# peoples power weapon designs and attempts?



## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

has any one began designing or building a power weapon because ive been stuck on what to use as a power source and have designed this thread so other people who have experience with helpful things can help those of us who are trying to build or design power weapons?

i do realise its a bit strange to be attempting this.


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

Do you mean you're actually trying to build a power weapon? As in a functionally working one?

Aramoro


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

yeah and if i ever achieve it i don't know what id do but i say it'd be awesome.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

First you need to aquire a suitably small yet sufficient power source. For this reason, it`s probably better to try a power knife for the first one. 

You`ll need to strengthen the blade, otherwise it may melt (We`re talking cut through metal power blade right?). It may be an idea to do a few test runs first. Test a few alloys, do some research, etc. 
Once this is sorted, you need to design the circuit, seperate the elements of the blade to ensure that the power flows continuously. Basically, you only really want the edge to be conductive. This has been my greatest obstacle.

Admittedly, my ambitions have dropped somewhat. I have now opted to make a shock maul instead, as it is still badass and it`s not like I`ll be going up against power armour in this day and age. (next project btw)


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

I've thought of using a titanium blade because of the high melting point, how exactly would you make it to flow continuous that kind of confuses me, wouldn't that be incredibly difficult.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Exactly. The centre of the blade basically has to be non conductive, and this itself compromises the blade`s strength. You can`t really put any insulation in it or else it loses too much strength. I haven`t figured this out yet...


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Maybe just a small section near the hilt where it loops. That might do it.


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

maybe, but couldn't that make the charge run both ways instead of a loop


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

Possibly making the blade out of one metal then the other part out of a non conductive but strong metal could work and then joining with welding or pin joints of this non conductive metal? Just thoughts


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

You could make an incredibly hot blade, not a power sword as such because that'ts not how they work but hot yes. To be able to cut steel with it you need to get up to around the 1500 C mark but that will mearly melt it you would need temperature easily double or triple this to do significant damage with glancing contacts. Titanium melts around 1600 C so you need to rethink that idea. Tungsten you can get up to 3000 C before it melts but you would need some sort of high strength backing to make sure it didn't go all bendy wendy. High Strength ceramics fit this bill, being able to cope with the incredibly high temperatures you want to generate (kinda)

Now obviously you wont be able to hold a blade heated up to 3000 C without some major thermal protection. 

As for the power source nothing compact and portable will generate enough energy to power this for any consistent period of time. If you wanted to heat it up to a few hundred degrees then yeah I could see that working. My degree in Electrical Engineering might actually be useful for a change. 

Aramoro


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

i thought titaniums melting point was at 3000c not 1600c ill have to rethink that, and i know making an actual power weapon would be impossible but super heated would work


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Sounds like you're trying to build an over-sized foam cutter.

Frankly, utterly impractical, unnecessarily dangerous, and impossible to make man-portable if you want it to cut metal.

The closest thing I can think of (that would actually work) is a plasma torch, but that would be far too expensive for just a cool project, and wouldn't be as cool as a real Power Weapon.

Until we can build force fields, such a weapon is impossible to produce, because that's effectively what a Power Weapon is.


A Thunder Hammer is a different matter however :biggrin:


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

Only unnecessarily dangerous for the person doing it. I live on a different continent from Kale so I totally endorse this idea. 

The melting point of titanium is ~3000 F which is probably where the confusion crept in. 

I like your idea of the plasma torch and electric arc heating in general. 

You could create a compact thermal lance style arrangement basically using electric arc heating to ignite the body of the sword itself. It would have a limited lifespan but would get into the ~4000 C kinda temperature range. I cannot say strongly enough what a dangerous idea this would be.

Aramoro


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## Arbite (Jan 1, 2010)

Your 15 and your trying to make a sword that will run at 3000 degrees C...

I can tell you from an engineering perspective your screwed. Nothing portable can produce the kind of power that you would need, unless you somehow invent cold fusion or have a nuclear reactor strapped to your back (who doesn't want an extra set of limbs?).

Also, even if you could get it running, it wouldn't cut through things very quickly and would be ridiculuously dangerous. You would have to wait for what ever you were attempting to cut to melt. It wouldn't slice through unless you somehow invent the lightsaber, or use a plasma cutter.


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

I think we've all got that this is extremely dangerous, now lets work out how to do it. 

