Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with diy

I want to pull this off without pulling it off

Iteki — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:14:30 -0800

Need help building a climbing wall in my apartment. Mefites recently decided I should have a climbing wall in my room. Excellent! The next question is the hows of pulling this off in the easiest, safest manner least likely to anger my wife.

I can choose between two more or less identical rooms, as described in the original post, but the burning question is...

Should I chose the room with one concrete wall and one that is drywall over studs, or the one that has two drywall-walls. I am intending I think to use the "anchor a plywood "pegboard" to your wall" method.

What factors do I need to take into consideration here?

Old Bosch jigsaw model equivalent?

Sebmojo — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:57:20 -0800

I'm looking for a second hand jigsaw that is equivalent in quality to a Bosch GST 100 BCE - any ideas? In a hilarious yet really damn annoying mishap, one of the tradespeople who worked on our kitchen recently took a jigsaw that a builder friend lent us. We've asked them all, but they claim not to have it - so, it's replacement time. Unfortunately the model of jigsaw, above, is no longer current.

What is a model of equivalent quality that I can look for second hand? Even better, any idea where I could pick up a GST 100 BCE in New Zealand for under $NZ200?

My home built PC is DOA. Help!

COD — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:19:37 -0800

My new homebuilt PC is DOA (Dead on Assembly). Athlon dual core with an ASUS motherboard, GeForce 9500 and 2 GB of RAM. It is a barebones kit from Tiger Direct, so I shouldn't have any imcompatible parts. All parts are brand new except the DVD drive, which I had laying around. I have power to the motherboard as the LED on the motherboard does light. However, when I push the power button nothing happens, no fans, nothing at all. The power LED on the front panel is not lighting. I have double checked all the connections, and quadruple checked the 2 pin power switch connector.

Any ideas on what I should check? This is not my first PC build. I was careful, didn't have any static electricity issues, etc.

Is is possible to install an Athlon CPU improperly? I can't seem to get the damn CPU fan off so I have not double checked the CPU, but it sat right down in the socket and the locking bar closed easily, so I really doubt that is the problem.

CD (with jewel cases) storage ideas?

plungerjoke — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:30:02 -0800

How should I store my CD's? Metafilter is the only place where I'm relatively sure no one will say "Get an Ipod." I have upwards of 1500 CD's, and it is a collection I would like to store more attractively. I currently use several mismatched towers, and I have boxes for the overflow. I'd like some sort of large, high capacity shelving unit.

I can spend about 200 dollars either on a pre-built storage unit, or the materials for one I build myself (limited experience, nothing complex).

Does anyone have any ideas? Also, I would like there to be some room for collection-growth.

thanks.

How do I build a balcony enclosure to reduce wind and noise yet preserve my awesome view of NYC?

jacquilinala — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:37:41 -0800

Help me make my noisy, windy city balcony more enjoyable. I recently moved into an awesome apartment in Brooklyn. It's on the 6th floor and has a balcony... which has an unobstructed, amazing view of the Manhattan skyline. However! My apartment faces the BQE and it's noisy. It's also freaking cold out now, and being on the 6th floor, it's very windy on the balcony.

I thought it would be a fun project to try to build a balcony enclosure of some sort. While I don't want to obstruct my view of the city, I would love to be able to go out there and not feel like I was going to blow away. Noise insulation of some sort would be great too.

I googled around and found this, and while that's the same idea, it's not what I'm looking for. I'm thinking more like going to a lumber yard, buying some kind of wood (?), and DIYing it. Some sort of noise insulation stuff. Maybe plexiglass on one side to preserve the view?

Of course, this would have to work in the summer too...

Ideas? Here are the dimensions... and a picture of the balcony.

129" wide (approx 126" within the railings)

49" deep (approx 46" within)

43" height of railing.

pic 1 and pic 2

Thanks!

