Noah Weinstein (ed.) - Extraordinary Projects for Ordinary People: Do-It-Yourself Ideas from the People Who Actually Do Them

Copyright 2012 by Instructables.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on request.

ISBN: 978-1-62087-057-0

Printed in China

Disclaimer:

This book is intended to offer general guidance. It is sold with the understanding that every effort was made to provide the most current and accurate information. However, errors and omissions are still possible. Any use or misuse of the information contained herein is solely the responsibility of the user, and the author and publisher make no warrantees or claims as to the truth or validity of the information. The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book. Furthermore, this book is not intended to give professional dietary, technical, or medical advice. Please refer to and follow any local laws when using any of the information contained herein, and act responsibly and safely at all times.

Introduction

Armed with a creative idea, an openness to learn a new skill, a bit of how-to instruction and a sense of adventure, virtually anyone can make something extraordinary. Extraordinary Projects for Ordinary People contains over 150 projects authored by crafters, builders, makers and hobbyists who have a strong desire to share their knowledge and creativity. Showcasing breakthrough and innovative ways of repurposing, reusing, and reinventing not only what we make, but how we make it, this book is a collection of creative projects unlike any other. Each project contains multiple images with step-by-step instructions to help you follow along in recreating one of these extraordinary works, or to inspire you to make and share something amazing of your own.

All of the projects in this book are from Instructables.com. Instructables is the most popular project-sharing community on the Internet, and part of the Autodesk family of creative communities. Since August 2005, Instructables has provided easy publishing tools to enable passionate, creative people to share their most innovative projects, recipes, skills, and ideas. Instructables has over 70,000 projects covering all subjects, including crafts, art, electronics, kids, home improvement, pets, outdoors, reuse, bikes, cars, robotics, food, decorating, woodworking, costuming, games, and life in general.

-Noah Weinstein

Editors Note

The wonderful thing about Instructables is that they come in all shapes and sizes. Some users include hundreds of high-quality pictures and detailed instructions with their projects; others take the minimalist approach and aim to inspire similar ideas rather than to facilitate carbon copies.

One of the biggest questions we faced when putting this book together was: How do we convey the sheer volume of ideas in the finite space of a book?

As a result, if youre already familiar with some of the projects in this book, youll notice that only select photos made the jump from the computer screen to the printed page. Similarly, when dealing with extensive electronic coding or complex science, weve suggested that anyone ready to start a project like that visit the Instructables online page, where you often find lots more images, links, multimedia attachments, and downloadable material to help you. This way, anyone who is fascinated by the idea of convering a car to run on trash can take a look here at the basic steps to get from start to finish. Everything else is just a mouse click away.