The Aethero-Galvanic Exciter

Here we see a composite shot of the Moran Aethero-Galvanic Exciter

It was necessary to cheat a little to properly expose the photograph for both the casing and the resonator window effect. If you were to see the real thing, it would look quite a lot like this when switched on.

Dimension-wise, the casing is around 9 inches in length, 6 inches in height and depth. The device is turned on by twisting the hand-wheel on the plumbing to the right of the picture.

When switched off the plasma effect is turned off and no power is available at the outlet. As it stands the Aetheric Neuralizer is coupled to the device permanently, but a twist-lock socket/plug have been obtained and will be added to the design to enable a more easy transportation of the Neuralizer and the use of the Exciter to power other devices. It will also provide a possible way to recharge the accumulator without de-installing it as is currently required (no pun intended).

I also need to have another go at installing the hinges as the lid is slightly mis-aligned, but that can wait a bit.

Aetheric Neuralizer In Action

Another picture of the Aetheric Neuralizer being wielded to deadly effect in the hands of the inventor, Colonel Moran.

Note the shoulder-strung Moran Aethero-Galvanic Exciter, another landmark invention from the fertile mind and tireless hands of Colonel Moran.

This device uses the Moran Aetheric Resonator, configured as a disc for this purpose, to provide the electrical energy needed to initiate and control the linear Aetheric Resonator (which can be seen in the picture as the green rod connecting the rear assembly of the Neuraliser with the forward resonator housing), which in turn provides the initiating principle of the Aetheric Neuralizer.

Also visible in this picture is the radiant glow from the Barrel-Mounted Heterodyning Exciters, which indicates that the Aetheric Neuralizer is about to be fired.

Readers should be assured that the device was detuned to a high degree before that took place. No-one was injured in the demonstration of the correct stance and firing technique, and there was no structural damage to the Ravenblood Games emporium.

Aetheric Neuralizer Outing

I took first prize in Ravenblood Games' costume competition tonight largely due to the overwhelming awesomeness of The Moran Aetheric Neuralizer. I'll try and get photos from those who took them.

I have to admit that once I had the Moran Galvanic Exciter figured out I knew I had a winner. You know the concept is working when you want to play with it for fun. I was in real danger of flattening the battery before the event, because I spent so much time watching the effects in action.

The Neuralizer/Power Supply combo drew comment from everyone, as did my fanciful "Praetorian Guard/Space 1889 Soldier" costume. Even though I never fully finished the Neuralizer (I ran out of time and so the external piping and gauges it was supposed to feature were left off) it was still visually stunning.

I'm extremely pleased with myself. I'll add the missing features later and do some internal tidying on both the Moran Galvanic Exciter and the Moran Aetheric Neuralizer - the chocolate-block connectors I used for expedience and screw-up-proofing the circuitry could now be usefully switched out for two-part male/female connectors for example, but it is now a case of super-detailing a product that is basically good to go.

And the host of tonight's event made a point of saying that he would like to display the device in his store, and that was extremely satisfying as a vindication of my design.

Aetheric Neuralizer XII

Tonight I connected all the wires, re-assembled the various sub-assemblies into a beautiful, metallic weapon of imaginary destruction and connected it to the battery.

I twisted the main hand-wheel and was bathed in the healthy green glow of the Aetheric Resonator, its plasma-trail snaking a brilliant white counterpoint to the background glow.

I spun the forward resonator control regulator hand-wheel and hoisted the Neuralizer into firing position.

I pulled the first trigger and the Lateral Barrel Heterodyning Exciters burst into emerald-coloured life. It was hard to restrain myself but cries of triumph at this stage would have been premature and unseemly, so I limited myself to a smile of satisfaction.

I pulled the second trigger and the entire weapon went dark.

A quick check showed that the half amp fuse had blown. So my decision to go with a huge lead acid battery rather than a few AA cells was well-founded, and I was probably wise to double up that power connecting cable too. I don't know how much juice it is sucking down in "all systems go" mode, but it wants more than half an amp when I press the triggers.

This thing is totally awesome.

And I am awesome for inventing it. I was beginning to doubt that last one.

Aetheric Neuralizer XI

Last night the manufactory was a feverish hive of activity as the Neuralizer, now broken down into its component parts, was fitted with sundry components of a mechano-galvanic nature, and the outer casing given a lick of paint (can't go adventuring in the Victorian Era with a handful of PVC) to make it look like brass, which it does, mostly.

This morning I revisited this job with a view to finding some means of preventing everything the Neuralizer touches being coated in super-fine brass dust, which I'm hoping can be summed up as "Testor's Glosscote". I'm keeping the old fingers crossed that the varnish doesn't interact in some vile way with the metallic paint and destroy all this hard work. It wouldn't be the first time paint has mutinied on me.