Plasma Cutter is probably you best bet for generating enough heat, you're looking ~25,000 C on an industrial one. Now Inverter plasma cutters run off DC power and vastly reduce the power requirements, you can get a mains powered plasma cutter that will do 12mm steel, which is good. So a small petrol generator but I was thinking more one of those sit on lawn mowers with a larger generator on the back would be good, then you could cruise around on it with your sword. 

The sword itself would not be an actual blade, but rather a series of small plasma cutter nozzles all fed from a common air compressor (also mounted on your sit on mower) With a larger generator and decent air compressor you could have a dozen or so nozzles up the edge of your 'blade'. Enough nozzles suitably close together would create the illusion of a plasma cutting blade. Now these would need to be housed in some suitable housing so that if you did hit anything with it the nozzles themselves would not be damaged as that could prove disastrous. It has the added side effect of starting the pilot arc's of a dozen nozzles in one go would probably fry any sensitive electronics nearby, we'll call that a hidden bonus emp pulse. 

Aramoro


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## Arbite (Jan 1, 2010)

You would need a serious air compressor to get the pressure required if your doing nozzles stretched along a full size blade.

How much are you looking to spend on this thing?


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

You could just use high pressure argon canisters to generate the flow. You don't need that high a pressure and you'll probably have mortally wounded yourself within a minute so you don't really need it to work longer than that. I reckon with small nozzles and custom made airflow system a 10bar compressor should work, it's big but that's what the sit on lawnmower is for. 

Lawn Mower will be around £1500
Air Compressor around £1000
Portable Generator £750-1000
A single portable plasma torch that will run on the above around £1000
Cheap nozzle parts are about £100 a pop and we need a dozen so £1200
Sundry bits and bobs to make the housing is going to be an easy another £1000

So you could probably do it all for what £7000 or so. 

Aramoro


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

ill try and get my uncle to help, he'd probably be glad to make an inhumanly dangerous weapon, could you use a 4 wheeler instead of a ride on lawn mower


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Kale Hellas said:


> ill try and get my uncle to help, he'd probably be glad to make an inhumanly dangerous weapon, could you use a 4 wheeler instead of a ride on lawn mower


I can just imagine it now... (link)


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## Chaosrider (Feb 3, 2010)

ok, if you pull this off, it would be epic! but ~$21000 NZ is quite a bit... so that would be ~$20000 AU? not sure about that... i like the shock maul idea... bit more practical. i now want to make a thunderhammer.. great... im not going to sleep tonight...


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

ill try the shock mall then when im older ill make the powersword


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## Dies Irae (May 21, 2008)

So if I understood everything well, you want to build a sword with a dozen of Plasma cutters on it, powered by a sit on lawn mower with an air compressor attached to it?
...
...
...
...
...
That's an awesome idea!!! (but totally useless in combat, if I see a man riding a lawn mower with a flaming sword if his hands, I'll quickly headshot him, or, even funnier, shoot the argon tanks). However I would recommend you to build a power spear, not a sword, because if you make a sword the plasma cutters will be far to close to your hands. It also suits the "lawn mower riding" idea more.


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

I would still say any of these ideas are insanely dangerous, but I do think the Plamsa Sword ™ might be possible but so dangerous that would almost certainly die in the process of trying to use it. 

Shock Mauls would be easy to make but again without a good knowledge of electrical based weapons such as tasers etc you are likely to make something fatal rather than shocking. 

Aramoro


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Didn't anyone look at my picture?
:cray:


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

I looked at your picture and I was very amused. 

Aramoro


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

When I said shock maul, I meant the principle. 

I fully intended it to be lethal voltage. This is my alternative to power weapon.

If this works, I`ll make a tesla gun (RA2) for my other arm, then I1ll need some sort of insulated power armour suit. 

Shit, I`ll probably be in my forties by the time I finish this...


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Serpion5 said:


> If this works, I`ll make a tesla gun (RA2) for my other arm, then I1ll need some sort of insulated power armour suit.


Weaponised Tesla Coils are highly impractical, to have one actually function you have to spray some sort of conductive inert gas at the enemy, or a cloud of iron filings or something.
While such a weapon would be magnificent for crowd control (basically a group tazer), it would be pointless as a lethal weapon.

