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Archive: Instructables
February 26, 2009
How-To: Variable temperature soldering iron controller
Instructables user titaniumw41 writes:
This instructable will show you how to make your Radioshack "firestarter" soldering iron into a variable temperature version using around $10 in parts. This idea came to me after i started lifting traces on a circuit board because I was using a 30w soldering iron to solder on a chip. Plus, I am cheap and variable temp soldering irons cost a lot more than $10. Caution: this instructable deals with household AC current. If you don't feel comfortable wiring things up or plugging things in, this is not for you
.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 26, 2009 09:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables |
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February 25, 2009
Rockets from office supplies!
Here's a great how-to on building a "liquid fueled" rocket using little more than a fat Sharpie marker, a can of compressed air, and a few more supplies found down on the Cube Farm. The resulting rocket can fly up to 75 feet!
But hey there, John Glenn of the IT Department, BE CAREFUL! This is actually a project you don't want to take lightly. Launch it outdoors, wear safety goggles, don't "burn" yourself on the compressed air (it's *very* cold). Generally, be smart, and use common sense whenever dealing with any type of projectile and components under pressure.
What you need:
A Sharpie
Canned Air
Electrical Tape (Substitute Packing Tape)
Ball Point Pen
Rubber Band
Bottle Cap
Leatherman
TIP: On the Comments to this Instructable, a maker suggests cutting off the bell-shaped end of another Sharpie and adding it to the thrust end of your rocket to form a De Laval nozzle for better thrust performance.
See the full Instructable for more details.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 25, 2009 09:00 AM
Flying, Instructables, Science |
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Steerable plumbing tube sled
From across the pond, Instructables user AndyGadget designed a sled (or sledge) made from pvc tubing:
We have a couple of the cheap plastic sledges which are pretty fast, but not at all steerable and break easily. I wanted a sledge which was strong, steerable and fast. I chose the waste pipe to give a minimal contact area on hard snow but a larger area as the snow deepens. The tube is also slightly flexible to allow bending for the steering.
This is his second version, hence the grass in the background.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 25, 2009 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables |
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February 24, 2009
Lost Knowledge: Village tech in West Papua, Indonesia
The weekly Lost Knowledge column explores the possible technology of the future in the forgotten ideas of the past (and those slightly off to the side). Each Tuesday, we look at retro-tech, "lost" technology, and the make-do, improvised "street tech" of village artisans and tradespeople from around the globe. "Lost Knowledge" is also the theme of MAKE Volume 17 (due on newsstands March 10, 2009)
Tim Anderson, who does the awesome Heirloom Technology column in MAKE, has a zillion great Instructables covering all manner of indigenous tech, shop tips, tool hacks, and other flaky golden biscuits of makery goodness. Here are some excerpts from a piece he did after visiting a town on the western tip of Papua, a place called Tempat Garam (meaning "salt making place"). It's a sweet maker portrait of the Mombrasars, a family of blacksmiths that have a shop there. The family build boats, forges tools for the village, and invents their own cool gadgets. I never get tired of seeing the great inventiveness of village technicians, as the sago grinder, tool items they make and sell, and the forge bellows can attest below.
Chainsaw Powered Sago Grinder Yohanis Mombrasar shows me one of their inventions, a chainsaw powered sago grinder. The local staple is sago palm starch. The sago palm grows in dense stands in fresh water swamps just behind a barrier beach. The whole trunk is composed of starch and fibers.
Big chainsaws are plentiful here because of the timber industry. The area has valuable hardwoods sought by Malaysian Chinese traders.
The traditional method of making sago starch is to fell a sago log and pound the insides with wooden hammers until the starch grains are separated from the fibers. I've read that even that way, it's 1/10th as much labor as rice cultivation. With a power tool like this, it would take very little time to produce large quantities.
The Product Line Here are some of the things they are ready to make at any time.
The local stores carry mass produced machetes and sickles like we have but no one wants them. The local people appreciate a finely crafted steel tool made to exactly suit the work they do.
The Forge It was their day off, but Elisabet and Andreas kindly offered to show me how their forge works. It's a very sociable operation. Elisabet sits on the throne and works the bellows.
The piston pump is made from two sections of water pipe and some wooden piston plungers. The gasket material is very soft and hangs down on the upstroke, allowing air to pass around it. It looks like these gaskets are made of soft foam. I've also seen them made from many layers of woven plastic bags.
