Hackaday Podcast Ep 348: 50 Grams of PLA Hold a Ton, Phreaknic Badge is Off The Shelf, and Hackers Need Repair Manuals
Dec 5, 2025
Discover the surprising strength of a 50-gram 3D-printed hook that lifts a metric ton! Dive into the return of the Pebble smartwatch as it becomes fully open source. Uncover the fascinating Magnus effect with unconventional aircraft designs, including KFC bucket wings. Explore the innovative Freaknic badge made from e-waste and the potential of a new KiCad schematic repository. Plus, hear about the benefits of filling 3D prints with foam and learn about the WWII 'Pluto' pipelines that offer lessons in underwater engineering.
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Transcript
Episode notes
Refresh Flash Backups Regularly
- Plug in long-stored flash/SSD backups periodically to avoid charge leakage and bit loss.
- Treat SSDs as needing occasional power cycles or store critical archives on tape for true long-term reliability.
Design Trumps Material Limits
- 3D printed PLA can achieve surprising strength when designed for load direction and cross-section.
- Tom Stanton engineered a 50 g PLA hook to hold over a metric ton by using full walls and rounded, stress-minimizing geometry.
Pebble Revived By Community
- The Pebble smartwatch community kept devices alive after corporate shutdowns and now the platform is fully open source again.
- New Pebble hardware and firmware updates revived many users' watches and reignited community development.