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40 More Handy Tricks

40 More Handy Tricks
Continues the saga begun at Fifty Handy Tricks.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Handy_Tricks_8_Island_Handy_Tricks/

To see even more of them check out Handy Tricks 8: Island Handy Tricks
and Yet More Handy Tricks
and Australian Handy Tricks
and Guatemalan Handy Tricks
and Handy Tricks Volume Six!

For a bunch of things that didn't work, check out How Not To.

First Trick: "Instant Hummingbird Food

My mom makes her own hummingbird food. It's really easy. She pours white sugar into the feeder bottle til it's 1/3 full, then fills it the rest of the way with warm water. Then she shakes it up and hangs it outside. Pretty simple and the hummingbirds love it.. I'd worry about where they get their vitamins, except they're always rushing off somewhere, and don't seem to try to get all they're day's food from the feeder.

You could make your own hummingbird feeder without any trouble. It's just an inverted bottle stuck into a covered dish with some holes in it. The "flowers" don't have to be there, a red dish cover works fine. My mom's other feeder lost its flowers and the birds don't seem to care. That's the unit in the third picture.
 
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Step 1Instant Bicycle Rear Cargo Rack

Instant Bicycle Rear Cargo Rack
My pal Corwin Hardham made this really apt bike rack by cutting the rear part off of one bike frame and welding it onto another. Very slick. Once you see it it seems obvious.

I don't usually do instructables that involve welding because someone might not have a welder.
But this rack is so cute I couldn't resist.
If you don't have a welder, flatten the ends of the tubes with a hammer, drill holes in them, and bolt them to your bike frame.

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157 comments
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May 24, 2012. 12:57 PMcandilee47 says:
Re: the bird-feeder. My brother used red food colouring and this seemed to attract them in the 10s!!!
Apr 25, 2012. 9:24 AMAll the Marbles says:
I have been collecting marbles from spray paint cans ever since I was a kid. I currently have 300ish spray paint can marbles and I had about 100 stolen from my car years ago; I suspect I have personally opened over 400 cans. I can validate many of your comments.

First: Metal balls, usually with a flat spot on opposite sides, come primarily in primers and very small cans. They rust, yes, but only after having been exposed to the air. While in the pressurized can, full of paint which would solidify if it was exposed to air, they are fine.

Second: You normally get only one marble, some cans have two. I have never found a certain brand that always has two.

Third: Yes, they can be dangerous but you can open, semi-safely, a full can. They can fly out of your hand though as they act like a large, angry, directionless, heavy bottle rocket. The can doesn't explode though. It is unnecessary to spray out the remaining pressure, but you can if it makes you feel safer.

Lastly (fourth): Yes, they are glass marbles. They seem like marble "seconds" as they are usually not totally spherical and some have grooves in the glass. I have found very few opaque marbles which were not black. Many have bubbles throughout them. Blue is the most prevalent color.

I made a special tool out of a piece of 1.5" angle iron that I use to open the cans and extract the marbles. It is also beneficial to have a pan of paint thinner or stripper to drop the marbles into upon their birth into air as it is awfully hard to remove the paint once it has dried.

On a personal note. It always disturbed me that there were no other people who collected the marbles from spray paint cans. It is nice to see that there are at least a few people with the interest.



Mar 21, 2012. 9:13 PMknorman4 says:
Just did this also. Smooth and quiet. I commute by skateboard so it's awesome for me, not sure how it bodes for tricks (I'm new to skating and don't do many tricks yet). Highly recommend trying it out though.
Nov 29, 2011. 11:24 AMbennyb1 says:
I just did a pair of high top canvas boots like this, and wonder how long it takes to dry. They're supposed to be waterproof, have felt liners, but figured this wouldn't hurt to try, since I haven't used them in a coiuple of years.
They're on the front porch in the sun, and hope it doesn't take more than a day or two.
Thanks for the idea.
Jul 27, 2009. 10:54 PMchriskendall1 says:
How about a dimmer switch(like step 14) for the speed control?
Oct 30, 2011. 6:01 PMImageMaker says:
Nice idea, but dimmer switches (the kind used for house lighting) only work with AC current at a minimum of about 100 V (though they don't care if its 50 Hz or 60 Hz). They're based on an electronic device called a Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR), which turns on when the voltage on the control gate reaches some designed-in minimum, and turn off when the voltage on the switched terminals hits zero. Wire up a couple in opposite polarity with a resistor/capacitor circuit to control how much of each half cycle actually gets passed, and you have a light dimmer -- I built one in a college electricity lab in about fifteen minutes, thirty years or so ago.