Maker Portrait: Inventive Blacksmiths of Sorong, West Papua, Indonesia
More:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 24, 2009 11:00 AM
Green, Instructables, Makers |
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Travel go board
Go is hard to play while traveling; the pieces slide all around, and the board is too big to maneuver, but you can play on any size board really, so instructables user Roger-X made this travel go set using cardboard, paper, and matchsticks. Holes in the board hold the matchsticks in place while playing.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 24, 2009 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables, Kids |
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February 23, 2009
Fishing lure plastic injector
This Instructable details how to make a simple plastic mold injection tool for creating artificial fishing lures out of a hot melt glue gun.
How to make artificial fishing bait for little to no $
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 23, 2009 11:00 AM
Crafts, DIY Projects, Instructables |
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February 20, 2009
How-To: Make a freestanding whiteboard
In this Instructable, my Dorkbot DC/HacDC compadre R. Mark Adams, details how he built a simple, freestanding whiteboard out of readily-available materials.
More:
Toolbox: Portable workbench
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 20, 2009 02:00 PM
Instructables, Toolbox |
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My Vac-U-Formative years
When these images showed up on Gizmodo, Oh Gizmo! and then started making the email rounds, long-dormant neural pathways lit up like a 60s Christmas tree, the kind with bulbs so big and hot they could roast chestnuts. It was under such a radiant Christmas tree that I found that exact same Mattel Vac-U-Form kit when I was a kidlet. It became my all-time favorite toy (that and Creepy Crawlers). I often think about the impact these building toys had on me as a maker. I was always attracted to toys where you made things, more so than army men or board games or other types of non-build toys. From Vac-U-Form and Creepy Crawlers, I graduated to Gilbert chemistry sets and Estes model rockets. I imagine others reading this followed a similar trajectory.
When we started looking through Instructables for candidates to include in our Best of Instructables book (see below), one of the first projects I put on my list was the vacuum forming rig made out of a peanut butter jar. When the book was edited and published, this was one of the first projects I made. As soon as I smelled that melted plastic stock, the joys of my childhood came rushing back to me like some forgotten Proustian memory.
Vac-U-Form at Sam's Toybox [via Gizmodo]
You can find the original Instructable for the peanut butter plastic vacuum former here. Below is a video that SheekGeek has added that shows the unit in action:
From the Maker Shed:
Best Of Instructables
Our Price: $34.99
Sale Price: $22.75
Instructables.com has become one of the most popular magnets for makers and DIY enthusiasts of all stripes. Now, with more than 10,000 projects to choose from, the Instructables staff, editors of MAKE: Magazine, and the Instructables community itself have put together a collection of home, craft, food and technology how-to's from the site. The Best of Instructables Volume 1 includes plenty of clear, full-color photographs, complete step-by-step instructions, and tips, tricks, and new build techniques you won't find anywhere else.
Highlights from the book:
* 336 pages, 6-5/8 x 9-3/8, same dimensions as The Best of MAKE and MAKE magazine.
* Over 120 projects!
* Projects cover everything from food hacking and making home furnishings from junk to building robots and CNC milling machines. And in-between you'll find projects on arts, crafts, costume-making, tool tips, themed photo galleries, and tons more.
* There are also the results of the Community Choice contest winners (the best of Instructables as voted by its members) and links to their projects.
* There are key user comments from the site throughout, called User Notes, and even a section in the back for you to keep your own User Notes as you build the projects.
We tried to involve the Instructables community as much as possible in the creation of the book (we were in direct communication with several hundred authors!). We hope the results do this maker community proud. It was a thrill ride to be sure.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 20, 2009 12:00 PM
Instructables, Maker Shed Store |
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February 19, 2009
HOW TO - Flexible printed circuit board
Instructables user ckharnett has a guide up about printing your own flexible circuit board using a flexible copper-clad material called Pyralux. Assuming you can get your hands on the stuff (the site recommends asking DuPont for a free sample or looking on eBay), the rest of the process seems fairly straightforward and quite interesting. Via EMSL.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 19, 2009 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables |
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February 18, 2009
Instructables laser cutter contest 2009
Over at Instructables, they're ready to kick off another contest to give away a laser cutter:
Making an epic project is always something to be proud of, but Epilog and Instructables want to push you to stretch yourself, and make something truly excellent! To encourage the making of amazing things, we're hosting the Epilog Challenge '09. Make something awesome with a green twist and win a Epilog laser cutter! The form of awesomeness is entirely up to you: your project can be on any subject, using any components, and in any field. Just use your skills to make something incredible, share it on Instructables, and you can win one of the most truly incredible and versatile tools available: a Zing Laser from Epilog!
