Making Corrugated Cardboard Stronger And Waterproof

As useful as corrugated cardboard is, we generally don’t consider it to be a very sturdy material. The moment it’s exposed to moisture, it begins to fall apart, and it’s easily damaged even when kept dry. That said, there are ways to make corrugated cardboard a lot more durable, as demonstrated by the [NightHawkInLight]. Gluing multiple panels together so that the corrugation alternates by 90 degrees every other panel makes them more sturdy, with wheat paste (1:5 mixture of flour and water) recommended as adhesive.

Other tricks are folding over edges help to protect against damage, and integrating wood supports. Normal woodworking tools like saws can cut these glued-together panels. Adding the wheat paste to external surfaces can also protect against damage. By applying kindergarten papier-mâché skills, a custom outside layer can be made that can be sanded and painted for making furniture, etc.

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Bento showing fully assembled device and XR glasses

Bento – VR/XR From A Keyboard

XR may not have crashed into our lives as much as some tech billionaires have wished, but that doesn’t stop the appeal of a full display that takes up no physical space. At that point, why not get rid of the computer that takes up living space as well? That is what [Michael] tries to do with Bento, the form factor of an Apple Magic keyboard and the power of a Steam Deck. 

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Hackaday Links: June 15, 2025

Are robotaxis poised to be the Next Big Thing™ in North America? It seems so, at least according to Goldman Sachs, which issued a report this week stating that robotaxis have officially entered the commercialization phase of the hype cycle. That assessment appears to be based on an analysis of the total ride-sharing market, which encompasses services that are currently almost 100% reliant on meat-based drivers, such as Lyft and Uber, and is valued at $58 billion. Autonomous ride-hailing services like Waymo, which has a fleet of 1,500 robotaxis operating in several cities across the US, are included in that market but account for less than 1% of the total right now. But, Goldman projects that the market will burgeon to over $336 billion in the next five years, driven in large part by “hyperscaling” of autonomous vehicles.

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Electromechanical Atari Is A Steampunk Meccano Masterpiece

If William Gibson and Bruce Sterling had written an arcade scene into “The Difference Engine”, it probably would have looked a lot like [Pete Wood]’s Meccano Martian Mission, as illustrated in the video below by the [London Meccano Club]. Meccano Martian Mission is an homage to Atari’s 1978 Lunar Lander video game, but entirely electromechanical and made of– you guessed it– Meccano.

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Upgrade Your Filament Dryer With A Swiveling Filament Port

Many FDM filament dryers have a port through which you can guide the filament. This handy feature allows you to print from the spool without removing it from the dryer, saving time and limiting exposure to (moist) air. Unfortunately, these exit ports aren’t always thought out very well, mostly in terms of the angle with the spool as it unrolls. The resulting highly oblique orientation means a lot of friction of the filament on the side of the port. This issue is addressed in a recent [Teaching Tech] video, with a simple, low-cost solution.

The basic idea is to have a swiveling port, inspired by a spherical bearing. The design shown in the video uses a PC4-M6 pneumatic connector to pass the PTFE tube. Connector choice is critical here, as many PC4-M6 pneumatic connectors won’t accommodate the PTFE.  As a fallback, you can drill out a connector to enable this.

Once the connector is sorted, you need a 13 mm (~0.5″) step drill bit to widen the opening in the filament dryer. This ready-to-print version has 10 degrees of freedom in any direction, but you can adapt it to fit your needs. With this mod installed, the angle with which the filament enters the port should remain as close to zero as possible, preventing both friction and damage to the port and filament.

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Smart Lamp Keeps Students On Track With Image Recognition

It’s a common enough problem: you’re hitting the books, your phone dings with a notification, and suddenly it’s three hours later. While you’ve done lots of scrolling, you didn’t do any studying. If only there were a quick, easy project that would keep an eye on you and provide a subtle nudge to get you off the phone. [Makestreme] has that project, an AI study lamp that shifts from warm white to an angry red to remind students to get back to work. See it in action in the demo video below.

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RC rover/car with red and yellow-sided wheels. Electronics are visible on top of vehicle.

An RC Car Driven With Old 3D Printer Motors

With the newer generation of quick and reliable 3D printers, we find ourselves with the old collecting dust and cobwebs. You might pull it out for an emergency print, that is if it still works… In the scenario of an eternally resting printer (or ones not worth reviving), trying to give new life to the functional parts is a great idea. This is exactly what [MarkMakies] did with a simple RC rover design from an old Makerbot Replicator clone. 

Using a stepper motor to directly drive each wheel, this rover proves its ability to handle a variety of terrain types. Stepper motors are far from the most common way to drive an RC vehicle, but they can certainly give enough power. Controlling these motors is done from a custom protoboard, allowing the use of RC control. Securing all these parts together only requires a couple of 3D printed parts and the rods used to print them. Throw in a drill battery for power, and you can take it nearly anywhere! 

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