Ifixit's MacGuyver toolkit

boing
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There’s a lot of room left in that tin.

I’d add:

  • Single-edged razor blade.
  • Three cable ties.
  • T-pin.
  • Tube of crazy glue.
  • Stub of a golf pencil.
  • Business card

.

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So 5.95 for 0.95 cents worth of stuff.

Seems legit.

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Thanks, but no thanks. I’d prefer to have a boring engineer’s tool kit any day. Swiss army knife, Leatherman, and a few twenties.

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WD-40 and duct tape.

If it doesn’t move and it’s supposed to, use the WD-40.
If it moves and it’s not supposed to, use the duct tape.

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And Sriracha. If it doesn’t taste good but it should, use the Sriracha.

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A picture of MacGuyver on the MacGuyver toolkit? C’mon.

That’s like the Superman Halloween costumes that have a picture of a flying Superman on the chest instead of an S.

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and a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range

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…and if WD-40, duct tape or Sriracha can’t help, try Perl. After that, I’m out of options.

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i’ll admit that this is a cute idea and i like it but…

wasn’t the whole point of MacGuyver that he didn’t carry any tools and just came up with clever solutions by making due with whatever happened to be around at the time?

McGuyver Tool Kit = Improvise w/ No Tool Kit

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Just use ksh, awk, and sed. Why do I need perl?

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Some of y’all are reading way too hard into the joke.

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It’s really kind of funny that this came out around the exact same time as I’m trying to gradually crunch my way through an Altoids tin so I can use it for a mini-toolkit. I’ve been having a weird bout of synchronicity lately. Improvise a toolkit on McGuyver’s birthday, brushing up on my calculus on Newton’s deathday, and learning a magic trick on Houdini’s birthday. All in the same week or so, completely by accident.

Actually, I was thinking of making a doohickey-tin, more than an all-purpose one. Something that can be used to build just about any simple electronic device. I want to throw in a battery, resistors, some diodes, LEDs, a few transistors, a mini-magnifier, a voltage regulator, a couple of capacitors, some wire, a piece of cardboard, something to punch small holes in it, conductive glue, a small speaker, and some electrical tape. I feel like the Altoids tin is big enough to hold all of these discrete components without any problem.

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Future BoingBoing article: the TSA prohibits taking the MacGuyver toolkit through security checkpoints on fears that someone could use it to construct a bomb or disable a plane in-flight.

Actually, with the strike-anywhere match and candle, I could see it happening…

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Only what you can see, buddy!

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No!!!

WD-40 is a plague. WD-40 is only useful for rusted locks or items where you want to actually remove the grease. Instead of WD-40, use grease (if it moves slow) or oil (if it moves fast). If you use WD-40 you are basically consigning a piece of equipment to work for a few days before it seizes permanently.

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My MacGuyver toolkit would have a Pocket Ref in it.

That, and a multi-tool. Preferably one that that has the blade that can turn into a sailboat.

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You’re not buying some trinkets, but you’re really buying a laugh with this kit.

It’s worth it to some people and not to others.

I love macguyver but I wouldn’t shell out for this either. Some people might find it amusing enough to do so.

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Reminds me of some of those novelty hand-made tchotchkes sold in souvenir stores at places in the middle of nowhere.

Still waiting for a crank-powered Wikipedia device.

Also, why hasn’t there been some kind of pointless reboot of MacGuyver yet? Surely there’s some money to be made. (MacGruber happened, after all.)

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And the MythBusters addition to the toolkit: if it exists but shouldn’t, C4. [The inverse, “if it doesn’t exist but should”, would be a 3D printer. But that’s a little big to fit in that toolkit.]

Four changes I’d make to that toolkit, off the top of my head:

  1. Replace the 1 cent stamp with a US Forever stamp. Could actually be used to send a letter (in the US) if necessary.
  2. Add a small bit of wire. Maybe a couple loops the length of the box, or a couple loops around the inside of the box (for a DIY mini-electromagnet?)
  3. Add an AA or AAA battery, particularly useful with the wire or when the writers inevitably introduce the “Gadget has a dead battery” complication into the plot.
  4. Add a quarter or maybe a button magnet. Useful for deciding between two options, or for tossing down a hallway to distract a guard.