If you have been examining Hackaday for any duration of time, you’ll know we really do not usually deal with woodworking projects below. It is not due to the fact we aren’t impressed with the ability and effort that individuals place into them, and reality be instructed, we at times we even really feel a tang of envy when on the lookout at the ultimate final result. It’s just that, you know…they’re produced of wooden.
But when [Jay Bowles] of Plasma Channel despatched in this live edge wood desk that features not only a pair of custom made-made neon tubes but the burned out transistors and ICs from his former superior-voltage exploits — we knew this wasn’t just your grandpa’s concept of woodworking. In reality, he wisely offloaded a ton of the lifeless tree cutting and shaping to the burly gentlemen at the local sawmill so he could greater emphasis his attempts on the sparky bits.
At its core, he’s developed what is frequently regarded as a “river table” — a surface area made of two or more items of live edge wooden (that is, a piece of lumber that attributes at least one uncut edge) that are joined by way of a band of coloured epoxy which appears like flowing drinking water. It’s not unusual to embed stones or even pretend fish in the epoxy to truly market the underwater influence, but this is Plasma Channel we’re talking about, so [Jay] had other thoughts.
The to start with action was hitting up a area neon supplier who could fabricate a pair of neon tubes which around followed the condition of his epoxy river. While he was ready for them to be concluded, [Jay] performed close to with a intelligent experimental rig that allow him ascertain how thick he could pour the epoxy about the tubes ahead of he shed the capacitive coupling effect he was likely for. By embedding a shorter size of neon tube off-heart in a block of epoxy, he could see how the thickness impacted his means to manipulate the plasma with a wave of his hand just by flipping it around.
With the tube put on clear standoffs, he was able to posture it at the ideal depth for the remaining epoxy pours. It was close to this time that he scattered the remains of his former assignments on the “bottom” of the river, so they can shell out the rest of their times on the lookout up at his most current technical triumph. We’re not confident if this is to punish the fallen silicon for giving up early or to honor their sacrifice in the title of progress, but in both occasion, we respect everyone who retains a jar of blown parts laying around for ritualistic programs.
The moment the desk was assembled, all that was still left was to electric power the detail. Given his earlier projects, [Jay] had no scarcity of current HV provides to test out. But not being contented with nearly anything in the again catalog, he finished up building a new supply that manages to pump out the required amount of money of juice whilst remaining silent (to human ears, at minimum). The device is driven by a battery pack cleverly embedded into the legs of the table, and is straightforward to fiddle with thanks to a pulse-width modulation (PWM) module wired hooked to the enter. All the parts have been then held in put with a vast array of tailor made brackets courtesy of his newly arrived 3D printer.
There is a great deal to adore about this undertaking, and much more than a handful of lessons uncovered. No matter if you are intrigued in recreating the Tron-like result of the neon tubes, or have been contemplating your have epoxy-pour worktable and want to see how a 1st-timer tackles it, this video clip is a terrific useful resource.