Steampunk Vibrator

steampunk_vibrator

[Ani Niow] built this steam powered vibrator. It has a milled stainless steel shell with a brass motor structure. The motor is a Tesla turbine made from a stack of Dremel diamond cutoff wheels. This drives an off-center weight to create the vibration. She tested it using a pressure cooker as the steam source. It worked, but became so hot it had to be held using welding gloves. It works just as well with compressed air though. You can see the device at the Femina Potens Art Gallery in San Francisco or later this month at Maker Faire.

[via Laughing Squid]

UPDATE: [Ani] responds in the comments.

120 thoughts on “Steampunk Vibrator

  1. Ok, there probably is abit of a reason to complain, but come on, it is more of an art project that I personally think is brilliant.

    If your at a place of work, maybe you shouldn’t be browsing the web, let alone setting your homepage to something fancy while your ment to be… well… working?

  2. When i saw this, first i read the title

    Steampunk Vibrator

    I laughed, i said to myself

    “What hilarious names they have for stuff these days !”

    Then i looked at the picture…

    “Thats even more hilarious ! it even looks like a vibrator !”

    I read the passage…

    “oh… It is a vibrator…”

    I thought about that for a while

    “HaHaHa That is Hilarious !!!”

  3. There is absolutely nothing wrong about this article from a nsfw prospective.

    However, those of us who had the misfortune to click the hyperlink to the supposed ‘art gallery’ may beg to differ. That was a very disgusting site.

  4. don’t click on the links @ work.. lol, I thought this was a joke and had some practical application like distilling water er something “ear cleaner, Facial massager” anyway I scrolled down the page and saw these artistic phallic type projects and I quickly tried to close internet explorer and it hung forever and my boss walked by… yata yata yata and… BTW why make it run off of steam or air seems like a lot for so little… why not make it solor power and use it out side… oops!

  5. I have to say, I don’t see what everyone else is whining about with the “nsfw” garbage. It’s just one small news blurb out of many on the page and includes no, particularly, offensive language or pictures. Of course, if you’re at work don’t click on the link to the site. But, then again, that should just be a matter of common sense. Perhaps the artist should have stuck a little more closely with the turn of the century close-mindedness and hidden the function of her device with such pseudonyms as “massaging device”.

    Seriously, though, I do like the use of the Tesla turbine and like the above recommendation of using rivets. My own recommendation would be to look into using tap water as the working fluid. Assuming you don’t have water pressure issues it should work just fine. This would, also, allow you to control the temperature based on personal preference.

    Lastly, I need to know how, exactly, a steam powered device that uses a Tesla turbine can be anything but Steam-punk? Sure, may be missing a little flare (rivets, brass frill, wood inlay, etc.) but the tech screams steam punk.

  6. @ nsfw complainers:

    my guess is that very few readers of hackaday can plausibly claim that visiting this site at work is even remotely work-related. thus, you’re more than likely in direct violation of whatever “internet usage policy” your company has drafted up; you’re surfing for personal, non work-related reasons. even if you’re on break or whatever, i’ve never seen an internet usage policy that stated that all bets are off once you’re on your lunch break. completely putting aside the argument of whether or not this is nsfw, it’s ridiculous for you to be upset about it regardless. it’d be like saying propane or electricity is responsible for the scalding that occurred after you boiled water and purposefully poured it all over yourself.

    i’m not saying that i don’t do personal web surfing at work, and i’d be willing to bet most of us do. i even bet that despite usage policies, most managers for better or worse would allow a certain amount of personal web usage as long as you’re not a dumbass about it. once you’ve decided to browse for personal reasons, however, you’re responsible for that decision, not hackaday. having hackaday as your homepage at work is just ridiculous.

    @ naysayers:

    as far as the project, it’s cool. someone went into a shop and machined some metal, implemented a design for mostly artistic purposes but also as a proof of concept. why are the writers and readers of this page getting more and more caught up with how useful something is? who cares if it’s not mass-market capable, or even practical? it’s someone making something. there’s plenty of interesting stuff on this website that is more practical, where something was needed and the market didn’t have it. there’s also plenty of cool stuff that more artistic or just a fun build. i’d suggest chilling out and just appreciating what others are doing, or change the website name to reflect that you only want entirely practical and useful inventions that are already debugged and being manufactured in china.

