You like cutting your own hair. Like many who do, though, you usually end up having to bring it to a stylist anyway because, let’s be honest, cutting you own hair is just a horrible idea. The exception to this is when all you’re doing is trimming your scalp to create a close-cropped hairstyle — just invest in a good electric trimmer and you’re good to go. The Single Handed Barber just might be the best electric trimmer for DIY [...]
Men need to wear aprons, too. And we don’t just mean a cheesy protective garment-slash-beer bandolier like the Grill Sergeant. If you’re donning an apron for a serious job and want to look all serious while doing it, the Gentleman’s Apron should prove to be a serious option. Made by Korean company TRVR, it’s a manly apron designed to shield you from the dirt and debris of manly activities like fixing the pipes under the sink, sawing off wood, and [...]
Every handyman job is within every normal dude’s repertoire provided they have the right tools for the job. It’s just like opening a cork — if you use a good corkscrew (or better yet, a power corkscrew), it’s easy; if you don’t, you’re likely to botch it. When it comes to removing jammed, damaged or tamper-proof screws, you can either use your regular toolset or simplify your life by getting the Vampliers. No, it’s not a pair of pliers [...]
Want to hook up your home to your smartphone, but don’t want to pay through the nose for a prepackaged home automation solution? Set up your own smart home with the Ninja Blocks. A compact piece of electronic appliance that pairs with your smartphone, it’s designed for use with a host of sensors and actuators that can be set to monitor and control a variety of things around the house straight from your handset’s tiny display. Granted, it won’t be [...]
Sanding is never fun. Not only is it laborious, it can get very difficult once you finish all the outer parts and move on to tight areas, such as corners, angles and grooves. The Quirky Sandables look to help out on that last part. As you can tell from the name, this is another offbeat creation from crowdsourced site Quirky. It’s, basically, a sander in a sort of Play-doh form, allowing you to shape it into whatever form factor you [...]
Your favorite pair of Beats headphones are cool, but it could be way better. Like, if it actually sounded as good as a Sennheiser, cleaned your ear while you listened to music, and allowed you to customize its look drastically, you’ll like it a lot more. While the DIY Tank Headphones can’t do anything about the first two, it should be able to help you out with the latter. Made by Aerial 7, it sports a unique customizable design that [...]
Working with paint is messy. While the Mixing Mate won’t clean up your paint jobs entirely, it does tidy up the parts before and after you work with the brush (or the power edger). A replacement lid, it takes the place of the standard paint can cover, adding a bunch of features that should make working with paint cans a whole lot easier. It can fit over any one-quart paint can openings, so you can throw one onto every paint, [...]
An angled sash brush, paired with a generous heaping of painter’s tape, should be enough to help you paint straight lines on your walls and ceilings like a pro. But it’s not easy. If you want to simplify those painstaking painting tasks, you’ll probably want to get the EasyEdge Powered Paint Edger. Made by Black & Decker, the pistol-gripped painting contraption makes covering up parts of the wall you don’t want to paint unnecessary. How? By ensuring you always splash [...]
As awesome as the Arduino Uno is, it’s a really basic microcontroller that won’t let you build the kind of sophisticated thingamajigs you need to scare world leaders, much less conquer the world. The Arduino Due doesn’t really change that by much, but it pushes you just a little closer to developing your very own doomsday device built out of Dad’s garage. Faster, more powerful and still cheap, the new board gets a 32-bit upgrade (ARM Cortex M3 architecture), giving [...]
The Problem: You’re interested in fiddling around with homebrewed electronics, but aren’t quite sure where to start. Sure, you can hit the local electronics store, but you’re just afraid you’ll end up being peddled a bunch of crap you won’t have any idea what to do with. The Solution: This SparkFun Arduino Inventor’s Kit. Yep, it’s a full kit containing everything you need to build an Arduino-based project right from the comfort of your home workshop/bedroom/mom’s basement. Designed for absolute [...]
Carrying a full set of power tools isn’t easy. Those things are big and heavy, after all. If you’re looking to do handyman jobs without hauling an entire box of power tools, you might want to invest in Black & Decker’s Matrix Quick-Connect system. While it isn’t the first modular power tool we’ve seen, it’s certainly the most space-saving. Instead of merely sharing batteries like other modular tools, it allows you to share the same base unit, merely swapping different [...]
Google Street View is awesome. They’ll be even more awesome when they decide to document the surroundings in your middle of nowhere town. Which, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to be in the cards within the immediate future. Screw Google and do it yourself with the DIY Street View Kit. Designed for simple operation, it’s easy to assemble and easy to set up, so you don’t need a team of engineers to get your own Street View campaign going. Just decide how [...]
You want a personal hovercraft. But even the cheapest hovercrafts are well beyond what your 9-to-5 grind’s going to let you afford. While it’s far from the most stylish solution, this Lawn Chair Hovercraft would make a fine set to get you started. Made by Adam Savage at Wired’s Geek Dad blog, it’s a hovering platform with a plastic lawn chair attached on top. That means, you can plop down on your bottom comfortably, all while floating around the yard [...]
You’ve always wanted to install solar panels in your house, but the whole complicated setup and expensive cost just feels a little too daunting for your overly simple charms. Maybe the new SpinRay DeckPower120 will encourage you to finally take the leap. Designed for DIY installation, the solar panels can be put in without learning all that electrical black magic professional contractors perform every time they rig up a roof with sun-soaking power modules. Instead, just stand one of these [...]
WiFi is the new USB. At least, that’s how it goes when it comes to desktop accessories and toys. The ReaDIYmate embraces this new internet of things paradigm, adding WiFi connectivity to papercraft models that combine the classic with modern tech. Unlike many WiFi objects you’ll find online, this isn’t a kit that you’ll need to solder and glue up together for a weekend building project. Instead, putting the stuff together is as easy as standard papercraft, with all electronics [...]
Even if I can afford them, I’d punch myself in the face before buying real audiophile headphones. But I’m far from being an audio nerd, unlike the folks who inhabit online audiophile forums talking about sound equipment like it’s a religious experience. Audio enthusiasts who can’t fork out the thousand-dollar price tags for high-grade pairs of cans now have a cheaper option: the Thunderpants. Made by Gary Butcher (online handle Smeggy), the headphones aren’t built from scratch. Instead, they’re modified [...]
Wow, those home brewing kits sure look cool. They’re like a chemistry set for grownups. If only you weren’t on the wagon, getting one of those would actually be so fun. In case you just can’t contain the hankering to do a little of that mixing and brewing, the Root Beer Brewing Kit could serve as an alcohol-free alternative. Designed to produce “naturally brewed, soft and creamy root beer” (in direct contrast to the store-bought super-carbonated variety), it’s a real [...]
If you’ve never heard of stevia, it’s a sweet herb used as a sugar alternative. In fact, it’s been highly-touted as a better sweetener because of its negligible effect on blood glucose (in stark contrast to the usual high-carb, high-calorie cubes you drop on your morning coffee). Now, you can scratch off sugar from the shopping list with Grow Your Own Sweet Leaf, a DIY kit with everything you need to start a stevia garden. From what I’ve read, you’re [...]
Sure, you can use practically any box in your house to prop your laptop up at a more eye-friendly angle. This DIY Cheapskate Laptop Stand looks slightly more presentable than the shoebox you’re using, though (or the taped-up stack of dental floss containers, in my case). Is it really cheap? Umm.. it’s free, actually, provided you’ve got some corrugated cardboard lying in the house (even a small sheet will do). There are very little shop skills needed as well, since [...]
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