Fire Beats
A Flame Reactive Speaker
I have always been interested in things that are able to react to, and show sound patterns in some way. For my 4th and final Hackathon of the semester I decided I wanted to make a project that would do this in an interesting way. The idea was to make a desktop Ruben's Tube, a device that is able to show sound waves in flames, using a bluetooth speaker and some other parts I either had on hand, or could easily buy. Given that I only had 4 hours to build the project, it is not perfect, but overall I am happy with the result. It still requires some tinkering as I have not figured out the best volume and gas ratio to use to get it to work most effectively but the potential is definitely there.
The project consists of a wooden base that holds the speaker controls and the tube. The tube is made from an empty can.
Starting off this project I assumed I was not going to have a problem getting it up and running. I made a test version using a smaller can than I intended and got it working with no problems which strengthened this idea.
Once I started the project however I quickly started encountering issues. The original plan was to use an Arizona tea can as the tube as it was the biggest can I could find readily available. I had also planned to leave the can with the design intact as I thought it would give the project an interesting look. I had two cans to test different designs on but although the designs seemed better than the one I had successfully tested with, I could not get the flames to light regardless of what I tried. Looking back now the problem was most likely a leak somewhere but after working at it for 2 hours I decided to pivot. I went back to the original can I had tested with and after working with it for another half hour or so I got it to light successfully. I did not like the design on this can so I opted to cover it. With my remaining hour I had left I quickly made the stand and mounted everything. The project still requires some tinkering to get it to work correctly. I got it to a point where it works well enough but I think with some modifications to the hole size it would work a lot better. Overall though I am happy with the final product. It was a much bigger challenge than I anticipated but I am happy I did it.
