If you’re not familiar with Sugru, let me catch you up. Sugru is moldable glue that becomes rubber… you can roll it, pinch it, form it. Basically, anything you can do with a soft bit of clay. But when Sugru cures (18-24 hours), it becomes flexible like rubber. Not hard like dried clay. Sugru also bonds to just about anything… so it’s perfect for connecting things together that don’t often WANT to stay connected.
For these reasons and more, Sugru is popular with folks who like to do repairs. Fixer-uppers like it because the cost of the Sugru packet is usually substantially cheaper than throwing out an object that’s become damaged. Inventors find it useful for molding test parts or mounting electronics (Sugru isn’t conductive) to various materials.
Over at Sugru.com, you’ll find a growing database of user-submitted projects, all using Sugru. I’ve used Sugru over the years for many projects, and one that really saved some money involved my toddler’s shoes. He liked to push himself around our cul-de-sac on a small scooter, and the rubber toe guard wore off after a few weeks. I took out some white and black Sugru, mixed it to get the right color of gray to match the remaining shoe material, and created a new toe guard on both shoes. As a matter of fact, the Sugru toe guards lasted much longer than the original toe guards. I believe I performed this task two more times on two different pairs of shoes–$30 new shoes or $3 packets of Sugru? It was a no-brainer.
You can purchase Sugru online and at Target, and I always try to keep a handful of the packets in my fridge. (The cold makes them last much longer!) You can buy single colors (colors include black, red, blue, yellow, and many more) or 3-packs and 8-packs. But Sugru has also released a new package of Sugru called the Rebel Tech Kit. Inside a small tin you’ll find four colors (black, white, grey, red) of Sugru, a guitar pick for careful cutting or texturing, and a book of ideas to get you started. The book is really good–lots of cool tips for fixing wires, hanging things, adding bumpers to electronics, and much more.
I put the four packets to immediate use by showing a group of 16 young makers how to use Sugru for various projects. Each of them also got a small bit of Sugru to create a small rubber stamp with their initials cut into the Sugru. These kids also got their own packets of Sugru as a reward for completing five weeks of Maker Camp. Time for a reorder!
Sugru is one of those products where after the first time you use it, you’ll start coming up with all sorts of ideas for more Sugru projects. And if you come up with a unique use for Sugru, let the world know by sharing the project at Sugru.com.
Note: I’d like to thank Sugru for providing a test unit of the Rebel Tech Kit.
