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Print your own LEGO Technic-compatible parts
Eleven years ago, I released LEGO.scad, an OpenSCAD library for generating 3D-printable LEGO-compatible bricks. Today, I present to you Technic.scad, an OpenSCAD library for generating 3D-printable LEGO Technic-compatible parts. Technic.scad can generate axles, pins, pin connectors, hubs, beams, bushings, elbows, gears, tires and wheels. All of the pieces are customizable, so you could generate nearly…
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X for Y Programmers
I’ve been programming in primarily PHP for the last 20 years, and sadly, most of the fun new projects do not use PHP. While the mechanics of every programming language are generally the same (except for you, Haskell), the idioms vary — how do you loop through lists, how do you clone an object, etc.…
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A cabinet for art supplies and arf supplies
This weekend, I finished building a craft cabinet to hold all of our kids’ art supplies; plus, it has a built-in faucet for refilling our dog’s water dish so we don’t have to carry it to the sink every day. The faucet for the dog dish is spring-loaded, so it only runs while it’s being…
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Today’s Functional Print: Fitting round cups in a square drawer
I recently learned about Gridfinity, a modular open-source storage system created by Zack Freedman. It uses a baseplate grid of 42mm squares; you can 3D-print pre-existing bin designs, or you can design your own custom containers to fit into the grid. Our silverware drawer has been in flux since I remodeled our kitchen in 2023,…
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Today’s Functional Print: Baluster Retrofit Hardware
I’m in the process of remodeling the stairway in my house. I wanted to replace the old wooden balusters, some of which had broken and been repaired multiple times, with new metal balusters. Pictured above: the old balusters, minus the most-recently broken one that is missing. Ignore the green tape and in-progress trim. The old…
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Today’s Functional Print: Filter Cage for the Blueair Blue Pure 311 Auto Air Purifier
The Blueair Blue Pure 311 Auto air purifier requires a plastic cage to support the filter. Theoretically, if you accidentally throw away the plastic cage when you change the filter, you will be unable to use the air purifier. Theoretically, if you have a friend with a 3D printer, you could ask them to design…
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I designed a clothes rack that can be made out of one sheet of plywood
My wife manages a free clothing warehouse for foster children and parents; consequently, she needs lots of sturdy clothing racks that: To meet this need, I designed and built a rack that accommodates up to 288″ of hanging space in a 30″ x 75″ footprint, and it costs one sheet of plywood plus the cost…
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Today’s Functional Print: Radio Knobs
Our GMC Acadia has a habit of losing its knobs. Luckily, Thingiverse user redpelon had the same problem and designed replacement knobs. I printed a pair and they fit perfectly.
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Today’s Functional Print: Microwave Feet
You know how your microwave slides around on the countertop because its hard plastic feet don’t grip on the smooth quartz? Same! To solve this problem, I had tried putting little adhesive pads under the existing feet, but the surface area was too small to resist the force of the door opening and shutting. So,…
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I made a spice cabinet slash measuring cup cabinet slash measuring spoon cabinet
Ever since we finished remodeling our kitchen, we had been storing our spices in a drawer using an organization method known as “a pile.” I promised my wife I would build a cabinet to organize the spices, so I did: The spice shelves are adjustable; I also included a magnetic bar to hold the measuring…
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Today’s Functional Print: A Custom Birdseed Funnel
We have a birdfeeder that looks like a barn, and you refill it by pouring birdseed through the chimney. This is prone to spilled seed, and a regular funnel often clogs with the larger sunflower seeds. To solve this, I designed and printed a custom square funnel: It’s square to both create the largest possible…
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Metermaid: Easy Water Meter Tracking, Powered By WordPress
My house’s water is supplied by a well. This well is shared with a dozen other houses, all of which have water meters to track usage. Several years ago, I was volunteered to be the president of this water association, and with this position came the responsibility for tracking water usage to ensure that we’re…
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Typo.js in your iOS game? It’s more likely than you think.
Developer Reza Boroushaki has released Parola, a word puzzle game for iOS that uses my spellchecker library Typo.js to power its gameplay. Try it out and think of me while you build your vocabulary!
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I Designed and Built a Simple Roll-Out Chicken Nesting Box
Chickens lay eggs — this much is true. Chickens also eat eggs — this much is also true. If you want to have chickens, and you want to have eggs, you need to either quickly collect them or prevent the chickens from reaching them. I designed and built a simple plywood nesting box that allows…
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Cooking Around the World: Canada
There’s nothing more Canadian than poutine: fries covered in cheese curds and gravy. I also bought some pulled pork as an additional topping option, but it was unnecessary. Previous Entries in Cooking Around the World
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Cooking Around the World: Cameroon
For our Cameroonian dish, I made Poulet D. G. It’s essentially chicken braised in a parsley/onion sauce. The chicken was nice and juicy (I used thighs), but I found the sauce to be pretty bland, which was surprising given how much onion, garlic, and parsley was in it. It also didn’t photograph especially well.
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Cooking Around the World: Cambodia
For our culinary trip to Camboda, I made Char Kroeung Sach Ko, a stir-fried beef dish containing lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves, and turmeric. I wasn’t able to find galangal, but it turned out ok. I probably overcooked the beef and cooked at at too low of a temperature though. We ate it over rice noodles.
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Run Your Own Television Network with Channel Two
YouTube allows anyone to be the star in their own television show, but the true dream job of every little girl and boy has still been out of reach: Vice President of Program Scheduling. But today, that dream becomes reality. Channel Two is a web application I’ve written that allows you to run your own…
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All the LEGO ‘Round Here
Ben Zvan has very helpfully added support for round LEGO bricks to my LEGO modeling library, LEGO.scad. To circle your squares, specify type=’round’ in your call to block(). Thanks Ben!
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Cooking Around the World: A Date With Banana Cake
The Internet is not awash with genuine Burundi cuisine recipes, so I settled for this allegedly Burundian banana and date cake recipe from Travel By Stove to satisfy the Burundi requirement of my Cooking Around the World challenge. The result was basically pound cake with bananas and dates in it, so not bad.
Got any book recommendations?