In his long absence, Kogwheal built a revolver-inspired raygun.

Hello all. It's very nice to be back, and I must say the temporary housing is quite comfortable. While away, in between all the "working" and "writing" and "preparing for a cross-country move", I found time to cave in to one of the great Goggler cliches -- building a steampunk raygun.

I've been very impressed by several of the weapons I've seen in this forum, but I've consistently wondered why I never saw one based solidly on the aesthetics of pistols common to the Victorian era. Not that that's a requirement, but to me it adds a little something extra when a creation looks like it was made by someone in a given era, basing their design on what was common at the time, even if what they're making was uncommon.

I've occasionally read little rants about the silliness of the steampunkers' obsession with brass. While I see the point (obviously not everything from the Victorian era was made of brass), I also gravitate to this aesthetic. For me, the reason is simple: The Time Machine. That book stands out as my personal quintessential example of what steampunk is. And as it happens, the time machine that Wells describes is made of brass, dark wood, and crystal.

This gun is based on that construction, because it's meant to be a weaponised extrapolation of that technology: a time gun. It fires a blast of pure, wildly-accelerated and unmodulated time. Any object struck by the beam is aged at an unbelievable rate, or aged backwards at equally ludicrous speed, depending on the setting. Living tissue either withers to dust or shrinks back to its embryonic stage and vanishes. Rocks and sand suffer no significant ill effects.

Enough rambling. I present for your criticism the time soldier's sidearm, the Temporevolver, model 1901.

Full body:


Handle/cylinder detail:


From behind:


Down the barrel:


3/4 view front:


3/4 view rear:


In hand:


Sorry about the awkward angles. Hard to get a shot of my hand holding it. Shots of me in full costume wielding the sucker forthcoming... sometime. probably after I make a holster for it.

3 points of which I'm most proud:

*All wood components cut and carved by me, including the grips.

*"Functional" trigger. (Okay, so it doesn't actually do anything per se... but you can pull it, and it springs back to its original position, so it's at least a fully-functioning toy. Yay!)

* The glue holding the crystal in the barrel is the ONLY glue of any kind used in the entire construction. Absolutely everything else is held together by screws, and can be completely disassembled without damage (though it would be a colossal pain in the bottom). It's a ridiculous wood and brass puzzle, really.

Anyway. I hope you like it. If anybody has any ideas for improving it, so much the better. All feedback is welcome. Thanks for looking!

Wow, that is amazing.

That is some absolutely smashing work indeed
But, make the crystal light up!
You could easily fit the electronics needed to do it in that copper round section! If the brass part is hollow too then it should be obvious
There might not be enough room for big batteries but I can make an LED work off 1.5 volts and one of the tiny button cell batteries no less! I'll even sell you the appropriate circuit + LED if you want

Welcome back sir, your artistry has been missed. Love the gun, reminds me of a hand-held mini-gattling. markf

That is, for all accounts and purposes, an very splenderous and rather good looking raygun, sir kogwheal

Torvald_Faust wrote:That is, for all accounts and purposes, an very splenderous and rather good looking raygun, sir kogwheal

And speaking of absences, a big welcome back to you Mr Faust. markf

markf wrote:

Torvald_Faust wrote:That is, for all accounts and purposes, an very splenderous and rather good looking raygun, sir kogwheal

And speaking of absences, a big welcome back to you Mr Faust. markf

Thank you, good sir It is good to find my visage, or quite possibly my name, is still remembered!

Torvald_Faust wrote:

markf wrote:

Torvald_Faust wrote:That is, for all accounts and purposes, an very splenderous and rather good looking raygun, sir kogwheal

And speaking of absences, a big welcome back to you Mr Faust. markf

Thank you, good sir It is good to find my visage, or quite possibly my name, is still remembered!

Indeed, well met, again!

Cheers
Harold

Another vote for illuminated crystal, capital work old chap!

HAC wrote:

Torvald_Faust wrote:

markf wrote:

Torvald_Faust wrote:That is, for all accounts and purposes, an very splenderous and rather good looking raygun, sir kogwheal

And speaking of absences, a big welcome back to you Mr Faust. markf

Thank you, good sir It is good to find my visage, or quite possibly my name, is still remembered!

Indeed, well met, again!

Thank you, Harold! Capital!

And, well, as much as I like this welcome, I figure the original creator of this thread would appreciate it if we would continue this line of conversation elsewhere

Nicely done, sir!

JIT

wonderful design.

A little LED or some other light behind the quartz will illuminate it well. I did that with my old mini gun project ( now halted forever as it was crap ) and it worked a treat. LET THERE BE LIGHT SIR!

Be different, get a Tritium vial, and do away with LED's and electricity...

Cheers
Harold

HAC wrote:Be different, get a Tritium vial, and do away with LED's and electricity...

Cheers
Harold

Way ahead of you HAC It's been glowing for about 7 years now

JingleJoe wrote:

HAC wrote:Be different, get a Tritium vial, and do away with LED's and electricity...