Also, what I hope is the final construction conundrum was solved when I machined a workmanlike pistol grip for the device from a block of Maple. I sized the grip by eye and used some wood I had left over from another project that was of convenient dimensions. Cutting the top and bottom to a 15 degree angle gave the grip a comfortable rake. Due to a happy error at the table sander due to ham-fistedness, I machined a small front-to-rear taper in the blank which turned out to improve the comfort of the grip considerably.

The breakthrough moment came when I realized that things would be easier to achieve all-round if I mounted the two triggers not side-by-side as originally planned, but one beneath the other so that the lower one could be actuated by the middle finger and the upper by the more traditional index one. This allowed me to use a smaller, sharper router bit to cut a slot down the face of the grip to accept the microswitches, which were then a press-fit. Another pass with a veining bit to provide clearance for the cabling required and I was left wondering why it had taken me so much effort to come up with the solution in the first place.

Attaching it to the rear housing turned out to be easier than I thought it would be too. I simply machined a tapped hole in the rear of the already highly machined piece of wood, aligned with the grips vertical axis, and mounted a length of quarter-inch threaded rod in it and secured the two together with epoxy resin. This enabled me to attach the grip to the housing with a nut. The handle was prevented from twisting by the addition of a short stud just forward of the hole for the threaded rod that protruded into the slot cut for the microswitches/triggers.

This morning I wired those triggers and mounted them in the grip. Nothing wakes one up so quickly as jabbing a hot soldering iron into the left bicep.

A late design change calls for one relay to be re-designated as an optional upgrade, making the rearmost hand-wheel control only the Aetheric Resonator effect rather than forming the first in a cascade of controls for the various effects (which would convey a more realistic firing sequence). I'm nervous about the relay failing, you see. I can live with the actual firing effect not working because of a sub-standard part failure in the field, but the visual impact of the device will largely depend on the plasma effect going on down the spine of the gun and having that go dark because someone tightened the purse strings when it came to making the armature of the relay would be too bad.

Daguerreotypes were taken but are not yet available due to processing delays in the Moran Chemical Imaging Laboratory.

Tonight the device will be reassembled into its working configuration and hopefully I can get on with building the Moran Galvanic Reservoir - a power source of proprietary (and sparkly) design and putting the final touches to the webbing slings.

After I build the Forward Barrel Exciter Shield and attach it in place, of course. The exciter is mounted but needs to be concealed and the light (which is a bit disappointing in the candela department to be honest, but the large and impressive version was simply too long) requires a reflector to properly direct it and hide the rather mundane origin of the green Weird Science glow from public view.

I decided to go with a double length of cabling between the power source and the gun - I'm really too nervous for words when it comes to thin wires people can grab and electricity, even when insulated. I've seen some catastrophes involving current traveling down wires too thin for the flow in my time. A key design element has always been to avoid setting myself on fire while using the Neuralizer. Double cabling introduced a headache with tangling, so I stitched both fabric-clad lengths together with thread.

Should I ever revisit the design, I think I will somehow arrange for hidden bypass switching that can be actuated without stripping down the Neuralizer in the event of a relay failure. I would also like to include an anti-tamper control that disables the whole affair in some non-obvious way.

But other than that, I think the Moran Aetheric Neuralizer is just about ready to be deployed against the Vile Vivisectors of Mars or anyone else who wanders into the line of fire without a white flag and the proper attitude.

Aetheric Neuralizer IXb - Reflections

Once I have the Neuralizer properly assembled and running I shall of course go through and organize these notes into a more workmanlike Bill of Materials and Construction Guide, assuming I can maintain enthusiasm for the job and not collapse in an unmotivatable heap over by the swarf bins.

Thank heavens for the bounty of tea. I don't know how I'd have managed to face the adversity this project has produced without steaming pots of the stuff, applied at regular intervals to the recalcitrant thinking processes.

Anyway. Tonight I expect to make most of the final fittings before the casing is dismantled for cleaning and painting. I shall take photographs if I can spare the time.

Jobs remaining:

1. Barrel lighting effect and shroud. I believe I have all the materials needed to complete this task, but I may need to obtain some decorative automotive door edging. The brass-finish furnace grill is sharp when cut.
   
2. Sound module installation. A very simple job involving double-sided tape and probably gobs of silicone sealant to hold it in place. It's unlikely, but I may use more of that epoxy putty. Depends on the smell/set-up factors involved. Both take forever to set-up but the sealant stinks up the place as it sheds acetic acid during the air curing.
   
3. Handle and triggers - this is now most urgent. I still have only the fuzziest internal pictures of what this will look like!
4. Possible installation of third hand-wheel and switch - this will almost certainly be deferred as an upgrade to be made much later, if at all.
5. Wiring and test firing. Assuming no malfunctions, this should be the most straightforward of the tasks and should consume no more than a couple of hours at most.
6. The Battery Box. Time-consuming woodworkery needed here. I'm probably going to double-up the connecting cable, stitching the lengths together with cotton as I have concerns about the current consumption of the Neuralizer when in full "cow the masses" mode. This has been the most disappointing and hard-to-get-convincing part of the build, and I've failed utterly to capture the look I was aiming for.
   

