DIY Archives

You’ve successfully tested the limits of how much can fit into a #10 envelope without bursting its seams, but now you’re questioning how much postage you need. Sure you could just slap a few of the new 44-cent stamps onto whatever you're sending and be done with it, but that’s good money you’re throwing away.

Instead, spend just a few bucks now to build a simple magnetic postage scale, newly updated from an original article in the February 1971 issue of Popular Science.

Our third updated DIY project from the Popular Science digital archives involves luring and then trapping bugs that have managed to find their way inside your house--a truly universal problem. Follow along as we update a circa-1971 trap for today's smarter, more intelligent insects for less than $20.

November 1970: "Enter the Meditator and surround yourself with the graphics which cover its walls . . . you may find the sensation akin to that mystical communion with nature that you experience when alone in a forest — or the sense of peace you feel in an empty cathedral."

Browse the archives at popsci.com/archives.

For the eight of us still reading a daily newspaper, compiling the week’s news into a recycling bundle that's able to withstand the journey from kitchen to recycling bin fully intact is a battle of wits, strength and patience. Okay, I’m being dramatic, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a simple contraption to make the job oh-so-much simpler?

July 1947: "Warplane wing tanks, which can be picked up as war surplus for about $5, make excellent back-yard wading pools. The pool shown was cut from a wing tank made for a B-17 bomber. It was laminated neoprene and cloth and required a couple of hours of cutting time, but it was so stiff that no frame was needed for rigidity."

Browse the full PopSci archives on the Web.