"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.
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Having performed this experiment, I have gotten clean results. Essentially, a double slit is made by putting an electron beam in the way of a wire with orthogonal polarizers on either side. This destroys the expected interference pattern since the polarized...
A "DIY" Electronic Speed Control ? is that viable?
The concept of 3-stage brushless motors does seem very simple to me. Simply power the 3 different stages at different times, use 2 at the same time and the 3rd as a magnetic sensor. When the sensor goes on you flip the stages, one goes off and...
Hi, I was wondering how I might make my own nitrate test strips. I am not really sure how/if they are any different from normal red/blue pH strips.
I am looking for a way to compare nitrogen content in different soils. I know they make cheap kits, but I was hoping there was a way to do it...
Hi my name is HopelesslyFaithful (HF) (forum didn't allow all chars). I am from Notebookreview and while googling for my project. I came across this site a thread that was helpful but also made more questions. I posted this on NBR so i did a direct copy paste hoping i could get some expert help...
Hi, I was looking into building a flammables cabinet for our high school lab. Flinn suggests a 1 inch thick plywood cabinet is superior to a metal cabinet because it will not warp under heat. I was curious if that'e true, or of any other alternatives to a flammables cabinet. Thanks.
I don't know much about the subject, besides some diagrams and youtube vids, so please bear with me. I'm trying to make a reverse heat pump to cool a small room.
If I had a heat reservoir (in a box within the same room) that could increase the temperature/pressure of a refrigerant and then...
Greetings,
I would like to use a synchrotron to store a stream of electrons.
Usually, how long are electrons kept in synchrotrons, and how long can they be kept?
I need to store them for a few hours.
Thanks
Hello all,
My son and I have been tinkering with (very low energy) particle experiments and observing them in a cloud chamber we built. Unfortunately these have a very limited amount of data that can be gathered from them. Now I know that there is no practical way of making the AWESOME...
Hi all,
I live in Perth, Australia and have just moved houses to a place with a relatively small pool, unfortunately it is shaded for the majority of the day by a big tree and it is quite cold and unwelcoming (unless you have built of a sweat).
I want to make a solar pool heating system to...
MOTOR Help!
Hello Everyone,
Please help regarding my DIY project.
I want to make a Camera Glider/Slider which has to slide my 2-3 KG camera Horizontally, Inclined-ly as well as Vertically (Straight Upto 2 Meter High) using a Motor and a Belt.
Here is the picture my project...
Okay so I want to make a telescope at home...
Im not a noob. Even if I am please just help me.
I've got a couple of magnifying glasses ..pretty big ..
I don't know the exact focal length...
But one of them is twice the size of other...
As soon as the sun comes up I'll find their focal...
Good Afternoon,
I'd like to build a wireless charging circuit from scratch, but I am unsure of where to start. Every time I attempted the experiment the coils would not transfer power and I am unsure of what I am doing incorrectly. If anyone could point me to a resource for DIY wireless...
I want to make a linear motor with some friends, just to see can we make it and how it works.
Is there any tutorial or some guidance.
i was thinking about a induction motor, but am not quite sure how to put the coils on the stator.
Can anyone suggest a guide or books for making a telescope, DIY style. Also what size would be appropriate for a first attempt, and how much might it cost it you have any ideas.
Thanks!
hello PF community
i'm looking for help in understanding the classification and observed behaviour of some DIY voltaic (?) cells and their associated circuits with which I've been tinkering for a couple of years
the cell operation seems to belong somewhere between galvanic and the original...
I was looking at the simple example of making a voltaic pile using pennies, nickles, and salt soaked paper towels to light up a small LED lamp, but I hate the idea of immediately oxidizing all the metals just get a 1.2 volts for a only a couple hours so I've been researching ways to make it...
I would like to build an antenna that will be used in a very remote area to improve our cell signals. We have access to the GSM 850 (824.2 - 849.0 Uplink | 869.2 - 894.0 Downlink).
I need help in calculating the antenna length based on the frequency and need advice on the most effective...
