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Tag Archives: DIY

German Slingshot Guy Creates Awesome Throwing Knife Crossbow Gun Thing

By David Ponce on 06/06/12 • Leave a comment!

By David Ponce

Jöerg Sprave is a German dude with a very successful YouTube channel called The Slingshot Channel. He shows us how to make fluffy dolls… No, no, we’re kidding, he makes slingshots, obviously. And his newer creations always seem to one-up his older ones. One of his latest project is a crossbow-like contraption that’s specially made to shoot throwing knives at high speed with deadly accuracy. The knife’s flight is stable within 10 meters (33 ft.) or so, and will pierce a 1 inch wooden board without too much trouble. The trigger-actuated gun has a front-loading barrel that consists of a wood-flanked metal rail which cradles the knife for the length of the elastic’s unwinding, keeping it pointing forward and stabilizing it for the release.

It’s pretty awesome, and yes, you should watch the video for some slo-mo action.

VIA [ DVice ]

Man Build Gun That Shoots Lightning Rays

By David Ponce on 05/16/12 • Leave a comment!


By David Ponce

Nikola Tesla was a genius. Any geek worth his salt knows this. He was also certifiably insane, which is probably why he was denied credit for much of his inventions. But most of you have probably heard of the Tesla Coil, that device TV shows are very fond of for its ability to produce some fantastic electric discharges. Well, a man by the name of Rob Flickenger has put the device to good use and made a gun out of it. That’s right, Rob’s device is a gun that shoots lighting rays; he calls it The Tesla Gun. There’s no thunder of course, because it’s not actual lightning, but man, that thing shoots some mean electric arcs and can be pointed at stuff. When it doesn’t find ground, it just kind of shoots stuff all over. The gun housing is made from melted down aluminum cans, which was poured into a mold made from a Nerf gun.

The final working Tesla Gun is a portable spark gap Tesla coil that is powered by an 18V drill battery. The electrical system is composed of the aforementioned drill battery along with a flyback transformer that steps the 18V to around 20,000V. A bank of capacitors stores the charge that is then used to strobe the coil itself. The primary and secondary coils are made of ABS plastic wrapped with copper wire, and are used to direct the charge outward through an aluminum toroid (the “barrel” of the gun).

We gotta say, Rob channels the mad scientist look quite well. And he’s done a good job of detailing a step by step of how he made this. So head on over to the links below and watch science in the making.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Geek.com ]

LED Glove For Cyclists Lets Everyone Know What You’re About To Do

By David Ponce on 03/28/12 • Leave a comment!

By David Ponce

The idea is pretty simple: wear these gloves cycling, and when you close your fist the conductive yarn they’re made of will complete a circuit which will then light up the LEDs embedded on the back. You’re then able to signal your turning intention to motorists behind you, greatly reducing the chances of being converted into gross road pancake. Of course some of you will point out that there’s already a system in place for doing the same thing, one that doesn’t require LEDs at all, and that’s true… But come on, this has a geek factor to it that can’t be denied.

There’s no word on price or availability, although Irene Posch (their creator) does mention her desire to make them available for purchase. And she apparently sold one on Etsy, but we can’t figure out for how much. But really… how hard can it be to Mcguyver this?

[ Product Page ] VIA [ BonjourLife ]

Video: Man Makes QuadRotor Flying DeLorean, World Drools

By David Ponce on 03/12/12 • Leave a comment!

By David Ponce

When I was about 7 years old, I watched Back To The Future and decided I’d make the car in the movie. I embarked on a journey to recruit the help of adults; they were to help me go to a junkyard and get the parts. Yeah… things didn’t really work out the way my 7 year old mind had envisioned. But fast forward to now and what do we have here? It’s a flying DeLorean! Sure, it’s not an actual car. And well, maybe it doesn’t travel through time. But dammit if it isn’t a thing of beauty. We don’t have much details aside from what you see in the video. All we know is that its stabilization control is powered by a MultiWii, a HobbyKing 12A BlueSeries Speed Controller, and a batch of Turnigy 2204-14T motors for the engines. Electricity is a good ole Lithium battery, and not a fusion engine. And we have no idea what happens if it hits 88mph.

VIA [ TechnaBob ]

Nerd Revenge 2000 Fires Pencils At Your Tormentors

By David Ponce on 03/06/12 • Leave a comment!