Explosive listening?

katje — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:23:19 -0800

Would spraying a stick-on (paper) CD label with artists' fixative make the disc unsafe to play? I've illustrated the label for a kind of wintry mix CD for a friend in mechanical pencil. In my experience, these don't get too terribly smudgy, but they aren't immune to fading and a bit of scuffing. Is it completely insane to spray the paper with artists' fixative (ethanol, hydrocarbon propellants, ethyl acetate), let dry, peel off the label, affix it to a burned CD, and expect said disc to not explode or burst into flames when played?

Patching a hole for re-use

ninebelow — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:01:04 -0800

How to patch an old screw hole so it can be reused (UK). There have been a few similar questions in the past but none identical so I thought I would ask again.

My curtain rail has come down, ripping out the rawl plugs and leaving both the holes I drilled for them and wider, shallow holes in the very top of the plaster. The underlying reason for this is because the holes I drilled aren't really deep enough. This is because the wall quickly turns into something very hard which I just can't drill through. I assume this concrete as it is a modern flat with large amounts of concrete visible elsewhere. Alternatively I've heard the door underneath the curtain may have a metal plate surrounding it beneath the plaster.

Usually I would just Polyfilla and sand a hole. However, in this case I really need to re-use the holes, not just cover them over. Is there a type of filler with a long applicator that I could fill the whole hole with? Or could I fill the hole with something solid and then patch it as usual?

Because the door is in the corner of the room, moving the holes isn't really an option. Any suggestions gratefully received but remember I'm in the UK.

A practical mechanics primer?

invitapriore — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:40:05 -0800

Where can I find a basic and fairly comprehensive run-down of, quite literally, the nuts, bolts, screws, seals, bearings, washers and so on of practical mechanics? I'm looking for resources, in print or online, that describe the common and basic components of machines, why they're there, and what they do. For example, this hypothetical resource might contain a chapter or a sub-chapter on washers, going through the different types and explaining their applications. It might also detail certain machines to show how the general principles of how these parts work are applied -- the example that got me on this kick is the headset of a bicycle, whose many components I only partially understand.

While I'll probably be applying this knowledge mostly to bicycle mechanics, I still want something general -- I have plenty of references for bike-specific stuff, but they haven't really helped me get a broad feel for how these things work. Most times, when I get a new experience under my belt, I feel as though I've just memorized one particular case as opposed to having added to the sort of general knowledge that would allow me to deal with novel situations. A general resource will also probably prove helpful when dealing with non-bicycle machines and home repair issues.

I found this book in my searches, but it's out of print and I'm sure there are others. Unfortunately, all of my google searches turn up physics textbooks, which isn't really what I want or need.

Thanks!

Help us get our shower back!

joshuaconner — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:20:46 -0800

I live in a mobile home, and I went to change out the shower arm and head in our bathroom, and I ran into some trouble. Instead of finding a fixed, metal pipe coming through a relatively small hole in the wall - what I've found when I've done this previously in apartments and the like - there's a plastic fitting attached to some flexible plastic tubing coming out of a hole that's larger than the flange that came with my new shower arm.

Because the fitting is not fixed to anything (I actually had to fish it out from in the wall with a bent coat hanger because once I detached it from the original shower it kind of just sprung back down into there), it won't hold up my shower arm, as you can see in the second picture here. (That goopy-looking stuff is residue from some Great Stuff I sprayed in the hole to try and at least stabilize the fitting in one place on the advice of a guy at my local hardware store. It didn't work.)

I'm not attached to this shower arm or head - at this point, really we just want a fully functioning shower again. We've talked about removing that piece of drywall and replacing it with a new piece (or cutting out that part of the drywall and putting a new "patch" piece in its place (so the hole can at least be closer to the correct size), but a) it seems really labor-intensive, and b) it doesn't solve the fundamental problem that the pipe the water is coming out of is just kind of flopping around in there.

Putting the original shower arm and head back on isn't an option, though we're fine with changing to some different style of shower arm and head if it will give us back a fully functioning shower.

Ideas?

Suggest some online stores for DIY electronic gadget making.

