"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by themself without the direct aid of experts or professionals. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals engage raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment (e.g., landscaping)". DIY behavior can be triggered by various motivations previously categorized as marketplace motivations (economic benefits, lack of product availability, lack of product quality, need for customization), and identity enhancement (craftsmanship, empowerment, community seeking, uniqueness).The term "do-it-yourself" has been associated with consumers since at least 1912 primarily in the domain of home improvement and maintenance activities. The phrase "do it yourself" had come into common usage (in standard English) by the 1950s, in reference to the emergence of a trend of people undertaking home improvement and various other small craft and construction projects as both a creative-recreational and cost-saving activity.
Subsequently, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skill sets. DIY has been described as a "self-made-culture"; one of designing, creating, customizing and repairing items or things without any special training. DIY has grown to become a social concept with people sharing ideas, designs, techniques, methods and finished projects with one another either online or in person.
DIY can be seen as a cultural reaction in modern technological society to increasing academic specialization and economic specialization which brings people into contact with only a tiny focus area within the larger context, positioning DIY as a venue for holistic engagement. DIY ethic is the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks without the aid of a paid expert. The DIY ethic promotes the idea that anyone is capable of performing a variety of tasks rather than relying on paid specialists.
I bought a cheap breadboard (included basic components as well - resistors, capacitors, LEDs, etc) off Amazon a while back to conduct some of the Intermediate Lab class tests at home, and try to learn more in the process. I really want to get more experience with AC current, but I don't know a...
Hi! (newbie here)
I'm doing a experiment, very simple, in the center of a box there is a light source, a small one, and closer is a photon counter device.
The challenge here, and the hard DIY part is the box.
The box can not any photon get inside, nor emit any of them.
At the same time it...
DIY harry homeowner here. Always building something. Often with an engineering question I need resolved.
Most recent challenge: how much sag on a 60-inch 2x3 pine board on edge. [Turns out there's a website to answer this question]
So I look forward to picking the big brains on the physics...
I find myself making a lot of things that are open boxes - plant stands mostly.
Sometimes the wood is merely 3/4 x 3/4 nailing strips. I use deck screws to hold them together. In that case, I only use one screw, not two. (I predrill with a countersink bit or it will certainly split the wood.)...
Jail for plushies.
Materials: Wood and shock cord
Construction and stringing: 6h
Painting and shellacing: 6d
Cost: only about $15 more than it would have cost to buy a comparable product from Ikea.
Project Success Rating*: 10/10
* success rating is derived from counting number of fingers...
Hello Physics Folks:
Having gotten a C in college physics, I figure you're better equipped than I to solve this problem, and I also imagine I've made it far
more complicated than necessary. 😬
SCENARIO: I live in a house in LA. 100 feet away in my backyard is the property line, separated by a...
I've been workng on "Storybook"-style Houses for a wooden miniature village I'm building for my wife. They are approximately 1/48th-1/35th scale. There will be several in the village.
I plan to light them internally, but I only need one light in each. I will cover the windows in translucent...
It seems that "most" stock sedans do not have adjustable caster, camber and turning angle, provisions are only provided to adjust toe only. I'm trying to find a way to DIY this at home, if this is possible, and had some questions on the theory behind it.
For my car, the stated toe specification...
Anyone here built a seismograph? I think maybe @davenn has done this?
We have had quite a few small quakes (like 2.2 to 3.2) near my house recently and it got me wondering about a new project. Feasible? I found a couple sites online but the ones I looked at are pretty old. Looking for any...
It would be interesting to me (but not essential) to see a visual explanation of how the gear case in a Whilepool/Kenmore direct drive washer implements the neutral drain function. The neutral drain function is a period of time when the washer is pumping out water but not spinning or...
55 year old house that is cleaned every day. I have roach traps (they don't work) and I've used moth balls and cedar wood to try to repel them. . .these worked for a while, but they keep coming back every 4 months or so.
I've read online that roaches are very adaptive, so even if moth balls...
A section of the wall in our house developed flakiness due to dampness, prompting us to undertake repairs. Specifically, the affected area was located behind an air conditioner. It appeared that poor initial plastering, combined with water leakage from the old AC indoor unit, caused the concrete...
