Relaxiation Machine,

I have been neglecting this project for months I first started back in July, I saw the AV contest and thought why not get it posted.

From the photos you can see it's a small B+W  T.V. with a ring of magnets surrounding the yoke, they are driven in circles by a small clock motor, the patterns morph slowly like a modern screen saver, I placed a few extra magnets around the tube to add to the patterns.

I considered posting a You Tube video of it but it changes rather slowly, about 3 minutes to complete a cycle, and thought it would bore everyone to death, but the fact is having it on is very relaxing.

Step 1: The Innards

The basic construction method is to strip the cover off a small TV mount it to a board, remove the magnetic yoke, place a ring of magnets on the tube in front of the yoke, and replace it.


A way to drive the collar of magnets around is needed so dig up a small motor or figure out how to do it manually.

The stong mannets from hard drives really work well to pull the electrons off course and make the patterns. 
A very nice improvment to my creation would be a variable speed function for the rotating magnets to speed up or slow
the pattern progress.

Step 2: The Covers

The front cover is a down light cover with a overhead projector lens installed to enlarge the image, the whole thing is mounted in a sonna tube with a vinyl cover, I had a green peice of stained glass which I think I'll put back, it lent a more sci-fi look than the plain blue tube alone.

I strongly recommend filling the sprial gaps in the tube before putting the vinyl on, the indents give some pretty strong clues as to what you made it out of.

Have fun don't shock yourself playing with TV tube voltages.