Plasma Bulb with Clock Gear

Hi,
I am a Steampunker from Germany and today I try to create my first Intructables instruction.
I hope you understand all otherwise ask and I will give my best to answer.

Today I will show you how you build a rotating Plasma Stream in a bulb.
You can already watch a video of this machine.

More pictures and stuff you will find on my German Website Steampunk Design under "Werkstatt" and "Werkstatt / Plasma Wirbler".

Step 1: Find the right camera

First of all you buy a disposable camera from Fujifilm or other one from the picture.
If you buy other models you will find inside an AAA cell instead of the right AA cell.
In this case the soldering points for the power output are on an other place.

After removing the paper you will find a plastic camera without any screws.

Comments

[nerd7473]

Wow

[Evinfire]

Verry nice job!

[dd32123]

hold down button
wait until the flash is charged
remove the battery
press the button on the camera to make it flash, or tap the thin copper contacts together
it will flash, the compacitor will be drained

[ezarate]

that is insane!

[pro5200]

so how to discharge the electrical load ?

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

make a short circuit with a screwdriver on the pins of the capacitor...

[pro5200]

Hi,
I am a little confused to connect the wires, can you provide with schematic drawings ?

[PhotonPunk]

This has to be one of my favorite things on instructables.

[positr_n]

you can find a 2 pack of the right fujifilm cameras for under $10 at Walmart. I followed the pictures and this instructable worked out great. The transistor got a bit hot for me. Try holding an old CFL up to the neon bulb :D

[cberry3]

i love these light projects and i really want to try one but the only thing stopping me is the lack of a good explanation of the wiring. "you need to hook up six wires here" doesnt really help me too much especially where as i'm not all that good with electronics yet. maybe some more steps or a seperate ible on the subject?

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

I make last week some discoveries!
If you don't connect the High Power (-) to battery (-) and use instead Earth / Ground the light gets more powerfully and the transistor don't get hot anymore!
So you can power up "stable" to 4.0 Volts!

I think it becomes hot because the "backfire" from the AC current is too much for the transistor.
So if you use the AC current from the circuit you should also use Earth / Ground to beed of the high power!!!

[halzark]

You have this device working on a DC power supply. Will it also work on the 2 AA batteries? If so should I solder the batteries in parallel as Junophor did to increase the current and not the voltage?

Great project and pictures!

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Yes, you are right it also works with batteries but the circuit need nearly 250mA. For this application an also for desktop use is a DC power supplie better...

[ApprenticeWizard]

Power notes: duplicated with a Fujifilm Quicksnap DCF (disposable camera flash) in USA and a GE flicker flame bulb (PC 81167, Desc 3CAC/FF/CD1). Bench supply indicated only about 100-150mA drawn at 1.5VDC. Found that at 2.4VDC, current draw about the same. However, the transistor (D2687) went from an operating temp of 45C to ~125C. Did not go higher voltage than that. An alkaline battery can run 1.7V OC new, so 2 batteries could kill the transistor.

Note Kodak-brand flash units (so far) do not work - output voltage is only 325V, which may have something to do with it.

Anyone have specs on the transistor? I have only come vague indications that it may be related to a chroma-type transistor.

For what its worth.

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Hi Apprentice Wizard,
Thanks for the spezification.

I make last week some discoverys!
If you don't connect the High Power (-) to battery (-) and use instaed Earth / Ground the light gets more powerfully and the transistor don't get hot anymore!
So you can power up "stable" to 4.0 Volts!

I think it becomes hot because the "backfire" from the AC current is too much for the transistor.

[halzark]

I was thinking about mounting this to a costume, as a mechanical heart. (I can't attach the suit to the wall for the power supply! LOL) I have a separate power source for the turning platform (I'm using a revolving police light style base) but I want to use just the two AA batteries to power the plasma lamp and the three "sparking arms." Will this work?

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

If you will wear it on a costume I would use instead of AA batteries two "C" or "D" cells... then it works for hours...

[halzark]

thank you for the suggestions! Again, Great Looking Project!

