Green laser fun, PART I, the best one

1) Campout Friday. I am in charge of the camp fire. We build a big pile of lumber (see the XXXs) but I have laid cheapo wire to three spots (see the *'s) where I have hooked up flashbulbs (yes, they still make them) with the glass removed and about 3 Tbsp of pyrodex wrapped in Saranwrap. In the logs at the base are rags soaked in paint thinner, a cup of pyrodex and a small rocket engine held down with a log... business end aimed at the pyrodex.

*2

X
XXX *3
X

*1 S

Everything is hooked to a new 6Volt battery by remote. One scout from WAY out has climbed a tree with my green laser. Another announces we are to set the fire by remote laser and moves everyone way back. The scout (S) yells out "Fire the laser" and the laser is aimed at *1 "poof" goes the pyrodex
"NO!!!, OVER THERE!!" and the laser aims at *2 and another POOF! "No, OVER THERE!" (repeats for *3). "NO YOU IDIOT, AT THE LOGS!!" and then the laser shines at this huge honing pile of logs, I fire the rocket engine and WHAMMO, we get a blaze going 10 feet high in an instant.


I am serious, plenty of the Dads thought we had ignited the fire via a super powerful laser beam. And naturally, they ALL want to play with it but I could say no due to safety concerns....

That's pretty great!

I remember the first time I built a bomb (I was a teenager back then, and did some *really* stupid things!), I made a laser triggered detonater for it using a photocell, a transistor, and a resistor or two. The bomb, made of hundreds of kitchen matches, a bottle, and a roll of duct tape, was placed in a dipsty dumpster, with the sensor & battery sitting on the ground underneath. The fuze was nothing more than a short piece of filament from a broken light bulb, which would glow yellow-hot when connected to the battery. This part was "installed" inside the bottle when the bomb was about 2/3 full and before it was taped up.

So I went about 1.5 blocks away and shot at the base of the dumpster with my first HeNe laser (a Metrologic ML-800, powered by an old dynamo & a pile of D cells in a shoebox) and as soon as I hit the photocell for a long enough period of time to heat the filament & ignite the matches, KABLAM!!! goes the dumpster. Big thunderous boom that resounded off the nearby mountains, huge cloud of white smoke, and the dumpster lid was blown open. But no real damage was done.

That was the only time I f*cked with explosives and optical detonators. I blew up a few flowerboxes with cruder devices, and learned how to make a spoke gun with matchheads, solder, and a bicycle spoke; but that's another story.

fracman,
that's beautiful ......

You are a Poet of Practical Jokestery ......

lightlover

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by *something ridiculous ?:
fracman,
that's beautiful ......

You are a Poet of Practical Jokestery ......

lightlover

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey... look who else just joined the 1K+ posts club!

My first fun with explosives put a crater into our back yard. It was obvious that the entire side of the house needed to be hosed off, but while I was furiously doing that before my mom came home, my neighbor came over, covered in mud, and explained just how he'd like his whole house cleaned, his cars cleaned, and his pool dredged. Oops.

Had nothing to do with lasers, of course, so I probably shouldn't have even brought it up... Still, the image of my pissed-off muddy neighbor always pops into my head when I hear "explosives."

Did the pyrodex shot again today for the scouts..this time in the street in front of my house. Man that stuff is great. Then I read the ingredients...nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin....yiikes!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by fracman:
Did the pyrodex shot again today for the scouts..this time in the street in front of my house. Man that stuff is great. Then I read the ingredients...nitrocellulose, nitroglycerin....yiikes!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What is pyrodes, and where do you get it?

Pyrodex is a black powder substitute. Any gunstore should have it.

Geez, must be something about bright lights and fireworks every *aholic likes. Ok, here's one of my stories:

My brainiac cousin made 'contact explosive' one time when we visited my uncle's. Basically you take iodine crystals and wash them in amonia until the solution is clear, then let the crystals dry. Any pressure or contact with the crystals, and BOOM!

Well, without all the details, enough said that we pranked a neighbor pretty good, and would have gotten away with it but for the damn purple stains we had on us from playing with the stuff earlier.

Let that be a lesson for all; some kind of laser remote, and we never would have been caught.............