I recently broke down a used kid’s bike and was surprised how many cool materials I found that could be reused for other projects. Even just the parts taken from a single wheel could be reused a number of different ways.

This week, a Kalimba made from teeth, Arduino gives the Yun a second chance, hacking a greeting card sound machine, a giant button for $1, and 5 maker materials you can cut from a trash bike. This week’s Cool Tool is a Greeting Card Sound Player Module.

This Rothco G.I. type mechanics tool bag is around $16 on Amazon. Russel Brooks wrote a review of this bag for Cool Tools saying that these are similar to bags he was issued when he was in the Air Force in the ’70s. They’re made of a thick canvas with a heavy brass zipper, pockets on both sides, and small pockets lining the inside.

This Bernz-O-Matic Micro Flame Torch kit sells for $30 (here it is on Amazon), which isn’t cheap for a butane torch, but let me show you why this one is special.

These are plastic razor blades made by Scraperite. They come with a little holder. And what these are good for is any task where you need to delicately scrape something off of a surface that you don’t want to scratch up with conventional razor or palette knife.

This week on Maker Update, a MIDI compatible music box, alternative controller indie games at GDC, an Arduino for your knife, controlling your computer with zombie heads, free game developer software, and Hackspace issue 5. This week’s Cool Tool is the Makey Makey Kit.

The annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is a wonderfully outrageous, high tech fantasy land where corporations like Microsoft, Facebook, Sony and Google, hold court with their latest zombie-blasting simulators and VR headsets. But it has a secret.

Off in the back (technically in a whole separate building), away from the buzz and hustle of the main show floor, is a small cluster of 20 curated, one-of-a-kind games under a banner labeled “alt.ctrl”. Here, the creators of these games encourage people to come over and play their project. They call themselves Developers, but I see them as Makers like myself. People who take their fun from mixing equal parts Art and Engineering. 

This week on Maker Update, an automatic dice spinner, a desktop CT scanner, what taggers can teach us about permanent markers, and powering your Raspberry Pi from lithium iron phosphate. This week’s Cool Tool is the Krink K-70 Permanent Ink Marker.

This week on Maker Update, a mechanical hummingbird, the 2018 Hackaday Prize, a tour of Fab Lab Barcelona, casting metal from 3D prints, and getting started with Arduino without an Arduino. This week’s Cool Tools is 3M Virtua CCS Protective Eyewear.

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This week on Maker Update, rolling your own split-flap display, the unholy union of Furby and Alexa, customized fan grilles and a walnut box with a foam core secret. This week’s Cool Tool is the Joe Knows Electronics Resistor Starter Kit.