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Candle holders based on stones from that movie people like

How I designed and 3D printed a robot-themed diamond ring.

Or: Making a Raygun in 42 Easy Steps

There are precious few occasions where it’s socially acceptable to wear (or own, for that matter), a nice pair of goggles. So of course I started making them. Here’re my favorites.

You know when you’re trying to hide beef jerky in a treasure chest, but the lock just isn’t musical enough? And when your old-timey pirate chest is somehow lacking in Zelda references? This practical project was built to address those concerns and more.

The Distraction Contraption is a custom arcade machine I designed and made in 2011 as a gift to myself. It was built around an old computer using laser-cut MDF, acrylic, and salvaged electronics.

My friend was getting married, and asked me to help make a photobooth. The reception was going to be in the woods, so it needed to be lightweight, and work without an outlet.

I’ve heard that the best reason to make things is to give them away as gifts, and I completely agree. I doodled a little robot one day and thought it looked pretty cool.

Next time you’re perusing your local independent bookstore, pick up a copy of “The Big Book of Maker Skills.” It’s an excellent tome by Chris Hackett, the editors of Popular Science, some friends I worked with at Make, and yours truly.

I’ve managed to be in a lot of Make how-to videos. Each one was pretty fun to do, in it’s own way. Here are my top favorites:

Years ago, I went to an art-based boarding school. Years later, they sent out a call for an alumni art exhibition. The prompt was to create any piece at all based on the school. I’d been doing a lot of 3D printing lately, so I thought it fitting to make a digital sculpture.

I designed and printed a morph ball for a Sphero toy. Something about the art of Metroid just has a way of sticking in my brain, I guess. For some reason I couldn’t find anyone else making a real-life morph ball, so I went and made it happen.   It lights up pretty well during... Read more »

Here’s another fun thing that happened at Make: We had an excellent noisemaker project. It’s not very often you run across a compelling analog noise making circuit, but this one made all kinds of cool sound effects from 70’s sci-fi shows. The noises were fantastic, but sound didn’t exactly read well in print. So I designed... Read more »

Fun fact, I’ve done some work at an underground blog called Make. For those who doubt me, here is some proof:

I built a custom upright arcade machine. This was for the lobby of a design firm, so it had to be slick. It’s a beast.

Sam Freeman is a designer, writer, and maker of interesting and sci-fi-inspired things.