Burner Tools: a blue steel sledgehammer wrapped in cobalt and cyan flame

burner.tools · the forge is lit

Small tools.
Serious heat.

A home for useful projects that can stay small: apps, printable models, public experiments and things in progress. Six are on the anvil right now; five more hang on the tool rack.

See the six The tool rackWhy we build small

On the anvil: six work orders

  1. No. 01In the fire Weekaboo A calendar with room for the things you haven't scheduled yet. To forge 01 →
  2. No. 02Beta Paper In Put the paper in. Get a PDF you can find again. To forge 02 →
  3. No. 03Ready PLAyered Pictures, pressed in PLA. To forge 03 →
  4. No. 04Ready InstaPi One person sets it up. Everyone else just adds photos. To forge 04 →
  5. No. 05Ready Polaroid An instant classic, rebuilt one parameter at a time. To forge 05 →
  6. No. 06Ready Jankyard Break AI agents on purpose, for sport. To forge 06 →

The showcase: six projects

Forge 01 of 06

Forge 01 · on the anvil

Weekaboo

A calendar with room for the things you haven't scheduled yet.

In the fireOpen source · MIT (source code for Weekaboo, opens in a new tab)Android · iPhone & iPad · macOS

The real app's week view with built-in fictional sample calendars and the 'Your things' task backlog (three undated tasks).
Read the full story of Weekaboo

Forge 02 of 06

Forge 02 · on the anvil

Paper In

Put the paper in. Get a PDF you can find again.

BetaOpen source · MIT (source code for Paper In, opens in a new tab)macOS

The real app in demo mode: Sheet 1 with front and back previews, paper/sides controls, Save PDF. The pages are generated samples.
Read the full story of Paper In Get the beta (Mac) (opens in a new tab)

Forge 03 of 06

Forge 03 · on the anvil

PLAyered

Pictures, pressed in PLA.

ReadyOpen source · MIT (source code for PLAyered, opens in a new tab)macOS · for Bambu Lab printers

Source photo: a golden thunderhead over a dark ridge (the maker's own photo).
Actual app preview: thunderhead with a custom five-color palette. Not a photograph of a physical print.
Read the full story of PLAyered Get PLAyered for Mac (opens in a new tab)

Forge 04 of 06

Forge 04 · on the anvil

InstaPi

One person sets it up. Everyone else just adds photos.

ReadyOpen source · MIT (source code for InstaPi, opens in a new tab)Raspberry Pi

The frame's first-boot screen: 'Scan with your phone, Sign in with Google, Pick your photos.' (Cropped from the right half of the asset. The left half is blank in the source file.)
Read the full story of InstaPi Set one up (opens in a new tab)

Forge 05 of 06

Forge 05 · on the anvil

Polaroid, parametric.

An instant classic, rebuilt one parameter at a time.

ReadySource available · CC BY-NC-SA (source code for Polaroid, parametric., opens in a new tab)OpenSCAD

A photo of the actual printed model: cream face, black body, red shutter button, rainbow stripe, '1000' badge.
Read the full story of Polaroid, parametric. Print it (MakerWorld) (opens in a new tab)

Forge 06 of 06

Forge 06 · on the anvil

Jankyard

Break AI agents on purpose, for sport.

ReadyWeb · AI challenges

The public Challenges page with all eight challenge cards, type badges and max-step counts (the footer is cropped out).
Read the full story of Jankyard Play at jankyard.ai (opens in a new tab)
  1. Weekaboo
  2. Paper In
  3. PLAyered
  4. InstaPi
  5. Polaroid, parametric.
  6. Jankyard
Skip the showcase

Back of the shop

The tool rack

Five more, hanging where you can reach them: smaller, older or not quite ready for the forge.

Why we build small

Small by choice.

This is a home for useful projects that can stay small. Each one is worth building and worth sharing, without a promise to turn it into a full-time business.

  • Built for a job

    Every tool starts with a problem somebody actually had. When it solves that problem, it's done enough to share.

  • Free where it can be

    Many are free and open source, because usefulness is enough reason to release them.

  • Allowed to stay small

    Some could grow into something bigger. Pursuing that is optional, and staying small is not a failure.

Everything on the floor

All work