By David Ponce

Jörg Sprave is something of a celebrity online due to his slingshot channel on YouTube. Every now and then he comes out with some new creation and his latest doesn’t disappoint. He calls it the Nerd Revenge 2000, and it’s basically a pump action pencil crossbow. The magazine can hold 10 pencils, and shooting is a simple matter of, well, pumping the device. The sharpened pencils are projected with enough force to go right through a cardboard box, though effective range is limited to about 15 feet.

And as much as Jörg’s suggestion that this be a “nerd revenge tool”, we’re pretty sure that pointing this at anyone with a heartbeat will likely land you in serious detention, if not worse. Watch the video above to see it in action. And no, we don’t believe it’s for sale.

VIA [ DVice ]

DIY Hack Lets You Use Real Tree Branch To Play Angry Birds

By David Ponce on 02/29/12 • 1 Comment

By David Ponce

Playing Angry Birds, for me, got boring after the first week. Then as the months rolled by with the application at the top of the App Store, I wondered just what was wrong with people and how on earth they managed to stay interested. At least with the above DIY hack, there’s a bit of a novelty infusion that could get me to squeak maybe another couple of hours of gameplay. Maybe I’m just getting old. Whatever the case, Chris Jarratt was walking in Epping Forest, London when he found the above branch and decided it would be cool to turn it into a controller for Angry Birds. Why not? So he set about to hollowing out part of the branch to accommodate a microcontroller and an accelerometer, as well as a USB connector at the bottom. He then wrote some software that translated the different movements experienced by the slingshot into mouse movements on screen and voila, a real life Angry Bird slingshot.

Fortunately for the DIY enthusiasts out there, Chris included a step by step, as well as a video of the thing in action.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ CNet ]

This Glove Can Shoot Large Flames

By David Ponce on 02/24/12 • Leave a comment!

By David Ponce

Patrick Priebe likes to tinker, and create pretty awesome devices. Examples include a wrist mounted crossbow as well as laser gloves. His latest invention is a modification os the laser glove: this time it’s flames that shoot up. Although not the first such apparatus to surface on YouTube, Priebe claims the others’ flames were too small. So he set out to create something better. And while he won’t divulge exactly how he did it (nor will he sell it), he does say the flamethrower includes “a 300-mL butane tank, an NE555 circuit board, an HV driver, a flyback transformer and a set of AA batteries to create a large enough spark to ignite the fuel.” HIs creation, although noisy, creates a really impressive 3-4ft. flame that’s sure to impress your party guests.

And now that this idea has been seeded in your mind, off you go to make your own. Just do yourself a favour and don’t set yourself on fire.

[ Laser Gadgets ] VIA [ Gadget Review ]

DIY Airsoft Project Gets Two Upgrades: $4 Version And “Flamethrower” Version

By David Ponce on 02/21/12 • Leave a comment!

By David Ponce

A week ago we featured a homemade Airsoft gun project that chewed through pellets like Eric Cartman gets through Cheezy Poofs. It looked like a fun, cheap ($15) project but a new video shows us how to make it even better. In one case, YouTube user Nighthawinlight details how to drop the overall cost to $4 and to make the device completely handheld. This involves manually squeezing a soda bottle to create the pressure to expel the pellets; the results are a lot more impressive than you’d imagine.

In the other case, he ramps things up by hooking the original “gun” to a portable source of air pressure which does away with a compressor altogether. It involves pressure-rated PVC pipes and a backpack, and you end up looking like you’re wearing a flamethrower outfit. Only instead of deadly flames turning your enemies to dust, you get a fearsome stream of pellets that… well, that are still going to get you in a heap of trouble if you point them at anyone.

Check out the video to learn how to make your own.

VIA [ Technabob ]

DIY Airsoft Gun Costs $15 To Make, Unleashes Fury Of Pellets

By David Ponce on 02/13/12 • 1 Comment

By David Ponce

Airsoft guns are fun, especially when you don’t poke an eye out. But with a bit of ingenuity, you can have a device that will one-up any Airsoft ever made. This simple project will give you a gun capable of firing hundreds of pellets a minute (maybe thousands… no, probably thousands) with nothing more than around $15 in easily available parts. They include a plastic soda bottle, a quick release air compressor adaptor, an air compressor blowgun, and a 7mm by 6-inch brake line. You also need a compressed air source. There’s a bit of drilling and a bit of gluing involved, but it’s all really simple and most of all, scary as hell once completed. Of course, the $15 cost is for the gun parts. You’re gonna want to save up for the pellets, because you’ll be eating through them so fast.

Just watch the video for a step by step and a demonstration.

VIA [ Geeky-Gadgets ]

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