Secret agent Angus MacGyver on the hit show MacGyver could do a lot with a paperclip. He used the humdrum office supply to stop a missile timer, to drive a car without his hands, and to lift a lady’s skirt without anyone seeing him do it in an attempt to distract an enemy.
Can you imagine what MacGyver would have been capable of doing if he also had a magnifying glass, a shoebox, and an iPhone? I’m thinking an invention that shatters life as we currently know it. A super robot! A flying car! A doodad that allows women to pee standing up!
Regular ole folk, who lack MacGyver's unique brand of genius, have figured out how to make pretty cool stuff with paperclips themselves. This includes zephyrstail, an Imgur user who has created a brilliant and inexpensive version of a piece of pricy equipment that can easily set someone back $500…for just $3.
I swear, when I saw what she made, I literally gasped! This is truly remarkable.
What did she do and how’d she do it? All she needed were a few everyday materials like…
A shoebox, magnifying glass, paperclip, smartphone, pencil, Stanley knife, and duct tape.
Place your magnifying glass in the middle of one of the narrower ends of the box and trace around the lens.
Then, cut the hole out with your knife.
Stick the lens into the side of the hole that’s inside the box.
Tape down your magnifying glass. Make sure that it is sealed so that no light can leak in. Tape down any loose sides of the box as well. You can also paint the inside of the box black, optimizing the end result, but that will set you back an extra $1.
Poke a hole in the back of the box to slide your charger cable through.
Now take your paperclip and create a stand for your smartphone — it may take you a few attempts to get it just right.
Next, you need to flip the screen on your phone, so it appears upside down. In zephyrstail’s own words: “For an iPhone go to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on Assistive Touch. Then touch the floating orb thing that's on your screen and select Device > Rotate Screen. For Android, there're apps like Screen Rotation Control and Ultimate Rotation Control that do this for you. While you're fiddling with your phone, turn the screen brightness way up.”
Dim the lights, find a big blank spot on your wall, and place your phone on its stand in the box. Move the phone back and forth in the box to find the focus point for your brand new…
…Projector! Now, close the box and enjoy something that typically costs between $300–500 for just $3!
Now pop some corn, preferably kettle, because this result is totally sweet!
Please SHARE this amazing project with everyone you know so that more people are aware that you don’t always have to pay a lot for a quality piece of equipment!
