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Making stuff the old-fashioned way

There are people on eBay who buy up old DIY magazines and books, cut out the individual articles that tell you how to make stuff, and flog them for $3 or $4 apiece. It seems like those magazine...

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Fixing erratic Lionel Fastrack

Modern Lionel train sets come with a new, more realistic track called Fastrack with integrated plastic roadbed and lots of ties with simulated wood grain that to many eyes looks better than the...

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Make something! Fix something!

Clive Thompson: I'm sitting on the floor of my apartment, surrounded by electronic parts... It'll look awesome when it's done. If it ever gets done — I keep botching the soldering. A well-soldered...

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DIY paper CD cases

I have no idea why I never found this sooner: papercdcase.com. Type in an artist and album name (or publisher and software name) and a track list, and this thing generates a PDF that you can print and...

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And… bailing out.

Scratch one investment property. Running the numbers, it might have still been possible to make it work. But a lot would have to go right, and this particular property didn't have an especially good...

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The rise and fall of Shack, and how to fix it

Wired has a nostalgic piece on the not-quite-late, not-quite-great Radio Shack. I think it's a good article, but it glosses over part of the reason for the store's decline. It blames computers.

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Roll your own Retro-64

So an upstart company has licensed the Commodore name and unveiled an updated C-64, which is essentially a nettop in a 64-alike case with a 64-like keyboard. Reactions are extreme. People either love...

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How to power your computer up from away from home

The low-tier, DIY VPN has proven popular. The biggest drawback with its approach has been that it requires you to keep a PC on at home. But if your computer is configured to hibernate after a period of...

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An easy DIY Lionel-compatible high-side gondola

My preschool-aged boys and I made train cars this weekend. Yes, I introduced my boys to the idea of making train cars from scratch–scratchbuilding. They aren’t finescale models by any stretch. But the...

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Advice on building your own PC on the cheap

Lifehacker published a guide yesterday on saving money on DIY PCs. I agree with most of it, and violently disagree with one very important part of it. The bad advice? Maybe you don’t care what brand of...

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In the city, a $6 antenna is all you need

There are a lot of good plans for DIY antennas on the web that you can make for less than $10 worth of parts, which is good considering the flood of $50 antennas on the market that are little more than...

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How to roll your own mini PC and potentially save

I’ve talked at length about HP’s new mini PCs, but there are some alternatives in the DIY space. For example, Asrock offers the D1800B-ITX, which sells for around $53. Going the DIY route, you won’t...

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Homemade toy train track

For some reason, a lot of people are interested in making their own Lionel train track. I don’t think it’s practical, but it’s definitely possible. I found a 1944 Popular Mechanics article on making...

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How to repair a Weller soldering gun

I scored a Weller 8200 soldering gun at an estate sale one street over from me for a few dollars. They didn’t know what they had. I got it home and it didn’t work–it wouldn’t heat up–so maybe they knew...

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Roll your own Retro-64

So an upstart company has licensed the Commodore name and unveiled an updated C-64, which is essentially a nettop in a 64-alike case with a 64-like keyboard. Reactions are extreme. People either love...

View Article


How to power your computer up from away from home

The low-tier, DIY VPN has proven popular. The biggest drawback with its approach has been that it requires you to keep a PC on at home. But if your computer is configured to hibernate after a period of...

View Article

An easy DIY Lionel-compatible high-side gondola

My preschool-aged boys and I made train cars this weekend. Yes, I introduced my boys to the idea of making train cars from scratch–scratchbuilding. They aren’t finescale models by any stretch. But the...

View Article


Advice on building your own PC on the cheap

Lifehacker published a guide yesterday on saving money on DIY PCs. I agree with most of it, and violently disagree with one very important part of it. The bad advice? Maybe you don’t care what brand of...

View Article

In the city, a $6 antenna is all you need

There are a lot of good plans for DIY antennas on the web that you can make for less than $10 worth of parts, which is good considering the flood of $50 antennas on the market that are little more The...

View Article

How to roll your own mini PC and potentially save

I’ve talked at length about HP’s new mini PCs, but there are some alternatives in the DIY space. For example, Asrock offers the D1800B-ITX, which sells for around $53. Going the DIY route, you won’t...

View Article
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