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Awesome Making

Adam Savage’s Hardware Storage Setup

Adam Savage’s Hardware Storage Setup

After prototyping a system for organizing the hardware in his workshop (aka “The Cave”), Adam Savage put his nose to the grindstone and built the entire setup. The rolling storage system has a plywood frame and custom-built metal shelves that slide out and hold Sortimo boxes for easy access to parts. It was immensely satisfying to see it all come together.

Making a Viking Shield

Making a Viking Shield

The Vikings made many interesting weapons, armor, and other battle gear. In this video from metalsmith Freerk Wieringa, he handcrafts a replica of an ancient Viking shield. He starts by hammering its iron center and forging nails. He then cuts wooden planks into a circle and adds canvas, paint, and a rawhide edge before attaching the metal dome.

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Turning Steel Bolts into a Combination Lock

Turning Steel Bolts into a Combination Lock

Iron and steel are the most recyclable materials on Earth. So it’s no wonder we often see items made by melting and reforging metal. In this video from Maker B, the machinist shows us how he took an assortment of steel bolts and removed their threads to create the parts for a working combination lock – no melting required. He made the dial from a brass rod.

Making a Gummy Bear Axe Handle

Making a Gummy Bear Axe Handle

A few years back, maker Peter Brown attempted to build an axe with a handle made from gummy bears and resin. Unfortunately, it turned into a sticky mess after sanding. Now he’s back to try it again, but this time he molded his own faux gummies from resin so they’d hold up better to the process.

Precision Machining a Tiny Vacuum Engine

Precision Machining a Tiny Vacuum Engine

A vacuum engine moves due to air pressure on one side of its piston and a partial vacuum on the other. The simplest example uses a flame on one side of the piston to create these conditions. W&M Levsha shows the process of making a working miniature of this kind of engine using brass, aluminum, and precision machining techniques.

Making an Industrial Machinist’s Chair

Making an Industrial Machinist’s Chair

Maker Neil Paskin returned to his workshop to build another great piece of functional craft. He fabricated this vintage-style industrial chair using hand-cut and bent steel for its legs and support structure and gently curved wood for its back and seat. We love how he made his own plywood from reclaimed floorboards.

Making a Nail Wave Machine

Making a Nail Wave Machine

The Karakuri Channel loves to make unique mechanical art. This time, they designed and built a gadget that turns nearly 300 brass nails into a moving wave. To make it work, they removed the tip of each nail and attached a sleeve and a ball bearing. A motor turns interchangeable discs against the balls to create wave patterns. Watch with subtitles.

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Building Leonardo DaVinci’s Crossbow Machine Gun

Building Leonardo DaVinci’s Crossbow Machine Gun

While best known for his paintings, Leonardo DaVinci also invented many imaginative machines. Among his ideas was a crazy weapon that could fire 16 crossbows in a row. How to Make Everything took DaVinci’s drawings and built a real-world replica of the weapon. It works surprisingly well, but loading the thing seems like a precarious process.

Making a Copper-Sheathed Dagger

Making a Copper-Sheathed Dagger

In this video from metalworker Koss, he shows how he created a sleek, modern dagger. He meticulously machined its tapered blade from W1-7 high-carbon steel and crafted its handle and matching sheath from hollow copper tubing. Its shape reminds us of a letter opener, but this is a serious knife. We love the bevel detailing on the ends.

Making Iron Man’s Self-Healing Armor

Making Iron Man’s Self-Healing Armor

Iron Man had armor that was able to fix itself after a fight. JLaservideo took a stab at making real-world armor pieces that heal themselves after being heated, thanks to Nitinol – a nickel-titanium alloy with the ability to return to a programmed shape after being bent. The material is expensive and hard to work with, but Tony Stark could afford it.

Making a Mood Ring Car

Making a Mood Ring Car

Ali Spagnola thought making her car change colors like a gigantic mood ring would be fun. So she sprayed it with thermochromic liquid crystal paint. This stuff doesn’t show if she’s happy or sad but instead reacts to changes in temperature. If you’re wondering what those discs are on her car, they’re the 9,000 PopSockets she attached in a previous video.