Open to enter: Feb 18, 2009 12:01 AM PST
Deadline for entries: April 13, 2009 11:59 PM PST
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 18, 2009 07:00 AM
Instructables |
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February 17, 2009
VHS toaster
Instructables user lemonie combined an old VCR with a toaster to make a VCR that toasts, and imprints "VHS" on its toast, too.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 17, 2009 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables |
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February 16, 2009
Soda can crab
Instructables user chaitanyak shows us how to make a little toy crab from one soda can.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 16, 2009 09:00 PM
DIY Projects, Instructables |
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February 13, 2009
LED felt brooches
These were posted to the MAKE Flickr pool with no explanation (in English), but you can pretty figure it out. It's basically an LED Throwie inside of felt craft with a pin back.
More:
HOW TO - Make LED Throwies
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 13, 2009 01:00 PM
Crafts, Electronics, Instructables |
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February 11, 2009
HOW TO - Gas bottle wood burner
Instructables user btop writes:
Gas bottle wood burners are very easy to make, efficient, and are perfect for late night parties. If you turn them right up, the middle can start to glow red, you can put a kettle on the top, or cut the top off and add a hot plate. These are really easy to make, and be changed however you want.
Some welding required, but besides that, it looks relatively straightforward!
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 11, 2009 07:11 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables |
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February 9, 2009
HOW TO - Identity-preserving ski mask
Andrew Salomone figured out a way to make a ski mask that doesn't hide who you are. He writes:
It's pretty easy to wear warm clothes on just about every part of your body except for your face. As far as I can tell, the main reason that cold-weather facial attire is somewhat socially taboo is because it generally obscures the identity of the person wearing it. Despite all of the progress our society has made towards accepting and treating all people fairly, we are still yet to escape the notion that a person in a balaclava (or ski mask) is generally up to no good. The "Identity Preserving Balaclava" is my solution to the social stigma associated with the identity concealing effect of the average balaclava. Here is the method and pattern that I used to make my own "Identity Preserving Balaclava." Hopefully other people will be able to use this to liberate their cold faces from social repression!
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 9, 2009 07:00 AM
Arts, DIY Projects, Instructables, Wearables |
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February 5, 2009
Plastic soda bottle prosthesis
Instructables user CIRnetwork writes:
In resource-limited areas worldwide, individuals with amputations may not be able to gain access to prosthetics devices due to a lack of the materials needed to fabricate them. This simple technique utilizes a 2-liter soda bottle to create below-the-elbow prosthesis suitable for a number of light duty activities.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 5, 2009 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Green, Instructables, Wearables |
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February 4, 2009
Arduino fortune teller
MAKE reader Pauly left this link over at my How-to Tuesday: Arduino 101 blink an LED post yesterday. He made an Adruino powered fortune teller. I really like how he used an old cigar box as the enclosure. It looks like a really cool instructable, thanks for posting it!
This project gives the user a fortune and lucky number like from a fortune cookie. This was made as a Christmas present.
More about the Arduino fortune teller
In the Maker Shed:
Make: Arduino
Posted by Marc de Vinck |
Feb 4, 2009 01:00 AM
Arduino, Arts, DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables |
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February 2, 2009
Algae bioreactor from recycled water bottles
Here's a really neat energy project:
In this instructable, we describe how to build a photo-bioreactor that uses algae to convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy. The energy that is produced is in the form of algae biomass. The photo-bioreactor is built from plastic recycled water bottles. By using algae as a biofuel, we can increase the world's supply of oil while at the same time we decrease the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide used during its production. The resulting product is a sustainable biofuel whose carbon footprint is neutral inasmuch as the CO2 produced on consumption is essentially balanced by the CO2 used in its production. In this instructable, we first make the carbon dioxide delivery system, then mount the water bottles on a rack, and then inoculate the bottles with algae. After letting the algae grow for a week, we extract the biomass.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Feb 2, 2009 09:00 PM
DIY Projects, Green, Instructables |
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Uses for plastic bottles
This Instructable has a bunch of ideas for reusing plastic (PET) bottles. Some of them are obvious (a grain scoop and a parts bins), some are more novel (a mosquito trap and a plant coldframe). Above are biscuit/cookie cutter, a butter churn, an LED light bulb, and an electric fence insulator.
Quick and easy homestead uses for Plastic Bottles (PET)
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Feb 2, 2009 01:09 PM
Green, Instructables |
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January 30, 2009
Cross country ski stroller
Aptly named Instructables user dirtydiaperchanger made this X-country ski stroller with relatively inexpensive materials. I hope my brother is reading, since he's got a little one up in Maine where there's five feet of snow.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jan 30, 2009 11:00 AM
DIY Projects, Instructables, Kids, Transportation |
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