Functioning by similar principles is an Electrolaser, it takes advantage of energy wastage that occurs when the photons make contact with particles in the air, this contact makes a thin stream of plasma (highly energised matter), which is by nature highly conductive; the device (not exactly a weapon) works by firing a laser (not sure if there's any way to increase the blooming (the energy wastage) of a low-powered laser) at the target, and then running an electrical charge through the resulting plasma stream.

This technology could theoretically be used as a non-lethal weapon, however some damage would result from the laser itself, which limits the merits of such.
It can also be used as a way to set off explosives (its primary application in current developments I think), as it simply applies electricity to the device, which in many conventional explosives is the required trigger.


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

Wait what? 

I guarantee if you continue with this plan you won't make 40. 

Aramoro


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## Baltar (Aug 16, 2008)

First you would need to define exactly what a "power field" is.

Passing a current though the blade doesn't make it a power weapon.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

I`m well aware of the impracticalities.

I was a student in electronics, engineering and physics, so I know damn well this is the most pointless thing i could do with my life.

But it`s so hilarious... Isn`t that reason enough? :biggrin:


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

yes it is, because im a firm believer in do it for 'shits and gigs' (those who don't understand it, it means for the hell of it)

and impracticality doesn't matter it's Australia just about everything we do is impractical, even animals are impractical here


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Aramoro said:


> Wait what?
> 
> I guarantee if you continue with this plan you won't make 40.
> 
> Aramoro


There`s no guarantee of that anyway.
Especially with my reckless streak.

Plus, the feds are bound to start asking about all the shallow graves in my backyard eventually. Did you ever wonder why I`m trying to build these damn things? I`m going down fighting! :crazy:


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## chromedog (Oct 31, 2007)

If it's even remotely capable of harming people, the Authorities WILL get involved.
If he does actually manage to harm anyone without killing himself, he might make 40 - but he'll be living in a 3x4m box and only seeing daylight for a few hours a day.

Those are big ifs.

My money's on him not making breeding age and going out with a whimper. Plasma cutters aren't tolerant of those people who don't understand their capability (brother in law uses one at work).


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

could always sell the plans to a military contractor who could expand on it and create a stronger more effective one and find useful protection.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

The Real Sanguinius said:


> First you would need to define exactly what a "power field" is.
> 
> Passing a current though the blade doesn't make it a power weapon.


We've already covered that making an actual Power Weapon is literally impossible, no matter how much money and time you have to burn, as we don't yet have the appropriate technologies.



Serpion5 said:


> But it`s so hilarious... Isn`t that reason enough? :biggrin:


Says the man before diving off a cliff wearing a tutu :laugh:


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## Chaosrider (Feb 3, 2010)

i want to make the thunderhammer... whats cooler than smacking something with a hammer, knocking it out with electricity, and sending it flying? RABBIT GET SMUSHED!!! or better yet, those bloody POSSUMS!!!! yeah, i live in new zealand.... you think your ecosystem is screwed kale?


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Chaosrider said:


> i want to make the thunderhammer... whats cooler than smacking something with a hammer, knocking it out with electricity, and sending it flying? RABBIT GET SMUSHED!!! or better yet, those bloody POSSUMS!!!! yeah, i live in new zealand.... you think your ecosystem is screwed kale?


I think the most realistic representation of a Thunder Hammer would be to strap a hand grenade to a mallet


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

Winterous said:


> I think the most realistic representation of a Thunder Hammer would be to strap a hand grenade to a mallet


I fully endorse this idea, someone go and do it. 

The Plasma Sword ™ is of no practical use to anyone, it won't even be that effective as a weapon because, well , we have guns. But that should not stop anyone trying to construct one, assuming they live far far away from me.

Aramoro


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Winterous said:


> I think the most realistic representation of a Thunder Hammer would be to strap a hand grenade to a mallet


Actually, that would be more like an Orkish Tank-hammer 

And that's been done in real life  (link to vid! do not try this at home!)

Personally, if your not worried about the legality of it anyway, you might as well make it impressive, and try for the Wrist mounted flame thower (2nd vid). Much easier to show off with than a "power weapon" 

[EDIT: just putting the video in thread]


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## World Eater XII (Dec 12, 2008)

I think what we really need is a rail gun


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## Chaosrider (Feb 3, 2010)

oooooooooooooooooo, a railgun 

but those take up heaps and heaps of power and are just as practical as the plasma sword... (don't know how to do that tm thingy..) ok maybe a lot more practical to the US army, who should get them sorted out....

and with the thunder hammer i was thinking of having it more like a Van der Graff generator. or a portable lightning generator, somehow make high potential difference between hammer and target (on initial contact) then charge is balanced shocking the bejebus out of target as it flys away. no idea of how it would work yet..