  7. Just want to say before i get lost in the shuffle that this would not have been “milled” primarily, but “lathed”, contrary to what the article says.

    And seriously? The word “vibrator” is NSFW? really? Wow.
    -Taylor

  8. Ah, back to classics! In my day, we used handcrack-operated ones (they did exist, yes, even if I’m a bit young for that)…

    Hackaday.com: Strong enough for a man, but good enough for a woman?

  9. A suggestion on the heating problem (making the impractical practical is always fun, even when entirely pointless): evaporative cooling. Good ol’ evap cooling used in fridges the world over. The problem would be tuning the rate of cooling from the evaporator to the temperature (which I’d assume would correlate to the pressure, but I Am Not a Steam Engine Mechanic) of the steam. Maybe a pressure valve coupled with a spring to vary the expansion chamber size? Ideally you’d want the temperature to be somewhere between ‘cauterising’ and ‘meat popsicle’.

  10. Seriously guys, Its a vibrator. Have a laugh, dont get serious and move on. She deserves to be on hackaday (tesla vibrators are a new concept) even though it needs a few tweaks (like a body temperature usage temperature (you know what i mean). Not sure if I want to see her using it but hey, thats just me. Lols, 73’s

  11. 2nd female to complete any project in that shop in the last 6 years, let alone a project of unique design. It’s simply a Tesla Steam Engine ~plus adapter~ if you were to ask me… and if it works to keep ’em coming (to the shop, dirty minded peeps), it works for me!

  12. @wwhat:
    sex is a gret way to get humans interested in technology, in fact it’s a great way to get them interested in most anything really :)

    Men usually more so than women

  13. why is this here? keep this shit off hackaday. there are plenty of how-to’s on how to make vibrators and dildos as it is, and if we’ve found this site, odds are, we can find those on our own.

    we come here, to this site, for good technology things. a turbine-powered butt-plug isn’t part of its- in fact, a blanket term- anything *remotely* related to genitalia and sexual function doesn’t belong here! ever!

      1. Geez; people are so repressed it disgusts me as much as the fetishists on the opposite side of the coin. (not that I am judging; some of that extreme stuff is just NOT for me.)

  14. @Choscura: Amen brother! And to ecpand on your arbitrary reasoning:

    “why is this here? keep this shit off hackaday. there are plenty of how-to’s on how to make mechanical devices as it is, and if we’ve found this site, odds are, we can find those on our own.”

    “why is this here? keep this shit off hackaday. there are plenty of how-to’s on how to make electronic devices as it is, and if we’ve found this site, odds are, we can find those on our own.”

    “why is this here? keep this shit off hackaday. there are plenty of how-to’s on how to make PCBs as it is, and if we’ve found this site, odds are, we can find those on our own.”

    “why is this here? keep this shit off hackaday. there are plenty of how-to’s on how to make Hacks as it is, and if we’ve found this site, odds are, we can find those on our own.”

    “why is this here? keep this shit off hackaday. there are plenty of how-to’s on how to make just about anything as it is, and if we’ve found this site, odds are, we can find those on our own.”

  15. Wow, I never knew contact with human genitalia (or, in this case, implied contact) has the magic power to render any piece of tech “not a hack”. You learn something new every day…

  16. Wow, never knew there were so many closed minded people out there. Funny to read the comments. Love the equipment, and yes it would be nice with other fitments, but like the builder said, it’s a proof of concept, I am a steampunk builder, and i build a proof of concept then the actual full functional piece afterwards. Just the fact it uses a Tesla turbine is great. And yes I am at work, just have to be smart about what i click on.

  17. Hmmm? Sex and technology, are 2 thing’s that I can relate to. I experience my first erotic vacation last year at an escorts resort called charlisangels. The resort is known for it’s all inclusive beach front villa with European and Russian escorts. I’m planning to visit the adult sex vacation resort this summer.

