Crazy candle project

bolwarra5 · 2005-03-29T19:36:10+00:00

Well , I'll put this crazy problem forward and see what comes back. Theproject is to have a candle (modified or 'gimmicked' I guess) under acup which is face down on a table. When the cup if lifted up (hencerevealing the candle) the candle is already lit. The solution I havecome up with is to have some type of light sensor that connects to aglow plug (model plane engine part) that lights some lighter fluid andlights the wick. So therefore when the cup is lifted , it activates theglow plug which lights some fluid which lights the wick.Any better ideas?I know its a strange project but I guess so is life.Andy

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Active8 21 years ago

Expensive cup, but it suggests a possible part of the circuit - a switch.

|^| ignitor with wires | | | | --- / \ || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || | | | | +--------------+ | | | | | | slide copper cup to complete circuit --- | V - +-------o o--+ | | +-----------------------------+ -------------------------------------------- corrugated material to hide wires -- coroplast?

hide battery wherever -- inside candle?

Now you can show an unlit candle without the light setting it off.

I knew them as solar ignitors. If you can get a CdS cell to pass enough current from a big enough battery ( = fat candle ) to ignite the thing or the match, that's great. I don't see it happening.

Google on "Fusing Current of Wire in Amperes (approximate)" That should give you Sphero's table. You'll see that 40 AWG tin wire is the lowest on the table and even with a CdS cell as low as 400 ohms, it would take a 112 V source to fuse it.

CdS - Cadmium Sulfide photocell. A light sensitive resistor. Mouser, Digikey, Radio Sh*t, I guess. You can find circuits for light triggers via google. Try "electronic rooster". For the hell of it, let's grab Mouser 338-76c348 with 500k in the dark and 3k - 20k in the light (that's Zepplin) Iffff... you can get a wire to fuse from

2 1.5V batts like the steel wool trick (test it with just the battery to make sure it heats and fuses quickly to avoid burning out your transistor,) great. Otherwise you'd need to use a larger battery. The safety is kinda overkill as long as you turn the pot all the way down before adjusting the trigger point, but it'd be good to have one to safe the thing while it's backstage or whatever. Adjust it under the same lighting conditions you'll have during the show. +------------+--------------+-------------------+ | | | | | | | | | | .-. | | .-. ( X ) Ignitor | safety shunt | | | '-' | | CdS | | | | | '-' +-------------------+ | | | | 3 V | 100 | --- | ___ |/ - +----|___|---| 2N3904 or 2N2222 | | |>

| | | | | | | .-. | | 50 K | |

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Andy 21 years ago

The problem here is the time. Too short ...the candle will be sitting there a while (in my act) before being revealed . Mmmmm , i've got some good ideas from all this though. Still think Mikes idea maybe close to it. An earlier post mentioned re-agganging the insides of one of those electronic lighters...which is kinda the same idea as Mikes. Will start on the project next week and tell you how it goes.

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Charles Edmondson 21 years ago

ok, just have the drops of acid at the side of the cup, not the center. When you open the cup, you slide it a little to bring the acid in contact with the impregnated wick. Simple sleight of hand type stuff.

Charlie

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Andy 21 years ago

Mmmmm sound ok ...but too many variables...you realise the cup is upside down on top of the candle? I also dont want to have to carry chemical that ingite with each other to gigs. Some kind or midified lighter would me better. I'm still trying to figure out how to generate the spark to light to gas. Mikes idea sounds good but pretty confusing...... anyone out these want to try building this for me? Willing to pay $$ :) - us artists arent too rich though

Andy

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Rich Grise 21 years ago

Maybe first you should figure out how to make an ordinary unlit candle appear or disappear under a cup - master that illusion, and it won't matter if the candle is already lit or not.

You _do_ know how to do the disappearing object under the cup trick, don't you?

Break a Leg! Rich

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John Woodgate 21 years ago

I read in sci.electronics.design that Rich Grise wrote (in ) about 'Crazy candle project', on Thu, 7 Apr 2005:

Yes, use magic.

Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. There are two sides to every question, except 'What is a Moebius strip?' http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

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Andy 21 years ago

Yeh I can make the candle appear no problems .... an empty cup suddenly has a candle appear under it .... good effect. What I'd like to do is reveal it lit as well .... that would really baffle a lot of people and by the looks of it a lot of you guys as well. Maybe its just too hard.

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Rich Grise 21 years ago

So, in essence, you need to light it while it's still in whatever place it's hidden before it appears. If this is a pocket or sleeve, that might be kind of a challenge. ;-)

Break a Leg! Rich

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Crazy candle project

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