Wierd Stuff I have built

This was a bank of 8 lights which could be sequenced in just about any order. It did function, but it wasn't as dazzling as strobe lights. The 8 solid-state relays provided the AC control.

This is another blow-up from an Instamatic photo.

The chassis is another HV supply built around a flyback transformer. I built it while I was in the army. The other guys stayed away from my little projects, especially when they saw what this thing could do. I set a #6 flat-head wood screw on the chassis and drew an arc to it. The arc was so intense that the screw started glowing orange hot.

This is another HV oscillator. It was unfiltered, which came in handy one night. Someone in the next room had a radio playing way too loud while we were trying to sleep. I just reached up and flipped on the power. A few seconds later, his radio just hummed very loudly, then it went off. I turned off my oscillator, and we had peace and quiet.

Here are two modifications to the Sunwalker. This was a machine which had several photocells driving a small motor and gear train. When the sun was shining, it would wander around the yard.

Here's another reason I don't use cheap cameras anymore. This digital counter project was built on a copper clad board using only a jackknife and a soldering iron.

I didn't have much in the line of tools when I was first stationed in Germany, but I made do. One time I soldered a display tube in place using a crude iron made from a coat hanger and heated over a candle.

Here's the capacitor bank when the electrodes were still in place, at least the parts that weren't vaporized from all the arcing.

Here's a more sane HV supply using a flyback and a transistor.

On the subject of flybacks - you can make a nasty RF generator from an old color TV. Just take the HV lead off the plate of the HV rectifier, and bring it out to an antenna.

Don't try this at home. Don't try it at someone else's house either.

I strung out an antenna 11 feet off the ground, and fed the HV to it. This allowed me to carry the 10 foot fluorescent tubes around while they were lit. You can also set the tube upright on the ground, and it will light up between your hand and the RF source. Move your hand up and down, and the end of the lighted portion will follow your hand.

Again, this is very dangerous to do even if you are experienced.

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