  18. So umm if it gets so hot that you have to wear a glove to hold it… doesnt that defy the point of pleasure.. and skip over to extremely painful…..and with such skills you probably could of furnished something more practical than a dildo..

  19. i went through the read up and saw how it was done and was planning to late up one, i asked my girlfriend if she would ever use it, the response was an astonishing “NO! I’m not gonna use something that has that much freaking power!!!” so, the whole moral discussion about whether this belongs on hackaday is moot when it wouldn’t even be used due to the whole ,uncomfortable over kill, aspect. The only use something like this would be useful for would be getting the bubbles out of concrete.

  20. I suppose I must be considered a fool when I saw the shape of it, and didn’t think “sexual vibrator”. I saw “massager/muscle relaxer”. On that note, I even liked the idea. Granted, humans with use all sorts of things for other-than-intended purposes, and Ani apparently intended it as a sexual vibrator (or mock one at least), but hey…that’s the NATURE of a hack; changing the aesthetics of something or using it for other than it’s intended purpose, modifying functionality, etc. Let’s keep the MORAL ISSUES off Hack-a-Day and leave it what it is: a website about creating and modifying things. This project amused me and my girlfriend greatly, and there’s nothing about it that grates against Hack-a-Day’s sensibilities. Cheers, and relax, folks!

  21. While it is an interesting hack, espcially in that it will get over 100 degrees c when in use, I let my kids read this site, and I don’t really want to explain what this type of thing is for yet.

    Interestingly, the language in some of the comments is worse than the topic.

    Lighten up people, and lets try to keep this relatively kid friendly.

  22. If you had the motor section be entirely separate from the business end and have them screw together you could lessen the heating problem slightly due to the small air pockets between the pieces and would be able to lessen it further by using a material that transfers heat poorly (polished wood, silicone) for the business end and/or adding an outer/inner wall design to the motor housing so the part that holds the motor in place isn’t held directly by the user.

  23. @ani: Amazing ingenuity, artistically pleasing, and just a damned cool idea. As you’ve stated it’s primarily art, it’s impracticality is not an issue.

    @whiners: You don’t have the right to not be offended, get over it.

    @neo-puritans: See @whiners

    The fact that women are still highly underrepresented in the scientific, engineering and manufacturing development communities is still very real. Let’s not smack on a lady who obviously has more skill, intelligence and drive than many of the people bashing her, aye?

  24. @jerod

    You’re right on the money! I think to use something as cool as tesla turbine as a vibrator is pretty damn clever. I’m not offended at it at all. I’m just shocked to see among a list of innocent hacks a vibrator is staring me in the face. LOL!

  25. My god, you people.. A vibrator doesn’t have to be a sexual thing, you prevert it (just like I did when I heard it), I know plenty children’s toys that have ‘vibrators’ in them. If she would have said it was made for annoying people with rapid thumping sounds there wouldn’t have been as much fuss.

  26. This is the first time commenting on this site since I first started scrolling it since jan of last year. The vibrator itself doesn’t cause me to comment( though it came close to, no pun intended). It’s the fact that so many of those commenting are so worked up about the sexual/sensual nature of the hack and not the engineering aspect that went into it. Yes, it’s a vibrator, but many items have been crafted and built on sexual/sensual related items( and vice verse). From latex gloves( latex condoms) to the development of the web itself( you can’t tell me porn hasn’t been one of the main components of web’s early development). This hack is the coming-together of the sexual, the geeky, the nostalgic and the innovative. NSFW??? Get off your high horse and go. That’s like saying that going into someone else’s house, finding some nude pics of them and telling them that they are wrong for having it. Their house, their stuff, their rules. Dictating what they do in their own house is not for someone who willingly entered on their own volition. If you think it’s wrong, skip it and move on. They have email that can handle that in a way that you don’t end up looking like a puritan fool and disrespecting in the open, another person’s hard work of art. And that’s what this is. Plain and simple.

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