Iron Man Inspired Repulsor Beam Blaster V1.0

Homebrew repulsor beam blaster that’s designed to produce extremely intense burst of light that can be used to repulse your archnemesis, girlfriend, wife and pet cat :P

Coincidentally a few days ago (July 13th) is the “Embrace Your Geekness Day” and what better way to embrace you inner geekness than making your own super hero inspired gadgetry.

Have fun!

More build photos and other stuff

Step 1: The Circuit

The repulsor is essentially two circuits that are switched ON/OFF using a DPST switch.

The source of the DC Step-up Charging Module is the good old analog cameras. When extracting the module, mark the wires so you don’t mix them up. If you have one lying around, then don’t waste time reinventing the wheel. If not, then google is your friend.

Do not short the lead of a charged capacitor, it will pop in your face, literally. I learnt my lesson the hard way a while back. Play safe, always have a large resistor handy, discharge the capacitor via the resistor before you begin to fiddle with it.

The purpose of the discharge switch in the schematic is to short and safely discharge the capacitor when it’s no longer in use.

Step 2: Assembling the Lamp

8 LEDs are connected in parallel and soldered to the board forming a circle. The Xenon tube bulb with it’s reflector is attached to the center.

The lamp reflector is a bit tricky to source. The challenge is trying to find the right size that fits or at least can be modified. Finally achieved a perfect fit after extensive searching, followed by some cutting and sanding.

The diffuser is whole lot easier to make. It is cut to shape from semi-translucent polypropylene (microwave plastic container). The cylindrical casing is salvaged from a broken eye-ball lamp.

Step 3: Metal Works and Mounting

The arm mounting frame is made from aluminum flat bars bended to size. The underside is layered with velcro straps. Everything riveted in place, protruding rivets are sanded.

The circuit and the batteries are mounted on flat plates riveted to the above mounting frame.

Step 4: Lamp and Switch Box Mount

The switching box is made from a project box, with an attached limit switch. This is the designated “Fire” switch. The fire switch is align to the ring finger. When the finger is outstretched, it triggers the capacitor’s rapid release of charges resulting in a flash burst.


The rest of the switches are the:

1) Power – Push ON, push OFF, DPST switch. Turns on both the LED lamp and the DC step-up charging circuit.

2) Charge – Push ON, Release OFF switch. This triggers the charging of the capacitor. It will start to whine, gradually increasing in pitch as it charges.

3) Discharge – Push ON, push OFF switch. The switch shorts the circuit between the capacitor leads.


When the discharge switch is turned on, the orange LED lights up indicating that there are charges stored in the storage capacitor. It will gradually dim and die off as the capacitor drains.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

The photos are pretty self explanatory.

Aluminum strips, zip ties, cable organizers, spacers, hot glue and some bolt and nuts for the finishing touches. The small white brick is the 10 watt discharge resistor mounted on top of the battery holder.