Tag Archives: instructables

DIY Zip Tie Lamp: Modern Art on the Cheap

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If you set your mind to it, you can make a lamp out of just about any material you can think of. While I was perusing the pages of Instructables, I came across this unique and eye-catching modern ceiling lamp, made almost entirely out of zip ties.

Instructables Community Manager Audrey Obscura created this wild hanging lamp from roughly 1200 red 8″ zip ties. In order to put together the giant mesh of nylon, she would connect groups of 8, 12, and 16 zip ties at a time into a ring shape, then gradually assembled each of those to form the larger structure of the lamp. It’s kind of like doing crochet, but with zip ties.

The light fixture itself consists of a laser-cut mounting plate at the top, with some holes cut into it for hanging wires and candelabra bulbs. If you make your own, you can arrange the inner lamps any way you’d like, though I’d recommend using cool-burning LED bulbs to reduce the risk of melting your zip ties.

If you’re interested in building your own zip tie lamp, check out the full build details over on Instructables. Amazon has some great deals on color zip ties, and it looks like you could do this entire project for under $50.

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This Bicycle Rides on Car Tires

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I’ve always preferred riding mountain bikes to road and hybrid bikes, thanks to their wider and more forgiving tires and suspension systems. I’ve seen some fat tire bikes before, but nothing quite like this. What you’re looking at here is a bike that rides on actual car tires.

This impressive build was created by Instructables contributor Mr-Mash, who started out with an old BMX bike and a pair of car wheels. Through some impressive engineering and welding work, he was able to transform those bits, along with some steel tubing, sprockets, and bike chain into this epic two-wheeler.

The project involved cutting the centers out of the wheels, then fabricating a new hub and spoke structure. It sounds like it was particularly tricky to get the hubs centered. He also had to build some extremely wide forks to hold the wheels.

From the video below, it looks like it takes a bit of effort to pedal, but it’s still quite impressive – and I’m sure the ride is super smooth. To check out the complete build log, head over to Instructables.

 

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DIY Chainsaw Blender: Drink Rising

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Instructables employee Mike Warren aka Mikeasaurus celebrated Cinco de Mayo with this hilarious contraption. Mike went to great lengths to combine a chainsaw, a blender and a motorcycle throttle to create a drink mixing machine that would please Chuck Greene.

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Put simply, Mike modified both the chainsaw and the blender such that the former can turn the latter’s toothed cap. He also connected the chainsaw’s trigger to a motorcycle throttle to make it easier and more fun to use. Because Mike just wants to mix drinks and not blood, he removed the chainsaw’s chain and glued a bicycle chain in its place. He obviously didn’t bother connecting the bicycle chain to the engine, so only the blender’s teeth will spin if the chainsaw is revved.

Head to Mike’s Instructables page for his full build log.

[via Gadgetify]

DIY Synesthesia Mask Releases Scents Based on Color: I Smell Trees of Green

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Synesthesia is a rare condition wherein a sensory input consistently activates multiple senses or emotions. Some synesthetes see colors when they see a particular letter or number. Others have their sense of taste activated when they hear a word. Zachary Howard’s Synesthesia Mask on the other hand approximates the condition of synesthetes who can smell colors.

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The mask’s electronics are controlled by an Intel Edison. A color sensor meant to be worn on the hand sends RGB values to the Edison. The mask also has three tubes filled with fragrance oils, one each for red, green and blue. In Zachary’s case, the red tube has a grapefruit scent, the green tube has a tea tree scent and the blue tube has a lavender-scented oil. Each tube has a servo that can open its cover in varying degrees, and there are fans that send the resulting mix of oils into the mask.

Zachary then wrote an Arduino program that instructs the servos to open the tubes’ covers depending on the RGB values sent by the color sensor. So if the object he’s inspecting is predominantly red, he’s going to smell mostly the grapefruit scent.

Zachary must hate white objects now. Head to his Instructables page to find out how he put the mask together.

[via Digital Trends]

DIY Pip-Boy 3000 with Practical Features: Vault Dweller the Explorer

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We’ve seen a couple of fan-made wearable Pip-Boy replicas with useful functions. Will Sweatman wanted to make the most advanced Pip-Boy 3000 yet, and he believes he’s succeeded. In exchange for some sizable junk in its trunk, his replica is a Swiss army knife for explorers.

