Joe Grand’s LED Watch Flashes Time in Midair We’ve covered a few of Joe Grand’s projects on the site before and here’s another fantastic project to add to the collection. This POV (persistence of vision) watch displays the current or elapsed time while the arm is swinging (such as during a run or brisk walk). A sequence of LED patterns from the watch are displayed in quick succession appearing in “thin air.” Build it Yourself You’ll find schematics, gerber files (learn how to design schematics in eagle), source code and everything you need to create your own POV watch. More POV fun We’ve covered plenty of POV projects in the past, a few of which even made it onto our top 40 arduino projects list. The image above is this POV bike project and there’s also this wireless version. You’ll also enjoy:
Build your own AutoGyro Flying Machine An Autogyro is an odd, yet fascinating flying machine which uses a helicopter rotor for lift while a standard plane rotor provides thrust. You can learn to build a DIY autogyro yourself and even build autogyro models using miniature servos. Heck, even a remote Chinese farmer built his own autogyro. AutoGyro Tutorials: Early version of an autogyro:
Make your own Backyard Solar Concentrator Solar concentrators are essentially just like parabolic satellite dishes lined with mirrors. Regardless of where the sun hits the disc, it’s reflected into a center focal point, generating abundant amounts of power. You can pick up hundreds of tiny mirror tiles on eBay for just a few bucks. So basically, it’s like this power plant in Australia, except in your backyard: There are two versions of the project. One is the massive 7 foot dish above and the other involves four mini dishes (like the ones sides of houses). Both projects have plenty of excellent information but if you longing for more, view our vast amounts of DIY Green Energy projects: How to: Harness Solar and Wind EnergyGo Green this Winter with DIY Free HeatingConstruct your own 60 Watt Solar Panel
Cigar Box Ukulele Materials: Cigar Box. If you have a choice, find one of solid wood. I found a cedar box with a plywood base. Wood for the lid supports: the cigar box will vibrate with the strings. Wood for the inside supports: These will go around the edges of the box for added strength and for a place to anchor the neck. Wood for the fretboard: I chose red oak. Material for the saddle and nut: I used dominos, which I cut down to size. Material for the frets: I actually bought brass welding wire for the frets, but ended up inlaying crushed turquoise instead. Fret markers: Ukes are usually marked at the 5th, 7th, and 10th frets. Ukulele strings: see your local music store. Tuners (set of 4): I took the tuners from a busted kid's electric guitar I got at a thrift shop. Wood Glue Epoxy Tung oil and mineral spirits (optional) Steel Wool 0000 (optional) Note about tools: I was lucky to have access to a woodshop, powertools, and someone who kept me from cutting off all of my fingers.
How to Build an Earthbag Dome Note: If you’re new to earthbag building, first read the introductory Step-by-Step Earthbag Building Instructable and How to Build an Earthbag Roundhouse . Also, my new Earthbag Building Guide and Earthbag Building DVD are now available. We built this earthbag dome at our home in Thailand for Mother Earth News Magazine in 2007. The article that describes the complete building process in detail was published August/September 2009. It is now free on the Internet: Low-Cost Multipurpose Minibuilding Made With Earthbags , by Owen Geiger. This earthbag dome Instructable simplifies the process and illustrates each step of construction with photos. This multi-purpose dome can serve as a storage shed or cool pantry above ground, or as a rootcellar or storm shelter below ground. The key concept that makes earthbag domes work is corbelling.
How to Build an Earthbag Roundhouse Note: If you’re new to earthbag building, please read the introductory Step-by-Step Earthbag Building Instructable first. Also, my new Earthbag Building Guide and Earthbag Building DVD are now available. Stay up-to-date on all the latest earthbag news by following our Natural Building Blog. We built this earthbag roundhouse in 2010 as part of an earthbag workshop in Thailand, and finished it later that summer. Roundhouses are perhaps the simplest, fastest, easiest earthbag structure to build. We’re extremely pleased with the results, especially in terms of strength and cost. The other key advantage of earthbag is cost. Basic project information: 18’ exterior diameter; 15’ interior diameter; 177 sq. ft. interior floor space; total cost of materials: $2,045, which is about $11.50/square foot
Step-by-Step Earthbag Building This Instructable explains each main step of construction for building vertical earthbag walls. Videos on my Earthbag Natural Building YouTube channel demonstrate the process. For those who don’t know, earthbag building uses polypropylene rice bags or feed bags filled with soil or insulation that are stacked like masonry and tamped flat. Barbed wire between courses keeps bags from slipping and adds tensile strength. I got involved with earthbag building when the Indian Ocean tsunami hit Southeast Asia in December, 2004. Our websites at EarthbagBuilding.com and Earthbag Building Blog explain just about everything you need to know for free. The following instructions assume you have cleared and leveled the site, removed topsoil, positioned fill soil around the building site to minimize work, dug a trench to stable subsoil, put about 12” of gravel in the trench, and added corner guides and stringlines.
Tiffin Box from Tuna Cans The can rolling jig consists of two old door hinge pins and a hose clamp. The heads of the hinge pins nest with each other. By applying pressure with the clamp and rolling the can, we can raise a lip on the can's side. Check out the embedded video in the next step to see it in action. Building the jig is very easy. In a piece of scrap 1x1 wood, drill two holes to accomodate the hinge pin shafts. The top pin will stick out further than the bottom on account of the heads being nested. Use a vise to clamp the wood and hold the whole thing steady.