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Repurposed Etched Glass Spice Jars...

Repurposed Etched Glass Spice Jars...
As an avid recycler, I often find myself admiring the numerous boxes of glass bottles in our garage, awaiting their fate. When I noticed more than a dozen empty bottles from one particular product, I knew I had a problem there must be something else I could do other than toss them into a recycling bin once a week. In order to justify my purchase of a caffeine-laden treat, I decided to repurpose and upcycle the glass containers from my favorite splurge. Enter Starbucks Frappuccino. And no, we're not rich. With a few supplies, and as many glass bottles as you can find, you can quickly organize a spice cupboard or pantry in a very attractive manner! Drink bottles, salad dressing bottles, there are so many options, so many different sizes and shapes. Come on, let's see what we can come up with!

Andrew S. Harmon Want To Make A Giant Telescope Mirror? Here's How hide captionTemperatures inside this giant oven will reach 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Large blocks of glass inside the oven will melt as the whole oven spins around at a rate of five times per second, creating a curved and smooth telescope mirror. Ray Bertram/Steward Observatory Temperatures inside this giant oven will reach 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. The world's largest mirrors for the world's largest telescopes are made under the football stadium at the University of Arizona. Why there? "We wanted some space, and it was just used for parking some cars, and this seemed like a good use," says Roger Angel. Angel is the master of making big mirrors for telescopes. At the moment, he's making the second of seven mirrors, each 27 feet across, that will go into the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which will be sited on a peak in the Andes Mountains in Chile. In the old days, you made mirrors by ladling molten glass into a mold. Then they heat the furnace to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Soon you'll 'evolve' yourself new furniture using 3D printing Most of the time, when you buy something, you end up getting someone else's idea of what you really want. With custom 3D printing becoming cheaper and more available, the options for customization are endless, and a new service could allow the "evolution" of new products that are perfect for you. Evolution, at its most basic, is the idea that good and useful things will tend to be favored in designs over things that are not quite so good and useful. You can see it all over the place in animals, but it's equally true in products: version 2.0 of your computer or car or sunglasses or furniture takes everything that was good about version 1.0 and makes it better, while mixing in a bunch of new stuff at the same time. Or at least, that's the idea. But why should you have to suffer through version 1.0 to get to version 2.0? So, great. EndlessForms is a website that will let you design anything (anything!) Via EndlessForms (Thanks Travis!)

Transistors made from cotton yarn, t-shirt computers incoming Altering the very fabric of technophilic society, a multinational team of material scientists have created electric circuits and transistors out of cotton fibers. Two kinds of transistor were created: a field-effect transistor (FET), much like the transistors found in your computer’s CPU; and an electrochemical transistor, which is similar but capable of switching at lower voltages, and thus better suited for wearable computers. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking that cotton is a very strong insulator and not at all conducive to conductiveness — but before you accuse this team from Italy, France, and the United States of witchcraft and wizardry, bear in mind that they kind of cheated. Cotton is just the substrate: To make it conductive, the researchers coated cotton threads in a variety of other materials. To make conductive “wires,” the team coated the threads with gold nanoparticles, and then a conductive polymer.

How to Make Toy Air Ships, Ray Guns and Much More from Old Tin Cans Photos Courtesy of Tinplate Girl If you try to live sustainably, chances are you recycle the tin cans that once fed you soup or mints. But there are lots of good reasons not to, and the alternative is upcycling them yourself. The team behind the site is made up of Adriane (Tinplate Girl) and Marc (Tinplate Dad). Then there are the projects themselves- 26 for the moment, with more to come. The only downside is that with the exception of a few freebies, the instruction manuals come with a price tag (between $3 and $10).

Connecting Batteries in Series or Parallel We frequently get asked the question, "How am I supposed to connect my battery if I want to double the capacity but not the voltage?", or similar questions. It can be confusing if you've never done it, but hopefully this'll make it simpler. Be sure to read the important notes at the bottom to protect yourself from damaging any equipment! Connecting in Series When connecting your batteries in Series you are doubling the voltage while maintaining the same capacity rating (amp hours). This might be used in a scooter, Power Wheels kids vehicle, or other applications. Connecting in Parallel When connecting in Parallel you are doubling the capacity (amp hours) of the battery while maintaining the voltage of one of the individual batteries. Important notes: When connecting batteries in a pack there are some important things to keep in mind - - Find out the requirements of your application. See all of our Battery Articles.

iModela, Roland's $1000 hobbyist CNC milling machine We've covered the iModela, Roland's $1000 hobbyist CNC milling machine over at MAKE, but here's a new photo showing some of the things you can make with it. A milling machine is sort of the opposite of a 3D printer, because it carves away material from a piece of stock, while a 3D printer adds material. I think home-based 3D printing is not yet ready for prime time, because the spatial resolution of the things you can make with 3D printers is not that great. It will get better in the coming years. But the output from this milling machine looks great (as far as I can tell from the photos). [Video Link] iModela