[thethomas98]

Bridging the capacitor with a srewdriver will drain it, but it also could cause it to burst. I would instead use a resistor to bridge the cap. You can pick them up relatively cheap from a radio shack or electronics hobby store. I would bridge the capacitor with a resistor until you get no voltage readings with a meter between the two legs of the cap.

[gskaggs]

Very cool.. Love it! Thanks for sharing.

[rstaron]

Hello - Very nice instructable. One questions - what brand(s) of cameras are you using? Can't identify the one in the photo.......thanx.

Richard

[duggerpato]

click on the "i" at the top left of the picture and it will take you to a page that lets you enlarge the photo. then if you use windows and firefox, just push "ctrl" and "+" and it will zoom in even more.

I believe you won't recognize them unless you know german though :)

[rstaron]

Much thanks!

[beehard44]

any chance this can create a resonance cascade?
lol nice 'ible

[bulletBird]

This is really cool, but how does this have anything to do with clocks?

[SMarshall14]

it said clock gear i think its more of a time keeping device (it goes round at a steady rate)

[rstaron]

My bad - I went too fast - it is a very, very interesting instructable and I will be using it in my class when teaching electricity.

Richard

[sunshiine]

Super Instructable! You did an awesome job! Thanks for sharing.

[arpruss]

Is it safe to bridge the capacitor with a screwdriver? I would think that it would be better to use a slower discharge method. Last time I was discharging a camera flash capacitor, I hooked up a multimeter set to measure voltage, and watched as the voltage went to about 10, and then bridged it for the last little bit. Took a couple of minutes, but it felt safer.

[undefinedmonkey]

Excellent tutorial! I put a bulb & driver circuit together this weekend with very little difficulty (beware the capacitor.)

Thanks for posting this! What an awesome project.

[PKM]

I think you're fast becoming one of my favourite makers- I love steampunk, high voltage, camera flashes and unusual lighting. With all the new uses you've shown I'm going to have to get some disposable cameras and get experimenting again.

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Thanks.
I just start with PicAxe chips and a stirling engine...
We can learn from each other :-)

I will stay tuned for you new results...

[lhall1]

I too have ben shocked, on my thumb it was numb for 3 hours after words

[theawesomeninja]

I have no idea what this is but it looks @#$#$ AWESOME!!!!!

[showup]

Very nice

[fightthemachine]

Beautiful work, I'm inspired to build a plasma bulb of my own, but I had a quick question... Would using 2 of the same circuit taken from the cameras make the light and sparks more intense? My idea is to have a single bulb powered by 2 circuits and then add as many moving arms around it to find a nice glow/balance, but as I would like to use 6 arms, I would think doubling the input to the bulb would be needed? Any thoughts on this, or perhaps you have tried it? Thanks alot!

[jonnyboy323]

Just one question, what kind of clock is the gear set and french hammer from? I thought hammers were only in alarm clocks, but I am no Horologist :) A picture would be awesome!
Oh an of course, I LOVE THIS PROJECT!!!! Your work is awesome!

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Hi,
THANKS

I only buy some ald wall clock gears like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-BRASS-WIND-UP-WALL-CLOCK-MOVEMENT-PARTS-SPARES-/260835447099?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbb01113b
Often you get a bundle of 3-4 clocks with hammers. Then I build the right gear ratio myself...

[spark light]

I really like this. it kind of reminds me of the excursion funnels in portal 2.

[Luftmechaniker Fritz]

Great work dear Admiral,

as you might consider i would like to share some of your Plasma for my ray gun ;-))

[bertus52x11]

Nice one!
Steampunk from Germany? Mmm.., that's new to me, but very cool!

[Horatius.Steam]

Hie bertus52x11,

yes its a bit new! But there is a rapid growing community in Germany, if you like have a look at:

www.clockworkers.de
http://salon.clockworker.de/
www.steampunk-design.de
www.steampunk-design.com

And of course, there are a lot of events, even the "makers fair" coming under licence in Spring 2011 to Germany as well.

