History Main / HomemadeInventions

* Even the animated version of Gyro Gearlose in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ducktales}}'' would build all sorts of stuff as cheaply as possible. Possibly justified since his employer was such a cheapskate.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' allows you to collect various "schematics" for weapons, which you can then build from the junk that clutters the environment. The results resemble this trope. Good examples include the shishkebab (basically a lawnmower rotor blade connected to the petrol tank of a motorbike to form a [[KillItWithFire flaming sword]]), the Rock-It-Launcher, which is built from a vacuum cleaner (amongst other things) and can fire pretty much anything you find lying around, a rifle that shoots railroad spikes, a landmine (made out of a lunchbox, a cherry bomb, a sensor, and a few bottle caps) that's about five time stronger than ordinary landmines and has roughly the same firepower of a mini nuke as well as, of course, the Nuka-Cola Grenade that's made with turpentine, Abraxo cleaner and the radioactive variant of Nuka-Cola in a tin can. When thrown, it explodes in a giant blue fireball, with lingering radioactive damage afterward.

* 'Chechnyan Firecrackers' is a slang term for home-made firearms... which are legal in most states of the US, by the way. Have fun! In fact, there have been several examples over the years of enterprising people building operational firearms with things commonly found in ''prison''.

* ''Franchise/WallaceAndGromit'':

* Several of Bosco's Boscotech creations in the ''[[SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam and Max]]'' games from Telltale Games. They're surprisingly effective (even the tear gas grenade launcher that's just a salad shooter loaded with onions), but all of them are overpriced (like a hundred million dollars for a "truth serum" that consists of a bottle of vodka).

* One of the [[Literature/TheIncredibleWorldsOfWallyMcDoogle Wally [=McDoogle=]]] books involves Wally using a time machine made out of a toaster, a vacuum cleaner, and a TV remote. He received this gadget from his future self, who had created it ''accidentally'' by trying to fix all three devices at the same time.
** Granted, he's supposed to be insanely klutzy. Enough so that its surprising that he, his family and his friends are even still alive after five minutes.
* In Victor Koman's ''Kings of the High Frontier'' a group of [=PhD=] students build a ''working spacecraft'' out of surplus parts in an abandoned warehouse.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story "Robot AL-76 Goes Astray" is about a robot who accidentally arrives at a junkyard and builds a powerful mining tool from the junk, powered by 2 D-cell batteries. No one could figure out how it did it and it didn't know, because when the robot demonstrated his new tool, the top 2/3rds of a nearby mountain were atomized, causing the junkyard owner to panic and [[ThreeLawsCompliant tell it to "forget what happened."]]
* In ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman,'' the title villainess uses parts from common household appliances to build robotic duplicates of the two elementary school-age protagonists. Not only can the robots [[MakeMyMonsterGrow expand to four times their original size]], they also have SuperStrength, can fly, have [[RocketPunch rocket-punching arms]], and wield [[ItMakesSenseInContext hidden starch sprayers.]]
* The YA novel series ''Mad Scientists' Club'' features a group of such inventors, whose inventions get as ridiculous as a remote-controlled flying saucer convincing enough to fool the entire town.
* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheTommyknockers'', after being exposed to the effect of an alien spacecraft, the people in the small town of Haven build all kinds of futuristic devices made out of household appliances and largely powered by batteries, occasionally supplemented by [[spoiler: [[LivingBattery the odd]] [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Forsaken Child.]]]]
** In the short story "Word Processor of the Gods", also by King, a man inherits a bodged-together word processor with RealityWarper powers, which his nephew constructed from several mismatched brands of computer components, wires from Radio Shack, the motor from an Erector Set and an old model-train transformer.

See also: BambooTechnology, MacGyvering. Compare GadgeteerGenius and DoomItYourself.

* In ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', Wayne invents a '''ShrinkRay''' in his basement. It takes massive providence to get it working, but still, shrink ray. Averted in the sequel, though: his achievement has gotten him work at a [[MegaCorp massive tech conglomerate]] and he continues to improve the device there.

* Fred [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Filntstone]] occasionally delved into this. They work...just as well as one would expect[[note]]Including his wife Wilma...[[/note]]

* ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure has Pee-Wee's breakfast machine.

