TechyMagThings

We’ve probably all got one item in our toolboxes or chests that we really, really don’t like, but find too handy to toss. For [Someone Should Make That], that item was the bolt-rounding adjustable wrench. Rather than continuing to gripe about it, or alter his habits to make greater use of the full wrench set he also owns, he decided to build a better mousetrap. By mousetrap, we mean adjustable wrench.

It took a couple of iterations on-screen before he hits on a solution that seems to work quite well indeed. The problem [Someone] had with his adjustable wrench was one of physical slop: once adjusted, there’s just too much play in the mechanism, which results in rounded-off bolt heads. [Someone]’s CNC’d solution takes inspiration from the CNC machine that manufactures it: he’s using spring-loading in the adjustment screw akin to what you find in the anti-backlash nut on your CNC mill or 3D printer’s ball threads. The tension from the springs keeps the wrench tight to the bolt, and that keeps [Someone] from rounding them off. Speaking of 3D printers, he prototyped in plastic before machining, and the screw in the end product stayed that way. It would be interesting to see how well that holds up.

Not only do we appreciate that it’s solved a common problem many of us have, the ethos of “this angers me, so I shall hack it” is one we support 100%, so do give a watch unless you’re one of those people who absolutely can’t stand videos, even when they’re spring-loaded to have no slop. There’s some good tips for beginner CNC operators in there, too.

This isn’t the first time someone’s tried to reinvent this particular wheel, though the last version we liked was a ratchet.

For decades now, companies like Michelin have been teasing us with futuristic-looking automobile tires that don’t use air. Instead, they use a polymer mesh of sorts which maintains the same pressure on the travel surface that a pneumatic tire does, with much less maintenance than their pneumatic counterparts. At least, in theory. There’s a reason that these tires live in the same mythical realm that Half Life 3 and the modern affordable Volkswagen do, and [Berm Peak] decided to discover those reasons for himself.

Of course, [Berm Peak] isn’t building these for his daily driver, an electric pickup truck featured in previous videos of his. He’s putting these on his mountain bike instead, a challenging environment for a tire like this in its own right. When mountain biking at the level he does, punctures and flats can become a real nuisance on the trail, so he set about experimenting with these designs with the 3D printer to see if he could make something rivaling pneumatic technology. After a few design iterations he settled on a TPU-based version with a compliant S-shaped spacing between the tread and wheel. The tire printed in sections that are installed by joining them together on the bike rim with a separate 3D printed rim interface.

At the end of this process [Berm Peak] ends up with a surprisingly capable tire that mostly holds up to his extreme off-road testing, an impressive feat for something 3D printed in his shop. Presumably a company specializing in bicycle tires could build something even more capable, but it turns out that a different technology has already solved all of the problems that airless tires solve. Mountain bikers today almost exclusively ride on tires with sealant, so punctures and flats are essentially a solved problem. But the neon-green airless tires were still a fun project for [Berm Peak] and quite the head-turner out on the bike trails.

After the release of Google’s Chromecast so-called ‘streaming sticks’ have remained a popular form factor, even though such technology is these days part of ‘smart’ TVs. Being curious as to what kind of hardware they put into these sticks or dongles these days, [electronupdate] decided to do his typical full teardown of a 2026 model Fire Stick HD from Amazon, including the typical nekkid die shots.

Although most of the bits inside are fairly typical, being just your typical Mediatek-sourced solution, the ceramic patch antennas for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are a rather interesting detail, as are the purported limitations that make this the ‘HD’ version of the Fire Stick, unlike its 4K brethren.

The used Mediatek MT8698D SoC isn’t so different from the SoC in those 4K versions, with the 2025-era 4K Plus using the MT8696D, but the 4K Select using basically the same SoC as the HD version, featuring the same G310V2 GPU at 500 MHz per the Amazon Developer documentation and the same decoder block (VPU), both of which are capable of 4K video decoding. This implies that the HD vs 4K distinction is purely software-based.

After popping open the device and noting the various ICs, the NAND Flash, the Mediatek MT7902 wireless IC, the PMIC and the aforementioned SoC all have their caps popped in order to take a closer look at their dies. For reference, as one of the largest ICs, the SoC die is a mere 5.2 x 6.45 mm. The PMIC die is more interesting as usual, as this one integrates USB-PD functionality, adding quite a bit of logic to what is otherwise a fairly mundane bit of power management features.

Overall not a very surprising design, though it does tickle that thought in the back of one’s mind whether it could be turned into a ‘4K stick’ with a few software tweaks, or perhaps more simply by installing plain Android onto its 8 GB of eMMC.

