How to Make Small Single Use Containers From Straws

When you go camping or backpacking, you need to pack a lot of things in a small amount of space. These single use straw containers let you store a wide variety of objects in small waterproof packets.

How to Make External Buttons For Your Keyboard

There are a lot of times when it would be convenient to have external buttons or your keyboard such as a foot pedal. If you are into PC gaming, a foot pedal button would let you activate commands while moving and aiming at the same time. Or you could just use it to scroll through Reddit while eating ribs. You could even use it for research by using it to log how many times a certain event occurs. Use your imagination.

For step by step instructions, check out the Instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Create-External-Buttons-For-Your-Keyboard/

Turn a Computer Power Supply into a Bench Power Supply For Your Workshop

There are a lot of ways that you can re-purpose and reuse old electronics. For instance, a computer power supply can make a great bench power supply for your workshop.

There are already a lot of tutorials online that show how to convert an old computer power supply into a bench power supply. But most of these designs require you to permanently modify the power supply itself.

Another option is to make an external adapter for your power supply. Any ATX power supply can be plugged into the adapter. The adapter then connects the appropriate wires to a series of output jacks that can be easily accessed to provide power for your projects. This design lets you utilize the power supply without having to modify it.

How to Silence the Annoying Beeping Electronics

There are a lot of annoying beeping electronics. So here are a few quick and simple ways to make them quieter.

Universal Robotic Gripper

There are a lot of different kinds of robot grippers (end effectors). The most common strategy when designing a robot hand is to try to replicate the human hand. However, in 2010 researchers at Cornell University and University of Chicago developed a unique approach. They created an amorphous gripper that was able to mold itself to the object that it wanted to pick up. This kind of gripper is much more versatile.

In this project, I am going to show you how to make your own DIY universal gripper for your robots.

For step by step instructions check out the instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Universal-Robot-Gripper/

Unconventional Easter Egg Hunts

Easter egg hunts are a lot of fun. But you don't have to restrict yourself to just scattering eggs on your front lawn. There are plenty of ways that you can make an Easter egg hunt more interesting. So today, I am going to share a few ideas for unconventional Easter egg hunts.

For step by step instructions check out the instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Unconventional-Easter-Egg-Hunts/

Spy Camera Hack

Being able to hack and modify random objects is an essential skill. Budget and time constraints often make it necessary to build a project using only the materials that you have at hand. Here is a simple example.

Let's say that you are a spy and you need to get a video recording of the secret documents being handed off to an enemy spy. You have a pair of video sunglasses. But a large pair of dark sunglasses would look very suspicious indoors. So you need to quickly modify them so that your hidden camera can be used in a variety of situations. This shows how you might do that.

For step by step instructions, check out he instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Modify-a-Toy-Spy-Camera-For-Other-Applications/

How to Make Jewelry From Old Computer Parts

The easiest way to make interesting and unique jewelry is to use uncommon materials. One source of materials that often goes overlooked is a computer. Inside a computer you can find a wide array of objects that can make a compelling piece of jewelry. Since computers are constantly updating, it is usually easy to find old hardware to take apart. Also each computer that you disassemble will likely have different parts that you can use. This project gives you a few simple examples of how to turn computer parts into jewelry.

For step by step instructions, check out the instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Jewelry-From-Computer-Parts/

Remote Controlled Balloon Pop Prank

Balloons are great for simple pranks. You can pop the balloon and scare someone, or you can fill the balloon with water and soak them. These are some of the simplest and most basic pranks that you can do. But you can always make improvements on an old classic. In this project, I am going to show you how to pop a balloon remotely. That way you don't have to be anywhere nearby when it goes off. Pranks are always better if the victim can't figure out who did it or how they pulled it off.

All you need to do is attach a small needle to the wheel of a remote controlled car. When the remote activates the car, the wheel spins an the needle pops the balloon.

For step by step directions, check out the Instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Remote-Controlled-Balloon-Pop-Prank/