Making a 3D-Printed Toilet

Making a 3D-Printed Toilet

Emily the Engineer, proves yet again that just because something CAN be done doesn’t mean it SHOULD be. She recently got a bee in her bonnet about 3D printing a toilet. Before printing the full-size version in pieces, she made a working scale model. After she got the real deal working, she started adding a bunch of unnecessary features.

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Making Literal Pallet Wood Coasters

Making Literal Pallet Wood Coasters

Paul Jackman has made a lot of drink coasters out of recycled pallet wood. This time, he made a bunch of coasters that look exactly like real pallets. After designing a 1:10-scale model on his computer, he got to work fabricating 200 of the tiny replicas, complete with laser-engraved logos. You can grab a 2-pack on the ISOTunes website for $50.

Making a Wood Minigun

Making a Wood Minigun

Despite only firing rubber bands, we would not want to be on the business end of this wooden minigun. Generic Woodworking shows off the incredible amount of blood, sweat, and tears it took to build this impressive toy weapon. It uses parts from a lawn trimmer and a belt sander to drive its mechanism, and makes an unnerving popping sound as it fires off rounds.

Cardboard Jet Gas Blaster

Cardboard Jet Gas Blaster

The S is back with another really cool looking cardboard weapon. The laser-cut blaster looks like something straight out of a sci-fi first-person shooter, and fires projectiles by igniting small bursts of butane gas stored in water bottles hidden inside its ringed cardboard cylinders.

Making a Lost PLA Bronze Skull

Making a Lost PLA Bronze Skull

Robinson Foundry shows how he took a digital 3D model of a human skull and used it to create a cast bronze sculpture. The Lost PLA method starts by making a 3D-print, coating it with a ceramic material, kiln-firing it to harden it and melt away the plastic, then filling it with molten metal and eventually chipping away the casting.

Making a Bass from Colored Pencils

Making a Bass from Colored Pencils

Burls Art has created a few guitar bodies from colored pencils. This time, he made a 5-string bass using a similar technique. Before sealing the pieces in resin, he sorted and grouped the colors and fanned them out into a bold, angular design. He also added a timer to the video to show how long it took to build.

Building a Fake Bugatti from Junk

Building a Fake Bugatti from Junk

A Bugatti Chiron costs at least $2 million. To save money, Steven Song and a team of builders made their own Bugatti using junkyard parts. They started with a busted-out Pontiac G6, then built a custom metal frame, sculpted a mesh and foam form, and covered it with Bondo. It wasn’t without setbacks, but they eventually finished the Walmart Bugatti.

Hammering Hammerheads

Hammering Hammerheads

We never really thought about it before, but some hammers are made with other hammers. This video from Process X takes us inside a small tool factory in Japan to see how a skilled blacksmith makes various traditional hammer heads by forging steel and shaping each one using a pneumatic power hammer and hand tools.

Weird Airplane Experiments

Weird Airplane Experiments

Peter Sripol is no stranger to making unusual aircraft. In this video, he builds and tests out three weird designs for airworthiness, including a plane with a fuselage made from springs, a propeller that works like a tank tread, and a ridiculous set of wings that resemble Venetian blinds.

Making a Motorcycle out of Junk

Making a Motorcycle out of Junk

Jake Carlini wanted a motorcycle but didn’t have the budget to buy a real one. Instead, he decided he’d build his own using various bits of junk and trash he found in his garage. He made its frame out of steel signposts and scrap wood and powered it with a cheap electric scooter motor from China.

DIY Floating Hot Tub Boat

DIY Floating Hot Tub Boat

Hot tubs are great, but the view you get while soaking remains static. If you want to see more of the world while you warm up, you need a hot tub boat. While you could spend thousands on one of Yacht Tubs’ professionally-built boats, David Rule shows us how it’s possible to build your own with stuff you can buy at the hardware store.

Making a Knife from Sparklers

Making a Knife from Sparklers

Our ability to reclaim and reuse metal means it’s possible to make knives and tools out of all kinds of stuff. Knives Project shows us how they burnt the explosive coating off a bunch of sparklers, then twisted and forged the remaining metal rods to create a uniquely patterned blade.

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