Awesome Diy

Musician Rob Scallon has been working on a series of DIY instruments that can be assembled quickly and inexpensively. For this build, he and his buddy Simon created a makeshift piano in less than a day, using a bunch of spare guitar strings, tuning pegs, door stoppers, and other bits and pieces from the Home Depot.

We’re not too sure how we feel about a fuzzy keyboard, but this is the Internet, so somebody out there needs to try every idea at least once. Makers Evan and Katelyn took an ordinary computer keyboard and gave it a tactile feel with the same kind of velvet flocking they put in jewelry boxes. Last-minute Valentine’s gift, anyone?

Blackfish previously showed up how to make an Airsoft rifle out of plastic syringes. He also made a smaller weapon using the same technique. This plastic revolver fires pellets from its rotating cylinder and six chambers. A 9-volt battery drives its motor, and its projectiles are launched by springs.

This modular tabletop machine gives makers the tools they need to drill, grind, saw, turn, mill, and lathe objects. Its tools work with wood, metal, and engineering plastics and is ideal for DIYers. The base kit includes sawing, grinding, and drilling modules, while milling, lathing, and wood-turning are add-ons.

It’s a sad story we’ve heard before – our oceans are filled with discarded plastic that is destroying fragile ecosystems. To do his small part to help, Burls Art teamed up with 4Ocean who recovers and cleans plastic from the water. He then melted down the plastic chips and formed it into the body of a colorful electric guitar.

The Q decided that ordinary matches weren’t big enough for him, so he went ahead and made five giant-sized matches out of wood, rope, and a homemade mix of incendiary chemicals like the ones on a real match head. To complete the set, he built a wooden matchbox with a sandpaper striker on its side.

We’ve always wanted a proper cockpit for playing racing sim games, but most of the ones you can buy aren’t exactly living-room friendly. Maker Chris Salamone built this elegant sit-down racing rig from wood, and it looks like an expensive piece of modern furniture that doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

Modustrial Maker shows off how he built a sweet coffee table from concrete, wood, epoxy resin, and LED strips. The design is inspired by the lighting patterns found inside of the Death Star. Unlike the pure white lights of the movies, these ones can change colors to the beat of the music.

We have fond childhood memories of playing one of those tabletop hockey games and trying to smash the puck into our friend’s goal. Maker Sean Yan Muk of SeansCrafts decided to build himself a version of the classic game using cardboard, curtain rods, popsicle sticks, springs, and toy soldiers.

Maker Laura Kampf is always coming up with creative ideas for her workshop. This time she built something she can take with her – a battery-powered soldering station that looks like something cobbled together in the wasteland of a Fallout game. It has a removable storage bin, work surface, lighting, and a magnetic alligator clip.

What you’re looking at here isn’t a real robot, it’s a really impressive costume, built by artist XiaoQianFeng. She created the wearable mech outfit for her brother using wire mesh, paper mache, cardboard, wood, and if you can believe it, ceramic tile. The finished costume is too heavy to move around in, but it looks amazing.

Maker Peter Sripol wanted to see if he could build a functional submarine using off-the-shelf parts and a $100 budget. He assembled its frame from PVC pipe and 3D-printed connectors, and its remote steering mechanism is completely analog. He even rigged it up to pick up undersea “treasure” with magnets.

After making a small parts organizer, Neil Paskin challenged fellow builder John Heisz of I Build It to create his own. John’s version has 18 swing-out “butterfly” drawers, each with dividers for keeping parts readily accessible. Other than the tiny set screws, he built it entirely from wood. He also posted a build guide.

Miller Knives decided he could use another keychain knife so he set about building one that actually looks like a key. To make it work, he layered together three keys, cut the middle one to allow space, machined a butter knife for the blade, then joined the pieces together with a couple of nails.

Cursing is f**king charming when it’s cross-stitched or daintily embroidered. Julie Jackson, OG of the Subversive Cross Stitch movement, continues the snarky DIY trend with Super Subversive Cross Stitch, 50 easy-to-follow patterns including: Not today, Satan; Let the good times be gin; What fresh hell is this? and more.

We’ve seen how The Mandalorian uses a giant wraparound screen and camera tracking tech to produce immersive environments. Jelle Vermandere doesn’t have a Disney-sized budget, so instead, he built a homebrew rig that uses a ring of lights synced with a virtual environment to match his lighting to the scene.

Maker Frank Howarth wanted to make a unique ceiling light to install over his dining table. After playing around with a simpler design, he decided to go with a three-panel design comprising CNC-cut wood slices based on the topography of the lunar surface. They also look like a Joy Division album cover.

Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge needed a new computer for editing videos. Rather than go with some off-the-shelf PC, they built a completely custom system that looks like a medieval fantasy house. The structure is wood, covered with miniature bricks and foam accent pieces. This thing both runs Windows and HAS Windows.

With the rise of live streaming, there are lots of choices for desktop microphones. But DIY Perks prefers to make his own things and wanted something with a unique style. So he designed and built this brass microphone with a shock mount and boom arm reminiscent of a vintage TV antenna. Incredibly, it only cost him $30.

Liam Thompson’s cat is currently 20 years old. The old guy is having trouble getting around these days – especially going up and down the stairs. So Liam, being a nice guy and an industrious builder, fabricated a custom elevator just for kitty. The basket rides on rails and is powered by a small electric hoist.

LEGO bricks are great for building all kinds of things, but did you know you could use them as a mold for casting concrete? Neither did we. HomeMadeModern shows us a couple of techniques – one in which the blocks are used as a direct mold, and the other where the bricks are covered in silicone, which becomes the mold.

ViralVideoLab shows off a 3D-printed glider which is able to remain airborne when its frame is covered with a film of water and dish soap. The surface tension creates a temporary wing covering and provides the proper amount of resistance to keep it aloft. Here’s an alternative design with a different wing structure.

If you’ve ever tried to watch TV outdoors, you know that the picture washes out in the sun. DIY Perks shows us how he built a custom outdoor TV by hacking a grid of bright LED lighting onto the back of an LCD panel recycled from a broken TV. To keep it from overheating, he built a water-cooling system using a pump and a car radiator.