Camera ruggedized with Sugru

This camera was colorfully ruggedized with a moldable silicone rubber called Sugru. I've used it to mend suitcase zippers, two pairs of headphones, a dishwasher, and other broken things around the house. The downside of Sugru is that it cures inside its foil pouch after a couple of months. I hope they come up with a formula that stays fresh longer!

Bouncy Kids Camera Made Using Sugru Silicone Rubber

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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http://www.facebook.com/chazlarson Chaz Larson

Keep it in the fridge. I just repaired a hockey water bottle of my son’s with some Sugru that I received in July of 2010.
http://twitter.com/grailseeker Grail-seeker

Love Sugru. Fixed a broken corner on my lappy with it today. Previously I made replacement feet for same, fixed a solar panel, nose-flute, iPad cable, scratchy zipper…
http://www.facebook.com/clesoine Charlie Lesoine

Dunno if I’d let my kids touch that stuff without knowing a bit more about the chemical properties. I don’t have kids, but still…their website doesn’t seem to give any info on how safe it is or if there have been any studies on it’s safety.
David Beauchamp

Did a google for “MSDS Sugru”

http://sugru.com/pdfs/FORMEROLsugru_MSDS_Oct09.pdf
Vnend

Looking at the gallery on their web page, I am reminded of the custom-to-the-user handles the Motie engineer (and the knock-off generics made by the pests) made for people in ‘The Mote In God’s Eye’. This stuff looks like it could do the same kind of thing.

Now if only I needed a custom-to-my-hand pistol grip…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1128324543 Ken Ballweg

All my attempts to use it don’t hold together. Probably because I tried using it to repair a broken plastic laundry basket, and a waste basket. Must have to do with the ability to adhere to pliable materials.

Then there’s the part where, no matter how much you fib to yourself, it looks like crap.
- ChicagoD
  
  I’ve used Sugru to make laptop feet, make a hand grip for a hacksaw, and to mold a spacer for a double-layered kidwash (as seen on instructables). You definitely need a use where the color is irrelevant, or where you are embracing the color.
  
  Also, I believe they now have black and white Sugru, and it ships from the U.S., so it does not take as long to receive.
  - townandgownie
    
    Yes, shipped from Michigan. It’s also available from http://www.thinkgeek.com and I think I saw that http://www.madscientist.com was going to carry it.
- tacochuck
  
  This was my experience with it too. I found it not good for much. The only use I could find for it where it wasn’t useless was to put a grippy surface on things. I’d like to see that camera after a few months of use, I would be willing to bet a fair amount of it has come off.
  
  I was also burned by their promise of 12 month shelf life when I pre-ordered it, only to have it arrive with the 12 month shelf life line on the package blacked out with a sharpie.
  
  I wrote them to ask about a partial refund or a return and I got nothing but silence back.
  - townandgownie
    
    Yes. Similar comment. When they finally shipped it they stated 9 month shelf life. Now on the website it’s 6 months. All my original supply has pretty much dried up.
    
    They recently announce a new formula with a longer shelf life (although the website isn’t saying anything) and I asked them about it but they didn’t respond. A shame because the whole thing got started because of early adopters and they pretty much have ignored them.
Brainspore

Nice, that camera is now protected against damage AND theft.
- irksome
  
  Looks like that Leica posted here some weeks ago.
xzzy

This needs to be expanded to a contest where kids spend a week designing capsules made from sugru with a smartphone inside it. Then your science teach walks up on top of the school gym and systematically throws them off the roof while the phone is recording video.

Whichever kid doesn’t crack the screen and gets the most nauseating video wins.
OohErMissus

“Ruggedized”? More like Uggidized.

Sugru is something I enjoy using to make little mends and fixes. I just have trouble using Sugru on adding custom features to something that costs about 100x as much as the Sugru, or more! Maybe I’m just weirdy-beardy about self-modding expensive things in that regard. Especially if you have to take it back to get it fixed at some point!
daemonsquire

Ah, criminy! How come this is the first I’ve heard about it curing in the pouch?! I got some at a MakerFaire last year, used it to replace the water-proof seal I’d lost on my Flip cam case, so the Mentos-and-Coke clowns didn’t soak my camera–but since then, the Sugru’s been waiting in a cupboard! Still, even with the whole Sugru purchase going to that mend, the cost/repair ratio is lower than product replacement. Next time, I’ll be sure to put it in the fridge! And I’ll do a lot more brainstorming for things I can stick Sugru on… like turning that Flip cam into a “kick-ass bouncy kids” version… a set of kick-ass bouncy kids’ pint glasses… fatter, grippier handles on all my kick-ass bouncy kids’ silverware… I’d better start having kids…
- mccrum
  
  It sounds like you really have the choice:
  1 – Make all this stuff for non-existent kids,
  2 – Have kids, which takes up all the time for you to make things for them for a number of years.
beforewepost

Isn’t sugru just colored Oogoo?
http://twitter.com/Craig_Metcalfe_ Craig Metcalfe

I’ve used this stuff to fix:

2 iphone cables, 3 earphone cables, 2 lashing straps, a tap to hose adaptor and a plug chain.

I have a list of stuff still to do when I open the next pouch. It saves the day!
SamSam

Neat! I just used Sugru yesterday to modify a glass guitar slide — the original was too big, but I made a tighter area just the size of the top of my ring finder, so it fits me perfectly now.

Previously I used Sugru to extend the braces on my homemade wooden guitar stand, and fix the hard-plastic tupperware that housed cat food before the cat knocked it off the shelf.

It has held to the glass and the wood perfectly. I assume it holds to the hard plastic, but I made that one so it didn’t need to — it goes through the hole in the container and presses against both sides as a double-sided plug, so it only needs to hold to itself.
- Mark_Frauenfelder
  
  “I just used Sugru yesterday to modify a glass guitar slide — the original was too big, but I made a tighter area just the size of the top of my ring finder, so it fits me perfectly now.”
  
  That is an awesome idea! I’m gonna do that, too. Can you post a photo?
  - SamSam
    
    Sure, but it’s the simplest possible thing. I think a better solution would have been to buy/make the right size slide in the first place!
    
    Although… it really does have a lot more control than a regular slide, because it’s tightest right up at the end where you put your fingertip, making it completely responsive, as opposed to a regular tube slide which has the most space around the the narrow fingertip. So maybe it is better.Here ya go:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stefan-Stocker/100000710436698 Stefan Stocker

Hi, I am Stefan, the one making the original KidsCam. It realy bounces in a very funny way and it protects the camera not only from getting damaged but also from getting dropped in the first place because of the better grip. My son loves it and to show how it looks I made a small video by my self. Have a look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wTO0Mf-ye8
Sugru is still on it and no signs of getting of. Short thought to the costs: this crappy KidCams with a 0.whatever resolution and a ton of games in it costs way more then this intelligent camera (switches to macro when to close to an objekt and all the other state of the art features) and a pack of sugru.
Man Lo Hao

Am I the only one who noticed that Chaz Larson, Grail-seeker, Craig Metcalfe are the same person?
Ok, ok… we’ll buy your Sugru…
- Mark_Frauenfelder
  
  They are all coming from different IPs. How do you know they are the same person?
  - mccrum
    
    [Dramatic music cue] Because he’s the fourth of the same!
    
    I mean, obviously, right?