DIY Projects

Make your own Zen Micro car mount – a durable and stylish, yet cheap, car mount for the Zen with easy to find items. The Parts: Two full-size Altoids tins, One big-size plastic paper clamp thing, One can of spray paint, some velcro strips. Link.

Here’s a pretty detailed article on building a carbon fiber/epoxy composite bike – It took about three months, cost about $1000, and the maker did the whole thing in his garage! He even tested the deflection and strength of the beam before (and during) riding it. [via] Link.

Master Modder Adds Infrared to His Favorite Disposable Camera – The basic idea is that infrared light is not visible to the human eye, but every camera has a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and by default they show infrared light. So camera makers install an infrared filter to block the light. Then if we add several infrared LEDs to the camera, they will act as a flashlight for the camera. So let’s jump right into it. [via] Link.

So you want a polirized lens for your camera, but aren’t willing to shell out the big bucks for a step-down attachment and the lens itself. Here’s a HOW TO on making a polarized lens for your camera using a pair of sun glasses. Link.

Here’s an interesting HOW TO on making a padlock shim to open up padlocks – it’s based on a retail version, but made from a beer can. I have a couple old locks that I don’t seem to have the combination for any longer, handy! Link.

Handy non-techy HOW TO on fixing a Palm with a dead battery. There are tons of PDAs in desk drawers and on eBay that could use a little lovin’ – If you own a PDA that is a couple of years old that needs a new internal battery, but don’t want to shell out the extra 50 – 100 dollars to get it professionally replaced then this is the place for you! Thanks Andrew! Link.

The idea of this project was to create a fully-automated sentry gun, capable of picking out a human target and accurately tracking and shooting him or her in the heart. Really, the idea was to find a cool robotics project for the summer while I was working at an advertising agency, and I’d only ever seen sentry guns in movies (like Congo) and video games (Half-Life 1, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress Classic). [via] Link.