This week on Maker Update, a shot-pouring elephant, Arduino and ARM, 3d printed linear motion, and Too $hort cat. This week’s Cool Tool is Long Nose 4-inch Vise Grip Pliers. 

This week on Maker Update, a vintage GIF cam, a fidget spinner art machine, sketching the sky, using a flap disc, black hot glue, and MagPi 62. Our Cool Tool is this Sanding Flap Disc.

This week on Maker Update, a backlit map with epoxy water, the Prusa MK3, two new Arduino boards, a Pocket Beagle, Dremel’s answer to Glowforge, and printable tools. This week’s Cool Tool is the Robo-Grip 7″ Curved Jaw Pliers.

This week on Maker Update, a giant AT-AT made from foam board, the Goliath CNC robot, embossing your notebook, affordable addressable LED strip, a software update for your knitting machine, and World Maker Faire. This week’s Cool Tool is WS2812b LED strip.

[Editors’ note: This same tutorial was originally published as an Instructable. I’m publishing it here for posterity.]

The quality and design of project boards has become so good in recent years, that I almost feel bad putting them together. In this guide, I’m going to show you a simple soldering technique that can make the back of your boards look as nice as the front. You’ll learn how to make perfectly smooth, consistent solder joints that look impossibly tidy.

This week on Maker Update, a Pi-powered Rubik’s cube-solving robot, hacking your own tabletop pinball machine, a look at Fiber Fix tape, and a new issue of Make magazine. This week’s Cool Tool is Fiber Fix repair tape.

This week on Maker Update, an enchanted talking tiki totem pole, my trip to OSH Park and Metrix Makerspace, a retro lightbox, and why you need flush cutters. This week’s Cool Tool is the Hakko CHP-170 Flush Cutter.

This week on Maker Update, spiral stairs, the Trinket M0, a glove that tracks high-fives, Charlotte the drawbot, an essential bit of road trip tech, and a tip for storing filament. This week’s Cool Tool is the BESTEK 300W Power Inverter.

This week on Maker Update, a servo robot puppet, Raspbian moves to Stretch, a YouTube Live camera, giant gold bricks, trauma shears, and pouring your own knobs. This week’s Cool Tool is a pair of Fluoride Coated Medical Shears.