Projectile Launcher

I regularly look on the Instructables website (esp. the tech section) for various hacks and projects that I can pursue. One such Instructable was the butane-powered "gun" (more like miniature cannon -- it's not very strong) made from a Crayola marker and a Bic pen. And a lighter. So several weeks ago, I built it. It works. Barely. It works exceedingly well with the right projectile (rubber o-ring thingy with a screw through the middle). Pencil erasers are especially good projectiles -- they fit perfectly in the Bic pen barrel. However, it is not efficient nor is it strong enough to be of any practical use other than proof-of-concept. I'll post pictures and link to the Instructable later.

Jam Jar Jet Update

Hi.

I've found some 3/8 drill bits and HAND-drilled (meaning turning the stupid bit around by hand and with nothing else) a single hole in a tomato sauce glass jar cap. And widened it using a can opener. Funfunfun. I've got the thing to ignite using the same rubbing alcohol and have it run for a couple seconds before it chokes itself out.

Possible reasons for choking out:
-gets too hot too fast; liquid alcohol evaporates quicker, messes up fuel/air ratio. there actually seems to be a certain temperature range that makes the thing go better.
-hole is of a bad size. i don't think so, because i've been slowly carving my way up from 3/8 to near 5/8 holes.
-no diffuser. probably not the main reason, but may contribute to the problem. alcohol gets pretty agitated by the constant barrage of explosions inside the jar.

It's fun to ignite. At first, when igniting a cold jar, the flame propogates from the top of the hole where it was ignited, running down the inside wall of the jar in a ring of fire until it gets to the bottom. Then, it coughs and starts to run like it's supposed to. It actually sounds like a car engine, starting slow then slowly speeding up. Then it chokes itself out. If the jar is warm/hot when it is first ignited, there is a HUGE jet of hot gas that BURSTS forth before it starts up. The problem is, if it is too violent of a starting jet, it doesn't start and just sits there. Dunno why.
The exhaust (especially leftover in the jar from running it) smells funky. The cut edge of the cap and several metal shavings in the bottom of the jar have both turned red from corrosion.

Wanna Arduino

I wanna Arduino.

New Project!

I have decided that the HHO Torch is going nowhere and that its efficiency at what it does will not be sufficient for my needs until I can get more information and materials. Thus, the project is suspended.

Taking its place is the creation and experimentation of valveless pulse jets, starting with the Jam Jar Jet featured in Make Magazine. Since I don't have a 1/2 inch drill bit, I'm drilling one 1/8 hole and several little holes around it in a circular/star arrangement. I'm hoping that works. I've done it first on (you've guessed it) apple juice bottles, but they were too tall and narrow to be effective. Thus, I've cleaned out 3 tomato sauce jars and one bamboo shoot jar to use. They're glass. I've done the same thing with the holes as mentioned above, and am testing the bamboo shoot jar first. I'm using rubbing alcohol (70%) as fuel.

BTW, I've found some 30% hydrogen peroxide. But it's old. I have yet to see whether it has lasted all this time.



And stemming off the last post, I have not (to date) spent $$ on any of my projects (except for a transistor from RadioShack, and my current soldering set). All the materials and tools were either gifts or garbage. Usually it's the latter.

I have updated my Thinkpad T60 with a new 320 GB WD Scorpio Blue 2.5" hard drive. Now I dual-boot Ubuntu and Windows, as opposed to single-booting Ubuntu. However, it makes this strange clicking sound every 10-15 seconds when it's idle...might be the safety feature on it. I'm thinking to add an internal bluetooth module, but I remember that my particular model (1951-44U) was not capable of an "official" bluetooth upgrade. Oh well.

I have hacked a Taiwanese rubber band gun to become more powerful. Now, it will shoot with the same power of a regular person if the proper rubber band is selected. I've lashed together an extension made of a toy tank turret fragment, and 5 pieces of bamboo chopsticks. And lots of cyanoacrylate.

More info will pop up randomly like above later.

Reminiscence

I've decided to describe all the stuff in the first post in detail.

