What is Diy: Definition and 225 Discussions

"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by themself without the direct aid of experts or professionals. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals engage raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment (e.g., landscaping)". DIY behavior can be triggered by various motivations previously categorized as marketplace motivations (economic benefits, lack of product availability, lack of product quality, need for customization), and identity enhancement (craftsmanship, empowerment, community seeking, uniqueness).The term "do-it-yourself" has been associated with consumers since at least 1912 primarily in the domain of home improvement and maintenance activities. The phrase "do it yourself" had come into common usage (in standard English) by the 1950s, in reference to the emergence of a trend of people undertaking home improvement and various other small craft and construction projects as both a creative-recreational and cost-saving activity.
Subsequently, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skill sets. DIY has been described as a "self-made-culture"; one of designing, creating, customizing and repairing items or things without any special training. DIY has grown to become a social concept with people sharing ideas, designs, techniques, methods and finished projects with one another either online or in person.
DIY can be seen as a cultural reaction in modern technological society to increasing academic specialization and economic specialization which brings people into contact with only a tiny focus area within the larger context, positioning DIY as a venue for holistic engagement. DIY ethic is the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks without the aid of a paid expert. The DIY ethic promotes the idea that anyone is capable of performing a variety of tasks rather than relying on paid specialists.

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  1. mishima

    Construction Flammables Cabinet DIY or alternatives?

    Hi, I was looking into building a flammables cabinet for our high school lab. Flinn suggests a 1 inch thick plywood cabinet is superior to a metal cabinet because it will not warp under heat. I was curious if that'e true, or of any other alternatives to a flammables cabinet. Thanks.
  2. C

    Misc. DIY Reverse Heat Pump: Cool a Room with Refrigerant

    I don't know much about the subject, besides some diagrams and youtube vids, so please bear with me. I'm trying to make a reverse heat pump to cool a small room. If I had a heat reservoir (in a box within the same room) that could increase the temperature/pressure of a refrigerant and then...
  3. C

    Electrical DIY Synchrotron for electron storage

    Greetings, I would like to use a synchrotron to store a stream of electrons. Usually, how long are electrons kept in synchrotrons, and how long can they be kept? I need to store them for a few hours. Thanks
  4. P

    Misc. DIY Bubble Chamber Building - Tips & Advice

    Hello all, My son and I have been tinkering with (very low energy) particle experiments and observing them in a cloud chamber we built. Unfortunately these have a very limited amount of data that can be gathered from them. Now I know that there is no practical way of making the AWESOME...
  5. C

    Electrical Home project - DIY Large Solar Pool Heater

    Hi all, I live in Perth, Australia and have just moved houses to a place with a relatively small pool, unfortunately it is shaded for the majority of the day by a big tree and it is quite cold and unwelcoming (unless you have built of a sweat). I want to make a solar pool heating system to...
  6. S

    MOTOR Help: Choosing the Right Motor for DIY Project

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  7. L

    Optical DIY Telescope: Optics Guide for Using Magnifying Glasses

    Okay so I want to make a telescope at home... Im not a noob. Even if I am please just help me. I've got a couple of magnifying glasses ..pretty big .. I don't know the exact focal length... But one of them is twice the size of other... As soon as the sun comes up I'll find their focal...
  8. L

    Electrical Optimizing DIY Wireless Charging Circuits for Beginners

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  9. R

    Building a Linear Motor: A DIY Tutorial

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  10. S

    Optical Where to Find Guides for Building a DIY Telescope?

    Can anyone suggest a guide or books for making a telescope, DIY style. Also what size would be appropriate for a first attempt, and how much might it cost it you have any ideas. Thanks!
  11. O

    Electrical DIY Voltage cell type/behaviour explanation please

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  12. W

    Electrical How to DIY a rechargeble Zinc-Nickel battery?