Greetings from Germany (Hamburg)

JnEn aka Horatius Steam :-)

[BrittLiv]

Makers Fair in Germany? How exciting is that, can you tell me more about it?

[Horatius.Steam]

Yes, it will be in Spring near Marburg an der Lahn.

See the clock worker salon for more details coming soon!

[randomdude735]

I'm a little confused. On step 4, you went from soldering wires to a completed project with no instruction on how you got there. Am I missing something?

[art.z]

I think he is just teaching how to make the bulb glow like that!
You can make your own design..

Although he could teach how to modify the clock gears...

[randomdude735]

Okay, I understand.
It is pretty cool!!!
Thanks for the advice.

[avatar_i]

Sehr ordentlich. Danke. [I hope I said that correctly!]
Do the three "armature"/brushes outside the glass need to be at he same height, or can they be at different levels for a diffused/different effect? [I hope I asked that correctly!]

[dgregorio]

were do u find neon bulbs ?

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Here in Germany you get the bulb in every hardware store. But you can also look here http://amzn.to/rovKAf or here http://bit.ly/niswAc

[dgregorio]

neon bulbs there like a standard or something

[mattbeowulf]

Not having heard of this either, I wondered the same thing, so I did a quick search and found this reasonably informative article: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4925961_what-gas-used-light-bulbs.html

If you don't feel like clicking, I can recap the relevant bits: the presence of oxygen causes a burning filament to disintegrate rapidly, so incandescent bulbs are filled with a variety of inert gases to displace the air. The MOST inert gases are the family known as "noble gases"; the ones I saw mentioned as having been used in *incandescent* bulbs are xenon, krypton, and argon. Neon so far as I know is only used to fill neon lamps (used to make signs, usually) which operate on the same principal acting here, and don't have filaments.

HOWEVER, the different noble gases make different colors of plasma, and the stuff in the pictures sure looks to me like the color neon makes. Adm. Aaron says he used a flickering candle bulb... for all I know, maybe those all use neon for some reason. It certainly would work fine fr the purpose of extending filament life. As for finding them, I would ask the great Google machine ;-)

[dgregorio]

yea i looked up how to make neon so i can make a neon bulb but that requires equipment u usualy find in a house hold u have to freeze air to a liquid then let it warm up as that dose different gases un freeze and neon is the gas that unfreezes at 225. C which is much colder then my freezer


pardon my spelling

[mattbeowulf]

Sorry, I suppose my suggestion could have been clearer: I'd search google for "flickering candle bulb" and get some of those online, since that is the proven type of bulb for the application. Since I'm already here, this search is on me ;-)

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=buy+flickering+candle+bulb

[Eacon]

OMG thats so cool, I need to make me one of these soon! Thanks for a great instructable and liebe Grüsse aus der Schweiz!

[DrWilliamHorriblePhD]

I'd like to know a bit more about the arms, namely how they are wired and what the process for making them is. They appear to be vital to this build, but aren't really explained at all.

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Hi,
The arms also out of a clock.
Normally they beat the gong. I remove the rubber and screw some wires in.
The arms connected over the bearing from the big gear wheel to the batt minus.
When you have a look on the photo you will see that there is a small brass pipe that’s curved into the housing. There is inside the connection.
But you can use many get a stream from the inner bulb to the glass.
E.g. your fingers...
Hope this will help you.

[ptorelli]

Where's the schematic? Is it just a boost converter?

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Hi,
I have no schematic...
I only use the flashlight circuit and find the right points with try and error.

[bricabracwizard]

Great instructable! I love your website too!

[artclark]

Admiral,

How many watts is the light bulb? Wie viel Watt ist die Glühbirne?

Danke,

Art

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Hi,
It's a 3Watt one with an E14 socket.

[Zaius]

What is the 400V wire connected to? Is it the part of the board that the positive side of the capacitor was connected?

A lot of disposable cameras use a bubble type switch that closes the circuit when pushed. The switch is a curved piece of copper. The new switch needs one wire connect connected to the center contact and the other to the "C" shape around it.

