make projects

Make: Projects – Ball-in-cage alarm switch

Make: Projects – Ball-in-cage alarm switch

I’ve been looking for an excuse to build one of these clever tamper-detecting switches for a long time. When a mystery critter recently started raiding the fresh catnip I grow outside as a treat for my indoors-only cat, I saw my opportunity. Sure, I could’ve bought or borrowed a commercial trail camera, or hacked a PIR motion detector circuit, or set up an IR webcam with software-level motion detection, but I’ve long been charmed by the simple low-tech design of the ball-in-cage switch.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
Using a plastic bottle label as a built-in etch resist

Using a plastic bottle label as a built-in etch resist

One of our most-trafficked original tutorials over the past couple of years has been this simple trick for etching designs on glass bottles by using the label itself as a stencil. It’s a quick, satisfying, inexpensive project that yields long-lasting results with common equipment. In the process of porting the original blog post to our new Make: Projects platform, I took the opportunity to revisit the idea, updating the old images and adding a couple of helpful details, all of which was refreshingly easy using the new interface. Check it out.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan
MAKE 23: Bike trunk from sheet metal

MAKE 23: Bike trunk from sheet metal

Being a year-round cyclist in Minnesota, Frank Yost had a problem. “Car drivers can lock things up while running errands,” he noticed, “so why should cyclists have to carry everything around with them?” And when Frank has a problem, he reaches for his pop-rivet gun. So he designed and built this all-weather, lockable College Bike […]

Continue Reading Keith Hammond
How-to install a penny countertop

How-to install a penny countertop

The fine folks at Artifacture Studios recently posted step-by-step instructions on Make: Projects for how to install a gorgeous penny countertop for a fraction of the price of granite. And to think I was under the impression pennies were useless in this economy. Nice work, Shane and Michael! Got an awesome project you want to […]

Continue Reading Goli Mohammadi6
Weekly Make: Projects round-up

Weekly Make: Projects round-up

Have you created an account on Make: Projects yet? Have you perused our growing library of projects, techniques, and primer articles? It includes original projects from us, projects from the magazine and Make: Online, and contributions from the greater maker community. Thanks to everyone who’s contributed so far. We need your involvement to make this […]

Continue Reading Gareth Branwyn

Crafty Make: Projects Roundup

Our fabulous new projects library, Make: Projects, is getting bigger every day, with over 100 projects from the pages of MAKE and CRAFT magazines and from makers and crafters like you. We need your help to grow it even more, so if you haven’t already checked it out, come on over to makeprojects.com, sign up […]

Continue Reading Goli Mohammadi