Fifteen years ago (wow, I didn’t realize it had been that long!) I wrote about a company called Makedo that makes little toolkits for cardboard construction. The primary bit was a two-piece plastic rivet that you could use to secure two pieces of cardboard together. There were some additional tools like a plastic safe-saw (best for corrugated cardboard) with a hole-puncher on the back, and some hinges that you could attack with rivets to make movable parts.
It was a great alternative to using lots and lots of tape or hot glue, and my kids used them for various crafts over the years, but eventually they got scattered and I hadn’t really thought about them for a while. Well, as it turns out, Makedo is still around, and their current crop of tools is even better than before. They sent me a Discover Kit and the new Ultimate Maker Box to try out so I gave it a spin.
Here’s what you get in the Discover Kit ($50 retail, but currently on sale for $39.99):
- 2 Safe-Saws
- 1 Scru-Driver
- 1 Fold-Roller
- 90 Scru
- 30 Scru+
- 2 Mini-Tools
- Cardboard Tool Tray
Everything has been improved, but the biggest change is the “Scrus.” These are plastic screws—a wide spiral thread and a head with a hex-shaped center. Once you’ve punched holes in the cardboard (using the back of any of the tools), the Scru is very easy to screw into the cardboard and holds it really securely. The Scru can attach up to 3 sheets of corrugated cardboard, and the Scru+ is a bit longer and can attach up to 5 sheets of cardboard. Besides the stability of the connection, I also liked the fact that they didn’t stick out as much as the old rivets did—they had long flexible posts, and if you were making something like a costume, then they stuck into the box. The Scrus do have points, but they’re blunted and don’t extend nearly as far as the rivets did.
The Scru-Driver and the Mini-Tool both have a hex-shaped socket, and I was impressed with how easy it was to use even the Mini-Tool to turn the Scrus.
The new Safe-Saw has a plastic handle but the blade is made of metal, so it’s thinner and stronger than the old plastic version. One side has larger teeth for a coarser cut and the other side has smaller teeth. It reminds me of the pumpkin saws you use for jack-o’-lanterns, and it works quite well on corrugated cardboard. I prefer the smaller teeth for a smoother cut, but if you’re just cutting out large pieces the large teeth make quick work of it.
The Fold-Roller is a little metal gear wheel mounted in a plastic handle, and you just roll it along the cardboard to punch a dotted line into the surface, which then gives a natural line for folding the cardboard. I found it’s also handy to mark a cut line, because the saw will cut through even more easily along the dotted line.
The Ultimate Maker Box ($110 retail, currently on sale for $87.99) includes:
- 2 Safe-Saws
- 2 Scru-Drivers
- 2 Fold-Rollers
- 90 Scru
- 26 Scru+
- 1 Mini-Tool
- 8 Roto-Ring
- 6 Spin-Hinge
- 28 Scru-Dot
- 1 Deco-Props Googlies
- 1 Design Journal
Aside from having a couple extras of the same tools, the Ultimate Maker Box also has some extra accessories. The Spin-Hinge is the updated version of the hinge—it secures using 4 Scrus, and allows you to connect two pieces of cardboard that can now spin around the hinge.
The Roto-Ring is a plastic ring that can be used to make a spinning hub. You use the ring itself to mark the hole and punch it out (this part is a little trickier), and then the ring fits into the hole and you attach that to another piece of cardboard with a Scru, allowing the ring to spin around the Scru.
Scru-Dots are little plastic caps that fit over the Scru heads, reminiscent of those little plastic screw covers you’d have on flat-pack furniture. They come in a few different colors—the tan matches the cardboard pretty well, but there are also two shades of green. Depending on whether you want the bright blue of the Scrus to show up, these are a bit more muted looking.
Finally, the Deco-Props Googlies are a decorative item—large white and black circles, pre-mounted on a Roto-Ring-like hub, that you can attach to your creations like giant googly eyes.
I’ll note that my kids have not really gotten a chance to try out the new Makedo set yet—they just arrived and I wanted to get it written up in time for our gift guide, so my “creation” was just to try out the different tools and see how it all worked. But they’re excited to give it a shot later on during the upcoming school breaks, and I think it will be particularly fun to combine the tools with the ChompSaw (which I reviewed last year). If you’ve got kids who love making stuff out of cardboard, you should definitely check out Makedo!
For more information or to order a set, visit the Makedo website.
Jonathan H. Liu
Jonathan H. Liu is a stay-at-home dad in Portland, Oregon, who loves to read, is always up for a board game, and has a bit of a Kickstarter habit. I can be reached at jonathan at geekdad dot com.
