Builderati

For those unfamiliar with the Burning Man event, it is a week-long festival of self-sufficiency and engineering art held in the Black Rock Desert of California (or is it Nevada?). The participants are known for ingenuity and alternative thinking.

Kinetic sculptor and uber-builder Arthur Ganson hosted the annual FAT Friday at MIT this past Friday-After-Thanksgiving creating a Chain Reaction

The Busycle Project was the largest project completed at Sparqs this year. Pictures, plans, and video can be seen at the main site, but one of the most remarkable elements of the experience was the reactions of passers-by as 14 people pedalled the modified cargo van through the streets of Boston this September.

I have been building skeletal dragon forms whenever steel and time are available. It seems obvious that the next thing to do is to make a life-size dragon head that is capable of spewing a jet of flame.

And, while I am at it, why not mount it on the roof of my ‘89 Honda Accord? I was recently gifted the Accord by a generous member of the Boston Burning Man group. All it needed was a new alternator to fix an internal short and of course a new dragon-head for the roof.

In researching the design for the flame cannon, I came across this well documented design for a homemade flame thrower posted in a number of places (but best laid out here) by Builderati, RolandTower.

My own design will use liquid propane (just like your grill uses) as a fuel source and produce more of a gush of flame like a flame cannon rather than a steady stream like flame thrower. I have done the trip to Lowes for the necessary plumbing fittings and I need the time to buy, assemble, and test. I have been delaying since I have a clearing in the woods in mind for a test spot rather than my backyard and I don’t want to be in the position of holding a flame cannon without the ability to immediately (and safely) test it out.