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Homemade Sugar Rocket
Cook up a solid-fuel rocket engine and let it fly, if you have the DIY right stuff.

Heron of Alexandria and the Gin Pole
Remake history by building the world's first construction crane, still in use today — the gin pole. In antiquity, the only way to raise a heavy object was to put a rope on it, climb a ladder, and pull — or if you had enough time, build a ramp. Then the Greeks put a pulley on a pole, and the sky was the limit.

Remote Tripwire Alarm
Build your own tripwire security system.

Computer Printer Salvage
PC Load Letter?! Over 200 useful parts for free!

“Drawdio” Musical Pencil
Drawdio is a simple electronic sound synthesizer build onto a pencil! Designed by Jay Silver, then a student in the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, the Drawdio circuit plays a musical tone with a frequency that varies based on the resistance between two points. The wire wrapped around the pencil handle is one point, and the pencil lead itself is another. When you hold Drawdio in your hand, your body becomes part of the resistive loop, and you can do all kinds of fun tricks, like draw yourself a piano and play a little tune!

How to Transplant an RFID Chip
RFID (radio-frequency identification) systems are all around us.

Smartphone Servo
Here's how to plug hobby servos straight into your smartphone and control almost anything with a fingertip. Slick! A fun and easy robotics project from MAKE Volume 34.

Puzzle Treasure Box
Stash your secret stuff in this trick box that looks padlocked tight. It’s easy to open once you know the secret.

DIY Baseball Tees
Hey sluggers — it's easy to make your own batting tees for tee-ball or batting practice, using ordinary stuff from the home-and-hardware store. Follow these easy instructions to build a pair of adjustable, durable tees for half the price of store-bought.

iPad Music Desk
Turn an iPad into a studio-worthy, deep-end experimental musical instrument.

Sing-a-long Song Devocalizer
As a musician I often need to learn new songs, and it can be difficult to hear individual instruments in recordings I want to study. I have often wished for an easy way to eliminate or reduce the vocals and isolate the instruments. Various hardware and software solutions exist but they tend to be expensive or inconvenient.  I wanted a cheap method that I could use anywhere, on any device with a 1/8" stereo headphone jack. Then, one night, I was fiddling with a pair of headphones with a defective plug. When moved a certain way, it gave exactly the vocals-canceling effect I had been looking for!

The Mighty Lip Balm Linear Actuator
Make one from a Blistex tube, mini hobby servo, and an aluminum shaft.