I have a basketball hoop and recently the backboard (which was plastic) started to crack. A few weeks later the plastic pieces started to fall off so I needed to replace the backboard. In my neighborhood I noticed that other people had similar issues with their plastic backboard breaking into pieces. Essentially the plastic would weaken over time due to exposure to the sun and then it would break.

Therefore, I decided to replace my backboard with a wooden backboard as this would be more durable than plastic. It didn’t seem too difficult of a project so I decided to build it myself. This is the finished product, I think it turned out really well.

Building the backboard took the following steps:

Step 1: Remove the old backboard: Removing the backboard from the set up wasn’t that easy. I made sure to note how everything went together and not lose any pieces so I could put it back together. It turned out the plastic backboard was primarily held in place with glue. I was able to pull most of the backboard off and broke the rest off with a hammer.

Step 2: Cut the new backboard to the right size: I bought a piece of plywood to serve as the new backboard. It was 5/16 inches thick, which was at least double the thickness of the plastic it replaced. I cut the plywood to the exact dimensions of the backboard frame so that it was the exact size of the backboard it was replacing.

Step 3: Prepare and paint the backboard: I sanded the backboard smooth first. Then I drilled the four holes for the hoop. Next I painted both sides of the backboard, two coats on each side.

Step 4: Paint the “shooting square”: Next I painted the square in the middle of the backboard (I painted it black). It is actually a rectangle, not a square, but online it was said that it is called the shooting square. To make sure I got the dimensions of the square correct I made the square out of Lego, then outlined it and filled in the outline with black paint (again two coats).

Step 5: Add straps to the top of the backboard to keep it in place: The previous plastic backboard was primarily held in place with glue. It also had screws at the bottom where it connected to the hoop. When I connected the wood backboard to the screws at the bottom the top part was still loose and the whole backboard leaned. To fix this I drilled four small holes at the top of the backboard and threaded each hole with a velcro strip to secure the backboard to the metal frame. You can see the straps in the red box in the picture below, I tightened them as much as possible to keep the backboard in place.

So far the straps have done a good job of keeping the backboard in place.

Step 6: Last step: Re-attach the backboard to the hoop: In this step, I basically put everything back together. The hoop was attached to the backboard and the whole thing was then attached back to the pole. I made sure to note how everything connected when I took it apart to make it easier to attach things back again. I also made sure to keep track of all the pieces.

That is the complete summary of the project. It took about 5-7 hours in total, spread over a week due to the coats of paint.

You can see a more detailed summary in the following video:

In this project I built a basic stool. A stool I owned (made of plastic) broke, so I thought I would make one of wood that would last a long time. It turned out pretty well. This is how it looks:

The steps to make it were pretty simple.

1. Cut four legs: I cut four legs out of a 1 by 1, they were roughly 18 inches long (so the stool is about 20 inches tall, 18 inches plus a two inch top board).
2. Cut a connector board for the legs: Each set of two legs are connected via a connector board. They are held in place with bolts.
3. Add a side board: I added a side board to each side, which was screwed into the legs and the connector board. By being connected to two separate boards everything is held in place and can’t move.
4. Add the top: I added the top by drilling a hole through the top and each connector board and have a bolt go all the way through (so two bolts total). I counter-sinked the bolt so that when you stand on the top you won’t feel the bolt under your feet.
5. Sand and paint: I sanded everything so it was smooth and then painted it white.

You can see more details on the stool in the following video:

This is a very simple project where I made my own spool holder for my 3D printer. This is how it turned out:

I have a 3D printer and some times the filament spools are too big to fit the machine. Since they are too big to fit in the machine you have to create a spool holder to hold the filament and allow the filament to be slowly pulled into the machine while printing. I looked on Amazon and found filament holders for about $15 or so.

However, it seems pretty simple so I decided to make one of my own. This required the following steps:

Step 1: I used a flat wide board as the base of the spool holder. I used this board to reduce the likelihood that the spool holder would fall over and overall make the spool holder more safe.

Step 2: Screw in a centered two by four to the flat board. The two by four is just a bit wider than the spool, so it is a good base for the extended boards which will hold the spool.

Step 3: Add the extender boards to the two by four. These boards are long and thin to hold the filament spool.

Step 4: Drill a hole in each extender board big enough to fit the bolt. Place the bolt through one hole, through the filament spool, and then through the hole of the other extended board. Add a nut to keep the bolt in place.

That’s it, you are done!

You can see more details in the following video:

This is my second take on building an outdoor table. The first attempt worked out fine (see more details here: https://lifehackanddiy.com/diy-project-outdoor-table/) but the table top was made out of fabricated wood and it eventually split due to the elements.

This is how the new table turned out, I think it turned out really well.

The basic construction is that I bought a 18 inch wide 8 foot long board and cut it in half, resulting in two boards. I put these boards together to make a 3 foot wide and 4 foot long table.

