Tesla Foil
2 July 2009 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dime_novel_heroAt Marcon, Louis Nicoulin showed me a take on a steampunk lightsaber that inspired me to construct my own device. When I built my walking stick, I had wanted to add an electrical sword component, much like Agatha Heterodyne created in the Phil and Kaja Foglio webcomic "Girl Genius." While the sword cane idea didn't pan out, with Louis's brilliant idea of using a telescoping magnetic pick-up tool, I was quickly off on a steampunk lightsaber design, or rather, a Teslatronic fencing foil.
The first thing was replacing the single magnetic tool with two telescoping radio antennas. Two of them turns the thing into a Jacob's Ladder sort of device. Oh, if only I could get electricity to arc between the two electrodes but that is way beyond what could be safe and handheld. I also wanted to bend the ends to match the way the tips are on Agatha's swords but I found that the alignment didn't stay the way I needed them to so I bent them back.
The grip is a wood dowel wrapped in leather. The front end is a PVC plumbing connector with a bike gear inside. The rear end is some more plumbing with a piece of gutter mesh on a core rod from a lamp. I need something more inside the chamber. Something that lights up. Some vacuum tubes would be good. I added the copper wire and connectors on the side of the grip because I wanted it to be more busy. More steampunky. It also looks inherently dangerous because it's clearly something that should carry some high voltage current but it is right next to where the operator's hand goes.
I want to add a connector at the back end so that I can run a cable to an off-hand generator as is in "Girl Genius". That would be a hand held box with moving parts and flashing lights. Large Tesla coils have an alternator that consists of a rotating disk with contacts that ark brightly and loudly with extremely high voltages. They look a bit like a Wimshurst Machine on steroids (at least, that what it looked like at the Science Center when I worked there). I'm not sure that would look quite right so now I'm thinking of a more traditional generator looking device but without the enclosing (and concealing) magnets. It would look a bit like a rotary engine but with two rotating in opposite directions with strobing lights inside to simulate arcing electricity. For the cable from the generator to the foil, I think a braided plumbing hose as is used for faucets would look good. Most of the ones I see on line have been chromed but I'm sure I can find one in the original, uncoated brass.
A sound effect would be good. Those greeting cards that allow you to record your own message might work. I could remove it from the card and record the sound of arcing electricity to play as a continuous loop either in the foil or in the generator.
(Crossposted at Steamfashion)
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| Teslatronic fencing foil |
The grip is a wood dowel wrapped in leather. The front end is a PVC plumbing connector with a bike gear inside. The rear end is some more plumbing with a piece of gutter mesh on a core rod from a lamp. I need something more inside the chamber. Something that lights up. Some vacuum tubes would be good. I added the copper wire and connectors on the side of the grip because I wanted it to be more busy. More steampunky. It also looks inherently dangerous because it's clearly something that should carry some high voltage current but it is right next to where the operator's hand goes.
I want to add a connector at the back end so that I can run a cable to an off-hand generator as is in "Girl Genius". That would be a hand held box with moving parts and flashing lights. Large Tesla coils have an alternator that consists of a rotating disk with contacts that ark brightly and loudly with extremely high voltages. They look a bit like a Wimshurst Machine on steroids (at least, that what it looked like at the Science Center when I worked there). I'm not sure that would look quite right so now I'm thinking of a more traditional generator looking device but without the enclosing (and concealing) magnets. It would look a bit like a rotary engine but with two rotating in opposite directions with strobing lights inside to simulate arcing electricity. For the cable from the generator to the foil, I think a braided plumbing hose as is used for faucets would look good. Most of the ones I see on line have been chromed but I'm sure I can find one in the original, uncoated brass.
A sound effect would be good. Those greeting cards that allow you to record your own message might work. I could remove it from the card and record the sound of arcing electricity to play as a continuous loop either in the foil or in the generator.
(Crossposted at Steamfashion)