Unfortunately, it's much harder to build an electronic speed control for DC -- the simplest way is to use a whale of a variable resistor in circuit, but then you have to throw away the waste heat somewhere. The next simplest is to use a DC motor and AC generator (alternator, for instance), with a variac to control the voltage that then gets fed to a rectifier that powers you drive motor. The problem with this is that the motor and generator in the converter have to be about as big as the drive motor, or they burn up. What's actually used in most modern electric vehicles is a "chopper" control -- it's got a huge, well cooled transistor of one sort or another that's turned on and off very rapidly, and the ratio of "on" to "off" is varied to control the motor speed. Small ones are cheap and come on a single chip; big ones are expensive and can be complicated to wire up -- and a go cart like this one is getting into the "large" category.
Sep 11, 2011. 7:32 PMsdhicks says:
Just the kinda thing I come here to see! Thanks
Aug 20, 2011. 5:49 AMarpruss says:
While this is great advice for turning AAs to Cs, Ds require more work as they are longer, I think.
Sep 4, 2011. 3:43 PMabailey mobley says:
yep. you're absolutely correct.
Sep 4, 2011. 3:43 PMabailey mobley says:
Okay, so my son needed some D batteries for a Hotwheels track thingy. Of course we had none. I got so excited when I remembered that someone pinned this blog. I found the pin on Pinterest and clicked to come to this blog. I them cut up the cardboard, all to no avail. AA batteries are the same height as Cs, but NOT Ds!!
Jul 16, 2011. 11:36 PMcurious youth says:
LOL get a job so you can write all warning lables ?
Jun 23, 2011. 11:43 PMtrainables says:
Great use for a dimmer extension cord. Hadn't thought of this.
Jun 16, 2011. 7:51 AMgpeterson2 says:
Fair warning - you may feel better that you haven't killed the mouse, but they will come back if you do anything less than take them down the street. And where there's one, there's more, so you're unfortunately probably not going to get rid of your problem. I don't like killing them either, but sometimes it's the only real way to get rid of them.
Jun 15, 2011. 7:03 PMp. observer says:
this just got featured on lifehacker. Hi guys!
May 31, 2011. 5:17 PMruashiasim says:
This info is incorrect. mix gas does NOT spoil faster than non-mixed. In fact it might actually last a little longer. Either way ANY fuel intended to be ran in small engines should be less than 3 months old and of premium quality. Old mix fuel that isn't stale (really really foul smelling) can be diluted into a automotive fuel tank and will not hurt anything in your car
May 15, 2011. 3:28 PMAlderin says:
This reminds me of a pickup I saw in South Carolina, major rust, but it used to be a yellow truck. In the back of the cabin in the top was a message scratched into the paint: "This is NOT an abandoned vehicle"

