Fun & Games

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.

Gorgeous tri-copter project

Tom’s Guide has a detailed project article for this amazing camera-equipped tri-copter R/C flier. The piece takes you through the design and build process, from inception of the idea, through building and troubleshooting, to the finished flier. Very cool. Make Your Own Gadget: From Idea To Reality In case you missed it, we are currently […]

How-To: Build a cargo bike

How-To: Build a cargo bike

After a trip to Copenhagen, Instructable user carkat saw that a lot of people used cargo bikes (with a cargo area in the front) to transport their kids around. He couldn’t afford to buy such a bike, so he cannibalized a couple of junkers, some square steel tubing, and some some sort of what looks […]

Spirograph from old CD-ROM

Spirograph from old CD-ROM

I had the very great pleasure of meeting Ari Krupnik at the recent Bay Area Maker Faire. Among other cool toys, Ari was showing off his “RecycloGraph,” which is a two-piece Spirograph (Wikipedia) milled from an old CD on Ari’s ShopBot. Once he’s milled the profile, Ari turns the plastic over and etches words or graphics in the metal foil using a CNC laser. Ari’s selling them now using a “name your price” PayPal widget on his website.

Phone-controlled Lego 8×8 Volvo truck

Phone-controlled Lego 8×8 Volvo truck

Our stringer for all things R/C, Francesco Fondi, sent us word of this amazing Lego/ NXT-based Bluetooth and phone-controlled Volvo 8×8 truck: This is a really impressive creation from ATRX, the same AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) behind the NXT Boat. This Volvo FL12, version 8×8 features all wheel drive, 4-wheel steering, full double wishbone […]