Hackaday Podcast Episode 338: Smoothing 3D Prints, Reading CNC Joints, and Detecting Spicy Shrimp
This week, Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos met up over the tubes to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous seven days or so.
In Hackaday news, we’ve got a new contest running! Read all about the 2025 Component Abuse Challenge, sponsored by DigiKey, and check out the contest page for all the details. In sad news, American Science & Surplus are shuttering online sales, leaving just the brick and mortar stores in Wisconsin and Illinois.
On What’s That Sound, it’s a results show, which means Kristina gets to take a stab at it. She missed the mark, but that’s okay, because [Montana Mike] knew that it was the theme music for the show Beakman’s World, which was described by one contestant as “Bill Nye on crack”.
After that, it’s on to the hacks and such, beginning with a really cool way to smooth your 3D prints in situ. JWe take a much closer look at that talking robot’s typewriter-inspired mouth from about a month ago. Then we discuss several awesome technological feats such as running code on a PAX credit card payment machine, using the alphabet as joinery, and the invention of UTF-8 in general. Finally, we discuss the detection of spicy shrimp, and marvel at the history of email.
Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/…
Download in DRM-free MP3 and savor at your leisure.
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Episode 338 Show Notes:
News:
- 2025 Hackaday Component Abuse Challenge: Let The Games Begin!
- American Science And Surplus Ends Online Sales
What’s that Sound?
- Congratulations to [Montana Mike], the Beakmaniest of them all!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
- Smooth! Non-Planar 3D Ironing
- A Closer Look Inside A Robot’s Typewriter-Inspired Mouth
- Running Code On A PAX Credit Card Payment Machine
- Jointly Is A Typeface Designed For CNC Joinery
- Complex Wood Joints, Thanks To New Software’s Interactive Features
- 50 Digital Wood Joints by Jochen Gros – WINTERDIENST
- Original Mac Limitations Can’t Stop You From Running AI Models
- UTF-8 Is Beautiful
Quick Hacks:
- Elliot’s Picks:
- Oil-Based Sprengel Pump Really Sucks
- Reverse-Engineering The Milwaukee M18 Diagnostics Protocol
- A 10″ Telescope, Because You Only Live Once
- USB-C PD Decoded: A DIY Meter And Logger For Power Insights
- Kristina’s Picks:
- Making A Laptop With A Mechanical Keyboard
- Hosting A Website On A Disposable Vape
- When Is Your Pyrex Not The Pyrex You Expect?
Can’t-Miss Articles:
hackaday.com/2025/09/19/hackad…
2025 Hackaday Component Abuse Challenge: Let The Games Begin!
In theory, all parts are ideal and do just exactly what they say on the box. In practice, everything has its limits, most components have non-ideal characteristics, and you can even turn most parts…Hackaday