Smelting iron ore in a microwave As part of his attempt at manufacturing a toaster from scratch(!), Thomas Thwaites had to figure a way to smelt his own iron (for the grill piece) - Finding ways to process the raw materials on a domestic scale is also an issue. For example, my first attempt to extract metal involved a chimney pot, some hair-dryers, a leaf blower, and a methodology from the 15th century – this is about the level of technology we can manage when we’re acting alone. I failed to get pure enough iron in this way, though if I’d tried a few more times and refined my technique and knowledge of the process I probably would’ve managed in the end. Instead I found a 2001 patent about industrial smelting of Iron ores using microwave energy. It’ll be very interesting to see how this project turns out – see more of the process & progress on the Toaster Project site. Collin Cunningham collin@makezine.com Related

DIY Bike Rollers It is my personal belief that many people own bicycles, and that many of those people aren't interested in riding for pleasure / exercise when it is raining, snowing, dark, etc. outside, and that many of those people would ride their bicycle indoors if they had a fun and challenging device that allowed them to do so, and that many of those people would build such a device themselves if given the encouragement and advice to do so. Thus, if my calculations are correct, this Instructable my indeed be appropriate for, and benefit many people. DIY Bike Rollers from Jason Sauers on Vimeo. Some people prefer stands and other types of trainers over rollers, but to me there are a few appealing aspects of rollers vs others: More enjoyable Faster / more intense Workouts More challenging / engaging Better all-over body workout No adapting or installation - just set the bike on and go P.S. P.P.S.

The Kinkajou Bottle Cutter | Direkt Concept Recycle, reuse – thats the motto we have all been trying to live by ever since this “global warming” issue came into effect but now it just got a bit easier. Introducing the Kinkajou Bottle Cutter (yes the name explains itself). Read more after the jump! You can now make use of your used beer bottles by simply using this tool. The Kinkajou bottle cutter scores the glass allowing you to simply place the bottle under hot water (or alternating hot and cold depending on the bottle) until the top smoothly breaks off. Sandpaper is included to smooth the edges and voila! Related

3V to 24V Variable Power Supply This 3V to 24 volt variable-regulated power supply can be adjusted from 3 to 25 volts and is current limited to 2 amps as shown, but may be increased to 3 amps or more by selecting a smaller current sense resistor (0.3 ohm). The 2N3055 and 2N3053 transistors should be mounted on suitable heat sinks and the current sense resistor should be rated at 3 watts or more. Voltage regulation is controlled by 1/2 of a 1558 or 1458 op-amp. The 1458 may be substituted in the circuit below, but it is recommended the supply voltage to pin 8 be limited to 30 VDC, which can be accomplished by adding a 6.2 volt zener or 5.1 K resistor in series with pin 8. The maximum DC supply voltage for the 1458 and 1558 is 36 and 44 respectively. The power transformer should be capable of the desired current while maintaining an input voltage at least 4 volts higher than the desired output, but not exceeding the maximum supply voltage of the op-amp under minimal load conditions.

35 Reasons You Should Never Be Without Vinegar Whether you are storing up supplies for hard times or just want to save a little grocery money on cleaning supplies, one thing you should never be without is vinegar. People have been using it for ages – and not just for cooking or preserving foods. Vinegar’s versatility is virtually unmatched when it comes to having multiple uses. There are literally hundreds of uses for vinegar around the home. Check out below to see just a sample of how vinegar can be of use to you, hard times or not: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 35. Glad you asked. Survival Life is more than just one man. If you like my articles like this please subscribe to my biweekly newsletteror feel free to follow me on Facebook. I am excited to have Joe as a regular contributor to Backdoor Survival and will be featuring the best of the best of his articles on Survival Fridays. Window, Floor, General Surface Cleaner aka Peppermint Juice

DIY Naturally Scented All-Purpose Citrus Vinegar Cleaners I've been on a quest to rid our home of toxic chemicals for both health and environmental reasons. Did you know? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air can be 10 times to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. One of the culprits is common household cleaners emitting toxic fumes. UGH! It freaks me out when I read stuff like that. After my recent post about using fruit, herbs, and spices for making natural home fragrances, it occurred to me that I could use some of those same scent combinations for making natural cleaners with vinegar. These scented cleaners don't completely eliminate the vinegar scent when first sprayed. THESE MAKE COOL, INEXPENSIVE GIFTS. HOW TO MAKE NATURAL CLEANERSwith vinegar, citrus, herbs, and spices Assemble these ingredients: view on Amazon: essential oils, bulk pricing on cinnamon sticks, whole cloves Assemble these supplies: Jars or other sealable containers. Peeling the citrus (only use the peel & pith, not the juice & pulp inside): Wood.

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