Charlie Lesoine — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:57:51 -0800

Can you recommend some good stores like http://www.goldmine-elec.com/ and http://www.sparkfun.com/ I'm looking for little motors, gears, metal rods, rubber rollers/grommets as well as electrical components.

How to teach myself audio electronics

Charlie Lesoine — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:19:16 -0800

I'd like to teach myself electronics with a focus on audio. I'm starting with this book. What should I do/read from there? I have also ordered some prototyping supplies which are in the mail. I know how to solder. I have built one guitar pedal from a kit, which was a breeze, and I've soldered together some microphone cables, but that is the extent of my electronics experience. My short term goal is to build a real analog tape delay. I'd really like to understand all the components and how they work together in order to get a big picture understanding of these things. I want schematics to make sense to me.

What's American for 'undercoat'?

holgate — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:56:44 -0800

Can someone give me a primer on translating the British terms for wall / house paint into their American equivalents? I am no stranger to paint. At least, I wasn't until I moved from Britain to the US. Now I go into Lowe's Ace Depot and all the labels read "interior latex" and similar, which presumably makes sense to Americans, but doesn't help when I'm just looking for a tin of undercoat. Could someone with experience of doing paint jobs on both sides of the pond translate undercoat, gloss and emulsion into their American equivalents?

What are those personalized audio cones above me at the museum?

codybaldwin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:14:01 -0800

What are the personal/individual audio cones are museums called? Is it possible to make one at home relatively inexpensively? I can't find any information on them. This may be because I don't know what they're called, and so I couldn't really adequately look to see if this has even been asked before. Regardless, these are sort of halves of spheres that hang from above and project audio onto guests of museums. You also sometimes see them at internet and computer gaming cafe's.

So, what're they called?
How do they work?
Can I make one relatively cheaply?

Help me lacquer up a bookcase

gfrobe — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:32:11 -0800

I'm looking for a long white lacquered bookcase and found this one at Ikea. Unfortunately, the white version of the bookcase is not lacquered like the other colors. Would it be difficult for me to apply a lacquer finish to it? It says it's particle board with acrylic paint but I've looked at it in person and it's not shiny like lacquer at all. What are my options here to lacquer it up? Can I paint over the existing surface, what kind of product do I buy, etc?

On a side note, I read somewhere that you if you take a piece of furniture into a car body repair shop, they will often give it a good coat of lacquer spray very cheaply. Has anyone ever done this and how did that work out for you?

Where can I find speherical bags that will help me turn my trash into toys?

cross_impact — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:45:27 -0800

Where can I find bags of various sizes that: are spherical or ball-shaped when full of stuff are made of durable outdoor-hardy material and close with velcro or a drawstring or some other kid-safe closure mechanism Bonus: Bags of other useful shapes like kid furniture, that can be filled and closed You see, I want to make balls out of trash... We throw away a lot of junk mail, paper, etc since we don't have recycling in our community. I was wanting to find a way to collect that trash in a way that would make a useful outdoor play toy for my kids using paper and other relatively soft, dry trash as "stuffing."

Every year at Christmas, I save all the wrapping paper and make a huge ball of it with masking tape to hold it together. The kids love playing with it before we throw the whole mess away. I was looking for something made of durable reuseable material I could use in this capacity and then keep and not throw away. A trash bag that converts into a ball. I had my eye on making one of those giant earth balls out of out recycled newspapers from a month or so. Or even something the size of a soccer ball would work.

My search for a commercial version of this has been fruitless. Commissioning a prototype from a craftsman or seamstress undermines my goal of a cheap alternative to an expensive item while reusing what would otherwise go into the bins. Any leads?

Proper culture for soy yoghourt

monocultured — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:35:18 -0800

Trying to make my own vegan soy yoghourt from scratch, I ended up with an uncultured mess. Please advise on proper microbial use, or improvements upon whatever else it was that I mucked up. I have a 1 litre yoghourt machine which plays a tinny "Macarena" when the 5-11 hour timer runs out, although I'm not certain of how exact the timer is. It does seem to keep the temperature constant at above room temperature though.

