Dampf-O-Tron
2010

For an upcoming convention with the theme "Steampunk" we decided to build our own little gadget.

Badge image drawn by Runoratsu


Our dragon laboratories already have a nice Steampunk-like styled wall, so it was easy to get into the mood and draw inspiration from this environment.


First we gathered fitting materials from all available sources, including gears from an old clock, vacuum tubes from our spare parts box and other parts from the local flea market and hardware store.


We started with rolling our own nice copper coil, as we think every Steampunk project should at least have one.


Two coils beats one. And a vacuum tube fits conveniently into our left coil, whereas the right one will later hold the energy crystal, confining the blue energy field.


Glowing energy fields make the coil rotate - a little hidden magic will accomplish this. First test of the LED and mechanic.


This will be placed inside a box which is the base of the Dampf-O-Tron.


Adding more Steampunk-looking elements to the board. The copper tubes (two tubes stacked to thrice the height) will double as steam pipes - and as hidden battery holders. We still need a place for the third one.


Testing the overall look and whether everything still fits together. First version of a visible mechanic on top.


To make the mechanic part work we missed one fitting cog. Fortunately we were able to just build our own one.


Another test assembly of the lower parts. Our cog works perfectly.


Red Dragon working on the mechanical part of the magic controlling the energy flow from the blue crystal to the steam pipes. Also known as power switch, though a simple button wouldn't fit the theme.


Much better solution: this winding gear creates a nice tactile feedback and produces an audible clicking when turned. The wrench is removeable.


Added a housing for the upper part. We managed to hide the third battery in there, too. Also painted the wood in a more fitting color.


The blue energy cristal (inside the turning coil) feeds into the vacuum tube, powering the system. Test of the whole mechanics and electrics.


Final Dampf-O-Tron, ready to be shipped. Apart from putting all parts together we also added a neat leather-wrapped handle. Also the coil for the vacuum tube was spiced up with a secondary wire.


Presenting the device at the convention. We attracted quite some interest with this gadget, which made the invested time very well spent.


Dampf-O-Tron, ending up as colorful eye-catcher at the dance.