diy

At a garage sale in March 2009, I spied an old piece of lab equipment for sale with the word "Quantumeter" written across the front. I had no idea what it was, or if it worked, but the $10 asking price seemed reasonable for a device that looked like it fell off the back of a time machine.

After getting the Quantumeter back home, some online research turned up a vague explanation of its origins as a pseudo-scientific piece of medical equipment, used to administer low voltages of electricity to sick patients in the first half of the 20th century. As awesome as it sounds to own a vintage electro-therapy machine, in practical terms, it was actually a bit disappointing. For a device that could have been Ben Franklin's lost extra-terrestrial communicator, the Quantumeter was just a piece of turn-of-the-century hokum.

If it hadn't had such an awesome name, I might have been content to give the Quantumeter a cozy place in the attic until "Antiques Roadshow" rolled into town. Instead, I did the only thing any self-respecting geek with some soldering iron skills would do: I turned the Quantumeter into the kind of bizarre gadget it deserved to be.

Using a $70 kit from Bleep Labs (the ThingamaKIT), my father in-law's garage, and some patience from my wife, I was able to turn the Quantumeter into a blinking, bleeping, tentacled mess of nerd fun.

I've put a video of the final result below, but to see the transformation unfold, take a look at the photo gallery.… Read more

We've seen keyboards integrated into pants before (in this edition of DO NOT CRAVE), but we're willing to give it another chance because Brooklynite Zach Hoeken actually made these himself.

Zach spawned the keyboard pants idea at Sunday's Fashion Hacking Day sponsored by NYC Resistor, a collective that brings hackers together to share knowledge and collaborate on creative projects. Instead of throwing away a flexible silicone keyboard he had lying around the house, he decided to cut it in half and sew it onto a pair of shants.

Hoeken lists the required tools and outlines a basic … Read more

Normally, it would be contraindicated to take a marker to your dress. Not so with Color-in-Clothing, which you'll actually want to mark up. That's the way you give it color and infuse it with your own sense of style.

The customizable garb is the result of a collaboration between Dutch fashion designer Berber Soepboer and Dutch graphic designer Michiel Schuurman.

We're waiting to find out if and where the striking dress in the photos can be purchased, and if you can safely remove the markings if you're considering a whole new look.

Do note that you'… Read more

You could wait for Microsoft's Surface computing device to drop in price so you can put one in your living room. Or you could build your own, like the guys at Maximum PC did. Even more, they documented the whole process step by step so you can build your own.

They used off-the-shelf parts, a PS3 Eye camera, a small form factor desktop PC, and a mix of open-source software and other readily available apps to run the whole thing. The video is pretty impressive. With this data, someone could possibly beat Microsoft to the tabletop multitouch punch.

I'… Read more

Photography geeks, rejoice! Though digital photography is now the norm, techies and geeks who cherish the click of real film will appreciate this twist on a classic camera.

The SuperHeadz Plamodel DIY 35mm Camera from Urban Outfitters is a film camera that you assemble yourself. The kit costs $28 and comes with about 30 parts, including a wide angle 28 mm lens, a screwdriver, and instructions. There are also modification options for a more customized camera.

Though it takes a couple of hours to build, the end result is a traditional 35 mm camera and the pleasure of saying, "… Read more

Updated at 2:43 p.m. PDT: A couple of keen readers with better engineering backgrounds than us pointed out that the "blue thing" is a generator, not a capacitor. We're sorry our Russian isn't as good as it could be.

Earlier Thursday, we brought you the DIY arcade cabinet, a feat of great ingenuity. But now I find this: a homemade, DIY, dynamo-powered cell phone charger. According to English Russia (one of the greatest sites on the Web,) Chechen soldiers made it to keep their phones charged while stationed in the woods without electricity.

This … Read more

I'm all about DIY and doing things within a budget, but I'm also about style. That's why I can't get behind this homemade Street Fighter IV arcade...uh, console. It's called the Trash Cade, and it appears as if it's going to fall apart at any moment.

We really don't know much more about this thing, but it certainly caught my eye on TechEBlog. I'm actually good friends with the fourth-ranked Street Fighter player in America (hi, Xin!), but if he were to try his luck with the Trash Cade it would … Read more

Hoodie. Check. Headphones. Check. Soldering iron, wire cutters, conductive thread. Check, check, and check. Now if I can just figure out how to wield those last three items, I'd have me a handmade headphone hoodie. As the title suggests, that's a jacket with the speakers built in to the hood--and wearing one would be extra cool if I could say I made it myself.

And I might just be able to, with a new book from fashion designer Diana Eng. Some will remember Eng as the adorably nerdy contestant from reality TV show "Project Runway" who … Read more

We always love to see what sort of DIY projects are keeping our gadget-loving readers busy. So we were happy to hear from Alex Holston, a Bethesda, Md., pediatrician and woodworking hobbyist who recently expanded the realm of his woodwork from bookcases, tables, and headboards to iPhone/iPod stands.

The holders came to be after Holston spotted a Crave blog about young Patrick Sheehan, who crafted an iPhone stand for his dad from about 40 Lego pieces.

"While I couldn't top an 8-year-old with Legos (that kid is the next owner of Apple)," Holston told us, "… Read more