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4hv.org :: Forums :: High Voltage
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Writing with sparks (neatly)

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Tesladownunder
Fri Mar 20 2009, 07:20PM
Tesladownunder Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424
It took me about 10 minutes to change the word and font, so not with acrylic cutouts.

Mattski wrote ...

Next guess: you were in a different room with lighting, tracing out these letters with a stick that passed into the dark room with the camera.
Much closer. What sort of stick arrangement would work?

This shot is with a spark and a neon pilot light in series with the same setup.

1237576798 10 FT66044 Pantesladownundersparksneon
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Chris
Fri Mar 20 2009, 07:23PM
Chris Registered Member #8 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 04:34AM
Location: Harlowton, MT, United States
Posts: 214
You made a wire frame of the letters and then moved a thin wire behind it to make the sparks?
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Mattski
Fri Mar 20 2009, 07:28PM
Mattski Registered Member #1792 Joined: Fri Oct 31 2008, 08:12PM
Location: University of California
Posts: 527
Maybe the spark is stationary and you are moving the camera. If you had the camera on a tripod and a stick to move it around (with light insulation so you are in a lighted area) you could trace or write out the words. I think the tracing would have to be printed out upside down and backwards.
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Avalanche
Fri Mar 20 2009, 07:29PM
Avalanche Registered Member #103 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:16PM
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 845
intriguing... i'm going to guess it somehow involves the camera rotating slowly, whilst an arm flys around paining sparks into the air, is that even close?! Something like a dot matrix printer with sparks?!
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Tesladownunder
Fri Mar 20 2009, 07:35PM
Tesladownunder Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424
Camera is a Nikon D300 and probably weighs 2kg. It is stationary - but a good thought.

The explanation is simple so I won't give much more away. The stick suggestion was closest.
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Mates
Fri Mar 20 2009, 07:53PM
Mates Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566
Good quiz TDU!
It reminded me my old attemps of spark writing... Principle is of course different, but et least good chance to sneak with my own picture in wink
1237578760 1025 FT66044 Napis
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rp181
Fri Mar 20 2009, 07:59PM
rp181 Registered Member #1062 Joined: Tue Oct 16 2007, 02:01AM
Location:
Posts: 1529
Did you have two identical wire frames stacked with space? Then either a jacob ladder kind of affect drove it up, or you used a metal rod inbetween to initiatea arc, ad move it.
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LithiumLord
Fri Mar 20 2009, 08:27PM
LithiumLord Registered Member #1739 Joined: Fri Oct 03 2008, 10:05AM
Location: Moscow, Russia
Posts: 261
hmm, I guess the devise is surely MCU-based as the fonts on both pics are similar, also you even said it was Impact. As that PIC page also links to a car project, something keeps telling me you've use it and a vertical spark gap :)
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Mattski
Fri Mar 20 2009, 09:15PM
Mattski Registered Member #1792 Joined: Fri Oct 31 2008, 08:12PM
Location: University of California
Posts: 527
Tesladownunder wrote ...

Mattski wrote ...

Next guess: you were in a different room with lighting, tracing out these letters with a stick that passed into the dark room with the camera.
Much closer. What sort of stick arrangement would work?
Moving it left and right (pushing and pulling) seems easy, but a setup that will move it up and down evenly as well gets more tricky...
I'm going to guess that it's a stick with pegs that fit into tracks cut into a board, so that it can move up and down evenly. Then the board can be pushed/pulled left or right as well. The stick has a spark gap on the end. Or an easier way (if you have it) would be to lash the stick to an xy table from a mill/plotter/whatever, that would give you easy xy control of the stick's sparkgap end. Then in the lighted room there is a stylus at the other end of the stick for tracing a printout of your text.
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Tesladownunder
Fri Mar 20 2009, 10:46PM
Tesladownunder Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424
Crikey!
I must put you guys out of your suspense. Here is my "stick":

Its a simple pantograph. The fixed point is in the center of the table and the rest are simple hinges. The word is reproduced correctly from the camera view where it was taken here.

I just use, in addition, a black cloth covered light shield to allow a dim LED light so I can see the letters. The banner is just printed out on standard paper and stuck together and down onto the flat surface so I can trace around it.
Want to change things? Run the sparks faster or slower. Print a new word or what ever in fast draft black and trace around it. I set the camera to bulb function with the RF remote and finish the exposure when I finish the word. Must have pretty good darkness for this.
I use a footswitch to turn off between letters. No hidden microprocessors.



1237589100 10 FT66044 Vicemotherboardsetupfull
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