raindrift – Interpretive Arson

Engine test #2 CAD

raindrift — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:18:41 +0000

Nicole, Jonathan and I spent the evening finishing up the design for Hitodama test engine #2.Â It’s a cool-running liquid propane/compressed air thruster, with a theoretical thrust of 96 Newtons.Â We’re opting for safety over performance, which means low combustion chamber temperatures and lots of air pressure.Â The complete engine, including bolt flanges, is 9cm diameter.Â Hopefully we’ll be able to reduce that slightly for the production version.Â A complete set of design specifications should be forthcoming.

Next come the high-pressure air and nitrogen-pushed propane systems.Â Just because we said it’s safe doesn’t mean it’s simple…

This is a picture of the complete engine.Â From left to right, you see the nozzle (including diverging and converging sections), the combustion chamber which contains a titanium flame holder, the fuel injector, and the injector cap.Â Air and propane enter and mix inside the flame holder.Â Meanwhile, a bunch more air is injected outside the flame holder.Â The entire mass of combustion gases are heated to about 1000C, and ejected from the engine at Mach 2.5.Â At least, in theory.Â We still have to build it.

Fire Ballet!

raindrift — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:11:00 +0000

The Crucible’s Fire Ballet is going! It’s great! You should go! I made the crazy fire fingers and fire tutu, and you can look for me on stage too (I’ll be the one with the rope).

The official website is a good place for tickets.

These photos by Lane Hartwell are amazing, and you should go look at them.

The East Bay Express has an article. Note, however, that my name is not Ian Hunter.

-Ian

Finger electronics rebuild

raindrift — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:27:54 +0000

I just spent the evening rebuilding the control system for the fire fingers. They’ll be much more reliable now (not that they had a problem before, but I was personally uncomfortable with the level of jank). I snapped a couple pics before closing up the box.

The fingers are a performance tool that hasn’t really been out much. There is, however, a photoset of Audrey using them to immolate her former uniform from the gelateria where she used to work. We’re hoping to use then at the Fire Ballet, if I can get the gloves to fit the performer.