to a couple of drift trikes to provide them with electric propulsion. They’re not fast, but it’s a fun build regardless.