Awesome Diy

Remember that rudimentary mini crossbow made from popsicle sticks? YouTuber Mist8k has greatly improved upon the idea, with the result being a tiny, functional crossbow that actually looks cool too. Still, it’s not quite as awesome as this design.

Adam Savage made a life-size replica of one of the swords that Hellboy used in the comics. The 48″ sword is made of plywood, Bondo, carbon fiber tubes, aluminum tape, some spray paint and a plushie. You can skip to 26:37 for the finished sword and the post-credits time lapse.

Colin Furze made an RPG-style launcher for rocket fireworks. It can literally knock your socks off (if you cut the socks and tie them to the rocket). We love how he made a barrier to protect his face but he’s okay with the gas tank being inches away from his head.

We’ve seen lots of fancy “making of” videos from blacksmiths making awesome metal weapons. But it turns out that with a mix of frozen water and layered toilet paper, you can make a sword that can also smash helpless fruits – at least until the sun melts it.

YouTuber Make Crazydays made all of the components of the board game Settlers of Catan out of a single 96″x 2″x 4″ piece of wood. He got wood shavings from the block then ironed those flat to make the cards. Check out his guide on Instructables.

It’s human nature to want to pop the little bubbles in bubble wrap. So there’s nothing quite as sadistic as what maker Peter Brown did – by submerging bubble wrap in crystal clear resin and making frustrating coasters that can never be popped. Oh the humanity!

“Finding a better way is all I do. You’re welcome, world.” For once comedic inventor Simone Giertz made a machine that doesn’t threaten to maim her. It’s still a piece of crap, but hey, baby steps. Check out her Pop Sci article for more.

Watch musician Rob Scallon shred some tunes on an ordinary garden shovel that’s been converted into a one-string guitar. Given its rudimentary design, it plays surprisingly well. Keep an eye out on How to Make Stuff on 3/3/16 for DIY instructions.

Hampton Rutland made this lighthearted time-lapse video about how he built the walls of his new workshop using reclaimed wood. The build starts at 2:10, then something even better starts to happen at 3:30.

Primitive Technology made lots of charcoal by breaking down pieces of dried eucalyptus wood then slowly burning them in a kiln made of dried leaves and mud. The entire process took about a day. Bronze Age, here we come!

We’ve seen what a young maker’s BB-8 is like; now let’s see how the pros do it. Ed Zarick – the man behind the Xbox One & PS4 laptop – made his own life-size BB-8 droid with the help of BB-8 Builders Club and Astromech.net.

A team of guys in Russia show off the build process behind their own homebrew tank. We’re assuming the plywood bits at the start were an earlier prototype, as the finished MS-1 tank appears to be made from sturdier materials like metal and rubber.

YouTuber Mark Rober and his brother created a rapid-fire snowball gun using a landscaping leaf blower and a few ABS pipes. Its magazines can hold up to 15 snowballs, all of which the gun can unload within a second. Instructions here.

Angelo Casimiro wanted a replica of The Force Awakens’ rotund droid, but Sphero’s version wasnt’t big enough. Instead, he spent his Xmas break building his own full-size droid for just $120, with a paper-mâché beach ball body and an Arduino brain. More on Instructables.

The modern Stone Age man of Primitive Technology has acquired lots of blisters just from trying to start a fire. So he homo sapiened his way out of his predicament and built a drill. Then he used the basic tool to create upgrades for itself.

YouTuber corenpuzzle made what he believes is the world’s largest order Rubik’s Cube. He designed and then 3D printed its 2,691 parts over 8 months. After a couple of failed attempts, he finally put the whole thing together in working order. Get the 3D files here.

Businessman Angelo Mastropietro was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007, and it led to him being paralyzed for a brief time. His condition led him to do a bit of soul-searching. He ended up almost single-handedly turning a 700-year-old cave into a home.

YouTuber Samm Sheperd loves to make cheap model airplanes. One of his latest creations is a foamboard plane that flies using jet propulsion, thanks to an impeller that he took from a broken heater’s motor.

YouTuber John Heisz made a folding knife out of a worn out circular saw blade. Our takeaway here is that it’s incredibly hard to do it by hand. Also, we have to redefine our notion of “basic tools.” John also made a wooden knife with the same template. More on his site.

After building a house from scratch, Primitive Technology made coil and woven baskets out of palm leaves and lawyer cane, and two hatchets using branches and sharpened rocks. We hope we achieve immortality so we can watch the rise of his civilization.

After creating a magnetic version of Thor’s hammer, YouTuber Sufficiently Advanced made his own energy weapon. His take on the lightsaber uses a steady stream of methanol and acetone to create a fiery blade. In other words, it’s a blowtorch with a lightsaber hilt.

There are lots of projects you could do around your house to make everyday things a little better. Sometimes you just need to man up and DIY. We dusted off our amateur carpentry skills to build this versatile PVC storage rack, with a little help from our friends at Lowe’s.

Practical effects wizard Joey Shanks shows us how to replicate the lightsaber effect seen in the first Star Wars movie not using digital trickery, but the same 3M Scotchlite reflection effect that Lucas and his team used back in 1977. The spinning blade trick was brilliant.