Make: Online: Instructables Archives

Archive: Instructables

March 16, 2010

Build a ball-bearing roller coaster

Check out this excellent instructable that shows you how to bend mains wire into a roller coaster track for a ball bearing.

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March 15, 2010

Cool glass bottle lamp

I dig this Cadillac Dystopic Lamp by Instructables user PopEye42, which does something I've been meaning to try myself for a long time--using cut 1L Perrier bottles as lampshades. I also like that the dimmer switch has a hose valve handle on it.

March 12, 2010

How-To: Toddler's Guitar Hero controller

What do you do when your toddler's having trouble reaching the buttons on the guitar for Beatles Rock Band? Why, modify it and make an Instructable, that's what!

Toddler's Guitar Hero controller

March 11, 2010

How-To: Document folders from keyboard circuit sheets

Instructables user zieak upcycled some discarded keyboard circuit sheets into this attractively geeky document folder for his wife.

Blue barrel Frisbee golf target

Is there anything you can't build with an old blue barrel? Instructables user Kentucky-bum made this Frisbee golf target.

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March 9, 2010

How-To: Make great big stuff

I've had this long-standing concept for a theme restaurant where everything--tables, chairs, utensils, food, condiment dispensers--is like 30% bigger than normal. The idea is to make you feel like a kid again. We'd call it "Tiny's." (And yes, we're still seeking investors. Also waitstaff suffering from gigantism.) Look for one soon in a strip-mall near you. Believe me, you won't be able to miss it.

In the meantime, if you just can't wait for the experience, you could always start filling up your house with great big versions of the stuff you already have. Instructables has just posted a cool round-up of tutorials on how to do just that. Shown uppermost is user Tetranitrate's giant match. And yes, as the middle photo shows, it does (or did) actually work. At bottom, last but in no sense least, there's user indymogul's giant sandwich, which I think was part of a Halloween costume or something. But who cares? Giant sandwich!

Related:

Claes Oldenburg is a famous Swedish sculptor, associated with the Pop Art movement, who made great big versions of stuff as sculpture.
GreatBigStuff.com is an online store that only sells...well, you can guess, can't you?

March 2, 2010

How-To: Free motion cycling rollers

I just got one of those indoor bike trainers. You know, the kind that props up the rear wheel against a heavy, resistance-providing wheel. The front of the bike rests on the floor, the rear axle is pinned, and there's no balancing required. I didn't think of it at first, but that's not really how you ride a bike in real life, and therefore must not be good enough for athletes training for more than just a good indoor cardio workout. Instructables user pennachi1 created this indoor cycling rig that lets you actually ride your bike the way you would outside. Looks a little scary to me, but I'm informed it "works fantastically!"

March 1, 2010

How-To: Microphone blimp

Instructables user gezortenplotz writes:

Wind across a microphone causes distortion and unwanted noise for videographers and nature recorders while taping outside. The purpose of the microphone 'blimp' is to attenuate the wind noise without interfering with the desired sound. Blimps are expensive. This project came in under $40. Mics are interchangeable in this blimp (if the mic's diameter will fit inside).

How-To: Crane arm game

Instructables user marc.cryan made this remote controlled crane arm, useful for turning your house into one giant pluckable toy pit. Watch in the video how even a small child can operate it, for maximum adorability. Now you can get back all the satisfaction lost from years of unsuccessful arcade claw games.

February 26, 2010

Illuminate your eye loupe with this Instructable

Dhananjay Gadre is at it again, with a simple yet very useful Instructable for a LED illuminated eye loupe. I always want more light to see the objects I'm trying to magnify. I love how this niftly hack solves that problem!

February 25, 2010

How-To: Treadmill desk

This Eric Wilhelm's treadmill desk. He's the CEO of Instructables, and he walks while he works. I'd like to do something similar, but with a bike!

How-To: Basic work table

Randy Sarafan made this work table geared towards making DIY projects and documenting them:

I set out to make a simple work table for my home studio so that I could have a surface upon which to work and document projects. I tried to keep the design as simple as possible as I only have a limited arsenal of power tools, a small vehicle for transporting materials and little patience for woodworking.

This design proved to be successful in accounting for all of these requirements.

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February 23, 2010

How-To: Make riveted chain mail

There are scads of tutorials flushing through the tubes that will show you how to twirl old wire coat hangers into rings, cut them up, and link them together with pliers to make the ubiquitous "butted" chain mail, in which the individual rings are either unjoined, soldered, or glued together. But this recent Instructable from armourkris, for the truly dedicated, shows you how to make a much more serious--and to my amateur eye, authentic--mail, in which each ring is flattened, punched, linked, and then riveted closed.

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Cylon teddy bear

Somebody lucky got this Cylon teddy bear for Valentine's Day! Learn how to make your own with dragonvpm's Instructable.

In the Maker Shed:

Larson Scanner Kit

February 22, 2010

How-To: Wilderness chair

Here's a neat Instructable for making a wood-and-rope-only camping chair, looks comfy! I can almost smell the campfire.

February 19, 2010

$2 iPod shoebox art enlarger

Using a shoebox, some convex lenses of varying focal length, and a bit of poster board maker manish15 has assembled an inexpensive DIY art enlarger on the cheap. Similar to an epidioscope, the device projects an image onto a drawing surface.

February 13, 2010

How to make a paper-based animation

Filter-Animation-Image-By-Grid-Layer

How to make a paper-based animation... not-bob writes -

Have you seen the cards where there appears to be a moving picture just by using a piece of plastic with lines on it and an image underneath? This instructable shows you how to make your own with just a computer, printer, paper and transparencies. I'm assuming that you have the Gimp image editor installed. Hopefully you can translate this as needed for other programs.

February 11, 2010

How-To: Kids' dining footrest

Instructables user wramey writes:

This cheap and easy addition to our dining room chairs prevents kids legs from dangling uncomfortably. It won't get all their wiggles out, but it will help them sit more comfortably... and now that our kids can sit more comfortably facing the table, they get less food in their laps and on the floor and we all enjoy meals more.

February 3, 2010

How-To: Adjustable kids' bike jump

Insructables user murphtron writes:

My son started riding a 16" bike at 4 years old without training wheels. (He was first on a push bike without training wheels or pedals at about 3 1/2.) One day he decided to build a jump in the back yard. So he found a piece of 2 x 12 ramp (with random lumber laying around) and piled up some logs. He discovered it was a bit tricky to ride in the grass and hit his narrow ramp. So I said, 'hey, let's go in the street (dead end) and try this.' First one brick was used to provide vertical lift, and then a second brick. He loved it.

With two bricks, the ramp becomes a bit wobbly. Plus, a 2 x 12 is a bit narrow, and a few times he rode off the ramp's side. So I decided to build a jump with the following qualities:

Wider ramp

Adjustable height, so it will last for a few years as he grows

Portable, so I could drag it to the dead end or local schoolyard playground.

Safer (while still providing ample opportunity for skinned elbows and broken bones)

How-To: Quick 'n' dirty analog pressure sensor

There are lots of ways to make homebrew pressure sensors, but this method from Instructables user hiskeyd is the easiest I've seen: Jam two stripped wires into a piece of static dissipative foam and bend the ends over to keep them from pulling out. Then coat the whole thing in Plasti-Dip. And you're done.

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