Crazy candle project

Better try the glow plug ignition early. I seem to recall glow plugs just sizzling fuel until some extra temperature is created by compression in the engine cylinder. Maybe a spark discharge would be more reliable and energy efficient.

Sounds like fun. Fire is ... lots of fun!

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--Larry Brasfield
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better also vent it somehow, otherwise you are gonna get a nice little fire ball from the vapors when you spark it. glow plug won't light the fuel, buy on of those BBQ lighters that you "can't blow out", I don't know what the term is for it, but they arg as long as they are activated, you could have the light sensor trigger that.

It would be cool if you could release the fuel via some kind of membrane that could have a wire wrapped around it and melt when energized, that would take care of the vapor problem...

This sounds fun

maybe a section of cocktail straw of mini water ballon with nitro hobby fuel, wrap it with small guage wire and lay it next to the wick... that would work...

Or he could go to the hobby store and buy some squibs.

Cheers! Rich

Such complex and potentialy dangerous solutions to a simple problem. Take a match and slice into the head with a sharp razor blade. Slip a piece of fine wire into the slit and wrap it around the head. Solder some larger gauge wires to the fine wires so the joint is below the head. Secure the wires to the paper match stick with masking tape.

The larger wires won't fuse when you apply a voltage, but the fine wire will light the match. Fudge and practice until you can just tilt the cup enough to let in light and get the flame near the wick

- if the whole contraption is inside the cup. You could hide it behind the candle. Don't use a flammable cup. Placing the cup on the table will extinguish the match, if it's in the cup. If you want your audience to see that the cup is empty and there's nothing behind the candle, make your own candle around everything - battery, sensor, ignitor.

You should be able to set the match off with 1 or 2 batteries - like the old 000 steel wool firestarter trick.

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Best Regards,
Mike

Active8 wrote in news:bt2raakl5mf0$. snipped-for-privacy@ID-222894.news.individual.net:

How about use a lunar ignitor for a model rocket motor. It would only need about 6V... maybe tie a CDS cell in there for the light sensor.

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-Ray

I had lost sight of the op's *assignment* and was thinking he had to use a liquid fuel... that is not the case, so my ideas are a waste. The match would be the easiest for sure!

I thought about that, thus the match idea. Are they any noisier or smokier than a match?

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Best Regards,
Mike

Hi guys , You ideas are awesome. I posted this problem here and then saw sci.electronics.design and thought it would be a more appropiate group. I pasted your ideas over to there as there has been quite a bit of discussion about it. See you at sci.electronics.design

Andy

Speaking as a formerly avid, but now pretty much "retired" model rocketeer, no, they aren't. A small (if you're within 2-3 feet, you

*might* be able to hear it if you pay real close attention) "fsst", accompanied by a barely visible wisp of smoke.

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But seeing a match strike as the performer lifts the lid isn't going to be much of a trick. I think the OP wants the candle to be already burning, or at least look like it. A candle that's being lit looks different from a candle that's already burning. Maybe he should use a trick cup, with vent holes so that he can light the candle some moments in advance of lifting the cup.

But if a match strikes just as the cup gets lifted, it's not even a trick. Sorry.

Break a Leg! Rich

I figure a slow lift would give things time to settle. No ta-da with that, though. Then there's the smoke.

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Best Regards,
Mike