Category: Projects

The BlitzenKlavier

Though I built this guy back in 2012, I haven’t really taken the time yet to make a post about how it works. Finally, here’s part 1 in…

Cone beam CT scanner

This was a short experiment in cone-beam CT reconstruction. I built a scanner from craigslist parts, which was capable of reconstructing a package of hot dogs with only…

Backpack X-Ray Machine

This is a project I took from conception, to sketch, to working design in about 4 month’s time. It is the most powerful handheld x-ray source in existence….

Luldlum Model 12 Restoration

Recently I’ve been restoring a Ludlum Model 12 rate meter. What is that you might ask? The best ratemeter on this side of Si Valley, that’s what! I…

The Bass Cannon

Every once in a while I build something ridiculous, and this would be one of those whiles. Ladies and Gentlemen of the internet, I present to you what…

Amplifying your WIFI

I moved California. More about that on another post. Since then, I’ve (well, we’ve) had wifi problems, specifically ones emergent of what I consider to be some terrible…

Evolution of Segue, Part 2

Hardware development is painfully slow. But it does consistently, albeit slowly carry on. (or at least I try to convince myself it does) Le’ Software: Motor Modeling What is a…

Evolution of Segue, Part 1

Now that finals are complete I once again have time to work on projects. Video glasses for James, rebuilding super-DRSSTC among others, but the most important one right…

You’ve got mail

I have a bad habit of missing voicemails. When they arrive I usually do not know about them, and for some reason verizon doesn’t warn me when my…

Golden Gnat Gyroscope

From the hours of 11 pm to 4am Saturday night I decided to make an educational video. Don’t ask me why. I wanted to do some signal processing…

X-Rays with the 2x2A

The 2x2A is a vacuum rectifier that, before the advent of the silicon diode, was used to rectify the high voltage needed for fun things such as television…

X-Ray Machine 1

The goal of this project was to build an inexpensive portable x-ray machine, since such a device didn’t seem to exist! Odd, since such a machine could prove…

DIY Pulse Capacitors

You don’t need lots of money to make high voltage capacitors, in fact some pretty decent ones can be made with some cheap and readily available materials. This…

The Fryback!

Ladies and gentlemen of the world, I present to you a marvelous device that will revitalize your health and bring wondrous wealth and prosperity to your families and…

Franklin’s Bells

After their invention by Benjamin Franklin, Franklin’s bells became a novelty in the late 1700s.  One bell would be connected to a stake in the ground while the…

Plasma Speaker 2

My last plasma speaker, which used only one mosfet, got a bit too hot to run without a bucket of ice water nearby. To cut down on that heat I…

Plasma Speaker 1

I’ve always wanted to make one of these, but never got around to it until recently. However, after finding the most adorable tiny flyback in a 5 inch TV, I…

Laser Microscope

Way back in the 1960s, the newly invented laser was described as “a funny but useless experimental demonstration in physics”, and a “solution looking for a problem”. Today though, lasers are an integral…

Roll your own LEDs

During attempts to build a cat’s whisker detector from SiC, I noticed a faint glow. Probing further, I found that one of the largest crystals emitted quite a lot of…