This week on Maker Update, a steering wheel for your Xbox controller, a new tax on filament, Adafruit reinvents the MEGA, two new 3D printed r/c boat designs, robot operation, a LEGO battery pack, a project board for Halloween, and drilling at a right-angle.

This week on Maker Update, a laser cut split-flap weather station, a hacker-improved insulin pump, TensorFlow machine learning comes to the Raspberry Pi, Barbie eats sushi, a neon sign from LEDs, an orbital lab shaker, a googly gear monster, velocity painting, wet sanding, braising, SVG tracing and CNC stitching.

This week on Maker Update, an LED filament clock, a pool noodle robot rover, a scream that screams back at you, a motorized Flippy crawler, 7 vintage toy robot designs you can 3D print, a project packaging generator, and a mini metal chop saw.

Tools: LED Light Weight Magnifier with 5 Lenses
http://amzn.to/2uDdG90

Transcript

For this week’s Cool Tools review, I’m going to show off these wearable magnifying glasses. These run around $14 on Amazon, and by using the link in the video description you help to support my videos and the Cool Tools blog.

I bought these a year ago looking for a way to get a better look at soldering up small stuff. They really are perfect for those times when you’re wiring or painting or glueing up something tiny and delicate. Plus there’s a little LED on the front that helps put a little extra light on things.

This time around, I’m going to show you a tool recommended by Adam Savage on episode 57 of the Cool Tools podcast. This is a spokeshave. You can get one on Amazon for around $35. 

This week on Maker Update, a TV for lazy people, a Lego Crickit rover, milk jug skulls, an EL nixie clock, a boat, a box, a rock tumbler, LED holders, and Tinkercad’s new Fusion feature.

This week on Maker Update, a 100 foot slip and slide, two kinds of zoetrope, an open source test tube rocker, car lock pinball, a new issue of Make, diffusing LEDs, and a chance to win one of my favorite maker books.

The Kreg Rip-Cut Circular Saw Guide (Amazon link) is a $32 guide for a circular saw. It’s great if you have a small workshop, or no workshop.

If you have a table saw, there’s probably no reason to buy this. But if you have a small garage like mine and you don’t want to surrender the space and money to have a table saw, this and a circular saw are an effective way to accurately break down sheets of wood.

This is review is for the Dremel Versa Tip butane soldering torch (Amazon link). It’s sells for around $38 on Amazon Prime. This is a portable soldering iron/heat gun/hot cutter/wood burning tool, that runs on butane. You click to light it, use the lock to keep the flame on, and then you adjust it for the temperature you need.

This week on Maker Update, an RC strandbeest that shoots fireworks, Raspbian gets an update, a shape-shifting dragon drone, motorized cocktail umbrellas, warped audio boxes, cardboard techniques, the Adafruit Feather M4 Express, making custom LEDs, and does Bob Clagett have too much glue?