There are some aesthetic questions still to be answered, but I think mostly this will be good as it stands for the demonstration I have in mind. The aim will be to arrive at Saturday morning in a position to be able to add stuff but not having to do so.

I think I'm happy with most of what's been done. I'm extremely happy with certain aspects of it - the hand-wheel controls are very satisfying in appearance for example, and the Aetheric Resonator is spectacular when power is applied, so much so that it spurred me on when things got unhelpfully hard.

I'm disappointed with my failure to locate a cable of suitably convincing look and behaviour. I wanted something that looked like old-fashioned cable and hung more like rope, in a deep catenary. I'm extremely under-impressed with the quality of the sheet metal screws I was sold by Home Depot, the hexagonal heads of which do not have a consistent profile and offer too-little purchase to a socket spanner. I would advise everyone to avoid these.

The false-starts were relatively few and far between, but have resulted in a small stock of parts deemed not fit for purpose.

These parts, mostly lighting effects that were the wrong size or just not suited to the task at hand rather than non-functional, have been tentatively assigned to the backpack part of a steampunk space-suit project I've been mulling for years. That will feature a convincing steam engine component if I can ever figure it out.

Aetheric Neuralizer IX - Progress (Of Sorts)

Much messing around in the Manufactory Workshop this weekend, not all to good effect.

On Friday a number of parcels finally arrived at the Moran Manufatory's tradesman's entrance which proved to contain the parts necessary to finish the Aetheric Neuralizer. This meant that a number of problems I was still struggling to find an answer to had to be solved "as I went" which never goes well.

Not only that, some parts I had ordered that would form a vital part of both the aesthetic and electrical design turned out to be missing the mounting method I had assumed they would have. The tintype in the supplier's catalogue had been taken from a vantage that did not highlight this design feature, and I cuold not implement the mounting that the parts did come with so I was caught between a Gashant and a Steppe Tiger.

Over the course of the next day and a half I discovered anew that I shouldn't work when tired, especially when drilling large holes in things in which I want a minimum of holes, and that a quarter-inch hole in a PVC pipe fitting can be tapped to accept a 5/16ths threaded stud in a gratifyingly short time. Paint will hide all.

These holes were drilled for two reasons. Firstly, to be threaded so they would accept the eye-bolts for the shoulder-sling, secondly so the stems of the rotary potentiometers c/w on/off switch that will, with the addition of some nice red hand-wheels, place the device firmly in the "steampunk" milieu rather than the "Star Trek" one.

It was these potentiometers that proved so awkward to mount. I had expected them to have the popular large threaded bushing/skimpy nut & crown lock-washer affair so that I could make small brass plates and mount them in those - just as one would with a Marconi Receiver. However, these bally things came with tabs so they could be soldered to a circuit board directly. Useless for the task at hand, as they were too short to wrap around any metal strap large enough to provide a mounting in the tightly curved inner spaces of the Neuralizer's casing.

It was maddening, and I could not come up with a satisfactory solution to the conundrum until late Sunday night, when a combination of double-sided mounting tape and a piece of copper pipe turned out to work rather well.

I manufactured a screw thread onto the stems of the devices first so they would accept a nut, than the hand-wheel then another nut to secure the wheel. Then I applied a generous pad of the tape to the top face of the cylindrical body of the potentiometer and, passing the stem through the hole I had drilled for it in the Neuralizer, pressed it up against the inside of the casing. Then I cut a length of copper pipe that ran from the outer casing surface up to the inner face of the first nut, less a smidgeon.

The result was the pipe was sandwiched lightly between the Neuralizer casing and the inner boss of the handwheel, keeping the whole affair properly seated on the tape and preventing a ding to the handwheel pushing the potentiometer off its rather flimsy mounting.

Naturally, one of the potentiometers would not cooperate and despite these measures came loose and span in its mount so the switch wouldn't work properly. I "solved" this with the aid of some epoxy putty originally intended to allow a tradesman to do shoddy work instead of a proper job. I simply suspended my "must come off again" rule for everything and slathered the bally thing in white paste, which is setting up (still(!)) as I type.

I also secured the inner core of the Moran Aetheric Resonator to the crystal pipe that forms the actuating principle of the Neuralizer. Without this component the Neuralizer is but a tawdry prop suitable only for play-acting.

I was scrupulous when it came to cleaning the crystal tube, and it was only after I had secured the inner core with a special rubber formulation that would ensure an air-tight dust seal that I realized that, what with all the different problems I was solving as I went I had neglected to clean the core itself. Too late by then of course, D_sh It!

The good news is that with the exception of the fabrication of the battery box and the still-vexing matter of how to secure the Superheterodyning Tubes to the barrel, this represents the final problem with the Neuraliser, the rest of the job being a matter of straightforward "x requires y be done" tasks that should take very little effort.

The bad news is that I'm quite behind schedule and must now rush to finish by the debut date.