I love using big 16x70 binoculars for the Milky Way, but holding them steady overhead was impossible. My neck was hurting after 5 minutes of holding them up high. So I built this binocular chair which has simple wood and hardware components attached to my chair. It keeps the binoculars exactly where I point them, and it completely takes the strain off my neck. Very smooth positioning to anywhere in the sky. Happy to answer any questions about the mechanics. If you want to know more about how to build it, I put together these detailed directions to help with getting started.

Wow, over 290,000 views and 9,300 upvotes! Thank you all so much for the incredible reception. A lot of you have asked about building this—the link above takes you to free build plans for this binocular chair’s rotating base. It’s a great standalone build to try out in a home workshop.

Hi everyone,
I’d like to share the biggest project I’ve ever built.
Over the past several years I designed and built this full-size mechanical riding horse completely from scratch.
My goal was to recreate a realistic riding motion using woodworking, mechanical engineering and a simple drive powered by a standard drill.
Every part of the mechanism went through multiple prototypes before I was happy with the final movement. It took countless hours of designing, rebuilding and testing, but seeing it finally work made every setback worth it.
This project taught me more than any other build I’ve ever done.
I’d really love to hear what fellow makers think.
If you have any questions about the mechanism, design process or construction, I’ll be happy to answer them.

A few years ago, u/raceking37 and I decided to create our own digital watch. The project was inspired by a few vintage HDSP-2000 LED matrix displays that we had acquired. These displays were first introduced in the 1970s and have a really unique look, especially under a microscope (as shown in the last image). They're quite difficult to photograph with my phone, though, so they look much nicer in person than they do in these photos. The watch uses an ATTINY1616 microcontroller. The metal case of the watch is SLM 3D-printed in stainless steel. I also made a short video about the project.

EDIT: THANK YOU ALL so much for all the excellent questions and comments. I'll be dipping back into this subreddit from time to time going forward. Keep making! Stay Curious! xo!

Hello, Nation of Makers! I am Adam Savage, maker, editor-in-chief of Tested.com and former host of MythBusters. I am JUST back from Cleveland, Ohio, where I had a daylong tour to see how the city is addressing maker spaces and open access to making at every level for kids. This is part of a project I'm starting with the White House Office of Science and Technology, and I'm REALLY excited about it. ALL of the places I saw in Cleveland, such as Think[box] and the Great Lakes Science Center, the Cleveland public Library and the Boys and Girls club were absolutely inspiring.

PROOF: https://twitter.com/donttrythis/status/727888872797937665

You can read about my trip here: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/04/mythbusters_adam_savage_marvels_at_clevelands_maker_enthusiasts_urges_science_geeks_to_stay_curious.html

Most inspiring were all the stories from the lovely people of Cleveland, the teachers, the politicians, the makers, the kids, and the activists.

Anyway, so I'm here to answer your questions about making and maker spaces. And I'd love to talk more about my Cleveland trip and what the White House is trying to do to promote makers!

The goal was to make something that feels like a real side table but also has a built-in function instead of just being a random prototype. This version still needs some refinement, but I was happy enough with how the test turned out to share it.

I also documented the project here for anyone curious about the planning and build process: https://speczero.app//p/cmm2va86t00037rrvw2irg2lk

Would love to hear what you’d change about the design.

Magnetic Tapping Guide

Ensures my tapping is vertical.

I made an interactive sci-fi desk lamp / prop. This is the third iteration of a small experimental project I've been working on. It started as a design exercise inspired by watching the full Star Wars saga with my kids, exploring how light could feel more diegetic - less like a lamp, more like a contained system or energy core. This version is fully 3D printed and built around a Raspberry Pi Pico RP2040. The main change here is proximity-based brightness control using a ToF sensor, so the lamp reacts to presence rather than direct input. In previous versions, I used an encoder for this purpose. Still very much a prototype - mostly focused on behavior, interaction and fabrication rather than a finished product. Now considering an horizontal variant of this lamp. What are your thoughts about it?

hi everyone! i feel like this is the first project in a very long time that I actually saw through to the end and I wanted to share my joy with the community i love :) Not as impressive as most of the builds here, but i am proud of this one.

Made this fun little desk thingy, five different modes, live flight tracking radar display, spinning globe, ai robot 'assistant', and then a clock in the style of an altimeter.

Uses both a pi and then a waveshare 2.8" esp32 display all in a 3d printed case.

Built it as a gift for my son who is in the air force, so it's supposed to look like a bit of old military gear.

I made this with a couple of friends over the past few months. It’s called the Eternal Trash Fire. We lit it on Inauguration Day and it's been burning ever since (actually on fire, not a metaphor). The plan is for it to continue to burn as long as Trump is president.

