DIY - How to Build Your Own HDTV Antenna and use Direct TV Satellite as Mount!

Don’t get the wrong idea here.  The idea is to use an existing Direct TV Satellite as a mount for the HDTV antenna.  This does awfully better than anything you can buy and probably get really good reception with this method.

I got my Tv converter Box (with the Government program Coupon). I hooked up with a regular rabbit ear antenna and although the signal and quality are waaaay better that the analog ones, I couldn’t get all the stations and some where a bit erratic. I went on Google and start looking for HDTV antennas and I found several easy to make DIYs setups, but they can be big and ugly to keep in my living room. So, I build the antenna but and I use an old Direct TV dish mounted in my garage (I don’t have the subscription and I don’t want too), the dish has been in my place since I move, and the best thing, it’s wired to my living room.

via instructables

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Do you have a lot of pretty little birds in your yard?  Then, you might want to consider building your birds their own birdhouse to live in and breed.

So bring some modernism to your house, whatever its era, by creating a home for your native avian population by building a mid-century birdhouse. I’ve included my measurements and process here, but feel free to model yours after architecture you love. And don’t worry if you don’t have a full collection of woodworking tools (I don’t either…) You can build a birdhouse with any handsaw, an electric drill, and glue. Or, you can borrow tools from a local tool lending library or have the employees at your local lumberyard or home center make the cuts for you.

via make, curbly

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This homebrewed Wii App called Wii Physics is similar to Microsoft’s Physics Illustrator and will let you test out your ideas before applying them in real life.

Wii Physics is a clever little homebrew app. You use the Wiimote to rotate, size and place objects on a stage. Pulleys, ropes, gears and joints can be used to connect objects together, and when you press the play button, a 2D physics system is turned on, causing the objects to fall and interact with each other.

You can download this for free and run it from the Homebrew Channel. If you’re ambitious, you can also download the source, add new features, or base a new game off of it. It’s written using libwiisprite, a library you’ll want to check out if you’re thinking of doing any 2D game dev for the Wii.

via hackszine, Wii Physics on Google Code

This isn’t really, technically a skateboard but it is a type of a skateboard you can make.

Here’s a great instruction on how to hack your own skateboard from scratch although I do suggest buying one if you can afford it.

I just finished out my latest project. A contribution for the DIY (Do it yorself) community. Since I love skateboards I just couldn’t start anywhere else. Inspired by the amount of waste produced by the growth of consumerism in Europe, specially here in Frankfurt, seen through the weekly dispose of old stuff in the middle of the streets. I wanted to show one way of rethinking the use of old materials in the example of a DIY skateboard.

via make, lets-evo

Recently, I have been actually looking for a table to buy a table for a small spot that needs one.  With this DIY, I will be able to make a new small table with some of my old magazines I’d throw away eventually anyways.

I like the concept, of re-using magazines for DIY furnitue design.  The most amazing part is that it requires very little hardware.

If there’s anything we have too many of in our apartment, it’s magazines and plants. So we solved the problem by re-purposing six magazines (and that’s all you need–no glue or scissors required!) into this plant stand. It took about ten minutes. Here’s how…

via re-nest

Here’s a fun DIY for those of you with too much time in your hands, a DIY on how to make potato plastic! (or make plastic from potatoes that’s what I meant)

I am not sure if the potato plastic itself is edible but does look like a real good alternative to our traditional air-polluting plastic.

In this video we make a batch of potato plastic based on an instructable by Brandon121233. For this project you will need potato starch, white vinegar, baking soda, water, and glycerin (which can be found at most pharmacies). The tools for this project are a stove and saucer pan, in addition you’ll need a blender, knife, and peeler if you’re making your own starch.

via make,thegreenparent

After money went missing at the home of terminally ill grandmother, the 21 year old daughter set up a DIY homemade Teddy Bear cam to catch the caregiver stealing money.

We say the care-giver is a heartless and worthless soul who needs to really clean her soul.

Robert Sampson, 46, and Emma, 21, fixed the tiny camera in the Liverpool home of his mother Thelma Sampson, 75.

Last week, care assistant Yvonne Allen, 28, of Halewood, Liverpool, was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of theft.

Mr Sampson said his mother, who has cancer, was pleased about the sentence.

Mr Sampson and his daughter, who has just graduated from the University of Central Lancashire, set up the camera when Mrs Sampson noticed money going missing from her purse at her home in Walton.

via bbgadgets, BBC

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Here’s a really cool PC Case mod, a DIY on how to make mirror-finish PC Case surface.

Spray paint your PC case and give it a mirror finish.
You won’t need expensive painting equipment and supplies.
You’ll find most of the products I used at hardware and
automotive stores.

3M Perfect It III Compounds and 3M Imperial Hand Glaze is usually sold in Autobody Supply Stores, but I’ve linked them to an online resource.
I prefer using carnauba type car wax, but any automotive wax will work fine.
Regardless of wax used, you must allow paint to cure for at least 30 days before applying wax.

via make, core77, DIY Page

Do you have a manual stick-shift car?  Then, you might want to look into building your own Human Hand Stick Shifter and do lots of high fives everytime you drive.

I think few people who drive manual transmission cars actively think about driving as controlling a gigantic machine moving with a lot of momentum, via a huge rod that goes directly through the floor and moves a set of meshing teeth around in an engine that’s actually running. It’s one of the few places today where you’re moving mechanical bits around in a real machine. So the idea behind the hand is to remember that you’re working with the car to make it move, sort of holding the car’s hand.

via instructables