The backpack isn’t a foreigner

School rucksack DIY: materials, pattern and assembly

Students use all kinds of “containers” for textbooks on their way to school — from fashionable backpacks and briefcases to canvas sacks and plastic bags. But while older students are allowed to do this without any restrictions, young children still have clear recommendations from pediatricians: only a rucksack! Because when worn on the back, it Read more…

Solar-powered dryer

Solar fruit dryer: design and operating principle

Fruits are dried in different ways. Most often — by the air-solar method, which, besides obvious advantages (simplicity, availability, etc.), has well-known drawbacks. The proposed solar dryer design is free of many disadvantages inherent in other constructions. The “greenhouse effect” works in it, as they say, at full capacity, providing a temperature under the film Read more…

It lights and “warms”

DIY wooden wall sconce: build guide and charts

In a modern home interior, factory-made and homemade furniture items or other products can blend organically. Moreover, a few unconventional crafts can change the look of a typical apartment, give it individuality, create coziness, and even bring a sense of “warmth.” Moreover, these simple things can serve a utilitarian (practical) purpose, a decorative one, or Read more…

Not a spring, but gravity

Gravity wicket gate that closes itself with no extra parts

The finishing touch of any dacha fence is, as everyone knows, a wicket gate. Country homeowners often equip them with simple devices that automatically close the gate after someone passes through — steel springs, rubber tension cords, counterweight weights… However, all these “automatic” mechanisms have drawbacks, and the main one is that they all require Read more…

The all-terrain vehicle changes its shoes

Pneumatic all-terrain vehicle by B. Ryzhov: 4x4 build

The author of the article and the creator of the all-terrain vehicle discussed here is Boris Nikolayevich Ryzhov — a long-time acquaintance of our magazine’s readers. Photographs of the machines he built (a tracked and a six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle) were published in the magazine as early as 1990 (No. 7). But the desire to create Read more…

Tent with… heating

Campfire heating for tent, greenhouse and frozen pipes

Spring sunshine has barely had time to properly warm the ground that froze over winter; snow patches still linger in the forests — yet die-hard hikers are already setting out on their first trips. From storerooms and attic shelves come backpacks, tents, mats, and sleeping bags: the boldest hikers head out for the weekend, even Read more…

Vase made from an old light bulb

Light bulb vase DIY: step-by-step tutorial

You know what’s most annoying about a burnt-out light bulb? It stops shining — and immediately goes in the trash, even though its shape is already perfect. Round, neat, almost like a mini vase, only empty for now. I once caught myself thinking: why throw away something that literally begs to become décor? That’s how Read more…

Support will correct the mistakes

Foundation embed supports: wedge transition rings

When carrying out installation work related to mounting structures on embedded bearing parts of foundations, difficulties may arise due to unevenness of the bearing surfaces (local tilts, depressions, etc., exceeding allowable limits) as a result of violations of the technological process or due to its imperfection. Such situations often occur when installing industrial equipment, but Read more…

Out for a sail

Universal hull: rowing boat and sailboat build

For those who live near water, a boat is as necessary as a motorcycle or car is for others. Of course, experienced amateur shipbuilders are unlikely to settle for the little craft we want to offer your attention, but for beginners in boatbuilding this boat design is just the thing. It is simple, technologically straightforward, Read more…