Flour from a… meat grinder

Meat grinder flour mill attachment — DIY guide

More and more often the editorial office receives letters and phone calls with the same request — to publish drawings and explain how to build a simple flour mill with your own hands. The need for such a device is felt not only by rural residents but also by city dwellers. “Modelist-Constructor” has already written Read more…

Lever-operated garden digger

Lever garden digger (ROK): homemade construction

This is not about dancing in the garden beds, but about an original garden-and-vegetable tool that makes labor-intensive work—performed for ages with a spade (at best—with special forks)—possible even for elderly people (the author and test person of this design is already over seventy). Despite the “tortured” “formula of invention” by the patent office—“A device Read more…

Useful around the household

Scarecrow windmill & glass shelf: DIY from bottles and tiles

The magazine “Modelist-Konstruktor” has published many thematic selections about simple but effective homemade devices that no smallholding can do without (see, for example, issues 7’92, 5’95, 6’97, 6’99). However, interest in such designs has not faded even today, as shown by the editorial mail. V. Solonin — inventor and rationalizer, one of our magazine’s active Read more…

Water skis: another option

Skis-boats: how to move on water

In “M-K” No. 4 for 1989, an article devoted to skis-boats… was published. I read it and regretted that I hadn’t written to the editors earlier, nor shared my developments with the readers of “M-K”. Of course, the idea of float-skis is not new. But enthusiasts of this “vehicle” constantly repeat the mistakes of their Read more…

Handheld milling machine

Tabletop handheld electric milling machine

Presented tabletop milling machine will come in handy for craftsmen who enjoy working with wood to obtain relief surfaces on workpieces, various geometric ornaments, as well as to cut grooves, channels, pockets (both simple and shaped), etc. The machine consists of two main parts: a base with guide posts mounted on it, and a spring-loaded Read more…

Cow manger

Cow feed rack (hay manger): frame construction

Many rural residents who previously did not keep cows on their farm are forced to get them now. After all, the cow has always helped a person survive difficult times by providing milk. But the owner also needs to take care of the animal so that the cow is well-fed both in the stall period. Read more…

An arsenal of sweet berries

Knife and cultivator for wild strawberries: DIY ideas

Strawberry, wild strawberry… They are often confused with one another, but the best of berries, by right, are considered to be strawberries. Bright, juicy, fragrant. With sugar and cream they make an excellent dessert. Jam, jelly, and medicinal pick-ups are also wonderful—especially from strawberries. Strawberries have an almost rounded-conical shape, a whitish coloring over more Read more…

“Boat”-snowmobile

Homemade tracked snowmobile: wood body and variator

I was born and raised in a region where the ground stays under a thick snow cover for most of the year — so it’s no surprise that people consider this place the homeland of Ded Moroz. Probably, that’s why, alongside my general interest in technology, snowmobile machines have always drawn my special attention. Owning Read more…

“Shield” against lightning

Lightning Protection for Country Houses: Systems & Grounding

After building a country house, we try to protect it from the destructive effects of fire: we use heat-resistant finishing materials, buy fire extinguishers, and install a fire alarm system. Yet lightning protection is often overlooked. One possible reason why our compatriots pay little attention to this issue is that building codes do not consider Read more…

“Plank” furniture set

Special inexpensive and practical furniture for a garden cottage is not available for sale yet, so people usually bring all sorts of old things there. But what looked good once in a city apartment will look out of place and feel uncomfortable in a small country room: dark polishing on cabinets, worn upholstery tapestry… So Read more…