Here’s another project that DIY:happy is highlighting in honor of the awesome email tips we received from volunteerlabrat.com. This specific instructional teaches you how to easily lounge on a sofa across the room, while still browsing the internet or playing MYST (reference #3 for all you tallying). No more poopsocks, you can even remotely play WoW if your toilet is close enough! Besides, you can always be in the comfort of your own couch/futon/beanbag chair/bed of nails… win-win!

 21 Instructionals until the contest surprise!

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This cool DIY scanner is basically hardware made from a webcam and a servo/stepper motor operated by a computer. The basic principle is that the servo rotates the figure/item on a friction plate one degree for every picture taken, then all 360 pictures are processed by a simple algorithm (using contour changes plotted on the y-axis of your preferred CAD program’s cartesian plane). There you have it: A 3-D model, free of manual input. Hoorah.

[note!] This is yet another tip we received from the developer of this project, and since he was so wonderful about writing up little summaries for a bunch of different projects, we’ll do a series on him to show our gratitude. See what dropping tips gets you, folks?

22 Instructables left until the contest surprise! 

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When it comes to DIY photoframes, there’s a wide variety when it comes to quality. On the higher end we have this wicked awesome version built by entirely ripping the guts out of an old, ugly computer and mounting them between two pieces of plexi-glass. This is a great example of taking something old, ugly, and nearly worthless, and turning it into a fashionable, top of the line conversation starter and decorative piece.

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This little ditty is pretty cute and effective (or so they say - the page background is pretty ineffective). Very easy PCB work, all you need is some odds/ends electrical components, wires, a radio with an unused frequency, (an optional oscilloscope) and a battery. There you have it, a 30m transmitter, capable of FCC takedown. A little sensationalist, but who cares… ham radio, here you eventually come!

[note!] The gentleman who wrote this instructional up stuffed the PCB and extra parts into a pocket flashlight casing. You can too.
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24 Instructionals until the ILLUSTRIOUS LOGO CONTEST!

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There are a few common battery adaptation problems which are easily solved using conductive metal (or a stroke of genius). If you need “D” batteries and you only have “C” batteries, all you need is a few quarters and you’re good to go. Additionally, if you have a 9V battery and you need triple “A’s”, all you have to do is pry apart the casing with some needlenose pliers and BAM - more triple A’s than you probably need. Ah, the things folks think up, these days.

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25 Instructionals left - then the contest!

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Anyone who has ever shot a video using a digital camera - in the wind - knows the perils of wind noise. It can be disturbing to viewers of your video, it can interrupt dialogue, and it’s generally something that will get your youtube movies really crappy comments. Even worse than the racially-motivated, post 9/11, anti-Bush arguments that constantly erupt on that oft-posted-to video sharing site. So here’s a tiny, easy remedy that helps make your movie-making experience a little easier. Take a tiny piece of gauze, from an adhesive gauze strip (sometimes known as a band-aid), and tape it to the input mic on your digicam. Genius, free, you can even mod this post and use a SpongeBob band-aid. Amazing.  

26 Instructionals left until Logo Contest GOODNESS.

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This is cute to craft for children and adults alike. Surprisingly easy to make with or for anyone you know, ten minutes and you’re all done. If you ever have a Greco-Roman mythology party, you can make a Faunus/Pan flute for your costume! Then you’re halfway there. Then make these bamboo flutes, get some furry muscle-pants, and you’re almost all set.

27 Instructionals left until the CONTEST details!

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Instructables has done it again. A way to make your girlfriend very happy, in a non-girlfriendly way! If you take old PCBs from a motherboard and drill small holes into them with a dremel/other small-bit drill and connect the dots with wires, you can make this amazing bracelet and kick up your |337age, as Pauly Shore would say. Easy, sexy, and equally badass, your significant other of choice would look even more amazing wearing your lovingly-crafted piece of PC jewelry. And hey - if it’s your thing - you can wear it too!

[note] Here’s the link for a floppy-disk bag(/purse) too.

28 Instructionals until the CONTEST!

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Anyone who has ever dealt with tesla coils on eBay can attest to the fact that they make a killing when it comes to selling homemade ones. If you’re interested in tesla coils - for commercial or private purposes, here’s a site that guides you through the process of making them. Schematics, components, and everything you need! Even simple things, like quenching, coupling, and frequency splitting. Okay, maybe not simple to anyone except the people who make Tesla coils, but it could be you!

[note!] Now there are Tesla coils that play music. Youtube it.

29 Instructionals left until CONTEST details!

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This post comes to us from lifehacker! A very easy, yet more-times-than-not overlooked part of organizing CDs is to just throw them on the wall. But what’s the most efficient, least ugly way to mount oft-needed Cds on a wall? Transportable, easily stashed, and free/cheap to make, here’s the end result of Jes’s brainstorming about CD wall racks. 

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30 Instructionals left until the Illustrious Logo Contest!

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This is a tip we received from 88bytes just today! In the write-up, it explains how to mod your boring ol’ keyboard into a custom spraypainted keyboard, and gives other creative ideas for making your typing experience the best it can be! Beware, it isn’t as completely easy as it sounds, but it’s worth it to make your keyboard purple, green, pink, or blue - depending on your mood!

[note] Nine euros is twelve dollars (American). There are some price discrepancies, because in America, spraypaint is approximately two or three dollars, and sandpaper is cheaper than that, so this project would cost ~$5. Cheers if you can tell us how many Euros = $5. Do the math, people!

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31 Instructionals until contest details are up!

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This is an interesting take on a folding screen. We’re sure you’ve seen folding screens in your friends’ houses, perhaps you have one yourself. This project allows you to make a folding screen that holds pictures in it. Cute, vintage-inspired, interesting, conversation piece. Doesn’t get any better? Unless it held the ACTUAL people you had in the photographs - suspended in the plexiglass. That would just be punishable by law… but we don’t talk.

[note] The picture is not from the actual instructional site. It was googled.

32 Instructionals until the contest.

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Okay, so anyone who’s ever gone to a big name store and bought a disposable video camera has thought about wanting to mod it into something reusable. The G4 show, “Attack of the Show” has come up with a way to do so. Genius. But then again, G4 always has shows about how those “Win a Free iPod” ads can actually work. Bull.

[note] At the bottom there’s a resource or two for other sites that mod/hack cameras.

 33 Instructionals left until the contest.

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For anyone who sculpts with polymer clay, oil-based clay, or any other type of sculpting material, you can vouch for how expensive the tools are from experience. The clay itself has a hefty price and the tools are just frosting on the Most Expensive cake. This gentleman found a way to take bamboo sticks, pliers and wire and recreate those tools for a fraction of the price. This is an awesome way to experiment and make your own kinds of sculpting tools to make unique textures and whatever else your creative little heart desires. Just try not to make torture devices. Kthx.

34 Instructionals until contest details!

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This DIY air conditioner is pretty sweet. An aquarium pump and a few other things are used in the making of it. It’s so simple to make, you could probably teach your little cousin how to keep the house cool in a matter of hours (and a trip to the pet store). Hey, it beats driving your car up onto your front lawn, putting on the AC in the car and opening your house’s window so the cold air from the car comes into the house. That’s just silly. This is innovative.

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35 Instructionals left until contest details are released. Oh, suspense.

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