Whether you are looking to carry some extra fire in your wallet, or just saving space in your survival kit, Instructables user SubZer0_Snip3r has a great improvement to the classic matchbox that will surely come in handy for you. Some folks would probably say why not just carry a matchbook, however any fan of fire will tell you that wooden matches trump book matches any day. Link…
Even if you already owned a shotblasting gun, you would still need some kind of enclosure to do your work in. Instructables user, kington99 has come up with quite a concept for sand blasting cabinet project that you can do on a minimum of supplies and tools. Check it out here…
For those who are not faint of heart, thobson has an extremely detailed and informative tutorial on creating a custom stereo tube amp. The instructable contains a plethora of pictures, diagrams and links to aid you. Link to instructable…
It seems like many of the times I go camping, I find myself wishing I had brought along more cookware. This always ensures that I eat one dish at a time rather than the whole meal at once. I would bring more, but I usually find myself pinched for space and a few pots and pans generally take up more space than they should. So here is my solution to the problem. If the cookware wont fit inside itself, then make it fit! I have posted an instuctable here, on my setup if you wish to see the details.
The minute I finished posting about the “Swiss Army Keys” project I found earlier, I immediately had to start fashioning my own. I documented my experience and have posted an Instructable on making something similar. Below is a brief tutorial on how I made it.
Let me first state that I stumbled on this Idea browsing through the edcforums. There was a post a while back where someone had posted some pictures on building one of these sweet little babies. Check out the original forums thread started by shadeone here. I take no credit for originating this idea, I’ve just documented my own experience building one.
Materials
Disassemble the Multi Tool
Start by unscrewing and Disassembling the tool. Make sure you save all of the little parts and washers. Note that I was able to fit 3 keys per side so only undo one side if you are doing 3 keys or less.
Select a Matchup Piece
Set one piece aside to use to match your key against when you are cutting it.
Cut Your Keys
Cut down your keys to roughly match the end of the piece you picked in the previous step. You will be drilling a hole in them so be sure and leave as much meat as possible. You can fine tune it later.
Mark and Drill the Holes
Place each key one at a time inside the tool in the direction you will be placing it and mark the hole with a fine point marker through the hole in the tool. I placed mine teeth down so it is easier to pull them out by hooking a fingernail in the grooves across the top.
Once you have marked all keys, mark your starting points with a punch or nail and drill your holes. The size of the hole may vary depending on what kind of multi tool you choose. Start small as you can always bore it out more if necessary.
Put it Back Together
Re-assemble the tool substituting the keys for the tools. Be careful of three things. 1) Be sure you put a washer in between any metal-on-metal contact. 2) Make sure you place the keyring attachment piece somewhere where it will not interfere with a key. 3) Most importantly, remember to leave a gap in the middle of each side for the pliers/cutters to fit into when you collapse the tool. ( I placed two keys all the way to one side, then a bunch of washers and then a key against the other side.
One little tip: If there is a skinny leather punch or mini screw driver piece, you can stick this through the hole when re-assembling the tool to help keep the washers and the pin in place. This also worked well to wiggle around to get everyting to fit together properly.
Enjoy!
I was browsing through some older posts at DIYHappy and came across an article that linked to a forum post at edcforums.com where one of their users, shadeone, posted a little pictorial how to on creating this genius Swiss Army Keychain. I will definitely be attempting one of these very soon. Link to post….(scroll to bottom of the forum post)
SmallBox Effects has several DIY guitar effects projects for the DIY musician. The great thing about the projects at SmallBox are that the diagrams are extremely simple to understand as they include pictures of the parts and their wiring all in one image so that even an 8 year old could probably figure them out. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. Projects include an LPB (line power booster), “Fuzz Face”, A/B box, and even a project on finishing and tooling your casing for your electronics. Go to SmallBox and check them out.
[via devtoys]
Btravis72 @ instructables has posted and rather cool tutorial on building your own guitar stand from just PVC pipe and fittings for around $15. Now I should point out that his instructable is designed for Guitar Hero/Rock Band guitars however I imagine it would be extremely simple to lengthen the parts and perhaps add a few pieces for support to use this as a regular guitar stand. Link to Btravis72’s Instructable…..
Found this cool how-to at Make today on creating your own Low Wattage Attenuator Box on the cheap (around $40). Use this box when you would like to boost your input signal on lower wattage amps without distorting your waveform giving you an extra punch. Link to project @ GuitarPug…
[@GuitarPug via Makezine]
If you are anything like myself, you have too many knives and nowhere to put them. Stress no more, engineerable @ instructables has posted an interesting how to on fashioning your own cultrivor that holds 30 different knives. A very simple design with a minimum of tools required and a very beautiful end result. Check out the instructable here…
Here’s a clever way to clip your cash together. I’ve never been a huge fan of money clips, however I may have to give this one a try. Amron is selling a kit for one however it appears to be nothing more than a neodymium magnet and a steel plate duct taped to a bill. Simple and effective. Link to AmronExperimental….
[via BoingBoing via MakeZine]
EaKLondon @ Instructables has created a clever little Altoids Tin project to bring a little light to your next emergency. In the huge subculture of Tin Modders, its hard to find an original one these days. This one is simple yet quite clever. I am already thinking of making one from citronella wax to provide light and ward off mosquitoes on my next camping/backpacking trip. Link to Instructable…
A while back I took a night hike at the Volcanoes National Park on the big island of Hawaii. Little did I know, but quickly realized, that once that sun sets, Pele takes on a whole different shape. Needless to say, it scared the crap out of me, and if it wasn’t for the flashing light beacons that were in place every mile or so, I would have had a tough time having any sense of direction. Still get chills thinking about it.
FullyInvolvedScientist @ Instructables has a killer DIY project for making a light beacon from an LED and an empty pill bottle. These would be great to carry a few with you on your night hikes and place at certain high points to pick up on your way back. It would even be sweet if one could implement a flashing circuit along with photocell and solar panel so that you could just leave them to permanently mark your trail for future hikes. Link to instructable….
j_l_larson @ instructables has a neat how-to tutorial on making a multi-paged pocket sized map book using just 1 sheet of paper, a printer and google maps. Link to instructable…
Tonepad has a nice selection of DIY guitar FX projects with free downloadable PDFs that contain the PCB layout, parts list, and schematics for a nice array of different effects projects for the DIY musician. To accompany one of these projects, themakeclass @ instructables has a nice how-to on making a Electro Harmonix Pulsar clone, and a TychoBrahe Octavia clone. Link…
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