A compact electronic regulator that makes it possible to smoothly and over a fairly wide range to change the brightness of incandescent lamp filaments, the power of a household electric heater, or the rotational speed of an AC motor shaft can be built even by a not very experienced radio amateur. After all, the proposed Read more…
As soon as the bright spring sun drives the snow off the icy shell that has locked rivers, reservoirs, and lakes in place, colorful sails appear on natural ice courses. These are ice boats. Any reader can become an ice boater — anyone with metalworking and carpentry skills can build an ice yacht. The ice Read more…
Every motorist knows how difficult it can sometimes be to start a car engine on a winter morning after a long standstill. However, a relatively simple device powered from a 220 V AC mains supply will make this task much easier. The device consists of two parts (Fig. 1): one is a mains power supply Read more…
Before you know it, autumn will arrive — harvest time. Gathering what the earth has grown in the garden is no great problem. It is harder to harvest fruit from trees, especially if they are old and tall. Every gardener has to devise a way to reach fruit and berries high up. Some make all Read more…
In different regions of our country, the soil is cultivated in different ways. Soil and climate conditions naturally leave their mark on the designs of small-scale mechanization tools developed by owners of household plots. Some build micro-tractors and motor blocks designed for use with a plow; others build motor tillers. Our reader from Sverdlovsk Oblast, Read more…
When repairing and testing the electrical equipment of motoblocks not fitted with a battery, as well as Voskhod-3M motorcycles and mopeds, you have to start the engine each time to power the electrical system. It is troublesome and wastes fuel. Yet there is, in my opinion, a good solution: use the household mains as the Read more…
Interest in homemade mufflers is driven primarily by the unsatisfactory quality of series products. It is quite natural for an amateur designer to want to improve the parameters of their vehicle. Of course, it is practically impossible to significantly increase engine power through a muffler at a given exhaust noise level, but eliminating some shortcomings Read more…
I have subscribed to the “Modelist-Konstruktor” magazine since 1985 and have never regretted it. I read everything: from the first page to the last. It is a very useful and interesting publication. And although times are hard now and the magazine is not exactly cheap, I will continue to subscribe, because I believe the value Read more…
Whether you need to reach into a loft, hang curtains, or drill holes for them under the ceiling — quite a few household chores require using a small stepladder. And if there isn’t one at home, we start piling up substitutes from available furniture, which is fraught with falls and serious consequences. Those who have Read more…
For my first walk-behind tractor, I used the Vyatich as a basis; its technical description and sketches of its main assemblies and parts had been published in Modelist-Konstruktor magazine. However, my capabilities and material and production resources differed from those available to the designer of the Vyatich. The result was a homemade machine that bore Read more…