Hope I got the right section. First time poster! Hello all!
I'm pretty much a Noob so forgive any ignorance.
I'm running 31 Orange (2.2v) (24 ma) LED's on a parallel circuit. My power supply is 12v from the DVD power supply of a Xbox 360. I bought a 10 watt 15Ω clay type resistor per a...
I am building a DIY backyard zip line - total length is 175 ft, starting anchor is a steel pole (6 inch diameter) - 21 ft long, I plan to bury in lots of cement about 4 ft deep - cable will be attached near the top, no guy wires planned, I will "board" the seat on a tree fort near the top of the...
Hi people, please excuse me if this is the wrong forum to ask, I am new. I want to build a cheap DIY trip wire that records how many times it is set off. If I could use some sort of laser to be more discrete that would be a bonus (and just cooler). Also if it is possible to record the time that...
So I have a project that I'm contemplating undertaking. What I basically want is:
A lot of the times I'm lying down on my bed and watching a show or something. Except I would rather my face be facing the ceiling than one of the walls, if that makes sense. So I'm trying to make a small device...
i don't know if i am in right part of forum.
i want to build some sort of wind turbine for a school project. all the diy project are 6 or 9 coils with 8 or 12 magnets. the coils are on non magnetic board and the magnets on steel plate.
why on steel, the steel plate increase the total...
Hi,
I am currently working on a small project to create an simple DIY capacitor with stuff that you can get from the supermarket. Probably, I will alternate with two aluminum foils and two insulators like plastic each other, and wrap them together. Do anyone have suggestion how I can maximize...
First post! :)
I am building a Geiger counter with this circuit:
http://www.pocketmagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/geiger-simple-1b.jpg
in the blog the author used a regular EI transformer from a power supply, but I tried disassembling them and broke the ferrite core 4 time now, so I...
I've connected the 3 wires as shown in the picture: GROUND, GREEN, and RED (the latter 2 having their enamel removed).
[PLAIN]http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4133/nylonstranded.jpg
But I'm getting only low-volume (un-amplified) sound. Now, if I connect either GREEN or RED wire to the...
Hello
I am currently building DIY solar panel.I have a problem regarding the build up of the panel.
My question is can I attach the cells on to a normal transperant glass of about 5mm thick by a transperant silicon? My concern is if the cell will break or not, by the outer environment ...
I'm trying to build a DIY working model of TEG/TEC generator similar to the exhaust pipe designs that recover energy from extremely hot exhaust pipe or light those antique candle powered radios.
I have 400 (1 inch) pieces of copper wire and 400 (1 inch) pieces of paper clip steel wire. I will...
I realize this may sound a little ambitious , but since I’m not going into space I thought I would at least do an initial feasibility study on the following project that a small dedicated group would like to embark on : A compact geared high bypass Turbofan engine with a Static thrust @ Sea...
this is a small pulsejet designed by me..it produces around 2pounds thrust..This is the cheapest pulsejet engine you could make it costs around Rs.50..i will post the video tomorrow because i forgot to take my cellphone with me..But here is the engine pictures.
here is the plan..
here is the...
I am thinking about launching a near space balloon. I'm going to send up a microcontroller with a pressure sensor that outputs audible beeps according to the height data from the pressure sensor. The problem is I don't have a way to transmit this audio data back down to earth. What is the...
I'd like to know how to build a short-rang (maybe 30-100 ft) Doppler radar. I will use the radar to pinpoint any object it sees on a map. This radar will be used with a PC or iPhone, so the unit does not make any calculations whatsoever.
Also, I'd like the unit to be as small as possible.
I'm am looking at the plausibility to make/hack an eyepiece HUD out of a reflective piece of curved glass/plastic, a camera, and a viewfinder/mini-screen.
It would be nice for it to all mount to either a modest sized helmet or a tight head strap. I remember having an old '90s video game...
Hi there,
I've been interested in this induction heating thing and would like to build one. Its quite a long time searching the net and experimenting to make it work. I've been stuck with the pll issue. My configuration is Hbridge which is fed from a simple power supply(not split) so the lowest...
