Destroying the world

…building my Destructor(tm) beam

September 25, 2011
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More progress in the laser/CNC saga. I built a cage from steel and MDO for the laser tube – fits really nicely. Next step is to add the first bounce mirror which will turn the beam straight up – into a PVC tube attached with plumbing flanges (The sales assistant at Menard’s asked me what […]

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At the Maker Faire in Detroit

July 31, 2011
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Spending the weekend up at the Maker Faire in Detroit. Check out the Maker Faire Daily stream for more info. UPDATE : Just got back from the Faire – always a pleasure to go to these, and nice that they’re more local than San Francisco now… Wow lot’s of stuff to see and do. The […]

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First look at the AR Drone SDK for Windows

November 21, 2010
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As some of you know, Thomas Endres, Julien Vinel and myself have been working on a .Net SDK for the Parrot AR Drone quadcopter. We were planning on doing a release last week, but Parrot asked us to wait until they had revised their license to include the creation of “3rd Party” (that’s us) development […]

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Upgraded the 12v DC Tesla Coil to 24v

November 19, 2010

I upgraded the 12v Tesla coil to run at 24v – performance is now dramatically improved. If I get the OK from Skori I can publish the PCB mask and component list – nearly all the parts came from Mouser and Jameco. Here is Skori’s original Hungarian page translated into English via Google Translate. The […]

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Things to do with 12,000 Volts #3 – Strangely lethal plasma ball

October 10, 2010
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Everyone has seen those plasma balls you get from Spencers gifts. They even make versions that plug into USB ports – although they do all look a bit feeble. You can create a hugely more dramatic effect by hooking up one side of a regular light bulb to 12,000V and a piece of foil to […]

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Man builds 2Mhz Tesla coil on kitchen table, annoys cellphone addicted wife

October 9, 2010
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I was clearing out the basement the other night and I found a box of stuff I’d put aside to build a Teeny Tiny Tesla Coil (TTTC). Small Tesla coils are tricky, especially using the traditional “Spark Gap” approach as they tend to resonate at really high frequencies and this makes them difficult to tune. […]

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Looking to generate 500,000 Volts? Here’s something that can help…

October 8, 2010
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One of the best ways to generate insanely high voltage electricity is with a Tesla coil, and you can’t have a Tesla coil without a coil. These can be awfully fiddly to make, unless you have the right tools – in this post I’m presenting my coil winding jig. Assembled exclusively from left-over gubbins I […]

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Things to do with 12,000 Volts #2 – CD eraser

October 2, 2010

Chance of data recovery – minimal. Believe it or not I was actually trying to do something constructive with all those pesky MSDN subscription CDs I have lying around the place… Lichtenberg figures are “trapped lightning” fractal patterns created using a very large DC accelerator. I was hoping to produce something similar in the CD […]

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Things to do with 12,000 volts #1 – emulate old horror films

September 30, 2010
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Baron Frankenstein wouldn’t be without one, Steve Martin couldn’t keep a brain alive without one either. The Jacob’s ladder is *the* 1950’s mad-scientist fashion accessory. Remarkably easy to make if you can find a neon sign transformer, and a thick insulating block… (Rather than give you step by step instructions, I’m going to show you […]

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How to build a Dalek

March 7, 2010

I just put together a slideshow of images of the Dalek build I completed in 2009. The music is completely produced from old Dalek parts… [Are you sure about that one? – Ed] A big thank you to Dave Duca and all the other builders at www.projectdalek.com…

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