Over at Super Soaker Central (Ain’t the web great?), user JLspacemarine has posted this nicely-detailed build of a hardware-store constant pressure water gun. Although much heavier, it reportedly out-performs the commercial toys. [via Hack a Day]
I am glad that, so far, in life, I have not had to join the ranks of those umpty-many folks who, at one point or another, have suddenly found themselves needing to fill a whole lot of sandbags in a hurry. Hopefully, I will never be in that situation, but when and if I am, I’m going to try to remember this tutorial by Instructables user RiverOakRanch. The jig they describe allows one person to fill six tubes at once, helps to insure equal filling, and, most importantly, frees up another laborer who would otherwise have to stand there holding the bags open.
Riley Porter created a large fume extractor that uses fans and carbon filters to clean the air in his workshop. This past weekend I decided that I would attempt a carbon filtering fume extractor stack (at least what I called it). Basically the fumes from the smoke of many different materials is pretty bad. The […]
Image courtesy W.R. Outhwaite & Son, Ropemakers. Depending on where you live, this may be old hat for you, but I’ve lived 30 years on this earth and never seen a rope bannister before. And I just finished remodeling my staircase too. Besides being less expensive, easier to ship, easier to install, and way more […]
Repurposing a leftover CO2 cylinder and regulator, maker Joel Miller assembled this DIY home carbonation unit after a quick parts run.
A few years ago (2002?) I made this “accessible” cube puzzle by simply gluing/drilling an existing cube. The goal was to get an intuitive sense of “where the cubes went” when a face was turned – by holding the back and viewing the front, the cubist can sense all faces at all times. This makes the design ideal for puzzling in the dark (which I did) but also as an enhancement for the visually-impaired without sacrificing usability for the sighted.
Epoxyworks is a free magazine published biannually, and archived online, by Michigan’s Gougeon Brothers, Inc., who use it to promote their West System brand of epoxy resins, which I have not used and have no stake in, but it’s chock full of tutorials, tips, and techniques for working with composite materials that could probably be “de-branded” and used with whomever’s products you prefer. Shown here are photos from one article that caught my eye (PDF), by J.R. Watson, showing how to form straight and curved rigid composite tubes in carbon fiber, kevlar, fiberglass, or other braided material by laying the composite up over a mold made from split foam pipe insulation. It also covers techniques for joining the finished rigid tubing sections. [Thanks, Alan Dove!]
