DIY Projects

Darn, my dog isn’t big enough for this- but if you have a dog over 45lb and have longed to take the pooch on a scooter ride you both enjoy- the Dog Powered Scooter might be for you. Simply harness the dog and clip them into the frame and off you go. With just a few outings pulling the scooter the dog quickly learns when to slow (by feeling the braking) and which direction to turn by again “feeling” the side pull on the harness. The two unit looks like you could cover a lot of ground. Link.

The world’s best radio, on your time- I like the sound of that! PublicRadioFeeds.com has a ton of feeds to all the public radio stations that publish their audio so you can subscribe to it. The science feeds are my favs of course- Dr. Karl, Quirks and Quarks, Talk of the Nation Science Friday, The Science Show, This week in Science and new one called Hack I am going to check out. Lots of great stuff. Link.

This project consists of retrofitting a vacuum cleaner to fire a projectile through the usage of air pressure (or lack thereof). The parts: Vacuum cleaner, obtained from a garage sale, 12″ wooden dowel, 10 feet PVC pipe, and Tee fitting for the pipe. I’ve seen bigger versions of these do some amazing things like send a ping pong ball through metal cans. Link.

If you live in Bat country, this is good project- A bat detector is an instrument that will detect the presence of bats by tuning into the echolocation ultrasounds they produce. There are a variety of commercial bat detectors available but what excited me were the numerous internet sites with home-built detector circuits. I stumbled across these sites while trying to decide what to do with a 1968 Braun Cylindric T2 cigarette lighter. What resulted was the Cylindric Ultrasonic Bat Detector. Link.

Rob Cockerham makes weird things, some of them work, some of them are more social engineering pranks, and some are brilliant costumes. Check out the “How much is inside Adventure” projects and “Incredible stuff I made”…Link. I think I like the paparazzi costume the best.

Health24.com has a friendly reminder that DIY projects can get you hurt if you’re not careful (Ladders always make me nervous too)…many people underestimate the dangers in doing their own home repairs. In the UK alone, 70 people die per year while fixing their homes. Most of them fall off ladders…The largest single cause worldwide of DIY injuries, is falling off ladders. Power tools and electricity are also high up on the list. We’ve all been zapped, zorked and have had some close calls- be careful out there. Link.