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A DIY E-bike Conversion on the Cheap

Cars That Think

This article appears in the September 2021 print issue as "An Instant E-bike.". While loitering along, experimenting with the controls, I was passed by a college student on a mountain bike who must have thought this gray-bearded old-timer on a four-decade-old 12-speed was huffing and puffing. As I raced ahead, I chuckled to myself. "OK

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Hi-fi, Radio, and Retro: The DIY Projects Spectrum Readers Love

Cars That Think

This month we’re celebrating the launch of our second PDF collection of Hands On articles, which IEEE members can download from IEEE Spectrum ’s website and share with friends. Far and away our most popular article in the last five years has been “ Build Your Own Professional-Grade Audio Amp on the Sort of Cheap ” (November 2018).

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A DIY E-bike Conversion on the Cheap

Cars That Think

This article appears in the September 2021 print issue as "An Instant E-bike.". While loitering along, experimenting with the controls, I was passed by a college student on a mountain bike who must have thought this gray-bearded old-timer on a four-decade-old 12-speed was huffing and puffing. As I raced ahead, I chuckled to myself. "OK

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Our Hands-On Citizen-Scientist

Cars That Think

As he prepares to leave Spectrum to pursue more writing and assorted other projects, I asked Schneider to survey his DIY oeuvre and choose some highlights. Schneider’s training and experience as a geophysicist has informed not only his Hands On projects but also the hundreds of articles he has reported or edited over the years.

DIY 99
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Tips: How to Make Money from Your Old Car

Clean Fleet Report

This article may contain affiliate links. You don’t need a complete vehicle overhaul as a simple DIY quick fix and cleaning can transform a cheap piece into a priceless collector item. Four Options To Repost, Recycle or Revamp Your Beater. You’ll be surprised how much your old car is worth even if it’s not running.

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Can This DIY Rocket Program Send an Astronaut to Space?

Cars That Think

That successful mission in August 2018 was a huge step toward our goal of sending an amateur astronaut to the edge of space aboard one of our DIY rockets. supporters are counting down until the historic day when an amateur astronaut will climb aboard a homemade rocket and wave goodbye to Earth, ready to take a giant leap for DIY-kind.

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DIY Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy with a Raspberry Pi Pico

Cars That Think

So when I decided to build a cheap DIY scintillating gamma spectrometer, it was the natural choice—although I didn’t realize I’d find myself navigating around teething problems of the sort that often affect a first-generation integrated circuit. This article appears in the July 2022 print issue as “DIY Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy.”.

DIY 101