Awesome Plasma

After melting all of the strings on his piano with high-voltage sparks, Mattias Krantz wanted to see if he could still make music with the thing. So he got to work building a series of circuits that fire plasma arcs onto the piano’s metal backboard to make sounds when he presses the piano’s keys. But it wasn’t easy getting it to work.

If you’ve never seen one, a plasma popper is an awesome-looking device that directs a ball of propane gas through a series of twisted tubes. Charles over at Hacksmith Industries was asked to build a plasma popper, then leveled up the challenge with bigger and bigger versions, culminating with a massive fireball maker.

There are lots of machines out there that can cut holes in flat sheets of steel, but MarkGyver built a machine that can make cuts into the curved face of a cylinder. Using a high-heat plasma cutter and a chain-driven rotating holder, the computer-controlled system can make smooth cuts through the surface of a steel tube.

After building a retractable blade lightsaber, The Hacksmith is back to show off what this impressive plasma weapon can do. Watch in awe as it burns right through a Stormtrooper, slashes through walls, and melts metal and glass like butter. It’s not as quick at cutting as the ones in the movies, but just as awesome.