DIY Projects

HOW TO – The Apple iWipe

HOW TO – The Apple iWipe

IwipeGreat (and funny) instructable by sMoRTy71 “One of my co-workers was giving away and old Atari 800XL and Macintosh SE case. He had been planning to do a mini-ITX project, but had never gotten around to it. Always wanting an excuse to tinker with something, I decided to take them off of his hands. Well, as soon as I saw the Mac SE case, I realized that this one had the most potential. So this weekend, I bought a few things at Home Depot and got started making my Apple-powered, wireless, portable toilet paper dispenser — the iWipe. The whole project took a couple of hours and cost about $15.” Thanks Saul! Link.

HOW TO – Make a Digital Pinhole Lens

HOW TO – Make a Digital Pinhole Lens

Pinhole Camera“One of the oldest camera forms is the Pin-hole, or “natural” camera. The pinhole camera was mentioned as early as Leonardo DaVinci in his Codex Atlanticus and Manuscript D. The term Camera Obscura or “dark room” was first used by Johannes Kepler who used the term to describe a dark room or box with a small hole used by artists to draw landscapes, it wasn’t until the 1850’s that the first photographic pinhole image was created.” Here’s how to make one for you digital camera. Thanks Greg! Link.

HOW TO – Build your own Ring flash

HOW TO – Build your own Ring flash

Ring Flash 8“One of the cooler lighting effects that we have left over from the 90’s era fashion photography is the use of Ring Flash as a primary light source. Ring flashes are often used in either fashion photography or in macro photography where the ring of light helps to eliminate shadows. When used in fashion or generally people photography it has the effect of creating a flat but almost iridescent lighting quality with a ‘halo’ effect around the subject. Cool yes, cheap? No. Flashes designed for macro photography generally will set you back about $400, while ring flashes for medium format and intended for fashion photography cost well over $1000!…Well fortunately, building your own ring flash is a fairly easy project with results that can easily rival professional ring flash assemblies for only a fraction of the price.” Link.

HOW TO – Make a Megaphone Helmet

HOW TO – Make a Megaphone Helmet

Ipodhelmet A fun instructable from talbotron22 “Here I show how you can very simply modify a megaphone to accept 1/8” line input from an iPod, and mount the megaphone on top of a motorcycle helmet. The resulting “Mega Helmet” delivers the maximal aural stupidity allowed by law…Go play softball wearing the helmet. It is very good for antagonizing the pitcher, and trash-talking in general. The helmet allows both for amplification of your voice, and playback of mp3s from the iPod.Link.

DIY Sheetrock lift

DIY Sheetrock lift

RliftNotBobVilla sent this along…“A Sheetrock lift I designed/built on a job site of a 6 story building I renovated. I built 2 of them they worked so well. We also had about 30,000 SQ/FT of ceiling to put up. Typically when someone talks about a sheetrock lift its 2×4’s fashioned into a Tee. With 2 to 3 guys struggling to screw it to the ceiling. This is a one man operation. Material costs $50-60 bucks 4-6 hours build time. We could have bought one but weres the fun in that? It works just as well or better as lifts costing $600+” Link.