Behold the Sexy, Steam-Powered Steampunk Turntable

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
Behold the Sexy, Steam-Powered Steampunk Turntable

I think this is a first for me: An awesome, fully-functional home-made turntable that actually runs on steam - built by a guy who doesn't really care for steampunk.

When was the last time you saw something steampunk that actually ran on steam? I can't even remember; it's quite possible that I never have. Until now, that is, thanks to a guy who claims that steampunk isn't really his "cup of tea" and was prompted to build this wood-and-brass beast in part out of the "annoyance" he felt when the Google Maps Brass Wristlet Navigator [http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2010/08/14/brass-wristlet-google-maps-navigator-watch] he built, which is a mighty cool piece of equipment in its own right, was mistakenly referred to by people as steampunk. And when I say built, I mean built - even the steam engine is entirely hand-made.

The builder, Simon Jansen of Auckland, New Zealand, originally constructed an "old fashioned gramophone-style pickup and horn" but it proved too heavy and actually destroyed his first test album, forcing him to resort to a standard tone arm and pickup. He paid plenty of attention to other details as well. "The visible wires are run through shoelace to give that fabric covered wiring look," he wrote on his blog [http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2010/11/30/a-steam-punk-record-player]. "All the brass and copper was polished then left to tarnish again to give a nice patina of age and the wooden parts were deliberately varnished in a rather slap dash fashion to give the impression of age (well that's my excuse)."

The final result is a beautiful, functional steam-driven turntable that I would just about kill for and that Jansen, true to his word, seems remarkably indifferent about. "Anyway, some pictures of the finished device," he wrote. "I don't have any plans for this thing. I basically made it up as I went along and experimented to see what would work and what wouldn't."

I have to say, sir, that I think this works.

Thanks to iamnotincompliance [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/iamnotincompliance] for the tip.


Permalink
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
0
0
I read the title, and thought that it somehow ran on the Steam UI...

Boot a game to scratch!
 

KEM10

New member
Oct 22, 2008
725
0
0
I actually started screaming in horror when he placed the needle in the middle of the record. But that is the music nerd in me coming out.

I also love that he created it out of spite. The idea that his wrist scroll isn't steam punk, this is steam punk and topped it off with the Sex Pistols was wonderful.
 

KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
2,846
0
0
One would think if used regularly the steam from the piston (which seems to be released in the direction of the record) would warp the vinyl and eventually makes the record unplayable. Then again he does say its not done so I guess we can assume he'll be covering the inner workings of it or something.
 

Shihoudani

New member
Oct 3, 2009
121
0
0
If he continued working on that to prevent any damage to the record, this would actually be a device I'd love to own. I'm not a big Steampunk person but the idea behind the technology, an easily renewable energy source for devices... it's just, amazing. :O
 

milkkart

New member
Dec 27, 2008
172
0
0
nice, i does kind of suck that most steampunk devices just involve glueing some cogs onto a piece of electronics, this certainly bucks the trend.

Shihoudani said:
If he continued working on that to prevent any damage to the record, this would actually be a device I'd love to own. I'm not a big Steampunk person but the idea behind the technology, an easily renewable energy source for devices... it's just, amazing. :O
its not really easily renewable unless you're burning sustainably sourced wood (expensive) or using a nuclear reactor (angers hippies) to heat the water. i guess you could use an electric heating element power by wind generators or something but then you might as well just use an electric motor.
 

MrPatience

New member
Mar 25, 2009
200
0
0
What a brilliant device!
How demonic do the Sex Pistols sound when slowed down slightly?
 

Steve the Pocket

New member
Mar 30, 2009
1,649
0
0
From the sound of the album, there's no speed regulator. It just runs as fast or as slow as it feels like at any given moment. But it's hard to tell. If he'd used it to play some classical piece, it would be easier to tell (and he'd be less likely to get his video flagged by the RIAA and blocked from 90% of the world).