Plasma Lamp, Part I
Looking through hackaday I found an interesting link to an Instructable, where a someone made a really cool looking steam-punk lamp out of a flicker bulb and the flash component from a disposable camera. I read through it and it looked super simple, so I decided to build a prototype lamp to see if I could get it to work, since it was instructions from the internet which arent always made by real people (trolls don't count as people to me, sorry).
- Disposable Camera
- Bulbs (regular don't work)
- Piece of wood
- zip ties
- Old timey throw switch (just cause I had one)
I decided to use a regular bulb at first, which failed, reasoning being that I wanted a purple glow, and most regular bulbs are full of argon, which should glow purple. My guess, since this was a build by numbers experiment, is that I am not getting a high enough voltage to excite the argon, and a flicker bulb will work better since it will be full of neon instead (feel free to email me if you know better, cause this is aperture science style research). Part 2 will come when I get a flicker bulb to play with.
The basics of this is to use the high voltage out of the camera flash, once striped of some parts, to drive excite the gas in the lamp. if you follow that link at the top, it describes what to pull off and where to add the wires to power the bulb. I basically followed that, then mounted it all on the stick of wood so I could hold it and poke at it. I tried both a single AA and a pair to power it, 1.5v and 3v respectively, and neither made the regular night light bulb glow. So this is a fail for now, until I get the other style bulbs. The wires in the images correlate to the tutorial on Instructables as such: 1 knot=+V in, 2 knots = +HV(400V+), no knots= ground/-, and the switch is rigged across the switch wires.
I'll make a new post when I get around to finding a flicker bulb, should be more around in Christmas time.
Stero Photography, or whatever its called…Its neat
I was lurking through deviant art a few months ago and found an artist who did live models in stereo, allowing for "magic eye" style 3d effects. I thought it was really neat, and he even put out a guide on how to make a rig that will make fast imaging mountable on a tripod.
So naturally I went through "parts room" and found what I needed to make one of my own..ish
- dead notebook drive
- piece of wood
- bolts (camera compatible thread)
- screws
- zip ties
- hard drive magnets (rare earth I believe)
- bits of metal channel
- electrical tape
After taking my dremel to the wood to cut a channel in it that I could slide a piece of the metal channel into and would allow it to slide back and forth. I drilled the channel in the top and placed a bolt through it, and secured it.
After that, I placed it onto the wood piece, and limited its movement with screws at either end.
After that, I secured the wood to the drive with a zip tie and some more channel (it was nifty how the channel and the wood matched in size, being that they are from completely different things).
I also taped the magnet to the other side of the dive, so that I can place the slider rig on any metal surface. After some experimenting, I found where the slider needs to sit so that the images that come out don't give me, or anyone else, a head ache.
And an example of what it can make:
Click to open the image larger, then move the mouse out of the image space.
Then look through the monitor until the two sides overlap,
at which point you should be able to focus and see the 3dishness
Soldering Iron Stands
So I have been relearning/reteaching myself how to solder with much help from the tube of yew. I found the hard way that the cheaper irons come with really bad stands that allow the iron to roll off and fall and make various bad things happen.
So after using various computer component cases as just "safe places" where I would put the cheap stand in so that if the iron fell off it wouldn't destroy anything, except my hand when I went to grab it if I wasn't looking. So I set to make a soldering iron stand,cause <Macho Voice>buying stuff is for pussies</Macho Voice>.
- Dead Hard drive
- Coil Copper from dead PSU
- Dish Sponge
- Drive Bay Face Plate
- Galvanized Wire
For the first one I used some copper I pulled out of a coil from a dead PSU (sploding caps are bad) as well as an old dead hard drive case. the coil was recoiled somewhat haphazardly to imitate the professional stands a little bit, and surprisingly it worked first time. I added the sponge later after reading how to actually use one when soldering.
For the second one I made I used some galvanized wire and a metal aftermarket drive bay faceplate, originally for a knob adjust for fan speeds. This one is really only for letting an iron cool after use, not for storage while using it. This is because it is basically the same design as the cheapo plastic ones, except it holds the entire iron.
I know my irons are pretty beat, like I said I am learning, and at least these are cheap ones from Radio Shack, and not pro kits and such.
I think next I should build a variable temperature base for these, and include a new coil for storage, one that cleans the tip automatically.....
Homemade Projector
Here's an example of something I tried to make that sort of flopped.
I decided to start on making a projector out of bits of stuff I had laying around:
- Lens from an eye piece to an old camera
- Cardboard box
- Printer Paper
- Box from tea
- LED flashlight
- Slim CD case (temporary image element)
- Zip ties
- bits of wood from godknowswhere
The genesis of this Idea was to see if I could find the focal points for the lenses to display an image I had drawn on the CD case, using the flashlight as the light source, then later using the fog light. Problems came when I tried to get the lenses to adjust correctly. The problem was I failed to make a stable frame to hold the lenses and allow me to adjust them with enough precision, so if I looked at the apparatus wrong, they would fall out of alignment, very aggravating. More problems where when I tried to filter the light, or rather block it from the light source so that the only place it would come out is the lenses. Mind you I was using a pocket knife for most of the box carving, which meant gaps to later fill with gaffer tape (lets avoid the whole duck/duct argument). In the end I did get the scrawled image to show up on the wall of my extra dark bedroom faintly, but sharply. I back burner-ed this project at that point since I has some more important things to do, like eat and bathe.
Still, I may get back to this at some point if I can get my hands on some old "broken" lenses from professional grade cameras, and some Fresnel lens. Also some more TFT based LCD screens would help, but getting those in high res and not borked completely is harder to do than originally thought.
So here's some images of what I did so far:
Doomsday device Mark I
So last night, i decided to make an activator switch, i think i was running on alot of caffeine and a bit to much flux fumes, so i blacked out for a bit, and when i came to i found i had burned my hand and made this thing:
Not exactly sure what it does yet, and i am a bit afraid of what it may do. i noticed i am missing some RF parts, and some PVC pipe, and some of my cleaning supplies are gone....
- Switch
- Project Box
- ?
- Profit?
Bah! That cant possible be related to this. Well here are some images of it, in my new shadow box, another project from my grave shift off time:
