Match Gun (or peg gun) made from clothespin and cork

HOW TO BUILD THE MATCH GUN (AKA MATCH SHOOTER, CLOTHESPIN GUN, PEG GUN)


This spring powered toy made out of only things you have in the house already is seriously great. If you have any questions post them in the comments section and I will address them.

What you need:
Wooden match, Sandpaper, a wooden clothespin (this will be the peg for the peg gun), Miter saw, a cork and some rubber bands.
A Dremel tool will make this much quicker but is not needed. Masking tape and twist ties can be used for some tweaking of the design.

Step one: disassemble your clothespin.

Step two: using your Miter saw and sand paper carve out a pathway that is the width of a match and another space for the metal clip to pass through that is the same width one half of the clothespin. See photos.




Step Three: Take the other half of the clothespin and make a notch for the spring to clip in. See photo for before and after comparison.





Now test your sanding job by rubberbanding the two halves together and trying to launch a match. If you are unable to cock the gun by pushing a match through the barrel you will need to either cut it again with a less deep grove or fill part of your grove with tape.



If you are having trouble with getting the metal part in see the photos at the end of the post.

Step Four:If it worked you can now glue it together with wood glue. Put the rubberbands on to hold it tight while it dries.

Step Five: While that is drying it is time to prepare the cork. Cut a grove in the cork that is the width of the clothespin that is slightly angled so that when inserted the clothespin makes a ~110 degree angle.





Step Six: Once the Glue is dry take of the rubber bands and glue on the cork. I used a vice grip to hold it tight while drying.



Once this is dry you are done. Now make another and challenge your friends.


Placing the metal part.

Mario Kart style RC battle

This was fun and relatively simple all you need is two RC cars of different frequencies, rubber bands, push pins and balloons. In this case the cars are TYCO canned heat. I think this is pretty self explanatory so I will not go into a detailed explanation. The only trick is pushing the pin through the rubber band. It seems to work best at a 45 degree angle upward.

Homemade LCD protector for my digital camera

After breaking my LCD screen by leaving my keys in my pocket with my two month old camera I have decided to build a protective cover for the LCD. The following instructions will show you how to build an LCD cover for just about any digital camera.

Supplies:
An old CD or cassette case with very few scratches.
Adhesive Velcro. I got this at a local hardware store.
Razor.
Fine sandpaper.

I started by placing the CD case on top of my camera and traced the shape of the LCD screen with a little extra space on both the left and right sides.



I than scored these lines all the way to the edges of the CD case with a razor blade. Once scored the lines can be cracked by gently bending the plastic.




To finish the plastic I beveled the edges with fine sandpaper.

Next i cut two thin strips of adhesive velcro the height of the LCD screen. I afixed the soft sides of the velcro to the camera and the course side to the plastic.


I than velcroed the new screen cover to the camera. I have been using this in lew of a case since I made it.





This side view shows the slight clearence between the protector and the LCD which allows pressure to bend the protector without affecting the LCD.

In case you are not as cheap as I am:

Carving a Head out of Wax: Beginning tools


Carving a Head out of Wax: Beginning : Fixing Mistakes in Wax Sculpture


Carving a Head out of Wax: Beginning : Safety & Rough Shaping a Wax Sculpture


Carving a Head out of Wax: Beginning : Heating Wax to Make Sculpting Easier


Carving a Head out of Wax: Beginning : Rough Cutting a Wax Sculpture


Carving a Head out of Wax: Beginning : Carve the Front Face of a Wax Sculpture


Carving a Head out of Wax: Facial Features : Carve the Jaw in Wax