Flux Capacitor Prop With Christopher Lloyd’s Stamp Of Approval

We love our props here at Hackaday, and whenever we come across a piece from the Back To The Future fandom, it’s hard to resist showcasing it. In this case, [Xyster101] is showing of his build of Doc Brown’s Flux Capacitor.

[Xyster101] opted for a plywood case — much more economical than the $125 it would have cost him for a proper electrical box. Inside, there’s some clever workarounds to make this look as close as possible to the original. Acrylic rods and spheres were shaped and glued together to replicate the trinity of glass tubes, 3/4″ plywood cut by a hole saw mimicked the solenoids, steel rods were sanded down for the trio of points in the centre of the device and the spark plug wires and banana connectors aren’t functional, but complete the look. Including paint, soldering and copious use of hot glue to hold everything in place, the build phase took about thirty hours.

The LEDs have multiple modes, controlled by DIP switches hidden under a pipe on the side of the box. There’s also motion sensor on the bottom of the case that triggers the LEDs to flicker when you walk by. And, if you want to take your time-travel to-go, there’s a nine volt plug to let you show it off wherever — or whenever — you’re traveling to. Check out the build video after the break.

With this flux capacitor in hand, grab this time circuit display and cram them both into eD, the electric DeLorean, and you’re well on your way to living in the future.

[Via Imgur]

20 thoughts on “Flux Capacitor Prop With Christopher Lloyd’s Stamp Of Approval

  1. The glass tubes and the cylindrical parts that make up the flux capacitor are actually vacuum relays from Torr Industries, I think. Got a bunch of them a couple years ago in a power supply I bought for parts. Selling those ended up paying the trip to get the power supplies.

  2. It’s a really great build! Lots of very tiny detailed followed.I’ve learned one small thing regarding wire layout. I get cheap “paper PCBs” off ebay and use them as terminal strips for EVERYTHING. Between just keeping your components on cheap protoboard rather than flapping in the breeze or gooped up in hot snot, it tidy up your wiring so much. Even if you just do point to point wiring on the proto board, it really keeps things tidy. Headers can easily be soldered to the PC boards, and you can then have a few wire bundles that plug into the boards. I also learned how to do wire lacing, which keeps loose wires even tighter. Tape or zip ties works equally as well as lacing. If you go the lacing route, I just use unwaxed, unflavored dental floss, which is available at nearly any store, and dirt cheap. Tidy cable management and tying components together on a cheap proto PC board can make the back of the panel look as sweet as the front of the panel!

  3. Build a REAL one, and it’ll impress…..sick of hearing “where’s the flux capacitor ?” everytime I had my DeLorean outside of the garage. One of the reasons I sold it. Absolutely wanted to punch the last &@#^ idiot in the face that asked me that at a gas station. Oddly enough, the buyer emailed me back and said “you know, you were right, it does get old !”….Zemeckis should have picked a damn AMC Pacer instead of bastardizing the DeLorean.

    1. I don’t think the DeLorean would have the cult following that it has today if not for the movies.

      The cocaine jokes bother me more than the Back to the Future comments when I have my car out.

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