1. Flyback Transformer -- It started when I found this HUGE TV on the side of the road, ready to be demolished by the evils of unenvironmental people in orange jackets. I brought it home (with the assistance of an innocent bystander) and found that it actually was in working order. O_o. But because my family had no use and no room for it, I was given the OK to take it apart. And of course, before taking apart huge things that emit radiation, I looked online for things to target and not to target. I found the flyback transformer as one of them. I desoldered it and started searching for drivers. I think I still have the circuit board for the TV.

a. Single-Transistor Driven -- The first driver I used was the basic single-transistor driver. The only thing I had to buy was the transistor. I salvaged everything else. The driver worked well, 2 cm arcs. Estimated 15-30 kV.

b. CFL-driven -- I was looking around on Instructables.com when I found a new driver that was alleged to work. So I took apart a 13 watt CFL (compact fluorescent light -- those light bulbs that are all spirally and twisty) and hooked it up. It works. Same results as the single transistor.

2. Numerous Takeaparts -- I'll list as many as I can think of. Hard drives, cameras (digital and disposable), TV, computer monitors, numerous computers, laptops, CD drive, floppy drive, computer PSU, iPods, carbon monoxide alarm, solar powered calculator,...That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there's more.

3. Volume-Reduction of a Flat-Screen LCD -- I took apart a flat-screen LCD that still worked well but was being disposed of because it wasn't being used. So I took it apart (the casing was HUGE) and built a cardboard enclosure that reduced the thickness by more that 30%.

4. Hard-Drive Takeaparts -- I've obtained numerous hard drives over the years (at first for the magnets inside). Now, I've got a 20 GB, 400 GB (bought), and two 30 GB (one dead). Others were here before but are no longer with us.

5. Butane-Fueled Gun -- A film canister with an aluminum tube sticking out the cap. I consider it a failure because it failed to produce the thrust necessary to shoot something. Sparks were made by piezoelectric igniters from lighters.

6. HHO Torch -- See posts for more info.

7. LED destruction -- Purely a for-fun project. Attach a electric bug racket to an LED. Watch out for shrapnel. 'Nuff said.

8. Capacitor Banks -- Using flash capacitors from disposable cameras, I've made a 5-cap bank. Because it pulse-discharges at 300 volts, it is considerably powerful enough to blast craters in pennies and vaporize large circles of aluminum. And vaporize thin wires completely.

9. Setting Random Things on Fire -- This is self-explanatory.

10. Match Rockets -- Very fun thing to do. I've made double and triple matchhead models but had them blow up in mid-air.

I'll post more later. This is not all that I've done. This is just the beginning.

New Cell Layout

Building on the last post's electrode plans, after extensive testing, I'm going to make a "cell" out of the carbon electrodes. Each row of electrodes will be joined together by a soldered wire, and there will be several rows, alternating between (-) and (+).

I'm still looking for a new bootleg flashback arrestor...the last one made from a medicine pill bottle had unforeseen leaks.

Also, during the long hiatus, I had beefed up the capacitor bank charger/discharger. Now it blows half-centimeter diameter holes in aluminum foil and blasts little craters (deep enough to see zinc) in pennies. I may or may not post pictures of those.

I know how confusing this is, so pics in a few!

Choice of Electrodes

Sorry for the long hiatus. School started.

I've chosen carbon rods for my electrodes. This is because they don't contaminate the water and remain conductive.

To keep the surface-volume ratio high, I've chosen sticks of .5 mm pencil lead. They will be "soldered" onto a thin aluminum wire (they aren't actually soldered, they reject being soldered, but it maintains a better electrical connection and holds the sticks in place). Pictures and results later!

New Plans

Plannin' on replacing the electrodes with a whole cell, made out of either aluminum mesh (yeah, right....they'll disappear into powder) or razor blades. This cell will feature neutral plates, which should boost the gas output.

v3.1 Completed and Tested

HHO Torch v3.1 was completed and tested. The electrolytic cell is made from an apple juice bottle with gold (plated?) electrodes from IC sockets. The cell works fine and is leak-free, but the new flashback arrestor made from a prescription med pill bottle appears to have a leak. Due to this leak, no flame was produced...yet. Gas output was much better with the new electrodes, and surprisingly did not vary with changing current. The gold electrodes on the anode somehow got black residue on them but was replaced as the residue was difficult to remove. More research found the 923 Hz frequency and Stan Meyer's research to be of questionable integrity. Photos soon.

Version 3 completed. It consists of an plastic bottle with a more airtight screw-on cap connected to a pill bottle (flashback arrestor) with a 120v power cord insulation tube. Just finished testing it and determined that oxyhydrogen output is way too low. Researching on how to produce 923 Hz electric outputs for higher production efficiency. Pictures soon.