Never heard of Plasma Man? Well he was born out of a spark …or better yet a lightning bolt of creativity in the work shop in the back of the Coca-Cola Space Science Center! His mission? … to safely teach about the states of matter, electrical circuits, and heat transfer in a fascinating and interactive way. His “power source” is a Jacob’s Ladder which creates a plasma spark at the bottom and moves up through his body, neck, head and out of a tube on top of his head. Seven buttons turn on/off plasma disks and lights and make him talk about what makes him work. His eyes are plasma balls and his eyebrows or flourescent tube lights that light up magically by being near the high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated by the plasma balls.
“Making” included 3D printing, 3D modeling, wood construction, electrical circuit wiring, audio production, programming, & graphic design.
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- Plasma Man!
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- Photoshop mockup to see how things look.
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- I used a BrightSign HD1022 unit to program the buttons to control the 10 audio files. I used a text to speech web app along with Adobe Audition to create the robot voice.
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- Here I modeled and 3D printed a holder for the plasma disk.
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- Keeping with the gear theme, I 3D modeled and 3D printed brackets to hold the top tube cover (which is a glass laser disk by the way :).
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- Another 3D printed bracket
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- Our 3D printer doesn’t print multiple colors on its own. In the Stratasys software, I put in pauses where I would switch out the color cartridge in order to print this multicolor sign.
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- I designed all of the vinyl graphics in a retro gear theme. At this stage it was fun seeing it come together!
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- Speaker Holes – Plasma Man explains how he works. Ten audio files are used.
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- Side View
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- A secret button that when pressed Plasma Man laughs and says “That Tickles”.
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- Rear Plug
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- Plasma man!
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- His eyes are plasma balls and his eyebrows or flourescent tube lights that light up magically by being near the high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated by the plasma balls.
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- Buttons turn on/ff plasma disks and other light features.