Hello All!
I'm new, first post, unless I missed it I didn't see an O-fficial intro section. Anyways,,,
I love forums, the community of it, shared info, supporting and I have grown to depend on them. Porsche forums, Jaguar forums, plumbing, motorcycle, woodworking, HVAC, solar on and on and...
I'm trying to make a DIY 'ECG' machine, except that it'll only record heartbeats on a piece of paper. Basically the piece of paper will be wound round a cylinder like object, which will be being spun slowly by a motor. A pencil at the end of a stick or something will be writing to this piece of...
Last winter I built a corsi-rosenthal box filter to help clean air in the house, I built it 5 sides with 20"x20" merv 13 rated filters. I was impressed with how well it worked, and am implementing two of them this winter. We have 2 dogs & 2 cats so pet dander as well as dust can build up a lot...
Viton rubber is pressure molded with heat or injection molded to form complex gaskets from what i have read. But do it behave like a thermoplastic where you can for example buy a sheet of finished Viton rubber, heat it up and then vacuum form it to the shape you want? Or is it more like...
I'm looking for a way to use these batteries that is safe and also useful. I've looked into buy inverters to turn them into portable battery packs but am out of my depth and don't want to create a device with serious potential fire hazards without thoroughly understanding the ins and outs and...
Hello,
I built myself a spectroscope with a CD (where I removed the coating), similar to this one:
With this I now want to look at light sources. However, some interesting lamps are a bit too bright to comfortably look directly into (through the spectroscope). Does anyone have an idea how to...
I am doing a project for Physics at the moment, and I am really struggling to come up with ideas. By that I mean, I have plenty of ideas but none of them are really feasible for what I am doing, i.e., impractical to do at home (too much work in doing the actual experiment), or that the actual...
This is a not very physics-related question, but I suppose fixing mechanical things involves a bit of physics, so I thought I might as well ask here.
I have a Marcato Atlas 150 pasta machine that has stopped working. The crank won't turn because the rollers won't turn. The crank directly drives...
My dad has been asking about some speakers for his boat, something that will move a bit of air, not too big though. I'm thinking 1x12. He also wants it bluetooth and powered externally, so it doesn't drain the boat battery.
So I'm thinking 1x12 speaker in a small box that can fit inside the...
I am looking to make a DIY version of commercially available privacy sunglasses. The purpose of these glasses is to prevent cctv cameras from using IR facial recognition.
Standard sunglass lenses are transparent to infrared. To circumvent this, the lenses have the ability to absorb IR light...
(Continuing from the summary...)
I want to build this safely, so I am putting this out here for expert advice. My choice for the shape for the aluminum cantilever is angle, T, square tubing or round. The foam is 2” thick, so I’d like to keep the supports at 2” in width and height. I need to...
Dear All,
I'm a french professional photographer working on Still Life and Architecture.
As a long time and personnal project I'm working on a 3D printed/Laser cut analog camera that will shoot 6x4.5 frames.
In the end it will be some kind of rangefinder with integrated electronic light...
Hi. In machine shops optical comparators have been used for a really long time to measure and inspect complex and usually small parts. But they are usually for small parts and they are usually really expensive machines. How can i do this for cheap for larger parts like for example for making...
Hello everyone
Do you think that
1. It is feasible to make your own functioning Raman spectrometer i.e. https://hackaday.io/project/1279-ramanpi-raman-spectrometer/details or https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/simple-homemade-raman-spectrometer-microscope.996397/
2. Raman spectrometry is a...
There used to be sold a style bicycle handlebar bags that used what I think is a formed spring steel rod that fit over the handlebars and looped under the handlebar stem that supported a handlebar bag. For whatever reason this style does not appear to be available any more. I think it is a...
Hi, I have to measure the HP of a small engine at the crankshaft. The only usable things are.
A dinamometer
A brake disk
An rpm meter
The brake caliper is floating so when we apply de load it pull the dinamometer.
The rpm meter show the revolution during the load apply. It can works?
