A Hacker Cup of Tea

I got bored one night and wanted a cup of tea. So being the tinkerer I am I made a hacked together tea maker. Right now this is more of a description than a guide but I will happily answer any question I get in the comments.

tea bag and mug (of course) Boiling: Basic coffee maker (one you can afford to lose) Oven thermometer (so you don't burn the house down) Stirring: Plywood Magnets 4 screws computer fan 6v power source (I used 4 AA batteries)

To boil my tea I used a coffeemate coffee maker (with the top part removed) as a hot plate. Slow but cheap. To disassemble simply take out a few screws and remove any piping. There is currently a melting plastic scent coming from mine so make sure to remove all piping before turning it on. To monitor the temperature of my tea I used a digital oven thermometer. This is the only unmodified item in this instructable.

To stir my tea I used the typical computer fan, magnets, and a scrap piece of plywood. There are plenty of Instructables on how to build this so I won't be going into great detail. If you wrote an instructable on how to make a stir plate I will gladly link it here.

This project went from idea to published in one night. There are probably tons of ways it can be improved. The main points are: 1. Bored tinkerers are dangerous beings 2. Mundane tasks can be sources for fun projects 3. A cup of tea is so much more fun when you use a magnetic stirrer. You get to watch the spinny vortex of doom. A note on safety: At the advice of flashcactus I would like to add: PLEASE DO NOT DRINK THE MAGNETIC STIRRER. It will not be a pleasant experience. Also, this obviously isn't safe to use for a commercial restaurant, it is far from sanitary