Make stuff with eMachineShop and Pad2Pad
Dylan writes “First, eMachineShop. They are an online custom machine shop. You download their program, design the part you need, send in the spec, they machine it, and then it arrives in your mailbox. How cool is that?! They do injection molding, rubber molding, milling, turning, laser cutting, waterjet cutting, wire EDM, tapping, bending, blanking, punching, plastic extrusion, thermoforming, and casting. And the list of materials you can use is just silly. Second, Pad2Pad. Same deal as eMachineShop (it’s a sister site), but this time with custom printed circuit boards. You download the software, design your PCB, send it in, they make it, and then you get your PCB in your mailbox. These sites have got to be handy sites for people doing projects like the ones you see in Make.”
Jim writes “This weekend we made a homemade pet collar (to prevent our cat from scratching at a wound on his neck) out of left over folders from changing the colour on the back of my Powerbook. Saved us having to ring the emergency vet clinic and only took about twenty minutes. Very basic, but handy.” 
Mark writes “Here’s how to convert old obsolete 1950’s era Polaroid 110a cameras into semi-proffesional, full manual, large format work horses. The site describes the process of converting these cheap old cameras to accept easily available modern pack film. There are lo-fi methods and is mainly directed toward poor starving photographers or college students who can not afford a Litman 45 single.” 
Rick writes “A great ‘how to’ making steam engines, (although most are run on compressed air). All you need to know from simple single cylinder models to V twins and more. A neat project in time for the holiday season – What a great present.” 
Giles writes “Step by step, do it yourself, super 8 telecine – How to make Super 8 movies into digital files for the cost of an old projector, a big lens and some bits from the local electronics store!” 
“…construction of a very simple low-cost compound microscope. As shown in Figure 1, the microscope we describe is one that just about anyone can build and will produce a magnification of about 75 times. Microscopes may be thought of as very intricate and mysterious instruments but in reality, they are not as complicated as one may think. Building this simple instrument is not only a fun project, it will help you understand how microscopes work.” Thanks Rick!