* Fred [[WesternAnimation/TheFilntstones Filntstone]] occasionally delved into this. They work...just as well as one would expect[[note]]Including his wife Wilma...[[/note]]

* Strong Bad's alternate universe portal is simply a blender with a game boy floating in some strange green liquid.

** The season ten episode "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace" [[note]]The episode where Homer becomes a UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison-esque inventor after hearing on the radio that the life expectancy of males is somewhere in the 70s, and Homer realizes that he's at the halfway point of his life and he hasn't done anything that would be considered memorable after his death[[/note]] was all about Homer creating homemade (and really dangerous and/or useless) inventions, such as the make-up gun and the "Everything's OK" alarm.
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': Wade does it. The Tweebs does it. Evil!Ron does it.

* HomemadeInventions are Donatello's brain and butter in the ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' cartoons. It grows to particularly ridiculous levels in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'', where he is able to build submarines, hovercrafts, and [[DrillTank drill tanks]] with homemade materials and the occasional bit of salvaged alien technology.

** Phineas and Ferb are actually a brilliant subversion, because while they make stuff at home, and often use rather unusual components, they are constantly having supplies delivered and as a result their inventions tend to be more reliable and less Rube Goldberg as a result.
* Timmy's Dad on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' makes several of these. Most of them [[StuffBlowingUp blow up]]. It hurts him when his family try to use real technology, though not as much as his inventions hurt them.

%%* Data in ''Film/TheGoonies''.

* {{Exaggerated}} and PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/WetHotAmericanSummer'', where the nerdy kids build a device that can somehow both track and adjust the trajectory of a rouge satellite out of mundane household objects including a colander, a stack of ''doughnuts'', and a D20.

* In ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman,'' the title villainess uses parts from common household appliances to builds robotic duplicates of the two elementary school-age protagonists. Not only can the robots [[MakeMyMonsterGrow expand to four times their original size]], they also have SuperStrength, can fly, have [[RocketPunch rocket-punching arms]], and wield [[ItMakesSenseInContext hidden starch sprayers.]]

* On ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'', MadScientist Quinn is constantly inventing something new--things she calls "Quinnventions." However, none of them ever turn out the way she wants to. In one instance, she almost blew up the school!

* Just about all of the devisers and gadgeteers in the WhateleyUniverse start out like this, since no one knows they have a superpower until they've built a robot out of old junk from their basement, or whatever. The deviser Knick-Knack still builds stuff that looks like this, including a capture bubble that looks like a lava lamp, and a laser hidden in a Franchise/HarryPotter souvenir wand.

* In the ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Luminous Fish Effect", Sheldon's mother reveals that at the age of thirteen Sheldon built a nuclear reactor in a shed. Unfortunately for Sheldon, his efforts to obtain enriched uranium were discovered by the authorities, who put an end to the project.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn One individual teenage Boy Scout]] managed to strap together a nuclear breeder reactor in his mother's garden shed.
*** It's somewhat of a subversion, though, in that the lack of safeguards and solid engineering in the reactor could have very easily gotten him killed, and that the intervention of the authorities probably prevented small-scale disaster.

*** While this is irrelevant, two things bear noting: One, Mr. Hahn's reactor design was self-propagating; given enough fuel, it would continue to produce energy, and, actually, would produce more fuel, being a breeder reactor. Two, the fusor mentioned above is definitely not a break-even design; it runs off of household power, and is primarily useful as a conversation piece and as a neutron source.

* Quinn Mallory, hero of the show ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', built a cross-dimensional portal in his mother's basement.

* The title character of ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'' devoted an entire segment of each episode (and later multiple segments of each episode) to homemade inventions that could be built with a pile of junk and some duct tape. A choice example is Red's showing the audience how to make their own backhoe using a luxury car, a Thighmaster, a folding ladder, a trash can, some clothesline pulleys, and a lot of duct tape.

