ZVEX – Candela Vibro Phase

Steampunk. That’s something I sort of have a love/hate relationship with. On the one hand, it’s pretty nerdy/geeky and that’s appealing to me. On the other hand, making something look ‘vintage’ based on just aesthetics is annoying to me. When I see steampunk guitars, I generally hate it. Put on some brass parts, fake gauges makes it look old, but to me, is pretty dumb.

The part of Steampunk that I absolutely love is trying to work with 19th century technology. To make something old work and interface with something new today, but going beyond just looking old. This type of thinking is what I love about working with electronics. It’s problem solving and with items before going insanely micro, so you can understand fundamentals.

I’ve been watching a lot of NAMM videos. They’re all amazing. Crazy. Fun. But yesterday, I saw videos from the ZVex booth where Zachary has been working on a cool little steampunk project. The Zvex Candela Vibro Phase. It’s candle powered. My mind was blown.

First off, the unit is beautiful. Milled and machined brass pieces (I love that he didn’t CnC the pieces), using candle power (via a Stirling Engine) for power and using small solar cells (this is not 19th century.. but come on.. this pretty awesome) to power the phase. The candle generates the heat for the engine to spin the optical disc and a photo resister receiving light information from the light of the candle. Amazing.

Let me know what you think by commenting below!!!