How I...
https://hackaday.io/project/1279-ramanpi-raman-spectrometer
It's a pretty nifty gadget this Raspberry thingy. A computer the size of a pack of cigs. :)
And a mass spectrometer... I'm not sure what such a device costs but I'm sure it pretty frigging expensive!
Please help me to find out if this is a feasible project. If not, what changes shall be made to make it sustainable for a long time without changing the layout?
1. Details of the stand: L 36", W 18", H 30"
2. Details of Aquarium 1: L 36", W 18", H 18", weight: 225kg
3. Details of Aquarium 2 and...
Hello, I'm building a homemade continuity tester from the schematic below, and I want to bump up the sensitivity even further so it can detect high resistance objects. What part of the circuit would I have to modify to allow this? Would it be a higher voltage?
Thank you
Matt
How easy/difficult would it be to construct an electric generator that can generate a single ampere without a gearbox? How small could this generator be?
I didn't want to jump down the rabbithole of research without asking all of you first. Thanks!
I am thinking to make a strange thermometer, based on the thermal expansion of a small aluminium-like rod/cylinder. I would attach one end of this aluminium rod to a vertical ceramic wall, and the other side would push against a piezoresistive material. I would then measure the resistance of...
Hello all,
I am a college student from the UK and as part of my course i have to do a project, I have been given a project to do which is to Design a portable electronics circuit that can be used for training. It must be;
Able to measure current, voltage and resistance.
Operate on 10 Volts DC...
So I was watching this video containing DIY experiments on electromagnetic induction .
At minute 4:45, the dude pretty much creates a transformer without using an iron core.
He runs 30-50 kHz AC in a coil (forming the primary circuit) and then brings another coil with its ends attached to a...
Dear forumers,
I would like to do some RF measurements by using a spectrum analyzer or an SDR in the ~ 100mhz-6ghz range.
I'm new to this and to the concepts in general and I would like to hear a few recommendations.
I primarily interested here in how much it is acceptable to use a DIY...
Hello,
I am looking to build an LED Panel for a film/video application. I have a few specific requirements in mind.
1) Color Accuracy beyond general CRI ratings.
2) Flicker Free to Camera (What specifications in LED drivers should I be looking for to ensure this flicker free application?)
3)...
Hello people,
I am looking for a high definition DIY spectrometer website or resource. If you find a good one please let me know.
I've watched several youtube videos about it, used both googles and duckduckgo but I am left unsatisfied.
There are several things I do not understand, both about...
Now, I once read in another thread here someone else was trying to make a kilohertz oscillator. The forum members said not to use a breadboard as it would create too much noise. So What do you recommend as an alternative? Or should I just connect the components without the foundation? Also...
Many times, we might have a great idea for a DIY project/mod, but getting an interface panel together with any needed Switches, Pots, Displays, and getting them in a case can be a pain. Right now, I'm thinking about a project/mod I'd like to share with a hobby community, but many of these people...
As you all know, everyone is in a mad DIY mask rush right now as it has become an official recommendation. Some have been searching for the best materials, and some of them have been found to be great filters. However, these non-standard mask materials are also not tested and evaluated for use...
The objective:
Determine the daily power draw of a Raspberry Pi (Watts per Day) and determine the average daily power generation of a solar panel. Will energy generated be greater than energy drawn?
Lets begin,
I have a 9 Watt, 18 Volt solar panel. This solar panel is charging a sealed lead...
Hello all:
I hope all are fine and well in their houses
As I am looking into ways to fill my empty time other than reading undergraduate physics books I start to look around and wonder about giving online lessons for public school students , which they are now without a school , but I found...
Hi
I am usually living off grid in simple huts in remote locations in Asia. A few months per year (rainy season) I don't have enough sun to produce solar power. I need very little electricity. My 20w solar panel produces enough electricity for my needs (lighting + charging a few small gadgets)...
I would like to know if this formulae i have are good enough to make calculations.
My plan is to count time of each roll with Arduino.I don't have roller yet so i don't know moment of inertia.angular acceleration = radians/secounds
TORQUE = moment of inertia (kg∙m2) * angular acceleration
RPM =...