[woofman]

Super cool though a little thin with the instruction part....I am especially glad to see the flash board hack for neon bulbs, that opens up a LOT of possibilities. Your project is beautiful, with wonderful craftsmanship and detail. Thanks a LOT for posting.

[eXtremeSomething]

Hi, this is a great project. Could you tell me what wattage is the flicker lamp 3W or 5W as this determins the size.

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Hi,
It's a 3Watt one with an E14 socket.

[TheOneTrueStickman]

Like everyone else said, this is an awesome build. All steampunk projects should be mechanically functional like this, with minimal brass paint and fake gears. And it would make a really great night-light.

The only think that might possibly make it cooler is if the rotor ran by clockwork - falling asleep to the soothing tick-tock of a rotating plasma night-light... *sigh*

[NaTeB1]

This is by far one of the best SP builds Ive ever seen. Very unique, nice craftsmanship and it actually does something! I'm not saying that SP "mods" arent great but its very rare to see something made from scratch.

[jj.inc]

Wow great job, steampunk this awesome is usually rare.

[jcomtois]

Very well built and different. It's rare to see a new kind of electronic gizmo AND some clean construction AND with a steampunk theme. Though I must say most steampunkers build nice clean projects.

[NightElectric]

Awesome instructable! I know too well about shocking myself with single use cameras and having a painful arm for 10 minutes.

I want to add that wearing gloves will be a great idea at this part.

[Honus]

That is really cool!

[antario]

Now this is absolutely awesome! :D Well done!

[meyers]

Congratz. It's awesome :)

[Analogue-Chick]

Incredible!

[MadTechIndustries]

Great project! I have had projects that require disposable cameras. Rather than purchasing them, I asked the photo desk at my local pharmacy for the used casings and the attendant gave them to me free of charge. The trick is to be polite and honest with your intentions.

[patito]

That's a really nice project. I have a couple of flash boards around and I didn't know what to do with.
Just a couple of questions:

- Do you make a bridge where the capacitor was?

- You say 6 wires. For what I see on the picture, there are:
- wire from battery + (on the board) to positive of power supply.
- wire from battery - to negative of power supply and the 3 rotating things.
- 2 wires from the switch to a switch.
- Wire from high power output to center of the bulb.
Where is the 6th wire?

- My flash bulb is connected to the capacitor. I guess the wire from high power output would be the part of the flash bulb connected to the positive of the capacitor, right? I have a third wire of the flash bulb at the center of it, making a loop.

Thanks for your idea and your help!!!

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Hi,
No bridge where the capacitor was.
You grap the high power who would charge the capacitor.

For the wires:
- wire from battery - to negative of power supply and the 3 rotating things. <-- this are two wires one to the power supply - and one tho the absorbers or High power -

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

I'm totally blown away.
I never thought that you liked it so much because this is not my best project!
My keyboard was much more difficulty and looks like “real handmade with love to the detail” than this machine.
In the next weeks I will translate the 68 pages of the instruction into English.
Stay tuned for more and many many thanks so far…

Admiral Aaron Ravensdale

[falcotheimpaler]

I saw the picture first, and thought "oh, another 'steampunk' thing where someone glues a gear to a pipe". then i saw the video and was amazed. Congratulations, sir. This is beyond amazing.

[dimtick]

WOW. that is amazing!
what an evil looking machine. i think if i had the missel launch codes and you threatened me with that.....i'd talk :)
you could fit right in at any mad scientist convention. all you need is the white lab coat.
(i mean that as a compliment)

you should enter this in the clock competition.

:)

AWESOME!!!!!!!!

[wisenheimer]

Awesome

[ZoDo]

Really great job....fantastic

[randofo]

You should totally embed the video in the first step of this Instructable also! Let me know if you wanna do it and need any help with that. This is awesome! Thanks for posting!

[Admiral Aaron Ravensdale]

Many Thanks for your positive comments..

@randofo DONE good idea

[nevets_mcd]

This is fantastic.

[iminthebathroom]

Superb, excellent craftsmanship and a great job on your instructable in general. All its need is the video lie Randofo suggested for it to blow the socks of this site!