HOLY SHIT I WANT ONE OF THOSE FLAMETHROWERS!!!!!!!


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## RudeAwakening79 (Oct 20, 2008)

ok, I have read some scary topics...but you guys are absolutely "above and beyond"....keep it up!


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

RudeAwakening79 said:


> ok, I have read some scary topics...but you guys are absolutely "above and beyond"....keep it up!


thank you my good sir

as for the flamethrower to easy to make a wrist mounted flamethrower, no challenge to it (except the running from police)


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

World Eater XII said:


> I think what we really need is a rail gun


We already have rail guns,well they will be ready within the decade. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun#Railguns_as_weapons

As for power weapons, warfare has been moving away from hand to hand combat for century's, because it impractical, dangerous and not very effective at killing people. Its just one of those scifi "myths" that the noble sword will always be useful no matter how far advanced our civilisation becomes, but in all cases the sword has to either evolve impossibly or become "magic" and/or the wielder have the reactions of a cat to equal the speed of fire arms and even then we have to forget about area effect weapons exist.


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

or you combine range and melee, and correct me if im wrong but isn't decapitating someone an effective way of killing them 
http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/gunblade.jpg


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Kale Hellas said:


> thank you my good sir
> 
> as for the flamethrower to easy to make a wrist mounted flamethrower, no challenge to it (except the running from police)



no challenge? why dont you walk us through the process involved?


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

bitsandkits said:


> We already have rail guns,well they will be ready within the decade.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun#Railguns_as_weapons


The navies Rail gun is up, running and awesome. 



, 



.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

maddermax said:


> Actually, that would be more like an Orkish Tank-hammer
> 
> And that's been done in real life  (link to vid! do not try this at home!)
> 
> ...


Ok, what were the _other_ people hitting with hammers?

Damnit, that guy stole my idea!
Wrist-mounted Flamethrower is the ultimate over-the-top self defense weapon.
You aren't shooting a projectile, so it can't be traced to you, and it's easily concealed 



bitsandkits said:


> As for power weapons, warfare has been moving away from hand to hand combat for century's, because it impractical, dangerous and not very effective at killing people. Its just one of those scifi "myths" that the noble sword will always be useful no matter how far advanced our civilisation becomes, but in all cases the sword has to either evolve impossibly or become "magic" and/or the wielder have the reactions of a cat to equal the speed of fire arms and even then we have to forget about area effect weapons exist.


Warfare has been moving away from H2H because we put a high value on human life.
In the grimdarkness of the grimdark future, humans are a penny a platoon, so they don't give half a fuck about them, charge in to combat if it'll get the job done.

Hand to hand combat is extremely effective, as there is no possible chance of mistaking a friend for an enemy, lethal or incapacitating blows can be very easily identified (as opposed to shooting a guy and have him pretend to be dead, when he just got a nasty bruise, only to shoot you when you aren't expecting it), and at very short range a rifle _really_ isn't a good thing to try and fire, putting yourself off balance with the recoil is a sure way to get yourself killed.

Also Orks like bashing things and can't aim, Tyranids also don't place any value on life, and other such things.


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Winterous said:


> Warfare has been moving away from H2H because we put a high value on human life.


No, this is the reason warfare has been moving away from H2H combat. There will always be situations where it's required though... but not as often as you'd think...

/rat-at-at-at


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

maddermax said:


> No, this is the reason warfare has been moving away from H2H combat. There will always be situations where it's required though... but not as often as you'd think...
> 
> /rat-at-at-at


Well that isn't exactly a fair situation.
Dudes on horses charging directly at dudes with Gatling guns who know they're coming.

Picture this though, a unit of soldiers engaged in a heated fire fight with another unit of soldiers, and suddenly cavalry start charging at them from a flank, if they focus on the cavalry the infantry can advance and gain the advantage, if they keep focus on the fire fight the cavalry will overrun them, if they split fire they still won't have much chance.

Also when you have 3 metre tall warriors wearing inch-thick servoed ceramic armour with jump jets strapped to their back, you kind of eliminate the whole 'charging across a field' element of it, and go straight to the 'they react really fast or they start dying' part of it.


