MetaFilter posts tagged with DIY

If You Can't Buy One, Build One

reenum — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:02:16 -0800

Ken Imhoff wanted a Lamborghini Countach, but didn't have the money to buy one. So, over the next 17 years, he built one in his basement.

Small batch artisanal d.i.y HFCS

Divest_Abstraction — Fri, 31 May 2013 07:59:46 -0800

"Mm! Tastes like corn candy." MFA project by Maya Weinstein Order the kit today! Visit diyhfcs

Where You Are Is Where This Library Goes

Cash4Lead — Mon, 27 May 2013 11:08:50 -0800

The folks at Mellow Pages, a community-run library/salon in Brooklyn (recently profiled in the NYT), have put together a how-to guide for building a similar kind of space in your neighborhood: short version here, long version (and Google Doc) here.

An Unusual Form of Light Painting

quin — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:05:24 -0800

Step by step tutorial on making beautiful abstract Refractographs; caustic patterns produced as light reflects and refracts through an object. [check the via for some amazing examples]

Probably not really safe for... anywhere.

quin — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:14:03 -0800

Turn empty water bottles into alcohol fueled rockets. [slyt]

The PAPAC-00

popcassady — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:50:30 -0800

In less than an hour you can build the simplified digital computer shown in figure 1, using only a pair of scissors, three dozen common pins, and the parts shown in figures 1 and 2.

First, the tried to make moons

filthy light thief — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 18:00:05 -0800

Early in the 19th century, gas lamps first illuminated city streets, not long after the potential for gas lighting was publicly demonstrated. Less than a century later, electricity was seen as the future of lighting public spaces, thanks in part to technology that was demonstrated around the time of gas lighting. Arc lamps, the predecessor to filament bulbs, were much too bright for lighting homes and businesses, but a single arc lamp could light a whole town. One plan was to replace the network of gas lights with new electric lights, but the new wiring was expensive, and dangerous. The sheer brilliance of a single arc light allowed towns to be lit with a few arc lamps. But these lights cast daylight in a direct line from the towers, and anything in the way would cast a shadow. Where this was an issue in major cities, young towns on flat terrain were well supported by these beacons in the night. In 1881, San Jose was one of the first US towns to get an electric light tower. Despite improvements to this energy-efficient technology, incandescent bulbs allowed for better distribution of light, and most of the moonlight towers have been removed intentionally, or destroyed by acts of nature. In the US, Austin still has working moonlight towers, which were purchased from Detroit, where there were once 122 such towers. Here's a list of towers in Austin on Wikipedia, and a map of the former and remaining towers. If you want to make your own arc lights, it's relatively easy. Make Magazine has a 5 minute YouTube tutorial and accompanying write-up, and there's another set of instructions on Instructables.

Boston Police attempting to infiltrate house shows

Greg Nog — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:09:55 -0800

“What is the Address for the local music show tonight?"

HTBYERRF

Harald74 — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:19:09 -0800

A few years ago Charles Guan was a teacher's assistant in MIT's 2.007 introductory design and manufacturing class. To help out his fellow students he made a guide to building robots quickly and efficiently. Now he has expanded the original guide, retitled it How to Build your Everything Really Really Fast (HTBYERRF) and published it on Instructables, available for anyone wishing to progress from the "zip ties and duct tape" stage of building things.

The Work Magazine Reprint Project

Harald74 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:16:20 -0800

Brooklyn-based Tools for Working Wood are in the process of weekly reprinting every single issue of Work: An Illustrated Magazine of Practice and Theory on their blog, having just finished the first year. The original magazine's first issue was published March 23rd, 1889, and the blog is republishing 123 years after the original. The latest issue has instructions on sign-writing and gilding, how to make a piano, electric clock fitment, construction and application of kaleidoscopes and much more. Earlier issues feature everything from brooches to gas engines. For easier navigation an index is available.

One Day Prop Build

tocts — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:47:40 -0800

Watch Mefi's Own™ asavage create a carrying case for his Blade Runner Blaster in just a single day.

There and Back Again Kitty

rollick — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:17:51 -0800

Lauren Rojas, a 12 year old from California, sent Hello Kitty on a return trip to the stratosphere (over 28 kilometres above the Earth) and recorded the results.

Pallets

aniola — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:58:57 -0800

What do you do with all those empty lots that are left after major earthquakes? Gap Filler fills them with temporary community structures like the Pallet Pavillion. How is the Christchurch earthquake recovery going more generally? The government has been criticized for its failure to consider public input. Here are some articles focused on the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act's (CERA) Minister, Gerry Brownlee.

Add Some More Bourbon - One Day We'll All Be Dead

The Whelk — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:21:48 -0800

Saveur's utterly charming "Recipe Comix" features illustrated recipes/short stories by some of the web's best cartoonists covering a wide range of meals.

Plans for a DIY Industrial Chic Table

OmieWise — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:02:35 -0800

Cast Iron Pipe Legs? Check. Thick board top? Check. Basic plans for building this "industrial" table at home? Check.

I'll see your model space ship and raise you....

Kid Charlemagne — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:49:20 -0800

In a sea of plastic USS Enterprise and Millennium Falcon model kits, models of the Doctor's TARDIS tend to be paper craft, DIY affairs or Cookie Jars, and imperfectly reflect some of the craft's more notable attributes. Until now.

Comrade Shovel

Mr.Encyclopedia — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:41:34 -0800

The modern equivalent of hammering your ploughshare into a sword. Man sees a new AK-47 stock in a shovel handle, then decides to not stop at that.

