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• Dealing With an Overheating Desktop

  In Computers, DIY

  

  So I was minding my own business, typing away on my computer when all of a sudden things got really, really slow… and hot. The mouse started moving slowly and jumping across the screen and the system was blowing out enough hot air to heat a cold room – which is not something that you want as things edge closer to summer. My desktop has been with me since 2007. That probably makes it an [...]

   

• Aerial Photography on the Cheap With a Balloon-mounted GoPro

  In DIY, Videos

  

  The video below shows a clever little DIY aerial photography rig using a bunch of balloons, quite a lot of 20 lb fishing line, some balsa wood and a GoPro camera. The footage was part of a video project called To Catch a Bike Thief – which was aimed at exposing bicycle theft in Vancouver. The idea was to use the rig for aerial surveillance, we’re guessing that it probably went too high for that, [...]

   

• R2-D2 Dark Roast Edition Could Well be the Finest Homemade Hot Beverage Droid on the Planet

  In DIY

  

  The coffee brewing droid that you see above is the work of Instructables user Iminthebathroom and is definitely not for the faint of heart. The project starts out with a BUNN industrial coffee maker and things get pretty crazy after that. The instructions are great, just keep in mind that the project requires some pretty serious metalworking skills and some electrical manipulations – which means that most of us will have to be content with [...]

   

• Engineering Students (Almost) Create Batman Grappling Hook Gun

  In Design, DIY

  

  A group of engineering students at Brigham Young University (BYU) has built a grappling hook gun for an Air Force competition. The gun, which was inspired by the one that Batman carried, is able to launch a grappling hook up to 90 feet in the air; an automated pulley system then carries the operator to the top. Under the terms of the contest the team has 20 minutes to demonstrate a tool that is able [...]

   

• CAT-AT Cathouse Will Make You Wish You Were a Cat

  In DIY, Featured

  

  This large AT-AT cathouse comes complete with bar and some tasteful bird hunting trophies. The Redditor responsible for its construction, one Billy Appletini, built it for a friend who likes Star Wars and has two cats (why don’t I have any friends like that). From Reddit: I wouldn’t consider myself a great woodworker or an artist – but I will take credit for being committed to a joke. I wrecked my house for a month [...]

   

• The Most Awesome Buzz Saw Blade Launching Crossbow You Will See All Day

  In DIY

  

  The crossbow that you see in the image above and the video below doesn’t fire regular, boring old crossbow bolts. No, it fires 50mm wide, 0.8mm thick steel buzz saw blades. The crossbow, which also features a green 30mW DPSS laser for aiming, starts by spinning the mini buzz saw blades using a small electric motor – then it fires the tiny spinning projectiles wherever the laser is pointed. It looks awesome, but after seeing [...]

   

• Guy Turns Old HDD Into Lamp-Cellphone Charger With Light-Activated Secret Data Storage

  In DIY

  

  This is, without a doubt, the weirdest DIY project I have seen in a long, long time. To be honest, I started out thinking that it was pretty underwhelming – did it really need a pen holder? Then the guy stuck a little keyring flashlight into the pen holder, turned it on, and activated the USB stick that was hidden inside – very clever. What’s more it is built from the type of parts that [...]

   

• Giant TIE Fighter is Cheap and Awesome

  In Design, DIY, Geeky

  

  This 1:3 scale TIE fighter weighs in at around 300 pounds, breaks into five pieces for easy transportation and its 38 x 38-inch cockpit is big enough for a five-foot tall human to fit inside the cockpit. Most of the structure is built out of 3/4 plywood, the wings are covered in sheet cardboard. It looks great, and I’m guessing it is being sold because the person that it was built for outgrew it and [...]

   

• How to Replace a Broken Built-in Lens Hood With a Peanut Butter Jar Lid [video]

  In DIY, Videos

  

  YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat could have taken the easy route when he dropped his DSLR and broke the built-in lens hood on his Sigma lens – instead, he got creative, went to the local grocery store and picked up a jar of peanut butter with a conveniently-sized lid. The build is relatively simple, and the end result not altogether unpleasing to the eye – it makes a nice break from the black plastic that we [...]

   

• If Tony Stark Impregnated a Stormtrooper You Might Get Something Like This

  In Clothing, DIY, Geeky

  

  Cosplayer Sithcamero decided to do a little costume mashup with Iron Man and Stormtrooper components. The result looks like it was meant to happen.

   

• Flying DeLorean is The Best Quadrotor You Will See All Month

  In DIY, Geeky

  

  The image that you see above is a totally custom-built DeLorean quadrotor that looks almost exactly like Doc’s ride in BTTF II. The guy who made it even went to the trouble of sticking LEDs in all the right places, which makes it look quite spectacular when it is flown at night. Power comes by way of a Lithium Polymer battery, the Mr Fusion is just for show. Most of the information about the build [...]

   

• DIY Temperature Controller Lets You Do More With Your Appliances

  In DIY, Gadgets

  

  If you’ve ever wanted to convert a chest freezer to a refrigerator, this YATC 2 kit from Screwdecaf.cx will let you do it. It will let you do a lot of other things as well. Some examples: Turn a crockpot to a sous vide cooker. Turn a bar fridge into a wine/cheese cooler. Turn a camping cooler into a fermenter, incubator or a proving chamber for bread. Turn a hotplate into a temperature-controlled cooker. Regarding [...]