Hi,
I recently got it into my head that I would like to make an analog-digital interface card for my laptop such that I can plug two wires into the card and have the the card send data on the potential difference between the two wires to my laptop via the USB port. The plan is to then have...
Pavement paint, pleasezz help
Hello Guys,
well, we -people here in my district in Egypt- are planning to clean the districts and doing some paints to the pavements in streets in order to relief their colors and paints, we are trying to prepare an easy ''home made'' chemical mix in order to...
I built a welder using Microwave oven transformers, but I keep melting the secondary coil, and they are a pain to rewrap. So I was thinking about building a transformer from scratch using available materials. My first obstacle is the core material, I know laminated core material is...
Hey everyone! I am trying to build a small electric heater as a DIY project. My only experience in electronics is a digital electronics class I took...other than that, I'm new to just about all of this stuff, but I can pick up on things rather quickly. Does anyone have any good resources that...
Hello everyone, I'm in the design process of building a 100W/ch audio amplifier. I would like it to sound as good as possible (willing to sacrifice power output for sound quality) and am looking for some design pointers. The output stage and driver stage will be solid state using 2sd845/2sb755...
Hello,
I am trying to perform the DIY quantum eraser experiment, but I'm having some trouble. When I perform the classic double slit experiment using a cheap laser pointer and a piece of wire I get a beautiful interference pattern as expected. However when I try the DIY QE experiment I...
Hi. I would like to purchase some physics equipments, such as magnets, mirrors, circuits, ammeters/voltmeter, etc., for my own physics project. I don't know where to look. Do you guys know of a website that sells any physics products? Or can only a licensed professional purchase them?
Hi all!
Does anyone know of any good sites for how to build a DIY embedded linux microcontroller?
I know that I'll need a processor of some sort (was thinking maybe an ARM device), a ROM for the bootloader and kernal, RAM for the general processing, and a JTAG or programming interface of...
I'm wondering if it would be plausible to use a cathode ray tube (crt) style monitor to build my own mass spectrometer. Unfortunately, commercial models are prohibitively expensive, but if I had plans or at least a good idea of how to build one, I have the nagging feeling I could.
My idea is as...
To make your own electromagnet simply use an iron nail wrap some copper wiring around it and tape it to a battery fair enough, the current passing through the wire causes a magnetic field...
My question is one of annoyance because my boss won't let me try it with the 100mm Neodymium magnets...
better DIY planetary telescope: 8" or 6"
Hey all, I'm starting to design my first home built telescope. I already own a 10" dob which works great but I've decided I would like something more transportable that is easier to take camping or wherever else. So right now I'm leaning towards a 6 or...
I have been researching DIY gas turbines lately, and I have concluded that I want to make one. :smile: My only issue is that all amateur designs I have seen use turbochargers. I would like to see an axial, multi-stage compressor/turbine design. Obviously this would require one to fabricate the...
I would like to see how far I can get writing some novel & simplified simulator code for molecular modeling based on QM.
------ Background follows ---- skip to next post to get to the details of the project & starter QM question..
My son took chemistry this last semester (High-school...
I recently tried a "DIY Quantum Eraser" experiment that was in the May 2007 issue of Scientific American (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=slide-show-do-it-yourself-diy-quantum-eraser"). The basic idea is it's a double-slit experiment where photons going through each slit are...
NOOB here.
I am trying to redo my diy aquarium lighting.
Currently I use 4x100 white led xmas lights. And they light great. Problem is, they are multi "8" function lights, I have them on timers, and when they come on, they default to one of the flashing functions, and I have to go at...
I've been having a nagging thought. I've just recently switched from CompSci to Math and while research is important for a CompSci student, research is pretty much *the goal* for a Math student. So getting into a research program would probably be my main goal from now until graduation. But I'm...
Howdy everyone, I have begun work on an automated security system. Essentially it is a mounted machine gun made to keep your children safe. I have begun work on models and finished the automated firing mechanism, but am still in the early stages of development. On the image below, you will see a...