"It's OK! We know what we're doing!"
(Sometimes)
Disclaimer: Many (maybe all?) of the things listed here as potential projects for the aspiring constructor are dangerous. I could go ahead and say "don't try this at home" or "not for kiddies," but maybe I'll try something different. Do what you want to do. I disclaim all responsibility for any damages incurred from anyone trying any of this. What you do is your responsibility. That said, experiment to your heart's content. As the electrostatics researcher A.D. Moore once put so well, the "Employees only due to insurance regulation" sign affixed to doors leading to machine shops and other wonderful and interesting places is perhaps the greatest destructive force to American (maybe world) youth today. Yes, be safe, kids. Play your Guitar Hero, don't actually ASK questions about how things work.
All that aside... always be careful and use your common sense. And never be afraid to ask questions, or say "I don't know, please teach me." Learning never ends, and that is a good thing.
"Buy the ticket... take the ride." -- Hunter S. Thompson
THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION, JUST LIKE THE ROADS OF NIAGARA FALLS EVERY BLASTED YEAR...
Ball-bearing Motor -- No magnets, no coils, just a few parts you can get from the hardware store, and it spins.
Geiger Counter -- So you've got a chunk of ore and want to detect some alphas? This'll do it.
Simple HV supply -- A source of HV for the practitioner of philosophia naturalis. Very simple, easy to construct.
12V ignition coil driver -- A few bells and whistles added from the original to give some protection to the circuitry.
Rose's metal -- A metal that melts in boiling water, and can be made with easy to get substances.
Flame radio -- Take a crystal radio, remove the crystal, add fire, listen to the sports report on AM!
Vacuum tube B+ supply -- It wastes power as heat, is not particularly intuitive, but it works.
Plasma capacitor -- Or, a capacitor partially made from the 4th state of matter.
Electrocannibalism -- Salvage electronics, reduce trash, help environment, save $$$. How can you lose?
HV multipliers -- This is dangerous.
Marx generator -- HV pulses of high current. This is an inductor-charged design, of which you don't seem to see many.
Homemade Cathode Ray Tube -- Slam high-speed electron beams into glass, bend said beam with a magnet, etc.
Curve Tracer -- Assumes you have an oscilloscope. Essential device for investigating amateur-made semiconductor devices.
More will be added as things progress. Last updated July 28, 2010
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