I made 2 litres soy milk — this I've done before since I occasionally make my own tofu — and let it cool. Mixed one litre into the machine with one sachet of the stuff in this picture and let it sit. After ten hours there was a 1cm gelatinous strata on top of the stuff, but below it was mostly curdled, like what you might expect if you mix soy milk with hot drinks.

The images below are after 24 hours. There's a slight tangy taste to the liquid, but it's nowhere near yoghourt levels of awesome, nor is there any texture except the grain you see. Looks like seperation, not a healthy process.

Texture 1 & 2
Separation 1 & 2

Possible stuff that has gone wrong:

1) Wrong kind of bacteria (intended for dairy?)
2) Contamination in the bucket (didn't wash it with boiling water)
3) Soy milk too watery or too thick

I'm in Sweden, so there's scant competition among the makers of soy products and I haven't found any starter kits to buy. The Alpro soy yoghourts are excellent, but I've read that they don't contain "live culture" so won't work as starters. Their yoghourt is what I ideally would end up with, so have that in mind, not the more gelatinous products out there.

What to use and where to get it would be appreciated — European stuff preferably — as well as any primers on the noble art of ennobleling the bean of soy by means of bacterium.

Help me find the most computer for my money

miratime — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:41:45 -0800

It's time to buy a new computer. I'm hoping that with the shopping season coming up I'll be able to snag a good deal somewhere. I would prefer to just order the complete package from somewhere, but with enough help I would be willing to purchase individual components and assemble. I need something that will let me game a little and without graphical snags, and something that will continue to perform well for several years. I've been considering this for a while, and after a mostly-successful build a couple of years ago for my husband, it's my turn to get the shiny new toy. I really want this purchase to last and I'm not an upgrade fiend. My current desktop is an old Dell Dimension 2600 which was a refurb when I got it back in 2004, so I can't really judge what current models are like. I would like to get something that will be "good" for a while; I'd rather aim a little higher (within affordability) than get the bare minimum of what will do what I want.

What do I want?

* I want to be able to play a couple of different MMOs (World of Warcraft and The Secret World) and The Sims 3 with max graphics settings and no problems multitasking in Firefox, running a music player (iTunes), etc.

My husband's computer already does this and it's a couple of years old; Intel quad core processor and 4GB of RAM, I believe. TSW isn't out yet but they've said that they want it to be accessible to players with laptops when it comes out, and even if that's a couple of years down the road I’m assuming that means that they don't intend to make it the most graphically-complex game ever or anything. I don't play first-person-shooters or any other type of game other than the ones listed (MMOs, I guess?) but if the games I do play look blocky, get low framerates, lag during play, or take forever to load, I find myself losing interest and right quick. Right now I'm running a 19" LCD but it is not widescreen; a monitor upgrade will go on the wishlist after the system is purchased.

* I want Windows 7. If it's some sort of deal from somewhere that's trying to clear out older models that still have XP/Vista, I need to be able to upgrade (though I've heard that this is a more complicated route).

* I want to spend up to $800-$900. Less is better but I don't have a very good idea of what that can get me. I'd like to be able to go another five years with this system without it being hopelessly outdated a year from now and trodding along until I can afford another new system for the next four years or more. Is this even a reasonable price range for my expectations? If it isn't, what compromises could I make to keep the system in this price range?

* I would like a smaller tower if possible but this is by no means a necessity. My current tower is plenty large and I have the space for it. However, if I can take advantage of the trend of technology shrinking as it becomes more advanced, I certainly wouldn't' t mind accommodating something smaller.

I know that there are new Core i5 and i7 processors that are getting a some attention, but I'm completely lost when it comes to judging which are good for what and comparing them to older models which may or may not perform better, be more affordable, or give more value for the price.

I'm willing to buy from either HP or Dell, but am leery of trusting the big box manufacturers to make something truly stable and long-lasting; the only reason I am considering these companies is because I do receive a company discount at these vendors. The HP discount varies but seems to be from about 20%-25% while the Dell discount is only about 7%-9%.

