DIY Projects

How-To:  Corpsification of a skeleton

How-To: Corpsification of a skeleton

OK, I admit it: I was pretty excited about getting to use the word “corpsification” in any context. But that doesn’t mean this tutorial from the folks at Yard Haunt about how to make a clean, sterile, white plastic skeleton into a nasty, rotting, reeking bag o’ bones is any less cool. In case you’re wondering, the “Bucky” skeleton referred to in this and many other haunt prop tutorials is a brand name of Anatomical Chart Company, which sells serious anatomical models to educational institutions but also does a tidy trade in “4th quality” seconds on the Halloween market.

Mark’s violin update

Mark’s violin update

Mark Williams’ electric violin, which he has been building over the past few months is nearly complete. Other than the neck and a few other items, the whole instrument has been scratch built, mostly at the Boston Fab Lab. He has a nice gallery of photos detailing the build.

I’m almost finished painting it, and I just string it all up for the first time since the project exposition to test out the new pickup magnets. It works GREAT! So amazing to play something I’ve built from the ground up. Just have to finish the fingerboard and bridge and then wait for the paint to finish curing so I can buff and polish it.

Litmus candy

Litmus candy

Windell of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories noticed that the “Blueberry Blast” candies he picked up contained red cabbage extract, which, as every evil mad scientist knows, is a classic homebrew pH indicator. So he dunked three samples in baking soda solution, neutral water, and vinegar. Sure enough, visible color changes.

How-To:  PVC pipe vacuum dust separator

How-To: PVC pipe vacuum dust separator

Instructables user neorazz has posted a tutorial on how to build a dust separator attachment for your shop vac. It is described as “cyclonic,” which it may or may not actually be (see the comments), but it does, apparently, work quite well at separating out the heavier bits of flotsam (which ends up in the bucket) from the actual dust (which goes on to the vacuum).