If you haven’t done an awesome DIY project since you can remember then today is your lucky day, we have twelve ideas lined up here that given enough time and energy, pretty much anyone can put together. Don’t get me wrong, there are some tough projects here, but stepping out of your comfort zone is the best way to acquire new skills, and once you’ve got them (as long as you maintain them), they are with you for life.

To make life easier, we have included a difficulty scale: 1- a very simple project with almost no skill required, it is just a matter of screwing a few parts together; 2 – a simple project with some specialized knowledge or skills required; 3 – a moderately difficult project that may need several skills and/or basic soldering to complete; 4 – a difficult project that requires a range of skills and may demand some intricate soldering; 5 – an extremely difficult project that requires detailed knowledge and a range of skills.

Note: even the most difficult projects that we have selected are buildable, but will likely require a good deal of research. These projects are difficult, not necessarily due to the building involved, but because there is likely to be a certain amount of improvisation necessary to get the job done. For this reason, people are going to have to know or be prepared to learn the why not just the how of the design process. As long as it doesn’t involve doing anything particularly dangerous, we thoroughly recommend biting off more than you can chew. It is the best way to learn!

1. The Wi-Fi Predator

This is highly illegal in some areas and perfectly acceptable in others, so review your local laws before going ahead with this build. It turns a Buffalo wireless router and a Yagi antenna into a long-range Wi-Fi sniper that offers a secured connection. We wrote it up extensively here. Difficulty: 1/5

2. Radio Controlled Lawnmower

This DIY project makes use of some parts from an electric wheelchair, which most people don’t have lying around, but you never know what you will be able to find if you put your mind and the Internet to use. Once you have found all of the parts that you need, you will need to put your electronics skills to use to get your RC parts to interact with the wheelchair parts. From there you need to weld it all together. If you can do all of that, you will be able to put your feet up every mowing day and command your mower with your fingertips. It doesn’t get much cooler than that. Difficulty: 5/5 [Hack-a-day via Engadget]

3. Pop Can Solar Water Heater

If you want to cut your water heating bill, this is a fairly quick and effective way to do it. The pop can solar water heater makes use of fifteen columns of pop can cylinders to hold and heat water. The guy designed this is selling them, so it will be tough to get build instructions, but if you look at the video and see how it works then you can get a fairly good idea; or you can cheat and buy one. Difficulty: 5/5 [Hacked Gadgets]

4. Poor Man’s Portable Computer Casemod

You have to love the utilitarianism of this project. The DIY part is the case more than the actual computer, but you will need to know how to put a computer together to make it work. The case build seems to require only rudimentary carpentry skills and the wood is recycled, so the costs of learning on the job would not be too high. The advantage of doing things this way rather than using a ready-made case is that you can build the case to fit the components, rather than having to fit the components to the case.
Difficulty: 3/5 [Gizmo Watch]

5. Lightning Activated Camera Shutter Trigger

Have you ever tried to shoot lightning? It is pretty hard to do, because thanks to reflexes and shutter lag, by the time you take the shot, the show is generally over. A light activated shutter trigger solves that problem, as soon as it detects light it will shoot. The designer posts a commonsense disclaimer, don’t connect it to your DSLR during the daytime or it will shoot indefinitely. Difficulty: 4/5 (you need a pretty solid understanding of electronics to put this project together, but the parts should be fairly affordable. [Solorb via Gizmodo]

6. IR Controlled Light Dimmer

I like this project because it is cheap to put together and it makes use of whatever remote you want to use. While it requires a little electronics knowledge, the circuit is pretty simple and most people will be able to figure it out as the go along. The important thing is that it is wired into the light switch properly, it is connected to the mains power and that means it is potentially very dangerous. If you don’t have experience working with electricity, you could get an electrician to install it for you. At the end of it, you will have a light that you can dim by remote control, pretty cool. Difficulty: 3/5 for the circuit; 4/5 for the installation [Hacked Gadgets]

7. Portable Wind Generator

This project turns PVC pipe into propeller blades and the motor and flywheel from an old treadmill into a generator. The result is a tiny wind generator that is able to charge up a 12-volt battery, or in this case, two 6-volt batteries. This is simple enough that pretty much anyone can do it, but you will need access to some power tools. Difficulty: 3/5 [Make]

8. USB Microscope

This is a really simple project that is cheap to reproduce. All you need is a hot glue gun, a cheap webcam and a cheap microscope. By coupling the webcam and the microscope together, you get a cheap but functional digital microscope. The pictures from the microscope on the Instructable are rather low resolution, but as t was put together for just $15, they are not that bad. It would definitely be worth trying with better quality equipment, but learn on the cheap stuff first. Difficulty: 2/5 [Instructables]

9. Lego Valve Stem Caps

Putting together your own valve stem caps for your bike or car is an easy project that you should be able to accomplish without getting your hands too dirty. All you need are some 2×2 Lego blocks a sharp hobby knife and a hot glue gun. I want to see these on a Harley. Difficulty: 1/5 [Instructables]

10. Lego Quick Release Camera Mount

This is a quick and easy way to create versatile camera mounting solutions out of Lego. The trick is in the coupling of the a Bogen Manfrotto Camera Mount with a Lego 6 x 8 Technic brick. You will need enough skills to be able to remove the studs on the top of the Lego. The coolest thing about this project is that it can be the starting point for so much more. Difficulty: 1/5 [The Stretta Procedure]

11. Hard Disk MP3 Player

This is a really simple project, but it is not particularly cheap, especially when you factor in the cost of a hard drive. You have two options with this project: 1) You can buy the assembled version for $150, then all you will need to do is buy and install the RAM and the HDD; 2) You can buy the unassambled version and enjoy the experience of soldering in 700+ parts. Either way, you are going to pay the same amount of money, but there is only one way where you can truly claim to have built it yourself. Difficulty: 2/5 if you get it assembled; 4/5 if you get it unassembled [DIY Audio Projects]

12. Tube Amplifier

A worthy project if ever there was one. Prices for tube amplifier kits range all over the board, but even a cheap one can get some pretty good sound. Throw it together with some homemade speakers and you will have an audio setup of which you can be truly proud. Difficulty: 4/5 [DIY Audio Projects]

Tags: Computers, DIY, Electronics, environmentally-friendly, fun, lego, making, mp3, Outdoors, UberSaturday, woodwork

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