I'm also willing to go through Newegg, TigerDirect, or similar and purchase individual parts (or bundles, which I've seen a few of lately), but I don't feel confident about building the system myself. I can install the most basic of components (RAM, etc.) but don't trust myself to not blow up the power supply or something if I tried to DIY the whole thing. I've seen many sites lately referring to this guide, but being a complete novice I have no idea how accurate or helpful it might be to a true newbie. If MeFi thinks the guide is all right I might be willing to take a few steps in the build-your-own direction.

I was also hoping that my fellow Pittsburgh MeFites might be able to make recommendations for people who would be willing to put a build together, and give me an idea of how much that might cost if I went that route.

Is it a good time to be making a commitment to a new system? It feels like Windows 7 should be a factor, but I'm worried that as soon as I commit to one thing there will be something else that completely eclipses it on the horizon, or some huge price drop that makes me want to plant my face into my keyboard, but I think this might happen regardless of when I buy.

I know there are some folks on here who like to help create custom builds, so I'm hoping for your help, MeFi. I know I've asked a lot of questions, but any and all help is appreciated

I want ready-made hardware that makes my picture look like it's floating off the wall

Opal — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:32:13 -0800

I want to hang this picture on the wall, but in a way that makes it look like it's an inch away from the wall. I know how to make that happen with a piece of wood wood and a sawtooth hanger, but are there any ready-made hardware or system that will achieve that? The picture is not framed, it's actually printed on a sheet of metal - think one of those old fashioned tin signs. I want it on the wall, but in a way that, when you're in front of it, it looks like it's floating off the wall, detached from it by about an inch.

Here's how I've done this before: I take a wood block, cut smaller than the object I want to hang, and attach it (usually with glue) to the back of it. Then I take a simple sawtooth hanger and nail/screw it to the wood and voila. So I'm actually hanging the wood block on the wall, and the picture is attached to the wood block. The final distance from my picture to the wall is the thickness of the wood block. This is how it looks.

Tell me someone came up with a picture hanging system that does exactly that and I can buy at Ace Hardware and not have to deal with cutting and painting and gluing wood blocks?

As for some of the existing solutions out there, this won't work because I need to sell each object individually and ready to hang; and this won't work because, even if I didn't mind the edges showing in front, they're too flat and the picture doesn't hang far enough from the wall.

So, what's ready-made and cheap and will solve my problem?

Reversing refrigerator doors

mudpuppie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:14:15 -0800

I've volunteered to reverse the doors on the office fridge (i.e., change them so that they open from the right, instead of from the left). I know the basics of how to do this, but I don't want to look like an idiot in front of coworkers. Any tips, tricks, or things I should know before starting to loosen the screws?

DIY archivist!

liketitanic — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:45:45 -0800

How can I develop a plan to help a small community organization organize its archival materials (something like a self-accessioning plan, I guess)? What should I read? Who should I talk to? I'm not an archivist and have no information science training. There, I said it. But I have a pretty great opportunity to help a small community org self-accession and organize some records that could prove quite valuable to researchers. I don't yet know how big the collection is, nor whether they want physical or digital storage.

How do I go about learning what I might need to know to do this? Or how do I self-educate in archives work? Book recommendations? OpenCourseware recommendations? Software I should learn? Any suggestions?

Where can I shop for a vintage headboard?

thisiswater — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:45:10 -0800

I'm want to recreate this headboard recently featured on Apartment Therapy. Does anyone know where I can look for a vintage mantle aside from craigslist & ebay? Most options I've found through google have been $1000+ or shipping is (understandably) local only/too expensive.

I've never been to a flea market - is this the kind of thing you could find there? I live in Alabama but would be willing to travel to surrounding states if you know of any good antique stores or other options in the area.

The person who inspired me to do this project found a mantle for $10, which would be incredible but I do not expect to find something that cheap. I'm willing to pay around $100 for the mantle, is this reasonable?

