Arc Gun

The Project Vision

This project started as a dream of boiling dirt into brown glass, crushing the resulting glass into powder, and then melting it into glass rods. The ultimate goal? To manually 3D print objects by hand, feeding a glass rod tip into a plasma arc while manipulating both in free space.

This arc gun is an absolute beast. While it's capable of pushing upwards of 100 Watts, I initially tested it at 20W due to power supply constraints. Even at lower power, the results were staggering.

Most modules on the market top out at 5 to 10 watts. This specific generator is a massive outlier, providing an intensity that most DIY hobbyists rarely encounter without salvaging old CRT televisions.

Real Life

It works! Things eventually melt even when I run 20W worth of plasma over their surfaces. I imagine it'll be even more fun at 100W. The more I play with the plasma gun, the more applications I discover. It's very versatile!

I added female jumpers so different wires/metal chunks (like from a soda can) with different properties could be inserted and used to generate plasma. The things I've seen...! Designing it like this also ensures that it's easy to replace the electrodes as they get evaporated by the plasma.

It's fun flash-boiling ants.

DAMN THOSE SUGAR ANTS! STAY OUT OF MY COFFEE! NIBBLE ON SOME PLASMA INSTEAD!

Extreme Super Duper Lethal Danger

Unfortunately, given how dangerous making plasma like this is, I can't just casually make one for just anyone. This prototype was made as a gift for a gift-exchanging event among engineers. Other engineers probably won't get vaporized by this! Probably.

10x cheaper than a welder, 10x more dangerous! If you are not afraid of the arc gun, it'll destroy you!

Alex Glow grabbed this gift! Here's hoping that they won't be climbing Jacob's Ladder!

Live Demonstrations