Awesome Diy

Retrobright is a homebrew solution for restoring yellowed ABS plastic, which is usually what the cases of old computers and other gadgets were made of. The 8-Bit Guy tried out variants of the solution for science. TL;DW? Go with salon developer cream, water, and sunlight.

We’ve seen how to make a claw machine from cardboard, but Seanscrafts’ version wasn’t exactly easy to operate with its string-based mechanism. Leave it to The Q to come up with a way to build a more refined machine that uses syringes, tubing, liquid, and popsicle sticks.

Dad hats never really went away, but now everyone’s wearing them. Shmoxd has a handy guide on how you can take an existing cap, remove the existing embroidery if needed, and add your own design. It takes a bit of time, but it’s cheap and you get a unique cap out of it.

Ollari’s walks us through the process of transforming rough reclaimed wood into a gorgeous hand tool we’d be thrilled to have on our workbench. There are few things more satisfying on Earth than turning things on a lathe. Full build details on Instructables.

Keystone Science shows us how to build a nifty bit of old school tech – an analog oscilloscope, made using the tiny CRT viewfinder from an old camcorder. If you’d rather build something bigger, he’s got you covered too.

After showing us how to make a sweet cardboard Skee-Ball machine, Seanscrafts is back to build another fun machine to add to your low-budget home arcade. As an added bonus, you can just reach in and grab the prizes if you get frustrated with the claw.

Steel weapons are badass, but they’re not safe or kid-friendly, and they could get you in trouble at conventions or other public places. Foam swords are cheaper to make and easier to shape, but how do you make them rigid? Odin Makes has one answer: graphite golf clubs.

While you can buy an off-the-shelf wooden mouse these days, we much prefer handcrafted items, like the one that ThisWoodwork made from scratch, using an existing plastic mouse as a rough form for creating a sweet pointing device, complete with a wooden scroll wheel.

Do you love playing those Skee-Ball machines at Chuck E. Cheese’s? YouTuber Seanscrafts shows us how to build a scaled-down homebrew version of the game using sheets of cardboard and marbles. It looks like a simple enough weekend build, so get to it!

La Fabrique DIY made a simple tool to fish out the cork – or other small objects – from a wine bottle in case it falls in. It’s for a niche use case, but at least it’s easy to make. It’s basically three-armed tongs made from thin wire.

While we’re out here waiting for Flyknits and Primeknits, Primitive Technology took matters into his own hands and came up with the Protoweave. He made a pair of simple sandals out of loya cane so he can stunt in the jungle. And also protect his wrecked feet.

To celebrate the launch of Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, Allen Pan of Sufficiently Advanced made one of the coolest – and hottest – gizmos we’ve ever seen: a flamethrower that spits fire when you throw a punch. Insure your fists, then find out how to make them here.

Prop maker David Guyton shares his favorite build yet: a steel replica of the Cirrus X-3 jetpack from The Rocketeer. It’s definitely not for beginners and takes a lot of time to build, but if you’re up to it keep an eye on his store for the free template.

A few years ago, Patrick Soriano made a replica of Thor’s hammer Mjölnir for a costume party, but he ended up using it as a headphone stand. He recently made a newer version that has an integrated USB hub, a headphone jack, a bottle opener and small shelves.

Make It Extreme doesn’t like drones spying on them, so they decided to do something about it, and fabricated an anti-aircraft weapon that uses compressed air to launch a net, ensnaring any pesky drones in its webbing. It seems a bit complicated, but it does the job quite nicely.

When The Q isn’t building weapons from PVC and cardboard, or playing a the world’s loneliest ping pong game, he’s stacking coins. Here, he shows us how to neatly arrange 200 coins to create a cantilevered bridge that hangs off the edge of a table without using glue.

ChrisFix shows us how to clean the engine bay of a variety of vehicles, turning them from being covered with dirt, oil and rust to good as new. Watch it all the way through instead of going along with it step by step, because he’s got lots of precautions and tips.

Odin Makes shows us how to make cheap but great-looking replicas of the web shooters that Spidey uses in Spider-Man: Homecoming. They’re made mainly out of foam floor mats and craft foam. If you want to make your own, you can get Odin’s patterns here.

Tired of paying rent and saddled with tuition fees, David and Catherine decided to build their own house. They built it around two amenities – a large comfy couch and a full bathtub – and used reclaimed materials and their own hands to cut costs. More here.

TheSorryGirls show us how to make affordable and easily removable skins for your laptop, smartphone and more. The project involves printing a high resolution image on printable vinyl and sealing it with protective film.

While 3D printers typically use filaments made purely from plastic, Make Anything shows off how a special composite filament called Timberfill can be used to create sandable, stainable wooden objects, like the cool acorn-shaped storage containers shown in the video.

To show off his trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Piet Rullens Jr. fit a Raspberry Pi 3 and a screen behind a poster inspired by the series’ animated newspaper Daily Prophet, then programmed it so that the video plays when someone approaches the poster.

Three sets of educational children’s toys designed to teach basic electronics. Dough Universe comes with colorful conductive dough and circuits that let kids learn about and play with light, sound and motion. The sets are also available separately.