Satellite's gone up to the skies

shothotbot — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:01:38 -0800

The kickstarter satellites. Sandy Antunes, the author of the blog post has built his own picosatellite Project Calliope. A project he also chronicled in his blog Satelite Diaries. NPR story. Sandy Antunes has also written a book, DIY Satellite Platforms. Via Cool Tools.

Mad scientist in your own basement?

lipsum — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:20:50 -0800

The Genome Compiler is an IDE for DNA projects for all you DIYbio enthusiasts. Previously. Previously.

da Bomb x5

mannequito — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:50:18 -0800

Five Full Films Featuring Graffiti linked above are: 1983's WildStyle, in which "Legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones plays the part of Zoro, the city's hottest and most elusive graffiti writer. The actual story of the movie concerns the tension between Zoro's passion for his art and his personal life, particularly his strained relationship with fellow artist Rose." Also from 1983, Style Wars - "The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent. The film was originally aired on PBS television in 1983, and was subsequently shown in several film festivals to much acclaim, including the Vancouver Film Festival. It also won the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival." 2002's Bomb The System is an independent drama featuring an original soundtrack by El-P. "Blest, a 19-year-old graffiti writer, has just graduated from high school. With no ambition toward mainstream goals of work and family, he spends his time bombing the city with graffiti messages until he and his crew become the most wanted bombers by the corrupt NYPD Vandal Squad." From 2007, Alter Ego, described simply as "a worldwide documentary about graffiti writing". Finally, 2008 gives us Beautiful Losers: "The film focuses on the careers and work of a collective group of artists who since the 1990s began a movement in the art world using D.I.Y. aesthetics from skateboarding, graffiti and underground music such as punk rock and hip-hop. The artists discussed and interviewed in the film include Thomas Campbell, Cheryl Dunn, Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine, Geoff McFetridge, Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Steven "Espo" Powers, Aaron Rose, Ed Templeton and Deanna Templeton. A series of interviews with these artists explains their reasoning behind their "do-it-yourself" style of street art. "

aggregating an aggregator: Peggy Wang (all killer no filler!)

flex — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:07:33 -0800

Peggy Wang, a senior editor at Buzzfeed, has recently displayed a pronounced knack for aggregating what feels like some of the best of Pinterest in tips/lifehacks, home decor ideas, and DIY projects shared around the web. Exhibit A: 52 Totally Feasible Ways To Organize Your Entire Home; Exhibit B: 22 Things You're Doing Wrong; Exhibit C: 33 Meticulous Cleaning Tricks Peggy Wang's Buzzfeed posts page. More highlights from the past few months: *24 Survival Tips For Living Alone *31 Insanely Easy And Clever DIY Projects *24 Incredibly Simple Ways To Make Your Food Taste Awesome *39 Easy DIY Ways To Create Art For Your Walls *20 DIY Home Remedies You Had No Idea Existed *22 Clever Hiding Places To Stash Your Stuff *41 Easy Things To Do With Mason Jars *25 Awesome DIY Ideas For Bookshelves *27 Ways To Rethink Your Bed *28 Functional And Beautiful Ways To Decorate With Contact Paper *56 Ways To Decorate With Washi Tape *21 Easy Ideas For Adorable DIY Terrariums *13 Healthy And Gluten-Free Ways To Make Pizza *and bonus for Halloween, 37 Easy DIY No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas Extra talent flavour: Peggy Wang is also in a NYC indie band, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. *interview with Asylum, 2009 (includes embedded video "Everything With You") *interview with Red Furros, 2010 (includes embedded video for "Higher Than the Stars", which features dancing furries) *interview with Topshop, 2012 previous Peggy Wang tips: 35 lifechanging ways to use everyday objects previous Peggy Wang lists: 22 reasons why design was more awesome in the '80s - Morrissey gets a job - alpacas with post-punk hair - smoking smarties - Wikipedia names your band and Buzzfeed-specific previously: Buzzfeed's strategy and the Internet is eating itself

Ben Krasnow builds neat things.

joechip — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:27:48 -0800

Ben Krasnow shows us how he built a small hybrid rocket engine. Ben makes a lot of other cool things too, like astronaut ice cream, a DIY scanning electron microscope, and why not, carbonated fruit slices.

"It does not give you conspicuous, ephemeral extremes [..] You can absolutely rely on the styles given you in Butterick Patterns"

applemeat — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 09:40:20 -0800

The New Dressmaker; With complete and fully illustrated instructions on every point connected with sewing, dressmaking and tailoring, from the actual stitches to the cutting, making, altering, mending, and cleaning of clothes for ladies, misses, girls, children, infants, men and boys; The Butterick Publishing Co., 1921; 168 p. illus. "Compared to the elaborate trimmings of the 'awful Eighties' and even the whalebone and crinolines of later date, the extreme simplicity of the dresses of to-day has reduced the work of dressmaking to its lowest possible terms." Downloadble PDFs provided by 'The Human Ecology Collection'; University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

Build your own Gossamer Condor

Egg Shen — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:23:10 -0800

The first human-powered aircraft to achieve sustained and controlled flight, the Gossamer Condor (6.3 MB PDF), now belongs to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (2.2 MB JPG). So you'll need to build your own. (previously)

The self-made man

unSane — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 08:42:18 -0800

Nearly a decade ago, Sun Jifa lost his hands in a fishing-related explosion (he was building a bomb for blast-fishing). He soon realized that he couldn't afford the prosthetic hands recommended by the hospital. Undeterred, he decided to build his own bionic hands. Eight years later...