Cheers
Harold

Way ahead of you HAC It's been glowing for about 7 years now

Aren't they wonderful gadgets? I have a Traser H3 watch that glows like a torch at night..



And the obligatory long exposure (this one is from a Luminox)


Cheers
Harold

Thanks everyone! Torvald, welcome back (even though, for all I know, you returned before me). And don't worry, digressions are perfectly welcome here.

Yes, I do intend to light up the crystal. Originally I wanted to put a wee motor inside and make the cylinder spin when the trigger is pulled as well, but I'd need a bigger gun for that. The copper housing is pretty filled up by threaded rod. A tiny button battery would definitely fit, though. I'll eventually replace the solid threaded rod inside the barrel with a hollow lamp rod, so I can run wires to an LED at the end of the barrel. This will cut down on the impressive heft of the gun and force me to replace the rear acorn nut with another lamp finial, but it'll be worth it for the light show.

The only reason I didn't do all this in the first place is simple impatience - the whole thing had taken so long, I just wanted it finished, at least as a basic prop or a wall hanging (still need to make a plaque for it).

HAC, thanks for the tip. Now that I know what tritium is, I'll have to use it in something else. For this, though, I only want the crystal to light up when the trigger is pulled. The main thing that makes me hesitate to upgrade the thing now is the difficulty of wiring up a connection to the trigger. The brass trigger houing is hollow, but it' pretty full of screws and the trigger itself and the clothespin spring that makes the trigger bounce back. Plus the leather padding narrows the opening. I can take it all apart, but it'll be a royal pain and I'm in no hurry. Someday, though. After the move is over.

Out of curioity, JingleJoe, how much would you charge for the electronics?

As someone who provided the background sample for Tritium monitoring for a year I personally would avoid the use of Tritium...

Z.

Zwack wrote:As someone who provided the background sample for Tritium monitoring for a year I personally would avoid the use of Tritium...

Z.

The tritium gas in the vials excites the coating on the inside of the tubes. The tubes themselves emit no radiation, as the glass provides a barrier.

Cheers
Harold

HAC wrote:

Zwack wrote:As someone who provided the background sample for Tritium monitoring for a year I personally would avoid the use of Tritium...

Z.

The tritium gas in the vials excites the coating on the inside of the tubes. The tubes themselves emit no radiation, as the glass provides a barrier.

Cheers
Harold

I assume it's a phosphor coating.

I'm sure it's perfectly safe in that usage.

I used to work at a nuclear research facility that had previously had a neutron accelerator. Various staff members who had been involved with that were still being monitored for Tritium levels, so I was expected to give a monthly sample for a background reading.

Z.

Zwack wrote:

HAC wrote:

Zwack wrote:As someone who provided the background sample for Tritium monitoring for a year I personally would avoid the use of Tritium...

Z.

The tritium gas in the vials excites the coating on the inside of the tubes. The tubes themselves emit no radiation, as the glass provides a barrier.

Cheers
Harold

I assume it's a phosphor coating.

I'm sure it's perfectly safe in that usage.

I used to work at a nuclear research facility that had previously had a neutron accelerator. Various staff members who had been involved with that were still being monitored for Tritium levels, so I was expected to give a monthly sample for a background reading.

Z.

Exactly... Lot safer that the radium paint that used to be used on watches...

Cheers
Harold

kogwheal wrote:Torvald, welcome back (even though, for all I know, you returned before me). And don't worry, digressions are perfectly welcome here.

Well then, let me digress ever so slightly and say: thank you, too, for welcoming me back! It feels good to be back in the brass fold

beautiful!

has a french revolver look, very spiffy!

only thing I can think of besides the lighted crystal would be alternating the size of the washers at the barrel rear or getting copper and brass washers in there.

the diecut steel washers look too crude compared to the rest of the gun.

I saw a little keychain LED light at the walgreens the other day. skinny like those laser pointers. had a crystal rod out the front with thin blue lines the glowed nicely when it was on. turned on by pushing in the rod at the back, where the key ring was attached.

don't forget with all that metal, you could get away with one wire to the trigger area. the trigger could make contact to it and ground the metal tubing. the tubing would conduct to the LED and complete the curcuit.
just get a low volt LED (1.5) and put a AAA battery in the barrel. you can solder the led to the battery and let the other leg run down the side and wedge between it and the brass tube. the other end you solder a wire to run to the trigger.
if you have a hard time hiding the wire, just leave it exposed and wrap it around something like the center bolt of the cylinder. then it looks official

kogwheal wrote:
Out of curioity, JingleJoe, how much would you charge for the electronics?

Lets say £1.75 for just the circuitry and I think I have some tiny coin cell holders so I could solder one of those in for £2.25 and if you want a super bright LED included £2.50, and for all of the above £3

By the way with my circuit you dont need a low voltage LED, those low voltage ones are much dimmer than the super bright ones at full brightness you can use with my leet hax

Lastly, I dont know how much it will cost to send it to where you are, could you provide us with a location?

I love that Pistol Mssr Kogwheal! Dare I say, having seen it in person and held the object in my own hands, that it may, quite possibly, be your steamy DIY masterpiece?