DIY Projects

Health24.com has a friendly reminder that DIY projects can get you hurt if you’re not careful (Ladders always make me nervous too)…many people underestimate the dangers in doing their own home repairs. In the UK alone, 70 people die per year while fixing their homes. Most of them fall off ladders…The largest single cause worldwide of DIY injuries, is falling off ladders. Power tools and electricity are also high up on the list. We’ve all been zapped, zorked and have had some close calls- be careful out there. Link.

It’s the weekend, it’s starting to warm up- and that means lawn care season is just about here. CocoonTech has a great thread about making your own sprinkler system. There are enough electronics, planning, schematics and parts to make this a fun project. If I had a yard, I think I’d hook the sprinklers in to a weather reporting system along with a local “do not water” notification system so they won’t turn on if there’s a water shortage. Link.

Clever chair, could be a cheap way to make lots of things… Compress and roll your oldest papers and assemble them following the easy construction method illustrated. No doubt that the structural design of this very cheap compressed paper stool will be strong enough to support one or two friends at tea time. Link.

Wolfgang Puck is releasing self-heating coffee- can’t wait to pick one up and use it for some projects! It took a California company named OnTech seven years and $24 million to create the self-heating cans, which are activated by pushing a plastic button on the bottom. Water flows into a sealed inner cone filled with quicklime, which is mostly calcium oxide. A chemical reaction heats the coffee to a pleasant 145 degrees in six to eight minutes, the amount of time it might take to order, pay for and receive a latte from a barista. Link.

This fellow has a few cool projects, I like the TV Fish Tank- A friend of mine had a broken television, and for whatever reason, I decided I should make it into a fish tank. As a word of warning to anyone who may attempt something similar, this project has been a little difficult, mostly because I’ve never built a fish tank before, and it’s hard to get something that looks good and is also capable of holding 120 lbs of water. It’s easier if you use a smaller tv. Link.

Extensive guide and resource on setting up your own soda fountain. I’d really like to make one of these one day, looks like post-mix is the way to go “For the vast majority of home users, the Post-mix system with ice bin will be the preferred method. The bin should be insulated, so you can get away with adding ice only every few days, or possibly even every week if the insulation is really good and you load the bin down with lots of ice”. Link.