Projects

DIY projects you can build yourself, featuring detailed instructions accessible for a wide range of skills and abilities.

Latest in Projects

For Easy Prototyping, Surf’s Up
DIY

For Easy Prototyping, Surf’s Up

By Dave Prochnow

A lamp made out of a mold from a plastic bottle, based on a 1961 article in Popular Science magazine.
DIY

Bright Idea: The plastic bottle lamp

By Joel Barnard

A Clare solar cell on top of a US penny.
DIY

Pennywise solar power

By Dave Prochnow

The RingsTrue app ready for sale.
DIY

How to make an iPhone app: part 3

By Dave Prochnow

An iPhone with app icons visible.
DIY

How to make an iPhone app: part 2

By Dave Prochnow

A person holding a homemade Make a Guess game.
DIY

Make a guess game

By Dave Prochnow

A person holding a modified tinyCylon.
DIY

A really tiny tinyCylon

By Dave Prochnow

A citrus granita margarita in a glass on a plate outside.
DIY

Agave nectar, a sweetener for any occasion

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

Three potted plants with homemade grow lights stuck into the dirt around them.
DIY

DIY grow lights

By Dave Prochnow

A person holding a white iPod.
DIY

New music from an old iPod

By Laura Silver

A person wearing blue Popular Science coveralls holding a can of compressed air.
DIY

PopSci 5-Minute Project video: insta-cool beer chiller

By Popular Science Team

A man in blue Popular Science coveralls holding a dumbbell made out of old CDs, pointing at the camera, and yelling.
DIY

PopSci 5-Minute Project video: CD dumbbell

By Popular Science Team

A person holding a Polyphemus demonstration and evaluation tool.
DIY

Polyphemus demonstration and evaluation kit

By Dave Prochnow

DIY Gas Mask: A PopSci Fan’s Step-by-Step Guide
DIY

DIY Gas Mask: A PopSci Fan’s Step-by-Step Guide

By

Three thin rectangular cork-plugged bottles in a row, the left one nearly full of red vinegar, the middle one half full of yellow vinegar, and the right one about a quarter full of orange vinegar.
DIY

Making vinegar at home

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

A man in a white polo shirt standing near an overflowing dresser and looking angry because he can't find his eyeglass case.
DIY

This finder’s a keeper

By Dave Prochnow

Plug In Your Prius
DIY

Plug In Your Prius

By the Editors of E – The Environmental Magazine

Four balls of fried, smoked potatoes stacked on a white plate next to some yuzu-kosho ketchup.
DIY

Xanthan gum, or my first hydrocolloid

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

A yellow-and-green model plane against a black background.
DIY

Pocket Rocket Komet

By Dave Prochnow

A small paper rocket in a person's hand against a black background.
DIY

The 5-minute rocket

By Dave Prochnow

A packet of freeze-dried ice cream with a photo of an astronaut on the packaging.
DIY

If it’s good enough for astronauts, it’s good enough for us

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

A clear bottle of beer next to a full glass of beer, with a six-pack of beer in the background.
DIY

A six-pack of “light” beer

By Dave Prochnow

A person holding a circuit board.
DIY

A rapid AVR prototype programmer

By Dave Prochnow

All the parts you need to build an LED flashlight.
DIY

How to make an LED flashlight

By Dave Prochnow

A handheld electronic device with a green LCD screen showing the temperature and humidity outside.
DIY

How to hack firmware

By Dave Prochnow

A metal barrel full of steaming liquid nitrogen.
DIY

Playing with ice

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

A white remote-controlled truck with an Arduino on top of it, sitting on a gravel path near a lawn.
DIY

Arduino muscle car

By Dave Prochnow

A wooden DIY audio streaming device made out of an old computer.
Audio

Build a wireless audio streamer

By Dave Prochnow

Pectin: not just for jelly
DIY

Pectin: not just for jelly

By Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

A meter clipped to a visor in the front of a car that reads 1.71.
DIY

Build a gas guzzler meter

By Dave Prochnow

A DIY video projector made out of an iPod and a slide-projector lens projecting The Daily Show onto a black background.
DIY

