The Headache Machine

No this is not a Virtual Boy from 1994, it is however an amazing device that you yourself can create in about 30 minutes. To good to be true you say? Thats what people said about the Flowbee. This Instructable is for those of you who have a complete disregard for yourself and those unfortunate enough to be anywhere near you. Actually building this device can lead to hearing damage, loss of balance and other inner ear problems, and a sudden loss of friends. You may also find that your pets and loved ones have abandoned you.

Step 1 Ingredients:

Ingredients:

This is our first Instructable so we decided to keep it simple. These are the parts you will need in order of importance. Feel free to substitute any of these items for what you have available to you of course why even bother making it if youre going to be like that.

1. A Holy Relic: We chose a fine paraffin candle from our local pharmacy. While obviously a reproduction it will still bestow luck and fortune to your device.

2. A Project Box: Its like an Altoids tin for someone who wants what they are working on to look good and not smell like a curiously strong piece of crap.

3. A Battery: We chose a 9-volt in case this device functioned properly and we were attacked by a roommate or loved one. The added weight of the battery will make the Headache machine more lethal if thrown in the vicinity of a persons face or groin.

4. A Battery Harness: You could just solder the leads directly to the battery. You could also cut your own hand off if you really wanted to but just because you can do something doesnt mean you should do it.

5. A Switch: We chose a 12VDC Toggle Switch with Safety Cover. While you can purchase these at your local electronics retail store we recommend springing for the real deal and getting one out of a Soviet era Mig fighter. Its really worth the extra effort.

6. A Piezo Buzzer: This is also known as a Piezo Speaker. We chose a 76dB 6-18VDC buzzer. This guy is a nice balance of price, size, and obnoxious noise. You could mount two or more buzzers or batteries to influence frequency and output. We were going to hook this device up to a scope to get more information but instead we ate birthday cake.

Comments

[noah472]

my battary is getting really realy hot is there a reason why

[dczupik]

oh, im sorry, i said that before i made, i had the same problem, your switch has to have a ground and it has to be connected right otherwise it will heat up

[dczupik]

im pretty sure that one of the wires is loosely connected somewhere, it makes a spark each time you turn it on, and for some reason it heats up the battery, atleast that was my problem, idk for sure

[bman2011]

same here, my batt getting hot when I use this thing

[bman2011]

Holy Cow!
I bought all this stuff,follow your guide to putting it together, and the damm thing works! This thing is great, I use it to wake my kids up for school, as they drag there asses out of bed! It was a great test of my soldering skills as well. I have two questions for DCI: Can you make the buzzer loader?
Could I add a laser diode to this for a laser trip alarm? More power and bigger box? Thank you again for this, I look forward to posting some photos, and building another one asap. BEN

[wcrooks]

What size is the project box?

[electfire]

Ha ha - great minds DO think alike!
I was (am) building something similar to this but I would have a relay that would latch it in an on state until a "reset" switch was pushed or otherwise activated.

[ducktape100]

i just made one yesterday it is really cool i got to big of a project box but that is all I bought all my stuff at radio shack i made it in about 1:00 hour you should all make one

[younglm]

You make a "Shiv", which is the device used to stab someone. typically in a prison. The act of stabbing someone with the "shiv" is " shanking" or "to shank".

Noun = "shiv"
Verb = "shank"

[adrian.robb]

TeeHee - for a moment I thought Jesus was pulling the fingers there :P

[ProjectZro]

this is nice now only if you could fit a pic chip to set it off at a certain time lol annoying grenade

[uberdum05]

Make it like a real grenade, try find a "fake" grenade case and modify it with a PIC/ AVR so you pull the pin, throw it and it makes a really really loud sound with BIGGER buzzer! :)

[Antikythera]

Forget PIC's. hardwire with these things called capacitors resistors and transistors.

[MatrixPhreak]

Here here! Though I am often times also guilty of slapping a mcu into a project that doesn't need that kind of functionality. Ahhh, overkill. Though I do miss the days of piezo speakers and capacitors, it takes me back.

[uberdum05]

lol yeah... :)

[Antikythera]

fine. Im just jealous cause my programing isn't so good.

[iamunique127]

This is the most humourous and entertaining Instructable I've read yet.
I will send this one to many freinds.
Thanks for the fun read.

BTW my manual is missing page 128.

[unanonymous]

what's a flowbee?

[sticksnpicks]

A hair-cutting device that's combined with a vacuum.

[unanonymous]

ouch

[Derrickvi]

I don't usually comment on anything. But this has been the most entertaining 'ible I've ever read.

[PyroMonger]

Just finished building my headache machine but i modified it slightly by making it remote controlled. I ripped out the transmitter and receiver from a cheap RC toy car I had and connected the receiver to the buzzer. Now I have to find an inconspicuous case for the receiver so no one will know who is setting it off.

Any ideas anyone?

[ducktape100]

how big was your project box;

[boygenuis32]

store the buzzer portion in one of those 'Wall Wart' plug-in power supplies, and use that to power and inconspicuously hide the buzzer.
As for the activator, put it on the back of your cell. While you look like you're texting, you're actually annoying the hell out of random people.

[realmassage]

I was actually thinking of hard wiring it to a motion sensor . . . . . maybe have some kind of timer, like in auto alarms, so it only goes for a little bit . . . .

[flamethrower1010]

 if you were to get a small pushbutton switch, and put the receiver and a few button cell batteries in a pen or even a hollowed out broken ipod, phone or like me who has like 100 a TV remote.

[mettaurlover]

try running the leads to a switch glued to oyur watch and wear long sleeves or just make it small enough an dhave atoggle switch for the activator in your pocket.

[PyroMonger]

not a bad idea but I was thinking more along the lines of building it into a cellphone case or something so people would think I'm just using my phone conveniently at the same time the buzzer goes off. ^_

[mettaurlover]

what kind of phone do you have? if it can be connected to a computer, you can write(or find) a program that the phone can run to send out a signal at the frequency of the reciever. therefore: you can activate it at almost any distance with your phone. kinda evil, but if you have a security cam in your room and can monitor it with your phone you can leave a few of these things in there as a trap.

[PyroMonger]

my current phone probably does not support this (sony ericsson w350i) but I'm upgrading soon to the Xperia X1. Hopefully that can do it but I have little to no knowledge of programming so that's my next dilemma but I love your ideas

[mettaurlover]

thanks. sorry about the phone, though. if it has a memory card slot then you can put the program on that for it, or maybe find the phone number that has the exact frequency of the reciever. that's why cell phones don't get that much static; they each have a unique frequency that can only be keyed in by the coontrol tower-thingy.

[PyroMonger]

yea my phone does have a memory card slot....I'll try working from there. thanks

[mettaurlover]

welcome. your phone may not be able to run programs from the card, though...

[Madrias357]

Place for the buzzer: some item commonly seen. Place for the device triggering buzzer: something you're normally seen with.

[alaskanbychoice]

Needs a timer in line that is random so that it will go off at random times for random lengths of time.

[ducktape100]

how big is the project box

[ducktape100]

really cool i going to make one

[UltraDawn]

terrific, humourous writing! Don't worry about the grammar police, your ideas come through just fine. I also love some of the ideas in other's comments! Remote control, activated by a phone call? Evil genius.

[ZeroError]

The constant, incorrect use of "you're", rather than "your" annoyed me greatly.

Other than that, great instructable!

[hpsaturn]

Very nice, i wish expanded your idea