tesla

122 Articles

Singing Tesla Coils

June 12, 2008 by 13 Comments


The video above is ArcAttack! playing the classic “Popcorn” through their signature Tesla coils. Solid state Tesla coils (SSTC) can generate sound using what [Ed Ward] calls pulse repetition frequency (PRF) modulation. The heat generated by the plasma flame causes rapid expansion of the surrounding air and a resulting soundwave. An SSTC can be operated at just about any frequency, so you just need to build a controller to handle it. The task is made more difficult because very few electronics are stable in such an intense EM field. [Ed] constructed a small Faraday cage for his microcontroller and used optical interconnects to deliver the signals to the Tesla coils.

[via Laughing Squid]

DIY Plasma Gun

August 8, 2007 by 12 Comments


[Richard] took another shot at his battery powered tesla coils. He sent in his latest hand held plasma gun. He modified his battery powered tesla coil to work as a handheld. He added a large copper pad to the drill handle to couple the RF ground to the human torch holding it.. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of tesla lately, but who here wouldn’t want one? (Maybe the guy in the server room…)

All the parts needed are listed – just be sure you fully understand everything before you get into this one.

Back From Vegas Extra

August 6, 2007 by 47 Comments


I made it home after a long day of travel. Airport security let me through with my new home server – a 1U dual P3 800Mhz Compaq rackmount that I scored from the guys at UNIX surplus. Yes, it was my carry-on personal item.

Somehow I missed the MIDI tesla coil last month. Thanks to [skuhl] for sending it in. It’s a solid state coil that’s modulated to create one bad-ass midi box. The videos are worth checking out.

[martin] tells me that the Pentax k10d firmware has been hacked for polish menus. I’ll let you guys sort through it, I’m honestly too tired to deal with translating it right now.

[Alex] re-cased a macbook power supply to repair a slightly ripped out power cable. Those power supplies aren’t cheap, so it’s worth noting.

By the way, I’ve got one of the midnight research wicrawl CDs, so ask nice if you want me to put up a torrent.