Mini Me Plasma Display

This is my miniture version of my popular plasma display.

It uses two fuji flash units, one for the upper bulb and one for the two lowers.

The wiring is simply from the high voltage side of the flash unit to the bulb bases.

The left swich disconnects the ground side from the base and allows your finger to
make a plasma trace.

Step 1: The Case

The case is made of 3 layers of 9 ply baltic birch plywood, the center section is drilled out on a press.

You can see the basic lay out of the face plate before polishing, the trim ring is from a brass candle
holder, the lowers are from a grommet kit.

I used spray contact cement to glue the copper to a scrap of wood for polishing, after it was removed
by sliding a peice of wire under the copper like a cheese cutter.

It's much easier to drill holes and to cut to size with the copper on a solid surface.

Remember it's very important to use a step drill when drilling thin sheet metal.

If you glue just around the outside edges  it's much easier to remove the waste wood when drilling,
I was going to use my scroll saw but the drilling went quite quickly so I saved a step.

The copper face has a peice of clear plastic behind it, cut oversized to allow the blue LED's to shine out and add a touch of
softness.

Step 2: Done

I added 3 clear blue LED's pointing at the neon bulbs from behind,
they are glued in place, be sure to add the correct droping resistor to
make sure they don't over heat and drain the battries.

This is a shot from the back with the cover removed.

The case has gel stain and brushed on lacquer.

I made three boxes in case I messed one up, and in the event of a future project.

Enjoy.