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## Inquisitor Varrius (Jul 3, 2008)

> Also when you have 3 metre tall warriors wearing inch-thick servoed ceramic armour with jump jets strapped to their back, you kind of eliminate the whole 'charging across a field' element of it, and go straight to the 'they react really fast or they start dying' part of it.


That was going to be my argument.

Oh, and instructables has a guide for wrist flamethrowers here. Actually, if you search "flamethrower" on that sight, there's quite a few hits.


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## Chaosrider (Feb 3, 2010)

DAMN YOU!!!! i now want to make the damned thing!!!!

and right not, i have way to much going on..


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## NoiseMarine (Jun 8, 2008)

I'm regretting staying out of this thread for so long, all discussed is pretty damn awesome! But I still think the Power Sword would be quite impossible or just damn impractical. But, the power maul still intrigues me!


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

NoiseMarine said:


> But, the power maul still intrigues me!


It really would just be a battery tied to a stick


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## NoiseMarine (Jun 8, 2008)

Winterous said:


> It really would just be a battery tied to a stick


 hahahaha, You could have a combination of a conducting material and a non-conducting material... Like the synthetic handles they put on some axes, I actually think it has potential to be a lot cooler than that. :laugh:


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

My friend and i once made a laser shrink ray. It was a cold cathode inside a coke bottle, fitted with an LED fan and powered by an old PSU.

It didn't work


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Varakir said:


> My friend and i once made a laser shrink ray. It was a cold cathode inside a coke bottle, fitted with an LED fan and powered by an old PSU.
> 
> It didn't work


I would +rep you, but I can't


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## Chaosrider (Feb 3, 2010)

i can, i think. so i will. because, that is just positively amazing!

wait, i can't


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## Blackheart_101 (Dec 14, 2009)

i'll do it. third time's the charm ... :victory:


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## Chaosrider (Feb 3, 2010)

yay  haha, but he def deserves it.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Blackheart_101 said:


> i'll do it. third time's the charm ... :victory:


I only _just_ understood what you meant '-_-


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## Inquisitor Varrius (Jul 3, 2008)

Sorry to possibly have resurrected an old thread, but I've been gone for a while and I thought I'd add another instructables classic.

Instructions on how to make a K-Nex chain sword here.


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## Vyr (Apr 18, 2010)

Since this has been bumped, I'll contribute, you could have a setup such as a back windshield, though a bit more complicated, for a blade, you could have a loop soldered onto the side of the blade, than, have it connected to some sort of a power-source, then you could have "tentacles" coming off of the main loop, and looping back in of-course, this would probably make the blade have an electrical charge, as well as being extremely hot.


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## Cato Sicarius (Feb 21, 2008)

According to the fluff:



> A power weapon is sheathed in a lethal haze of a disruptive energy field, which eats through armour, flesh and bone with ease.


So unless you can revolutionise the world of physics and find a way to create this disruptive energy field (which is fiction) it won't be a power weapon.

What many people seem to be proposing is a very hot sword, which won't work. It would probably be easier to create a lightsaber, using some kind of fuel cell to emit light and heat energy (immense amounts of it) and somehow trapping it in an artificially created electromagnetic field (which to the best of my knowledge is impossible, but I haven't done university level physics). This would work better, but still wouldn't be possible, because of the colossal amounts of power necessary to work it.

tl;dr: It's impossible.


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

we already went through the fact that its impossible so now its more leaning towards a shock maul or thunder hammer


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## Ikazuchi_Ookami (Feb 23, 2012)

you try oscillating blades or a series of blades that vibrate at a high speed at such you can possibly cut the required temp down so the range of materiel's increase also an other tip is to start small an i don't mean in size i mean tech to the power weapons used in Warhammer 40K are extrimly advance so a good way to build up is to figer the tech that came before the power weapons and keep going down the list until you hit an era that can be obtain using the tech we do have and not to be afraid to go big it seems all of you want a small power supply in the weapon it self when you could easly have a pack that starps to your back or your hip


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## Reaper45 (Jun 21, 2011)

I made a powerblade.

All it took was a blade a AA battery and a headphone cord.


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## Farseer Darvaleth (Nov 15, 2009)

This is why being able to read the date is so useful. :rtfm:


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