Tristan has taken some EBay capacitors and some charging components to build a cool Disc Launcher. His home made coil self destructed on the last launch but it worked very well till that point.

“This project was started in Spring of 2006. I had taken a several year break from working on any HV / EMP project. In that time I was changing jobs, getting married, and buying a house. Early in 2006 I found a forum online for HV enthusiasts 4HV.org and it sparked my interest once again. With renewed ambition and the help of 4HV.org I set out to design a more portable, electrolytic-powered, coilgun. Unlike EMP-2A which used a capacitor that weighed around 100 lbs and required nearly 10,000V to charge it, this new project will be portable and easier/safer to control. ”

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What happens when you apply way too much voltage to a circuit? Watch the video and see for yourself!

“Check out this video by Legs & MrPinky showing you exactly what happens when you apply 240V of AC power to various different computer hardware, there’s also a sledgehammer introducing itself to a hard drive thrown in for good measure…..”

Via: Hack247

Andrew McCaskey from Slashdot Review posted an interesting video of a motor that could develop into a common method of increasing efficiency.

“Scuderi’s cycle is much like the Miller cycle in that it attempts to delay the opening of the exhaust valve as much as possible to take full advantage of the expanding combustion gases. Traditionally, the Miller cycle -completely unrelated to Miller Time, by the way - uses a mechanical supercharger to prevent reversion of the exhaust gases into the intake tract. Scuderi uses the compression cylinder and a poppet valve and check valve arrangement in the crossover passage to the same effect.”