Professor von Explaino

Euchronia was the Steampunk New Years Eve party organised by the Antipodean League of Temporal Voyagers. It last ran in 2008 and was so successful they postponed it for a year to make sure it remained novel. I’m not entirely certain how that works, but boy was this year’s a hum-dinger! Baron von Borg, Lady Alexander, the Cerulean and Gil of ROSEA joined me in attending; the Cerulean also brought along an independent contractor as her offsider for the evening so it was an even numbered affair.

The night was positively epic, with live Tesla coils and Van de Graaff generators in the entrance hall; numerous different entertainment outfits, a maker’s stall hall (where I finally found the cravat I hadn’t known I’d been looking for) and a musical area in the basement where an organ played dirges via keyboard and tuned Jacobs’ Ladders.

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Tuned Jacobs’ Ladders

I also finally met the Mad Uncle himself – I have been following his blog for quite some time and getting to introduce myself and have a quick chat was a treat. My device did arrive late into the event due to misadventure, but I did manage to parade around wearing the Thingometer mark V with corset analysing attachment. Lady Aleksander allowed me to use my hypno-ray for the evening as well (I’m… not… quite sure how that permission tree works), so I didn’t feel completely device bereft. The Thingometer’s leg strap does make me walk a little funny but it has the advantage of being completely hands free and a little bit different to everyone else’s equipment.

Some links:

• The Thingometer – overview, the atmospheriser, the power source
• Baron Cyrus von Borg’s photographic evidence of Euchronia
• My photographic evidence of Euchronia
• Paul’s photographic evidence of Euchronia
• Richard Jones’ photostream of Euchronia
• Faster Louder’s photos of Euchronia

Continuing Professor von Explaino’s investigations into every realm of science (due to his expertise in the field of Omniology), and inspired by Cheyenne Wright’s Corset Inspector badge, I have created two new devices that were to be shown off at the next Prometheus Bound.  As that was unfortunately cancelled, we reconvened to the nerd friendly Mana Bar and had an impromtu steam gathering.  Those of you on Facebook can see the results of the outing at the Mana Bar’s Facebook page.

The Corset Inspector Badge is required to prevent misunderstandings.

The Corset Analyser, with the dial face superemposed.

The RandOmniscope is a cantankerous, multi purpose analyser

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A few weekends ago GenCon came to Brisbane and the Royal Omnitological Society for Electrodyne Adventurers had to make an attendance.  Feeling that the Clue-o-meter lacked the punch required for the latest event, I started work on the next Professor device.
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I appologise for being dark, but I haven’t completed any new works to write about; instead I’m going to canvas for opinions on the Professor’s next device.  The thing-o-meter has been grand, but I think it’s time to upgrade to something backpack powered.  So far the logic is as follows

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Blast, late.  Sorry about that.

One of the key aspects of the Professor persona is devices, von Explaino is always inventing and concocting so he must have  held or otherwise carried equipment of an aetheric and esoteric nature.  The first device I created, with the great assistance of Baron von Borg and Del von Gadgetus, initially for the “Brisbane Romp” charity event and then updated to be taken to a Valentine’s Day nightclub with a Steampunk theme.  This was the Thing-o-meter, so named because while the general device would remain the same, its specific purpose would change to become a detector of Something depending on contents..

Goal: A weird device.  A ‘detector’ scope of some description, so it needed a collector end and a reporting end.

Components:

• Glass fronted display box from Bunnings (hardware store)
• Dark mahogany wood stain from Bunnings
• Brass photo frame/ box corners from Bunnings
• Brown cloth covered electrical cabling, attached to brass-looking light fittings from Reverse Garbage (recycling shop)
• Carpet sample from friends
• Brass hinges from Bunnings
• Wooden chair leg from Bunnings
• Plunger cup from Bunnings
• Tuning fork from eBay
• Pin and miscellaneous bits from friends
• Metres of glow-in-the-dark cable from a birthday gift
• UV Fluorescent tube from JayCar (+battery)
• Electrical switch from JayCar
• Small brain for the Clue-o-meter from a novelty store
• Small heart for the Love-o-meter from a kids science magazine

First all the wood was stained, twice.  Gave the box a rich quality, unfortunately I used a walnut matte stain on the leg so it was less impressive.  The plunger was taken apart, it was a screw-ended model, leaving me with the plunger cup that would fit snug over the end of the chair leg.  The back of the box, which comes off to put things in, had the carpet sample glued onto it to provide a thematic backing for the visual display unit of the device.  Once the wood was dry, the light fitting was dissected and the small end attached to the leg with glue, and the large end was screwed onto the box back via hinges.  This meant we could hide all the circuitry and battery for the fluorescent tube in there, so the on-off switch is sticking out of a hole in the light fixture.  The UV tube was secured over the carpet end so that when it was shut it would be in the middle – giving the most light coverage. Baron kindly drilled a hole through the plunger cup and into the wooden leg so that the tuning fork could be jammed in there to keep the whole thing joined.

The ‘Thing’ in thing-o-meter is whatever’s front and centre in the view-port when the device is in use, thus determining its name – the Brain powers the Clue-o-meter, and a Heart powers the Love-o-meter.  The brain had a mounting block made for it by a pin and left over parts; the heart was just stuck loosely to the glass by its own sticky nature.  The rest of the box is then filled with the tangle of glow-in-the-dark cabling when the UV light is activated the box becomes filled with eerily glowing cables.

Professor and the Clue-o-meter (business end)

Love-o-meter in action