Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: Conscripted on March 14, 2010, 01:24:15 PM

Title: What would you do with this???
Post by: Conscripted on March 14, 2010, 01:24:15 PM

A friend of mine is moving and gave me a box of goodies before he left. I'm thrilled with the schwag but I'm at a loss as to what to build with it. All ideas are welcome!!

Conscripted

Title: Re: What would you do with this???
Post by: madsci1016 on March 14, 2010, 02:02:53 PM

Looks like a bunch of Caps. Are they high-voltage rated?

If so, throw in a neon-sign transformer and a few other bits and you could build a Tesla Coil, or coin shrinker. (Google for more info). (and High Voltage is dangerous btw, standard newb beware disclaimer.)

I built a Tesla Coil in high school, was a lot of fun and really cool.

Just some ideas...

Title: Re: What would you do with this???
Post by: SmAsH on March 14, 2010, 02:15:11 PM

Oooohh, make me a giant coil gun for my birthday?

Title: Re: What would you do with this???
Post by: Soeren on March 14, 2010, 02:15:55 PM

Hi,

Looks like surplus that haven't been used in a very long time, so it would be wise to slow start (a couple of reasonably low current cycles) them when you wanna use them.
The large blue turquoise lying in front should be good for a lab supply and all the slim blue might be enough for a coil gun, or even better, a welder.

Apart from that... You cannot really build something from caps alone but hang on to them for when you need one or you could swap some for other parts.

Title: Re: What would you do with this???
Post by: Conscripted on March 14, 2010, 02:30:03 PM

I realize I can't build something with caps alone.  I imagine this collection would be useful in applications where you need to store a good amount of energy to be release in a relatively short amount of time. Most of those caps are rated at 300-450VDC. I had thought about a coil gun. I've never build a tesla coil. Maybe I'll look into that. I was very careful when handling them. I'm not sure if there is any residual voltage in any of them and I wasn't real keen on finding out the hard way.

Conscripted

Title: Re: What would you do with this???
Post by: SmAsH on March 14, 2010, 11:23:58 PM

Maybe discharge them... Safely?
@Soeren, Nice new avatar, didn't recognize ya there ;)

Title: Re: What would you do with this???
Post by: Pratheek on March 15, 2010, 07:00:30 AM

Whatever you do, be careful with caps, especially with those of size of the ones in the picture.