    I was looking at the simple example of making a voltaic pile using pennies, nickles, and salt soaked paper towels to light up a small LED lamp, but I hate the idea of immediately oxidizing all the metals just get a 1.2 volts for a only a couple hours so I've been researching ways to make it...
  13. C

    DIY GSM 850 Antenna Build for Remote and Low Signal Areas

    I would like to build an antenna that will be used in a very remote area to improve our cell signals. We have access to the GSM 850 (824.2 - 849.0 Uplink | 869.2 - 894.0 Downlink). I need help in calculating the antenna length based on the frequency and need advice on the most effective...
  14. Z

    Optical Can I Use One Resistor for Multiple LEDs in a Parallel Circuit?

    Hope I got the right section. First time poster! Hello all! I'm pretty much a Noob so forgive any ignorance. I'm running 31 Orange (2.2v) (24 ma) LED's on a parallel circuit. My power supply is 12v from the DVD power supply of a Xbox 360. I bought a 10 watt 15Ω clay type resistor per a...
  15. J

    Construction DIY Backyard ZIP-line strength question

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  16. P

    Electrical DIY laser trip wire / counter / timer

    Hi people, please excuse me if this is the wrong forum to ask, I am new. I want to build a cheap DIY trip wire that records how many times it is set off. If I could use some sort of laser to be more discrete that would be a bonus (and just cooler). Also if it is possible to record the time that...
  17. G

    Electrical DIY Project: Wi-fi Screen Sharing (Need help)

    So I have a project that I'm contemplating undertaking. What I basically want is: A lot of the times I'm lying down on my bed and watching a show or something. Except I would rather my face be facing the ceiling than one of the walls, if that makes sense. So I'm trying to make a small device...
  18. D

    Wind Turbine DIY Project for School - Steel Plate vs Non Magnetic Plate

    i don't know if i am in right part of forum. i want to build some sort of wind turbine for a school project. all the diy project are 6 or 9 coils with 8 or 12 magnets. the coils are on non magnetic board and the magnets on steel plate. why on steel, the steel plate increase the total...
  19. C

    Electrical DIY Capacitor: Create a Simple DIY Capacitor with Supermarket Supplies

    Hi, I am currently working on a small project to create an simple DIY capacitor with stuff that you can get from the supermarket. Probably, I will alternate with two aluminum foils and two insulators like plastic each other, and wrap them together. Do anyone have suggestion how I can maximize...
  20. U

    Electrical Winding 1st toroidal transformer for my DIY Geiger counter

    First post! :) I am building a Geiger counter with this circuit: http://www.pocketmagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/geiger-simple-1b.jpg in the blog the author used a regular EI transformer from a power supply, but I tried disassembling them and broke the ferrite core 4 time now, so I...
  21. C

    Audio/Video DIY headphone wiring (nylon-stranded wire)

    I've connected the 3 wires as shown in the picture: GROUND, GREEN, and RED (the latter 2 having their enamel removed). [PLAIN]http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4133/nylonstranded.jpg But I'm getting only low-volume (un-amplified) sound. Now, if I connect either GREEN or RED wire to the...
  22. S

    Electrical Solar panel thickness to avoid breaking DIY

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  23. W

    Electrical DIY - Thermoelectric Peltier Seebeck Thermocouple?

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  24. J

    Electrical Ambitious DIY TurboFan Project

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  25. G

    My Rs.50 DIY Pulsejet Engine - See Video & Pictures

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  26. T

    DIY Near Space Balloon Transmitter: 60 Mile Range on a Budget

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  27. M

    Electrical Build a DIY Doppler Radar for Short-Range Tracking: Tips and Techniques

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  28. J

    Optical DIY Eyepiece HUD: Plausibility, Materials, and Possibilities

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  29. S

    Electrical DIY Induction Heating with pll

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  30. E

    MATLAB DIY Voltmeter: Build Your Own Card for MATLAB Plotting

    Hi, I recently got it into my head that I would like to make an analog-digital interface card for my laptop such that I can plug two wires into the card and have the the card send data on the potential difference between the two wires to my laptop via the USB port. The plan is to then have...
  31. S

    Pavement Painting: Seeking Advice on DIY Mix

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  32. F

    Electrical Can I Build a DIY Welding Transformer From Scratch?

