Posts by Category: diy

Do it yourself, dude!

diy June 6, 2005 posted by

Snazzy home CGI.

Do your own snazzy home computer graphics tricks with this tutorial. All you need is a digital camera, a fast computer and about $6000.00 worth of software. Tshaw! [via BoingBoing]  All you need is: A digital camera A reflective sphere (which you see in a few photos) to capture the lighting of the real-life scene which you want to composite your model into. A small program called HDRShop. Big program called 3D Studio Max. and finally you need a good…


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diy May 3, 2005 posted by

Mow maverick.

Build your own radio controlled lawn mower.  All lawn mowers have one basic flaw. Get rid of it and it’s much lighter, goes faster, goes under low branches and between bushes, turns on a dime, saves gas, mows in the rain and lets you have fun to as well. That flaw is the rider. So we made radio-control mowers…The mower was designed to go under fruit trees and between shrubs that are awkward or impossible with a rider. And to…


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diy April 15, 2005 posted by

Steady Bot.

The BalBot Advanced. Build yer very own cool balancing robot complete with a groovy custom personality! Hah, eat that Japan Inc. Requires just $479.95 and some geek juice for blood.  The BalBot Advanced is not only a self-balancing robot platform; it also includes a microcontroller board (called BrainBoard), which you can program to customize your bot. With 17 expansion port connectors, the BrainBoard is designed to allow easy, “Plug and play” addition of more sensors and electronics…You can then modify the sample code to give…


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diy April 11, 2005 posted by

Skin it, baby!

Make Your Own Gadget Skin. Download the free PDF template for your gadget, create yer design and upload the results to the Custom Skin section of the site to order. $14.99.    Download the template you want and then get ready to begin creating. After template is downloaded simply open the attached text file and follow the step by step instructions. Its fun and easy…


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diy March 31, 2005 posted by

Clock that.

The DIY Clock. As good a way of passing the time as any, I suppose. £21.99.  This nifty set comes complete with hands and a full set of self-adhesive numbers that you stick straight onto the wall. There’s a template for helping you to lay out a perfect circle if you’re planning on the conventional approach, but why sail with the tide when you stick them up any way you like. The wall you stick them on becomes the background…


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diy March 30, 2005 posted by

Hover board.

Hoverboard. Well it ain’t Back to the Future, that’s fer sure, but it’s a start. Fully assembled $9000.00, plans $49.00. Video here. And here’s another hoverboard project underway in a garage. And finally, apparently sometime this year…  This personal hoverboard uses high performance hovercraft technology to lift a 250+lb rider 3 inches above the ground. A 6 horsepower 4-stroke gasoline engine spins a 5 bladed propeller to force air under the craft. Some air is diverted into a flexible skirt…


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diy February 14, 2005 posted by

Tank Cam.

Tank Cam. Take one R/C tank, strap a wireless micro cam and some lights to it. Result? Sneaky, snoopy crawliness, for less than a $6 billion Pentagon budget.  If a little extra light is good, then a LOT is better, right? We dropped down to the store again and got another 4 AA lamp identical to the other, plus a small but bright plastic flashlight. We glued the second lantern atop the turret immediately next to the first, then glued…


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diy February 8, 2005 posted by

Smart radio.

The DIY smart Radio Station using iTunes.  A while ago I read a tip somewhere about how to make a few smart playlists work with each other to make a mix of music for a smaller iPod. After thinking for a short time I realized I could make a perfect little ever-changing radio station out of iTunes with a similar methodology…The core here is that you’re going to have to rate all of your music for this to work. Unrated…


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cool tech February 1, 2005 posted by

Hey fatty boom boom.

The Deluxe Greasecar Conversion Kit. Your car may end up smelling like the local fast food caff, but you’ll be extremely smug in a ‘I’m a real ecological warrior’ kinda way. So go for it! $795.00   The Greasecar Vegetable Oil Conversion System is an auxiliary fuel modification system that allows diesel vehicles to run on vegetable oil in any climate. By using waste vegetable oils as fuel, Greasecar customers reduce toxic emissions, recycle an over-abundant waste product, and dramatically reduce…


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diy January 31, 2005 posted by

M&M Minder.

There is clearly a need for an M&M Sorter in this world. We just wish we knew why! Here’s the kit for sale. $89.00.  


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diy January 27, 2005 posted by

Gumball rally.

The Gumball PC. The Mac mini? Pah!  The total build time for this project was just under two weeks, at about 1-2 hours per evening. This includes down time waiting for paint to dry, hanging out at the local watering hole with friends, playing on the weekends and the five weeks (the entire month of November) when suddenly I no longer had “too much time on my hands” due to downsizing at that four-letter place, work.


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diy January 26, 2005 posted by

Roto-phone.

OK, so plugging a mobile phone innards into a 1950s rotary landline phone is fun. Now can we have our lava lamp back, please mister?  Why wouldn’t it be cool to see a rotary phone, ringing, with no wires attached? It might mess with your brain a bit. Turns out I am very glad there is no such thing as a cellular rotary phone – the dialing takes forever! And here in Colorado – on a 10-digit dialing system – you…


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diy January 25, 2005 posted by

Homebrew DS power.

How to make your own Nintendo DS USB power cable.  !!! WARNING !!! Attempt the following AT YOUR OWN RISK! If you don’t have a strong understand on electronics and wiring, I strongly advise not attempting this on your own. Messing with electronics can mess up you system, as well as possible [sic] yourself, if you are not careful.


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diy January 24, 2005 posted by

Make sweet music.

The DIY Yampp (yet another mp3 player). Dude, know that iPod mini you’ve got down on your birthday list? Why not scrub it and make your own MP3 player instead? You know you’ll feel better for it. You can get the parts here. Or if you’re feeling more adventurous, try this? Or for the truly masochistic…  Well, so it’s another MP-3 Player. So what ? It seems that today, about second site on the ‘net has a description of how…


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