Convert a diesel engine to Used Fryer Oil (UFO)

August 8, 2006 at 9:22 am · in Automotive, Food and Nutrition, Gadgets and Gizmos, Transportation · Comments

About 10 years ago we started looking for alternatives to diesel and kerosene fuel, and we ran across some folks who were pouring waste veggie oil in their diesel tanks in hot weather. Since we live in an almost arctic climate, we developed methods for running almost solid grease in any diesel engine. The trick is to heat the fuel to liquid before using it, so we added a coolant heated tank and filter, and a fuel selector valve. We start on diesel, and switch over to veggie when it gets above 150F. Details on the conversion and filtration can be found at Fry_Guys.

How to Make Your Own Nintendo GameBoy

August 7, 2006 at 4:59 pm · in Gadgets and Gizmos · Comments (1)

I have a feeling certain pieces of this might be illegal, but it’s too cool not to mention. BestDIYSite has a tutorial on taking a Power Player III chip, gutting it from it’s shell and rebuilding it from the ground up as a portable Nintendo gaming device. Apparently the primary parts are available from the local mall in some places, although Google is likely the best source for finding what you need. At the end of the day, you’ll know how to make your own Nintendo GameBoy (after a fashion).

Link corrected because the other site was scraping the content – thanks pt

How to Hack a Nokia Cell Phone

August 7, 2006 at 4:43 pm · in Gadgets and Gizmos · Comments

I’ve dumped my old cellphones on CellForCash a few times, I even had friends destroy my cell phone, but I still have a box full of old phones I couldn’t get rid of. Apparently I was thinking about this all wrong – instead of dumping my old phones, I should be hacking them. Jakob Selbing offers a great introduction on how to hack a Nokia cell phone. Apparently, this has also been featured on MAKE (and it’s likely we’re watching the same feeds). Great minds think alike!

How to Build an Electric Motor

August 7, 2006 at 4:26 pm · in Gadgets and Gizmos · Comments (1)

I have a battery, a drywall screw, a magnet and a piece of wire in my pocket – I think I’m going to build a motor. Seriously, that’s all you need to make a small motor. Evil Mad Scientist Laboritories shows you how to make an electric motor using this collection of pocket junk. Of course if you don’t have a motor, you could use a mouse instead.

How to Make a Wireless Telegraph

August 7, 2006 at 4:08 pm · in Gadgets and Gizmos · Comments

Since it seems like we’re on the verge of humanity bombing itself back to the dark ages, retro technology may come in handy all over again. Guided Human offers detailed instructions on how to make a wireless telegraph with off the shelf electronics equipment. While I’d prefer to send an email or pick up the phone, this is a neat project to learn how communication works.

Build Your Own DC Converter

July 31, 2006 at 5:44 pm · in Gadgets and Gizmos · Comments

I’m comfortable rewiring basic household circuits, but this steps outside my electrical comfort zone. Pedro shows us how to build a Direct Current converter, which, according to the site, uses the CMOS 4093 IC to build an oscillator that drives an audio power transistor to pilot the primary of a small transformer…which output give us about 200 to 220 VDC. This is enough power for things like Neon lights, nixie tubes and a variety of transmitters. If anyone knows of a better way to make a DC converter, pass it on.

How to Boost Cell Phone Reception with an External Antenna

July 29, 2006 at 4:26 pm · in Gadgets and Gizmos · Comments

My house is a cell phone dead zone. Particularly my basement office, which munges most conversations and renders Cingular’s BroadbandConnect service nearly useless. The only solution I can think might work is an external cell phone antenna to boost signal strength. I hesitate to purchase one of those external car antennas, because I’ve never found them truly useful. Graeme at Earth: Mostly Harmless offers a compelling alternative by boosting his cell phone signal strength with a modified WiFi antenna, taking his house from cell phone dead zone to functional. I have tons of WiFi gear laying around; this just might do the trick.