Liven up your workspace with these nifty DIY gadgets. If we happened to miss any, please leave us a comment. Which ones are your favorites? “Continue reading” for the entire list.
NES Alarm Clock
This modder gutted his old NES and fitted it with a fully functional alarm clock. The buttons are wired to the console’s player 1 controller port (clock settings), reset button (snooze), and power button (alarm indicator). Lastly, he custom mounted an LED display behind the cartridge slot to display the time. Find out how to make your own with these instructions.[Source]
CD Lamp
If you’ve got hundreds of old AOL discs laying around, why not put them to good use? This creation was made from a pile of old CDs, an ATX power supply, and a custom circular base. Instructions here.
“The pile of CDs that had been massing in my room was growing to epic proportions. So I decided to make myself a CD lamp. The circular base was actually cut using a template on a table saw, then sanded after clamping it in a drill press. The cold cathode lamp is from NewEgg. “
[tcnj]
Thermaltake MiniFridge
Inventgeek transformed this otherwise normal looking computer tower into a fully functional mini fridge/soda dispenser. All it took was around 30 minutes of hacking and $200 in parts. Tools used include screwdrivers, pliers, knives, glues, and wire cutters. Instructions here.
“This was a really fun project to do. I recently brought it fully loaded to a LAN party with a bunch of my fellow geeks. At first I let them guess at what it was. First impressions were that it was a water cooled computer. But when they saw that there was no mob installed through the IO shield they were all stumped. So I plugged it in and popped open the front and with a solid sounding ‘Ka-Thunk’ a Caffeinated cold one was waiting for all night consumption.”
[Source]
Blue Bawls Automatic LED Light
To make your own “Blue Bawls Automatic LED Light”, you’ll need a 9V battery, photo-cell, NPN transistor (2N 4401), one super bright white LED, 100K ohms resistor, 470 ohms resistor, 9V battery snap, one empty bottle, and around 2-3 hours of time. Instructions here.
“Ok get your mind out of the gutter. I am talking about the beautiful blue glass bottle that the Bawls soft drink comes in. I tried one the other day and thought the glass bottle could be used for something interesting.”
[Source]
Projection LCD Clock
If you’ve always wanted a projection LCD clock but don’t want to shell out $39.95 — than why not build your own? You’ll need a see-through style LCD clock, Luxeon LED, and a 38kHz IR receiver unit. Instructions here.
This is a clock that projects the time onto the wall of a darkened room whenever any IR remote control (like a TV remote) is pointed at it and any button is pressed. It uses no lenses. The time is displayed for as long as any button is pressed.
[Source]
