Gadget Freak case #122: Cutting pumpkins the Tesla way:
Rick Crammond created a gadget for cutting Halloween pumpkins that is powered by the faucet in a kitchen sink. The water pressure drives a stack of CDs that has been converted into a turbine. Crammond's Tesla CD Turbine uses two principles developed by Nikola Tesla in the early 1900s. The turbine uses flat discs rather than blades or cups.
In Crammond's gadget, the discs are CDs or DVDs stacked in their cases. Crammond adds a few other household items -- such as Krazy Glue and glue sticks -- and hooks it all to a kitchen faucet using a garden hose. The result is a surprisingly powerful turbine. Crammond uses that turbine power to drive a skill saw blade for easy pumpkin cutting.
I personally have to go for the pumpkin cutter gadget. Could be a bit overkill in terms of finessing any good design, but definitely is in keeping with the spooky Halloween spirit.
Buddy of mine used a fake coffin with a drill inside to create some racket and freak out the little kids. Cool idea. Love to see some cool tech to cause some scares.
I love stuff like this-- maybe before next year I'll learn enough about pneumatics and latex molding to build my own animatronic creature. Just think, they pay Disney Imagineers to do this all day!
I always liked the pumpkin cutter, too, Beth. It's way over the top, and the picture of Rick is plenty scary. And who would have thought of creating a pumpkin cutter with water and CDs?
I would love to have a seat watching the reaction of unsuspecting trick or treaters - especially on a foggy Halloween night. The strobe light was a great addition and the bat flying out the door made me jump just watching the video!
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
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