Clever instructable for protecting and camouflaging your bike using an old innertube – “An old innertube or two can be artfully used to protect your bicycle frame from damage. This is excellent in preventing damage to your frame from using U-Locks to lock them up. Also great to dress down your bicycle for urban environments.” Link.
Leadingzero writes “Inspired by Ladyada’s infamous GameGrrl, I recently became determined to make my own portable NES out of the MegaJoy (one of those knockoff Nintendo systems that can be found in malls) and the recently discontinued HIP Gear Screen pad. However, for my project I wanted to do something slightly different. I wanted to give mine a more unique feel, so when I recently found my old Sega GameGear I instantly knew that it was destined for this project.” Link.
Steve writes “I was reading an old 1950’s “how to” magic book for kids that described a trick that required a small round piece of glass. It suggested that I could make such a piece of glass by cutting the glass into a circle with ordinary scissors. How? By doing the cutting in a sink filled with water. A quick search on google and sure enough, some interesting information on the subject. I thought Make: blog readers might find this interesting–even if it doesn’t work as well as advertised.” Link.
Article about holiday goods you can buy/make from a shop near MAKE HQ “Typewriter keys transformed into earrings, bike chains that become bracelets, journals bound between the covers of old books and decorative bowls made from old LP records. These are just some of the recycled goodies for sale at Renga Arts, a relatively new Occidental store that turns one person’s trash into another’s treasure.” Link.
Kaden (who has an excellent Machina Arcana biz) sent along this how-to on making springs. “If you’re trying to make a spring to replace a broken one, you don’t need to know a whole lot about design. On the other hand, if you’re making a prototype of a machine, for instance, and you don’t know exactly what you want, then this page is for you. Here you’ll learn some basic data about spring design, which is what you’ll need to know to make exactly the spring you want.” Link.
Chris writes “I was looking to make my own Power Over Ethernet injector for my Apple Airport Base Station, and found this great looking HowTo. Haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to.” Link. Here’s another one we’ve posted, if you have others to help Chris out – post them in the comments.
“The Quarter Shrinker uses a technique called high velocity electromagnetic metal forming, or “Magneforming”. This technique was originally developed by the aerospace industry in conjunction with NASA, and has been popularized by Aerovox, Grumman, and Maxwell. It involves quickly discharging a high energy capacitor bank through a work coil to generate a very powerful and rapidly changing electromagnetic field which then “forms” the metal to be fabricated. While it works best with metals of relatively high electrical conductivity such as copper or aluminum alloys, it will work to a more limited extent with many poorer conducting metals and alloys such as steel or nickel.” Thanks Derek! Link.