Below are step by step instructions on how I built the table.

Step 1: I cut a 18 inch wide, 8 foot long board in half. This resulted in a table top of 3 ft by 4 ft. Of course, I had to measure a lot and do some sanding to make it all even.

Step 2: I built a base for the legs. The base was made of two by fours. I connected the legs to the two by fours with torque screws. I wanted to make a base for the legs as the table top was relatively thin and I wanted something more substantial keeping the legs in place.

Step 3: I connected the two by fours to the table top with bolts and nuts (two bolts per leg, so four bolts total). The end result is that the table top is smooth except for these four bolts as shown in the picture below:

Step 4: I added a trim board all the way around to help keep the table top in place. Before I added this trim the table had the ability to shift out of alignment. With the trim in place this cannot happen.

Step 5: I added two more two by fours, one at each end of the table. This again was to add more stability to the table.

Step 6: I sanded and stained the table. And that was the last step, all done!

Here is a video summarizing this project:

In this project I built a 3 level printer stand.

This is how it looked when finished:

Here are some details on the finished stand:

-Level 1 was to hold printer supplies. I made this level five inches off the ground. The level itself was 8 inches tall.

-Level 2 was to hold my laser printer. The printer is pretty big and heavy. This level was 13 inches off the ground and was 24 inches tall.

-Level 3 was to hold my 3D printer. The printer is tall but not that heavy or wide. I placed it at the top so that nothing would get in the way of the printer’s height. I made level 3 36 inches tall, as this is the same level as my dresser.

General structure: The general structure of the printer stand is that the four legs would be made by 2 x 4s, and each level would have a horizontal 2 x 4 (or 1 by 1 on the first level) to support a plywood rectangle. The rectangle was almost a square, the dimensions were 22 inches wide and 24 inches deep.

Steps to build it:

1. Cut the platform pieces to the correct size: This might not have been the ideal first step, but I cut the platform pieces (which were 22 inches by 24 inches) first and based everyone on these pieces. If I had to do it again I would probably cut each platform piece as needed which would allow for the fit of the platform pieces to be more exact. Regardless, my platform pieces were made of plywood. I had a few thicknesses of plywood to use and used the thickest plywood for the laser printer platform as that was the highest piece.
2. Cut the legs: This was pretty simple, I cut four 2 x 4s to be 40 inches long. The top platform will be 36 inches high so the legs will extend beyond the top platform by about 4 inches.
3. Build platform one: This platform was 5 inches off the ground. I cut two one by ones to support the platform. I drilled a hole and secured these to the legs with a hex bolt and nut. Then I screwed the platform to the one by one support, using Torx screws. Last, I added one board to each of the sides without the supports. These boards were to keep the legs more stable.
4. Build platform two: This has the same steps as building platform one except I used a 2 x 4 for the platform support.
5. Build platform three: This has the same steps as building platform one except I used a 2 x 4 for the platform support.
6. Sand and paint all the wood: I sanded all the wood (to get it ready for painting), and then I painted everything black.

And that’s it! It took a while to make but I am pretty happy with how it turn out. You can see more details in the following video:

This is a simple project where I renovated / fixed a bookcase. The bookcase was old and had the following problems:

1. The shelf was sagging
2. The top was sagging
3. The sides were drifting apart

The sides drifting apart made me wory the whole thing might collapse. I decided to strengthen it by screwing in a permanent shelf. For this shelf I used a thick board I had lying around, which I painted black.

I screwed it into the bookcase, using the holes for the existing bookshelf stoppers. This extra board made the whole bookcase feel much more secure. I think that now it will last many more years. See details in the following picture:

This was really easy and a great way to add extra life to the bookcase. If I have similar issues with my other bookcases I will do the same thing. See more details in the following video:

In this project I took an old dog house I found on the street and made it look like new.

The dog house was in relatively good shape except for the following three things:

1. The roof was falling apart
2. The paint was dirty and faded
3. The roof hinges were falling apart

The first thing I did was make a new roof, using the existing roof frame but replacing the rest of the roof. Next I sanded all the wood down to remove the dirt and get the wood ready to be painted. Then I replaced the hinges with some door hinges I had lying around.

Next I gave the dog house a fresh coat of paint. This is how it turned out, I am pretty happy with the result:

You can see more details in the following video:

In this simple project I made a stand for my dog’s food bowl and water bowl. This is how it looked.

It was a really simple project. First I took a wide flat board, about 12 inches by 20 inches. Then I cut some legs from a 2 x 4 to be two inches wide. Next I screwed the legs into the board, sanded everything, and then painted everything. That’s was basically it. The stand is useful as it raises the bowls off the ground so they are less likely to be stepped on or knocked over. Also, if there is a spill if will be easier to spot.

Here is a video which provides more details.