    I built a welder using Microwave oven transformers, but I keep melting the secondary coil, and they are a pain to rewrap. So I was thinking about building a transformer from scratch using available materials. My first obstacle is the core material, I know laminated core material is...
  33. S

    DIY Electric Heater Project: Newbie Seeking Resources

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  34. F

    Audio/Video DIY Hybrid tube/ss amplifier help

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  35. J

    Misc. Trouble with DIY Quantum Eraser Experiment?

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  36. S

    Where to Buy Physics Equipment for DIY Projects?

    Hi. I would like to purchase some physics equipments, such as magnets, mirrors, circuits, ammeters/voltmeter, etc., for my own physics project. I don't know where to look. Do you guys know of a website that sells any physics products? Or can only a licensed professional purchase them?
  37. M

    Computer DIY embedded linux microcontroller

    Hi all! Does anyone know of any good sites for how to build a DIY embedded linux microcontroller? I know that I'll need a processor of some sort (was thinking maybe an ARM device), a ROM for the bootloader and kernal, RAM for the general processing, and a JTAG or programming interface of...
  38. T

    Electrical Can a Cathode Ray Tube be Used to Build a DIY Mass Spectrometer?

    I'm wondering if it would be plausible to use a cathode ray tube (crt) style monitor to build my own mass spectrometer. Unfortunately, commercial models are prohibitively expensive, but if I had plans or at least a good idea of how to build one, I have the nagging feeling I could. My idea is as...
  39. D

    Electrical Permanent / Electromagnet DIY Query

    To make your own electromagnet simply use an iron nail wrap some copper wiring around it and tape it to a battery fair enough, the current passing through the wire causes a magnetic field... My question is one of annoyance because my boss won't let me try it with the 100mm Neodymium magnets...
  40. E

    Optical Better DIY planetary telescope: 8 or 6

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  41. K

    Misc. DIY Gas Turbine Blades: Can I Make Them Using Ceramic and Carbon Fiber?

    I have been researching DIY gas turbines lately, and I have concluded that I want to make one. :smile: My only issue is that all amateur designs I have seen use turbochargers. I would like to see an axial, multi-stage compressor/turbine design. Obviously this would require one to fabricate the...
  42. A

    Misc. DIY: Simulate Atoms and Molecules

    I would like to see how far I can get writing some novel & simplified simulator code for molecular modeling based on QM. ------ Background follows ---- skip to next post to get to the details of the project & starter QM question.. My son took chemistry this last semester (High-school...
  43. K

    Misc. SciAm's DIY Quantum Eraser: Not Real?

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  44. R

    Optical Revamping DIY Aquarium Lighting: Maximizing Efficiency and Functionality

    NOOB here. I am trying to redo my diy aquarium lighting. Currently I use 4x100 white led xmas lights. And they light great. Problem is, they are multi "8" function lights, I have them on timers, and when they come on, they default to one of the flashing functions, and I have to go at...
  45. F

    DIY Math Research: What Can I Do Without a College Backing Me?

    I've been having a nagging thought. I've just recently switched from CompSci to Math and while research is important for a CompSci student, research is pretty much *the goal* for a Math student. So getting into a research program would probably be my main goal from now until graduation. But I'm...
  46. C

    Misc. DIY automated security system Project

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  47. D

    Misc. DIY paraffin wax log for fire.

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  48. G

    Electrical How difficult to build a DIY Lithium Ion Battery Charger?

    Not asking for a schematic, more a notion of roughly how challenging this will be.
  49. T

    DIY method for improving mobile phone reception?

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  50. S

    Misc. DIY Whiteboard: Affordable Alternatives for Your Home Office

    G'day If you've ever wanted a large whiteboard for your home but found the professional-quality ones too expensive, there is a relatively cheap alternative. A bit of googling turns up home-built glass, melamine bathroom siding, plastic, and plexiglass as some potential materials. I can't...
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