Awesome Making

While most of the videos on the Internet that involve thermite end up destroying stuff, The Backyard Scientist decided to use the extremely hot concoction to fire a crucible for casting a sword. The result isn’t the most attractive looking thing, but still an effective weapon.

Bare Conductive’s Electric Paint Kit comes with an LED light, conductive paint and paper templates. It lets you make a touch-sensitive lamp, a motion-sensitive lamp and a dimmable lamp, no tools or computer needed. You can also use the LEDs in more complex projects.

Watch as artist Juliana LePine painstakingly sculpts an incredibly detailed clay sculpture of musician Freddie Mercury in one of his most iconic and victorious poses. We had no idea that sculptors started by building a skeleton before applying the skin and other details.

Builder Ivan Miranda shows off a unique remote-controlled vehicle he 3D printed that steers entirely by adjusting the direction of its thrust. The field test video demonstrates it’s lack of controllability, but we’re betting it would be fun on a frozen lake or skating rink.

Jewelry designer Patrick Adair wanted to see if he could make a chess piece from a block of carbon fiber, so he set about carefully carving one on his lathe. Now we want a full set of pieces made from the stuff.

Maker and demolition man Giaco Whatever no longer has a lawn, so he decided to turn his mower’s motor and blade into a massive blender. Along the way, he chops up some ping pong balls and some cans of Coke with spectacular results. The carnage starts at 5:49.

A look inside the studio at OVi Watch, where they use a combination of CNC carving and hand finishing to create sculpted timepieces from blocks of elm, cherry-tree, walnut, or teak wood. With a sapphire glass crystal and Swiss movement, they’re a steal, at under $200 each.

Grid Beams look and work a lot like Meccano girders, except they’re large and sturdy enough to make furniture, structures and other usable objects. They come in either recycled Douglas fir (with 5/16″ holes) or aluminum (with 7/16″ holes). Learn more in the Grid Beam book.

Super Deluxe introduces us to Eric Lindsey of Prosthetic Artists, Inc. to go inside the artistry of creating prosthetic eyes for people who have lost theirs. Each eye must not only be perfectly fitted, but must be precisely painted to match the patient’s natural eye characteristics.

Blackfish shows us how to create a really cool toy weapon which fires rolled up paper projectiles. Its rubber band powered revolver mechanism lets it fire up to eight darts without reloading. We assume you could expand on the idea and make one that fires more ammo.

Leica Camera shares footage from their spotless factory in Wetzlar, Germany, as technicians assemble their minimal new M10 digital rangefinder cameras. They may not have the mechanical complexity of film cameras, but the craftsmanship is still impeccable.

Today’s cotton candy is made by heating and spinning sugar using a motor. Eater host Clifford Endo is here to show you how to make it the old fashioned way, using a technique similar to noodles, hand-pulling inverted sugar to make thousands of hair-thin sugar strands.

GoldPointProps walks us through the process of creating an incredible replica of the Dark Lord’s infamous head gear using sheet metal, bending tools, tin snips, an arc welder, a Dremel, and a heaping helping of elbow grease.

Toy replicas of Dragon Ball Z‘s iconic Saiyan Scouter are a dime a dozen, but most of them use a headband to stay on your head. Foam lover Odin Abbott used craft materials to make a Scouter that hangs on his ear. The key is to add a piece that’s similar to earphone grips.

In the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok, the villain Hela destroys the god of thunder’s hammer, Mjölnir. Good thing Thor gets his hands on a pair of these thick alien swords. Man at Arms: Reforged replicated the blades via a CNC machine and good old forging.

We recently were given the unique opportunity to fly to Japan to visit Tohoku Pioneer Corporation’s factory. We learned how they design, engineer, and build some of the world’s best sounding speakers, from affordable car speakers to high-end audiophile equipment.

Primitive Technology shows us how to make a very simple blower that can easily keep a small furnace going. The blower is made of a stick, a rectangular piece of bark that acts as a rotor, and a length of twine that can be pulled to spin its blade.

Builder John Heisz shows us the steps required to transform a couple of simple blocks of wood into a wonderful decorative knife. It might not be a practical tool, but it sure looks pretty. Want to give it a try yourself? Grab the template here. A parts kit is also available.

Given where the Starks and Targaryens are headed on Game of Thrones, we thought it would be appropriate to share this duo of “making of” videos from Rextorn Metalwork, as they show how they handcrafted one of Dany’s dragon eggs, and the Stark’s direwolf sigil.

It’s not exactly the most mechanically complex build, but we still love the idea of YouTuber Goober’s (we made a rhyme!) spring-loaded cardboard and hot glue vending machine which can dispense up to five of your favorite candies with the push of a button.

We’ve seen how to make a claw machine from cardboard, but Seanscrafts’ version wasn’t exactly easy to operate with its string-based mechanism. Leave it to The Q to come up with a way to build a more refined machine that uses syringes, tubing, liquid, and popsicle sticks.

Senko Hanabi is a Japanese firework that is lit upside down and emits wonderful tiny sparks. Even though it’s made of commonly found materials, NighthawkInLight says he’s been working on it for 10 years and still hasn’t perfected the sparkler.

Ollari’s walks us through the process of transforming rough reclaimed wood into a gorgeous hand tool we’d be thrilled to have on our workbench. There are few things more satisfying on Earth than turning things on a lathe. Full build details on Instructables.