Not that this isn’t an awesome hack, but this has definatly been posted before.

Posted at 1:01 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by matt

that. is cool.

Posted at 1:26 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by Gimp

Yup, I remember it too.

And since I’m supposed to be studying for tomorrow’s chem exam, propane would look like
\/, C3H8

Posted at 1:37 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by Tyler

Oh my god no don’t use PVC; why the hell would anyone do that? Who even told you this is PVC? it’s not. It’s most probably piece of galvanized stovepipe just like any cheap ruben’s tube (the stuff is even cheaper than PVC and as a bonus you don’t have to inhale burning plastic). The trick with stovepipe is that it has a seam so you have to caulk it with high-temperature caulk. Look for fireplace/firebox caulking.

You also want to choose a speaker with as little rubber and paper as possible; So long as it doesnt have a perforation in the cone any cheap speaker shoudl be fine for short runs; however for prolonged use you should opt for a speaker with a metal diaphram and dust cap (cone) and silicone surrounds. If you don’t want to dump a ton on a speaker that will likely meet its end by fire, you might consider making one yourself by starting with a cheap paper-cone speaker. The quality of the speaker is relatively unimportant for this project.

I built a super cheap one that fits in my fireplace: http://www.fattyco.org/gaslog/ I didnt use a nice speaker though; the cone can take the heat but the foam surrounds have melted a couple of times causing the speaker to incenerate. It’s a rather cool failure but anyone attempting this build should try to avoid it.

Posted at 1:48 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by John Laur

Neat! This is completely different from the “flame speaker”, where ions in the flame are attracted to charged wires, making the flame vibrate according to the signal.

It’s a treble-only device, but listening to the news on a propane torch will get a classroom full of science students paying attention, guaranteed!

Posted at 2:04 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by Myself

My physics teacher did this with a copper tube, and a a funnel on one end with a latex glove stretched over it. This provides a bigger “drum head” and also a stop for the propane. You can then also put a bigger speaker on it and use all the extra power of it.

Posted at 2:38 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by spencermarkd

i made one of these for my ap physics final project, i was lazy and used free pvc instead of buying the proper tubing, needless to say it destroyed itself quickly, but i aced the project :) my teacher was a pyro

http://swcs.wnyric.org/hs/teacher_pages/pagett_j/AP_Projects/07/Josh_Mo_demo.htm

thats a demo video, but the tube was almost destroyed by then from previous trials, so the effect isn’t as glorious as it once was

Posted at 3:34 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by thegreenbutcher

@john
THe guy in the video seems to say it’s PVC near the beginning.

Posted at 3:50 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by follower

he has used Pvc pipe, 2″ diameter then he has covered the holes with silver reflective tape (possible some kind of adhesive tin)

I so want one of these for my next party, a wikid physcial visulisation for the music, the only thing better would be if you could use a laser to project the wave form of the music onto the wall

Posted at 5:29 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by Apothus

H H H
H-C-C-C-H
H H H

sweet. time to build one. :)

Posted at 5:46 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by Urza

that’s pretty sweet… I would love to see that kinda thing at a heavy metal bar or something, lining the areas just out of reach on the walls. Maybe in the colder monthes of the year as it might make things a bit warm after a while.

Posted at 10:35 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by sinerasis

I remember when they did this on an episode of MythBusters, really cool to watch!

Posted at 10:42 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by Erik

A much safer solution would be to use metal gaspipe that is cheap, and much more resistant to heat. With the added benefit that you can, you know, actually leave it running.

For the best effect, I have found that putting the holes a little farther apart so that individual flames instead of a single line of flames works the best. It does like to flame out every once in a while, so I put a pilot light on the one side (put a T in the gasline before the speaker, and let it constantly burn) so that it would re-light if it happens to go out on a particularly heavy-hit from the bass.

Posted at 11:13 am on Jun 26th, 2007 by Alexander

Wow that looks awesome, If I had a propane tank and pvc tube I would sooo do that. My friend is in physics over the summer. I’m going to show him this and see if he can get his teacher to do this. I’ll ask if we can do this for a lab for when I’m in physics.

Posted at 3:58 pm on Jun 26th, 2007 by Zeek

Would stove pipe be rigid enough? copper or black steel would be better choices. Mixing air with the propane before it enters the tube should make nicer flames that resist blowing out. Any way now there is a far out use fore those tiny speakers at the surplus sites. In the event smaller diameter pipe(lighter to handle less expensive) would give the same results.

Posted at 4:01 pm on Jun 26th, 2007 by static

pure awsomeness

Posted at 5:01 pm on Jun 27th, 2007 by crgwbr

what a great demonstration!
wow great music choices and everything!

i thank you for it!

Posted at 11:57 am on Jun 28th, 2007 by strider_mt2k

hrm, i wonder if i can do this in my physics class. what excuse culd i use?

i am an alevel student so ive got access to everything. hmmm could have some fun here

Posted at 12:21 pm on Jun 28th, 2007 by justifier

::Trying to hook up my iRiver to my Zippo::

Posted at 4:33 am on Jun 29th, 2007 by Punkisdread

why don’t use a copper tube? it’s cheap and can stand lots of heat

Posted at 1:06 pm on Jun 29th, 2007 by rescbr

Wow… thats a great nice demonstration!!!

No graphics, no s/w…. absolute real fire dancing along with the music :)

Kiran, (http://trafficsqueezer.sourceforge.net)

Posted at 9:26 am on Jul 5th, 2007 by Kiran

im a physics major at Bethel U, and we have one of these things we use for gen. physics demonstrations of waves… its made of some kind of metal pipe about 6″ diameter with holes (about 1 mm across or so) every centimeter or so. its pretty cool, but nothing new… i wouldnt do it with pvc, it just sounds like a really bad idea

Posted at 8:47 pm on Jul 19th, 2007 by peter

Wow. That’s probably the coolest thing I’ve seen all day. I remember, like the commenter above, they did the same thing on mythbusters. It wasn’t as cool the first time for some reason.

Posted at 3:40 pm on Sep 18th, 2009 by Jack London