Sugru is a clay-like synthetic wondermaterial that can be easily shaped with your hands and hardens completely after 24 hours. You can use it to fix and modify anything. It’s really cool in itself, but awesome when you combine it with powerful magnets.
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While attaching one thing to another is a fairly basic process – epoxy is still a thing, after all – what do you use if you want to occasionally remove that thing from the other thing? The answer? Magnets. And Sugru.
Sugru, the rubbery, self-hardening material that allows you to fix nearly anything, is planning on offering a very simple connection kit for hardware hackers. It comes with four magnets and a bunch of Sugru. To use it you simply create a little mountain of Sugru, stick a magnet inside, and attach it to one surface. Then you do the same for the other surface. Once the material hardens, the magnets will hold your stuff together without slipping.
The kits will cost $16 when the company begins making them this year and they are offering pre-orders now. While this definitely isn’t rocket science – any yutz can buy some magnets – it looks like the folks at Sugru have thought this through and are offering just the right magnets and just the right material for an ideal experience. In short, it looks pretty Sugreat.
Get it?
The Hyrel 3D printer looks like any other single-extruder additive printer. But thanks to a fairly unique nozzle called the HYREL Emulsifiable Extruder (EMO-25) you can use it to squirt out usual materials like Play-Doh, air-drying clay, and even Sugru, a self-setting rubber that dries into a solid, usable object.
The creator, Daniel Hutchison funded his project on Kickstarter and is preparing to ship the printer in the next few months. The printer actually contains a full PC and raised $150,000 on Kickstarter.
These materials are important because they can be smoothed down and, using products like Sugru, you could feasibly print rubber gaskets directly inside plastic objects using a dual-extruder system.
The extruder is also good for schools and artists who may want to produce, say, stop-motion animations using clay or reusable models. Because you can squeeze the clay back into the cartridge and squirt it out again you have a minimum of waste if the print fails. You can also shave down and move the printed clay in ways that are impossible with traditional plastics.
The printers start at $1,995 and go up to $3,000. The more expensive models include a heated build platform for ABS plastic (the ABS needs the heat to stick to the platform) as well as in-built PC that can be used to slice and print models you create.
Robotic arms haven’t been the same since Tomy stopped making the Armatron but that doesn’t mean you have to live your life without a robotic helpmate. The Fixbot Robotic hand is a DIY project that requires a bunch of time, servos, and 3D printed parts, but it’s easy to make if you have a little time. It’s part of a marketing campaign by Sugru, a self-setting moldable rubber for repairing electronics.
The video shows the Fixbot repairing things around the house (Note: Fixbot will not fix your house or car) but you can use this little guy to wave at people across the room or scratch your back for you with its gentle plastic claw.
It requires an Arduino board, 4 Hitec HS-422 servos, and a microservo. You also need access to a 3D printer. A little buffing, a little screwing, and some electronics know-how and you’re ready to rock.
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