We’ve always taken a certain childlike joy in seeing tiny things made big, and big things tiny. Evidently [Uncle Stem] is the same way, if this 7x sized 16×2 “LCD” display is any indicator.

“LCD” is in scare quotes there, because while the original display is a character LCD, [Uncle Stem]’s embigginated recreation is not. Liquid crystal displays are beyond all but the most dedicated DIYers, so [Stem] recreated the whole thing with addressable LEDs instead — over a thousand of them. Each character got its own PCB, and rather than pay for assembly [Stem] used a 3D printed stencil to help apply solder paste, an idea we’ve seen before. His choice of long lengths of nickle strip — the stuff you spot weld to Li-ion batteries — to join the LED-holding PCBs is also worth noting.

In order to get his giant display to act like the I2C-operated module he loves, [Uncle Stem] equipped it with an RP2040 pre-programmed with the LCD character set. That way he can plug it into any Arduino project that uses the LiquidCrystal_I2C library and have the authentic 1602 experience. The green “PCB” the display is mounted to is actually laser-cut plywood, while some acrylic sits in front of his PCBs with office paper to act as as a diffuser. A 3D printed frame completes the illusion. He even goes so far as to replicate the pin headers at 7:1 scaling with brass rods.

He also connects it to a over-sized Arduino, with giant jumper wires. But for the record, not the giant Arduino we featured previously. Like we said, hackers like to mess with scale, and we’ve seen everything from giant benchies to a working Mac Classic for Barbie.

This week Jonathan chats with Jonathan Pallant about embedded Rust! Learn about the growing Rust driver library, the different ways to build a Rust stack on an embedded device, and how the opinionated tooling can make you a better programmer!

• blog: thejpster.org.uk
• personal github: github.com/thejpster
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If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.

Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Styrofoam – or closed-cell extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam if you want to be precise – is one of those materials that is both super versatile for packaging and insulation, but also a menace when it comes to disposal, even if you ignore that the monomer styrene (C₈H₈) is a known mutagenic toxin. One of the more creative ways to deal with the metric tons of polystyrene waste generated each year is to turn it into gasoline, as demonstrated by [Lowered Expectations] in a recent video.

With polystyrene being just another hydrocarbon polymer, the idea of turning these polymers into the mixture of hydrocarbon chains we call ‘gasoline’ isn’t so crazy. The problem is mostly doing it in a way that makes some economic sense and doesn’t risk turning your domicile into a hazmat risk site or threaten the health of you, your loved ones and the neighborhood.

The method demonstrated in the video uses fairly basic methods involving pyrolysis and distillation. The first step involves dissolving the polystyrene in gasoline that was previously recovered from stale gasoline, which is another dangerously fun science experiment. This creates a thick slurry that’s then put into the distillation flask for the heating phase.

After testing the distillates for spark ignition the useful distillates were combined with fuel stabilizer added. Before tossing this into a gasoline engine tank for further testing, the concerns of auto-polymerization of styrene monomers are addressed, which requires special inhibiters.

Although this mixture runs a gasoline generator just fine, a borescope inspection of the cylinders showed a build-up of a shiny, gummy residue. There’s also the issue that this mixture contains styrene monomers, which are as noted very unhealthy to breathe in from either the fuel or any remaining monomers in the exhaust. Definitely not something to try at home, basically.

If you’re flying high in the sky, it’s useful to know if there’s turbulence, heavy rain, or other nasty weather ahead. Onboard weather radar is a useful tool that pilots use to scope out conditions ahead. [Thomas Scherrer] came into possession of a weather radar display from a vintage aircraft, and decided to tear it apart for our viewing pleasure. 

The unit in question is a Bendix PPI-1 plan position indicator. This particular 1971 example was scored from a McDonnell-Douglas DC9. [Thomas] only has the display itself, not the radar that would feed it or the power supply to turn it on. Still, even just the readout unit is super interesting to look inside. Right off the bat, there’s a neat dimming filter on the front, and the case itself is really beautifully designed for service. The design is very much of its time, full of neat wire harnesses and chunky through-hole components.  There are some neat surprises inside, too, like an interesting device shaped like a triangular prism whose purpose we won’t spoil here.

If you’re wondering what one of these units looks like in action, you can see such an example on YouTube. The display basically lights up in areas where there were stronger radar returns indicating weather to be avoided.

We love radars around these parts, and we feature them all the time. Video after the break.