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Inside the Pip-Boy 3000 Mk.II’s 3D printed body – based on YTEC3D’s design – are a ton of practical tools, such as a flashlight, a GPS module and a barometer and temperature sensor. There are also a couple of frivolous tools, such as a TV-B-Gone and a music player.

Here’s a closer look at the replica’s screens and hardware:

And here are the electronics:

I’d love to see a practical iDroid replica too. Fast travel to Will’s Instructables page for his full guide and links to the necessary files.

[via Gadgetify]

DIY Wall Mount Frame for Old iPhones: Reframe

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Got an old iPhone or two lying around unused? Instructables member Purincess may have a great woodworking project for you. He calls it Reframe, a wall mount frame that lets you use your old phone as a digital clock, picture frame and more.

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The idea behind Reframe is to hide the obsolete iPhone, leaving only a portion of its display exposed. Purincess made his Reframe with MDF and a sheet of black acrylic, but you’re free to experiment with other materials.

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Head to Instructables for Purincess’ full guide. He also shared the schematics for Reframes that will fit the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S, and he says he’ll upload plans for other iPhone versions as well.

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[via Lifehacker]

LEGO Mechatronic Wings: Mindstorms Give You Wings

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In 2014, fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht made a robotic spider dress that can brandish its spiky appendages when something comes too close to the wearer. Anouk’s new wearable wings have a similar feature. Since they’re made with LEGO, they’re easier to build than the arachnid-inspired armor.

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The wings are mainly made of Mindstorms EV3 and Technic parts. If you want to make them react to an object approaching their wearer, you’ll need the Mindstorms infrared sensor or ultrasonic sensor. Alternatively you can activate the wings manually using the EV3 Brick.

Sweet. I’d love to see that with a mecha costume. Head to Anouk’s Instructables page for her full guide.

[via Gadgetify]

DIY Color-sensing Nerf Turret Sees Red, Green, Blue…

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A couple of years ago, we featured the Pixy, a compact image sensor that can tag hundreds of objects based on their color. Electronics company RobotGeek combined Pixy with a couple of its robot kits to create a small turret that automatically follows and shoots at its targets.

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The turret is a combination of the Pixy and the RobotGeek Desktop Robo Turret with the Foam Dart Gun (i.e. Nerf pistol) attachment. You’ll need to connect the Pixy to the turret’s Geekduino microcontroller via RobotGeek’s Sensor Shield. You can teach it to track certain colors using RobotGeek’s Arduino sketch. It will automatically follow objects that bear the target colors and shoot them if they stay still for a few seconds.

Head to RobotGeek’s Instructables page for the full guide. It’s an expensive toy, but at least you can expand its capabilities and use its parts for other projects.

[via Gadgetify]

Showerloop DIY Shower Water Recycling System: Rinse & Repeat

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Showerheads such as the Nebia save water by dispersing it over a wide area. The Showerloop on the other hand captures used water, cleans it and feeds it back to the showerhead. Inventors Jason Selvaran and Eduard Kobak says it can save you up to 33,000L of water and up to 1Mwh of electricity per person per year.

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Showerloop pumps used shower water through a filtration system consisting of a screen filter, a microfiber filter, compressed sand, activated carbon and a UV lamp. Jason claims that the filtered water is so clean that it’s safe enough to drink. The filters should last between 1 to 2 years before they need to be replaced.

If you’re ready to get your hands dirty, check out Showerloop’s guide on Instructables to find out how you can set it up in your home. Jason and his colleagues plan to sell a DIY kit starting this February or March.

[via Make:]

Miniature Autonomous Blimp is No Airhead

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Instructables employee DJ aka Aleator777 – the genius behind the Apple II and retro phone watches – recently promoted the Intel Edison by creating the Miniature Autonomous Blimp. This brainy balloon can stay afloat and avoid obstacles on its own.

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It may not look like much, but this blimp is a high tech toy. Aside from Intel’s dev board, it also has a LIDAR sensor, an IR sensor, a laser-cut wooden frame, carbon fiber tubes and 3D printed brackets. DJ wrote an Arduino sketch that tells the Edison to use data from the sensors to detect and avoid obstacles in front and below the blimp.

Float to DJ’s Instructables page for his full build guide.