Rob Flickenger discovered the graphic novel titled “The Five Fists of Science” while browsing a bookstore near his home in Seattle. In the story, inventor Nikola Tesla is a crime fighter who battles his enemies with a pair of handheld Tesla coils, shooting streams of electricity into the air.
Inspired by the story, Flickenger decided to take on the task of building his own lightning shooter. With the help of Rusty Oliver at the Hazard Factory, which is an industrial arts studio. Using clay and sand they made an exact model of the big Nerf gun shooter after a huge motorized Nerf gun.
Next, they gathered all the scrap aluminum they could find and melted it all down. Next, the poured the molten aluminum into the clay mold to make an exact replica of the Nerf gun, but in aluminum. After it hardened, they broke off the clay mold and used a CNC machine and a rotary tool to clean up the rough edges.
Inspired by the story, Flickenger decided to take on the task of building his own lightning shooter. With the help of Rusty Oliver at the Hazard Factory, which is an industrial arts studio. Using clay and sand they made an exact model of the big Nerf gun shooter after a huge motorized Nerf gun.
Next, they gathered all the scrap aluminum they could find and melted it all down. Next, the poured the molten aluminum into the clay mold to make an exact replica of the Nerf gun, but in aluminum. After it hardened, they broke off the clay mold and used a CNC machine and a rotary tool to clean up the rough edges.
Flickenger, who designs wireless infrastructure for developing countries, taught himself the physics of high-voltage electricity through free online courses from MIT. He had experimented with Tesla coils in the past but the smaller size of a hand held model provided new challenges, however, he had one big advantage over Tesla and that is the powerful 18 volt lithium-ion batteries scavenged cheap Chinese power tools.
The major issues early on were engineering the gun’s circuitry to safely generate the high voltage needed. Things were so sketchy that early on he would activate the gun via a remote switch only. Later, He added a toggle with an arm-the-missile-type plastic hood to prevent shooting the gun accidentally. At this stage, the gun is either on or off, but Flickenger plans to make it more like the cartoon version by adding a trigger. When fired, “there’s a corona discharge that comes off the front (of the gun, the Tesla gun end), that is just Beautiful, he says. “It’s almost like a fluid.”
The major issues early on were engineering the gun’s circuitry to safely generate the high voltage needed. Things were so sketchy that early on he would activate the gun via a remote switch only. Later, He added a toggle with an arm-the-missile-type plastic hood to prevent shooting the gun accidentally. At this stage, the gun is either on or off, but Flickenger plans to make it more like the cartoon version by adding a trigger. When fired, “there’s a corona discharge that comes off the front (of the gun, the Tesla gun end), that is just Beautiful, he says. “It’s almost like a fluid.”
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