Thanks for any help!

Seeking your ideas for fun and interesting hobbies and skills.

tomble — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:40:49 -0800

I feel like I'm in a bit of a rut! I'm looking for a number of new projects, skills, and interesting things that I can learn or work on. I'm planning on trying out something new every week, dedicating a number of hours to learning new things, embarking on interesting projects and otherwise doing things I wouldn't normally do. I love hands on tasks, making things, cooking and unusual skills. I'm not interested in anything like performance art.

All suggestions welcomed

So far my list includes :

Learning to tie a range of different knots.
Building a solar food dehydrator
How to start a fire without matches or a lighter
Juggling
Make an article of clothing from scratch
Making cheese
Build a kinetic sculpture for my back yard
Build a crystal set radio
Learning how to whistle
Using templates and a pressure washer to clean the path outside my house, leaving decorative patterns of unwashed concrete.
Writing a song.
Learning to solder properly and making an electronic something.

So, any ideas welcomed!

Stain over varnish?

hulahulagirl — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:59:12 -0800

How can I easily darken already varnished wood? My family is taking over an existing restaurant and re-opening it as a different restaurant. We have a limited budget for up-front renovations and the restaurant has wood paneling on the inside. Not the cheesy kind, but real wood boards laid on the diagonal on the wall (tongue and groove, pine maybe).

We can only close the restaurant for 3 days to complete renovations, so tearing the paneling completely off is not an option since we have other projects to tackle during the 3 days.

I want to darken the wood, but as it's tongue and groove, it would take too much time to sand in the grooves to remove the varnish that is already on it. I want to check into options for darkening the color, but I don't know what products and/or methods would work the best.

(In the long run, putting up new walls would/will be ideal, but at this point, early on, we don't have the time or money.)

Can I screen out the six legged bastards?

medea42 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:56:33 -0800

Would placing an additional window screen material on the outside of a vent cause ventilation problems? This summer I wound up locked inside my apartment in terror because a group of wasps elected a pipe in my a/c unit (located on my balcony) as their new home. Since my fiancee and I are both allergic to bees, and because we chose our apartment for its balcony, this is a source of serious frustration - especially since even after exterminators killed the nest and our maintenance guy removed it, the wasps continued to return to our balcony in particular. I'll be damned if I let six legs win.

My idea to prevent this from happening again is to make sure that there is no way they can crawl inside the outdoors-exposed vent that contains our heating and cooling unit. So I want to fix a screen that is tightly woven enough that bees can't get into it. What I want to know before getting happy with knives, screens and glue is whether the additional screen would cause any technical problem with ventilation, etc.? It doesn't seem so to me, but mechanical issues aren't something I'm well versed in.

Note: This is a rental, but I'm willing to take a deposit hit to avoid further bees.

Rain ruined my patio!

shew — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:58:39 -0800

DIY-Disaster Filter: I sealed my new (expensive) concrete patio with water based sealant. Followed the directions by cleaning it the day prior and waiting 24 hours for it to dry completely. Just as I was finishing my first coat it started to rain unexpectedly. Help me fix it! I stopped applying any sealant once it started to rain and hoped it would be dry enough (it was dry to the touch) to be 'ok'. Well, two days later, I cleaned it and am noticing that the water is still seeping through in areas and making it dark (indicating absorption and a bad seal). I also have one or two areas that appear to have moisture trapped under the sealant as they are dark and splotchy (near the downspout where the water was running just after it was sealed).

Is there anything I can do to make this better? I think it needs a second coat of sealant but am unsure of how to proceed now that the first coat has failed. Am I destined to stripping it and starting over? If so, what is the best recommendation for that procedure?

Here are some photos of it right after I wet it down:

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu200/shewsnsaux/100_2080.jpg
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu200/shewsnsaux/100_2081.jpg

The stamp color was a light tan and a cream colored release (the cream in the photo is the release color, not over-application of sealant).