LOL
May 14, 2011. 10:53 AMslaitch says:
I saw several of these stuck together back to back and used as the booths in a restaurant recently. Nifty.
May 13, 2011. 11:11 PMspook66 says:
The soap also makes the water "wetter" so it squeegees out more easily. Use this for all vinyl decal applications as well
May 13, 2011. 9:08 PMwllmundrwd says:
I did that very thing earlier this year; my brother was amazed and I still don't understand why...
May 13, 2011. 6:56 PMZeppelinfreak says:
Tim are you from MN?
May 13, 2011. 5:51 PMurtlesquirt says:
Dude, this is elementary in any junior sailing.
Feb 14, 2011. 9:49 PMRicardo da Vinci says:
I agree totally, after buying Feibings products and using almost a fivers worth of dye just to do a hat, I tried inkjet printer ink, and it actually works better. I can buy it in 1 litre bottles for £9.00 a litre or less, so it works out extremely cheap, (I use CISS systems for all my printers, and an Epson cartridge, instead of costing £3 for pattern, or £6 for original, now equates to 8-17p each!). As an artist I use Rowneys System 3 acrylics, and as these come in 500 ml bottles at about £12, they work out very cheap. As for 'Resolene' finishes etc, I'll just go to my local Dixons painting and decorating supplies and buy acrylic semi-gloss glaze.
Feb 5, 2011. 6:57 PMsanguinaryboy says:
great idea! did this with a pickle jar and caught a mouse within 20 minutes!
Feb 4, 2011. 4:49 PMJonbloozy says:
Been doing this for years at events when we need to work a cash register or do a lot of writing (while standing). Definitely saves your back.
Sep 27, 2010. 1:31 PMzombie1974 says:
I had a friend who said his favorite "riding leathers" weren't leathers at all, but a pair of standard denim farmer overalls that had soaked for a couple of days in the oil pit at his neighborhood garage, and then hung on the line for a week to dry. He said they always looked dirty, but he never got wet and they'd stand up to road rash almost as good as leather.
Plus he got them too big so he could wear them over normal clothes, and they didn't damage his normal clothes (at least not enough that he cared about it).
Sep 25, 2010. 6:08 PMchuck_29 says:
i'm sure this is already written, but i'm not going to look,, it's gotta be a glass marble cuz if it was metal, it would rust and probably stick and not stir the paint..
Jul 30, 2010. 11:26 AMsharlston says:
tim,i was wondering the innertube is it a normal mountain/bmx innetrube or a racing bike?
Jul 19, 2010. 9:36 PMPantomime_ says:
Any tips on what to do with the 'remains'?
Apr 10, 2010. 8:41 PMeric m says:
 strange place to splice near the plug.
Mar 23, 2010. 11:46 PMWonderWheeler says:
We silly americans prefer to buy stuff made in china made of nylon with lots of straps, plastic buckels and velcro, when a folded scarf would work?
Feb 10, 2010. 10:10 PMkawaiipeach says:
i've just discovered that Warnings can be fun LOL
Dec 27, 2009. 9:41 PMweaponscollector94 says:
that is cool, is it too oily or does it look dry?
Dec 27, 2009. 9:49 PMweaponscollector94 says:
this is indeed a very handy trick
Nov 16, 2009. 10:49 PMweaponscollector94 says:
i think the geese are over the fact that there ar quarter inch thick foam coyotes in the field...
Dec 27, 2009. 8:42 PMWesley666 says:
Apparently if you spray them with actual coyote urine they work even better.
Dec 27, 2009. 9:47 PMweaponscollector94 says:
lol whenever i go camping i almost always urinate around the perimeter  of our little campsites in small patches to keep raccoons and stuff out of our camp. it seems to always work thankfully!
Aug 8, 2009. 7:10 PMawkwardepicfail says:
hey i put rollerblade wheels on my deck too. but i was wondering, is it easier to coast and push with rollerblade wheels or actual longboard wheels. because i know that since the rollerblade wheels are thinner it is better but i have seen people coast with longboard wheels even though they are really wide. why? and i am aware that they are usually going down hills lol.
Nov 12, 2009. 6:31 PMPlaid Demon says:
actually its easier to pump the board with rollerblade wheels becuase they have less contact with the ground than longboard wheels. you get less traction as a result but you gain the ability to accelerate faster. But dont worry about skidding unless your a carver meaning you sway left and right as if you were snowboarding.
Oct 29, 2009. 7:23 AMcheapchuck says:

We recently had both cars totaled out by ping pong sized hail.  Toyota tail light assemblies are outrageously expensive.  I bought red and yellow repair tape, cleaned the surfaces with alcohol and applied the tape.  Several rain and snow storms later, the tape still looks good.  Another reason to avoid those "fixit" tickets is that insurance companies are used to seeing those little tickets given as a plea-bargain for more serious tickets.

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Author:TimAnderson
Tim Anderson is the author of the "Heirloom Technology" column in Make Magazine. He is co-founder of www.zcorp.com, manufacturers of "3D Printer" output devices. His detailed drawings of traditional ...
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