* ''Series/GilligansIsland,'' of course. As has often been remarked, the Professor can make a radio out of baling wire and coconuts but can't fix a two-foot hole in a boat.
* The Scifi Channel's series ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' is about a whole ''town'' full of genius inventors, all busily cooking up amazing stuff (and amazing trouble) in their garages. One of the main characters even works out of an auto shop.
* Alton Brown of ''Series/GoodEats'' can apparently build a time machine just as well as he can [[MacGyvering MacGyver]] useful kitchen devices. He uses it to get blueberries in season.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', when The Doctor and Martha find themselves in 1960s Britain without the TARDIS, the Doctor builds a device to detect other inadvertent time travelers out of what looks like an old fashioned tape recorder, a telephone handset, a postcard, and other... stuff. It works quite well for what he needs, but not without some unintended side effects:
--> "Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."
** Depending on the incarnation, the Doctor has taken this to an art form, most notably the Third, Fourth, Seventh, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors. Turned UpToEleven with the Ninth/Tenth Doctor's and the Eleventh Doctor's first console rooms.
* These were Joe's stock in trade on ''Series/NewsRadio''. The gag with Joe was that he would build absolutely ''everything'' himself, even gadgets that could be easily and cheaply obtained from a store.

* In ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', Billy often built inventions in his garage.
* ''Series/TheATeam'' lived and breathed this trope.

* In the ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' episode "The Luminous Fish Effect", Sheldon's mother reveals that at the age of thirteen Sheldon built a nuclear reactor in a shed. Unfortunately for Sheldon, his efforts to obtain enriched uranium were discovered by the authorities, who put an end to the project.

[[folder: Table Top Games ]]

* Kat's anti-gravity device in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', which she somehow made out of a thermos and coat hangers.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', Dave tries to fix a friend's microwave and ends up creating an interdimensional portal that causes his gaming group to be attacked by angels. (Guess what was wrong with the microwave? It was unplugged.)
** This ability also shows up when most [[MadScientist mad scientists]] first manifest. Helen Narbon created life - horrible, tentacled, man-eating lifeforms - from the food in an Italian restaurant's kitchen, plus some chemicals from their women's restroom.

* Tony in ''Webcomic/RealLifeComics'' is known to do this with alarming frequency. And half of them are about 50% ''bubblegum''. And old modems.

* Riff's inventions in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' sometimes invoke this trope.
* MadScientist Tigerlily Jones of ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' once built a spring-powered wormhole generator out of wire coathangers lying around in Tip's apartment. She also built a six-foot-wide sentient spider-shaped robot out of an old Cadillac.
* Tedd in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' built [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-08-23 a belt]] that could transform the wearer into a cat-person, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?arcid=72 tweaked a Wii Fit balance board]] so it could measure the weight distribution of someone as they transformed and built a series of devices that can [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-11-23 transform]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-06-20 the]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-10-23 wearer]] under certain conditions out of [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-11-23 toy gadget watches]].

* The entire website [[http://www.instructables.com Instructables]] is based around this concept, and features a wide arrange of various homemade gadgets from online DIY posters, engineering of all kinds, as well as numerous arts and crafts projects. One guy even showed how to make his car run...''[[SoCoolItsAwesome on trash]][[http://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-your-Honda-Accord-to-run-on-trash/]]!

* The autobiography The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind [[IncrediblyLamePun revolved around]] William Kamkwamba's homemade windmill. This included spectacular failures such as a short setting his home on fire when his roof collapsed. In true MadScientist fashion, he built a breaker box rather than fixing his roof.

* That is the way most technology in {{Arcanum}} works. Half of the parts used in making technology items can be found in a garbage bin. Some others must be bought, though. And all of the recipes can be assembled in a complete wilderness without access to any thing like a workshop.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims 3'' addon "Ambitions" the new skill and career choice allows Sims to invent a time machine with nothing a single work table and some scrap metal.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', Gru has to resort ot this to build his rocket after he fails to get funding from the Bank of Evil.

** While perhaps not technically an invention, the ice maker Doc in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' makes while in the WildWest is probably a good example. He presumably already knew how to make such a thing, but it was [[RubeGoldbergDevice far larger and more convoluted than it needed to be]], due to some of the necessary parts not having been invented yet.

* The Quick Gadgeteer advantage in {{GURPS}} is all about this.

* Junkers in ''{{Deadlands}}: [[AfterTheEnd HellOnEarth]]'' cheat by asking tech spirits to make their cobbled-together inventions work.
* Gnoblar scrappers in Warhammer tend to build things out of old rubbish and whatever they've scavenged, such as scraplauncher catapults. Ork Mekboyz in Warhammer 40,000 take this to truly extreme levels, cobbling together anything from a chainsword to a building-sized gargant out of scrap metal and interesting shiny things.