My Top 5 projects, as determined by my feelings about their popularity and influence. Order and/or content may change eventually.

ClearCrawler Strandbeest

The ClearCrawler is my 6th try at building a remote controlled Strandbeest, or the 8th if you count a couple kit ‘beests included in the list below. Video on all of these is available via this YouTube playlist.

  • Wooden 4-legged strandbeest (never walked)
  • MDF 8-legged ‘beest (golf cart-sized, never walked)
  • StrandMaus1: 8 legs with hot glue (tiny, walked temporarily under remote control)
  • StrandMaus2: 8 legs, made of MDF (Size of a small dog, walks well)
  • ClearWalker: 8 legs, made of clear polycarbonate (Size of large dog, walked OK temporarily, featured on the Discovery Channel in Canada)
  • Remote controlled kit strandbeest
  • Remote controlled kit strandbeest with rocket launcher
  • ClearCrawler: design is close to the StrandMaus 2, but with clear polycarbonate like the ClearWalker. Looks beautiful, walks well.

Rotary Computer Shortcut

While perhaps not my most popular project, this rotary shortcut has been extremely useful to me. Three iterations are shown in this YouTube playlist, and the latest iteration changes song volume; skips, rewinds, and play/pauses songs; gives a visual indication of ‘lock keys; and even has a function to keep your computer active when software settings aren’t working correctly.

3D-Printed CNC Dust Collector

I couldn’t find a dust collector that I really liked for my CNC router so I designed one. The latest iteration is shown above, and you can find files to build your own, adapted to several different router types with the help of other contributors, on GitHub.

Also, I’m especially proud of this thumbnail image. Both fantastical and accurate… ish.

Concrete Flower Pot

More video to come. For now, you can see the process here on Popular Science.

Dot Matrix Light Graffiti on CNC Router

Light painting has intrigued me for some time, and after seeing a web app by Matthew Rayfield for plotting on a printer, I decided to combine the two in what you see above. I thought it was a pretty cool use of my router, and was a fun and quick project.

If there’s anything else you think deserves to be here, let me know on Twitter @JeremySCook!