Stepper Motor Arc Reactor

Back in 2008 when Iron Man came out, the arc reactor was one of the most popular DIY builds on this site. A number of very talented, and often very involved, arc reactor builds were published. With the Iron Man 2 trailer just recently released, and the sequel slated for release in May, I predict that arc reactor builds will be on the rise again. In an effort to get a jump start on the rest, I present this build for the arc reactor. The idea of this build is to present an arc reactor that requires soldering, but doesn't require machining. In this way it falls in the middle of the quality-effort arc reactor continuum.

Step 1 Tools/Materials

For this project, the following tools and materials are required:
Tools:

• Soldering Iron
• Solder
• Desoldering Braid
• Hemostats or SMD Tweezers
• Wire strippers
• Wire Cutters
• Hot Glue Gun
• Dremel Tool
• Safety Glasses (wouldn't want to lose an eye, would you?)

Materials:

• Stepper Motor (Either purchased or preferably salvaged from old broken electronics. VCRs, Printers, and DVD players are particularly good sources for stepper motors)
• Wire (22-26 gauge is ideal, instead of buying new wire, wire can also be harvested from existing cables. Old ethernet cables are particularly good sources for large amounts of wire.)
• Blue SMD LEDs (my project uses 6, but feel free to use more)
• Through Hole Resistors (I used some 150 ohm axials I had lying around, but depending on your led, you may want to size it accordingly. For those of you unfamiliar with electronics, this LED resistor calculator should help you figure out what resistance value to use.)

A quick note on safety: This project uses certain tools that could present a risk of injury. Eyeglasses are strongly recommended, and care and common sense is needed for safe operation of the dremel tool and soldering iron. The author of this instructable assumes no responsibility for injury or accident incurred while working on this project. Please, be safe and have fun.

Comments

[db'alexander]

Most old floppy disc drives have lovely looking copper wound stators within them, and they're dirt cheap as well. The trouble is finding one that is close to resembling the Iron Man one.

[reoga13]

 gotta insulate it and add some hi voltage spikes to it so if you palm somene with it they get zaped and think you have repulser tech...

[lane29]

you could just wire the coils up to aa tazer, neon power suply,anything high voltage, low watage

[atombomb1945]

Thumbs up on your build.  Not entirely movie accurate, but good enough that someone will be able to see it and know what it is.

Here's to the First Iron Man 2 build!