The dumpster is a 1:12-scale model made of 22ga steel. It was designed in CAD, laser cut, bent on a brake, and TIG welded. I'm especially happy with his little wheels! It was tricky to work with such thin material, and I honestly think it would have been easier to make a full-sized dumpster. (And before you ask, yes, I have plenty of experience making gas-fueled appliances and know how to do it safely).

First pic is right after it was lit, and the last pic is how it looks now, one month later. Most of the rest of the scene (you can't see it all in the photos, but soon!) is made of dyed castable refractory cement (fireproof), then painted with gouache to age it.

We're live-streaming it on YouTube. I'm not posting the link though so as to not break the no-self-promo rule. Posting from a fresh account since I want to stay anonymous for now.

This is the strongest armor system I've developed to date. I shipped this awesome armor off to Garand Thumb for demolition under ultra-slow motion for some incredible footage. The goal wasn't just to stop .50 BMG, but to defeat the Mk211 Raufoss round—a tungsten-cored, explosive .50 BMG projectile carrying over 13,000 ft-lb of energy.

What surprised me most wasn't that the plate stopped it, but how little back-face deformation it produced in the process. One of the biggest challenges in armor design isn't simply preventing penetration—it's managing the enormous amount of energy that still has to go somewhere after impact.

Even many of the heaviest Level IV and special-threat armor systems can exhibit massive back-face deformation when struck by armor-piercing threats (basket ball size deformation). For this project, minimizing that deformation was a primary design objective from day one.

Seeing the plate survive multiple verified Mk211 impacts while maintaining remarkably low back-face deformation was a result I honestly didn't expect. The Phantom slow-motion footage of the impacts is absolutely wild too!

Hey! I’ve been working on a small tool for laser cutting, CNC, and makers, and I wanted to share an early preview to get some feedback before I release it everywhere.

Basically, the tool converts any real object into a millimetre-accurate SVG/DXF using just a phone photo and an A4 sheet for scale.

Here’s an example using a digital caliper case →

1. I take a photo of the object on an A4 sheet

2. The software detects the sheet + corrects perspective

3. It extracts the object outline and generates a clean, ready-to-cut file

What I’d love to know:

Would you use something like this in your workflow?

What features should I add before releasing it publicly?

Do you prefer a clean SVG output or options for smoothing / offsetting / hole detection?

Hand this old tube mocking me from my shelf for the better side of 10 years so finally made something with it. Base is solid oak with an acrylic cover to keep little fingers out.

I used the chain, front and rear sprockets and the rear suspension spring to put this together. Welding and woodwork.

Me and my lamps...I just needed one more haha.

This project was relatively quick. Spent a couple weeks 3D printing the upper and lower parts, laser cutting the pieces (there's jigsaw pieces on the top and bottom you can't see in this pic), 3D printing the hub parts, and stripping and burnishing the pipes. Usually I do custom LEDs but kept this simple and wired up some outlets and put some T10 bulbs inside. A fun project and I really like its steampunk but also a bit refined look. It honestly came out far better than I expected.

I had time off work, so I learned to carve (and dremel, shhh) Welsh love spoons. Welsh love spoons are spoons that you give someone because you love them. No, I don’t know why, just trust me. I made a lot of mistakes until I finally made this little one - usually they’re more intricate with meaningful symbols carved into them, but I’m a simple person.

Hey makers!
I wanted to share a fun project I’ve been working on recently.

I designed and 3D-printed a case called iBerry – it’s basically an iPhone 13 Pro case with a built-in slot for a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. The Pi sits in on the back, with access to GPIO, microSD, HDMI, and USB.

Right now it’s fully compatible with the iPhone 13 Pro, but the plan is to expand it to fit all iPhone models in the future.

Currently, my version is printed in PLA, but i have plan to make it in aluminum for durability and a more premium feel.

The idea is to have a portable device connected to your phone via SSH, powered by an external battery, so you can carry a mini hacking/automation setup in your pocket.

Would love to hear what you think – any ideas, improvements, or crazy mods you’d add?

Here’s a couple pics of how it looks

I recently made this vintage/industrial style hand painted light sign and wanted to share how it turned out. I purchased a drop ceiling light diffuser and build a frame out of MDF. The small furniture tacks are to mimic industrial rivets to make it seem as though it’s real metal. I used a metallic paint that rusts like real iron. The mixture I made was just to speed up the process of oxidation. Inside are cheap led tube lights that were simply screwed into place. The design was done in Adobe Illustrator and then projected onto the sign for tracing. The paint I used on the diffuser is latex house paint which can be easily removed if ever I want to change the design.