Make an iPod video projector

By Bård Lund Johansen

A vintage TV with an iPod connected to it and Family Guy playing on the TV screen.
DIY

Give an old TV a rerun

By Dave Prochnow

One Man’s Hand-Built Supercar
DIY

One Man’s Hand-Built Supercar

By Mike Spinelli

A DIY pocket theremin.
DIY

Build a pocket theremin on the cheap

By Dave Prochnow

A Pass Key password-maker in a leather case on a person's belt.
DIY

Build a portable password generator

By Dave Prochnow

An Arduino-powered LED photo cube.
DIY

Build it: a smart, ambient LED

By Dave Prochnow

Some white wires connected to a microcontroller.
DIY

Mod it: the incredible two-headed AVR programmer

By Dave Prochnow

Build Your Own Almost-Real-Time, Worldwide Tracking System
DIY

Build Your Own Almost-Real-Time, Worldwide Tracking System

By Dave Prochnow

A hand holding an orange cordless screwdriver that's on top of a screw partially sunken into a sheet of plywood.
DIY

Make an instant-charge screwdriver

By Dave Prochnow

A homemade 5-volt power supply.
DIY

A rechargeable, pocket-sized 5-volt power supply

By Dave Prochnow

5-Minute Project: LED candles
DIY

5-Minute Project: LED candles

By Mike Haney

A white RC Hummer with a fuel cell on top.
DIY

How to make a fuel cell-powered RC car

By Dave Prochnow

Holiday project: Dot-matrix LED ornament
DIY

Holiday project: Dot-matrix LED ornament

By Dave Prochnow

Colorful flames on wood.
DIY

Gray Matter: How to make colored fire

By Theodore Gray

A white doorbell with wires coming out of it, on plywood.
DIY

Build It: Hack your doorbell

By Dave Prochnow

Burning steel wool against a green background.
DIY

Gray Matter: Burning metal

By Theodore Gray

Four laptops of varying sizes, plus two smaller devices, in a circle on a wooden floor.
DIY

5-Minute Project video: Parabolic cookware WiFi antenna

By John Mahoney

Two paper printed circuit board patterns.
DIY

pPCBs (paper printed circuit boards)

By Dave Prochnow

A wiring diagram for an OnStar GPS hack.
DIY

Raising GPS from the dead

By Dave Prochnow

A DIY solar-powered electronics charger.
DIY

The DIY solar charger

By Dave Prochnow

The interior parts of a DIY vertical wind turbine. Illustration.
DIY

Going with the wind

By Doug Cantor

Mod your keyboard, steampunk style
DIY

Mod your keyboard, steampunk style

By Doug Cantor

A small processor running Linux.
Computers

The $72 PC

By Dave Prochnow

Supercharge a paper airplane
DIY

Supercharge a paper airplane

By Dave Prochnow

A dashboard-mounted computer in a car.
DIY

A DIY dashtop computer

By Damien Stolarz

Game on
DIY

Game on

By Mike Haney

httpswww.popsci.comsitespopsci.comfilesimport2013importPopSciArticleszamboni_reduced_1.jpg
DIY

Episode 31: Homemade Zamboni

By Jonathan Coulton

A DIY wall-mounted laptop.
DIY

The wall-mounted PC

By Popular Science Team

A diagram showing how to build a touchless iPod remote.
DIY

The touchless iPod remote

By Dave Prochnow

A diagram for making a cellphone "cantenna."
DIY

Make a cell ‘cantenna’

By Mike Outmesguine

A WowWee Roboraptor with a flame coming out of its mouth to toast some charred marshmallows.
DIY

A fire-breathing bot

By Dave Prochnow

A monkey mask on the ground next to a skinned robotic monkey head.
DIY

Scare tactics

By Theodore Gray and Paul Wallich

Ice cream made with a fire extinguisher in a goblet next to a napkin and a spoon, with dry ice vapor all around.
DIY

Gray Matter: Dry ice cream

By Theodore Gray

An original black Xbox hooked up to a flat-screen TV and displaying Xbox Media Center (XBMC).
DIY

Xbox media monster

By Mike Haney

Explore DIY

Life Skills
Projects
Tech Hacks