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Hobbyist Builds Working Replica of Iron Man's Laser Gauntlet

Zothecula writes "Given that most real-life superheroes don't have the budget of Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne, you would assume that their gadgetry wouldn't be quite on par with what we're used to seeing in the movies. German cyber weapons hobbyist Patrick Priebe, however, has built his own working laser gauntlet... just like the one made famous by a certain Iron Man."

78 comments

  1. Not a guantlet by Chuckstar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not a guantlet. That is what is colloquially called a "cuff".

    AND...

    That guy has way too much free time. ;-)

    1. Re:Not a guantlet by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Funny

      AND...

      Boy, I bet his mom's basement is just riddled with scorch marks.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:Not a guantlet by Jmc23 · · Score: 1

      Cuff? Bracer would be more appropriate.

      --
      Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
    3. Re:Not a guantlet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, you might need to recheck what a gauntlet is.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauntlet_%28glove%29

      Check out the pictures on the right-side. You have basically the same thing in what I assume is bronze and lacking a balloon-rated death-ray.

    4. Re:Not a guantlet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering the guy sells his laser weapons for hefty amounts, I would say it's time well spent.

    5. Re:Not a guantlet by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      That guy has way too much free time.

      No, he doesn't, because he spends it all on projects like this!

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    6. Re:Not a guantlet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boy, I bet his mom's basement is just riddled with scorch marks.

      At least those burnt off some of the other marks...

    7. Re:Not a guantlet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not a guantlet.

      No-one claimed that it was. They are calling it a "gauntlet". I don't even know what a "guantlet" is.

    8. Re:Not a guantlet by Chuckstar · · Score: 1

      Wikipedia is not fact. Plus, all the items on that page include various amounts of hand protection. It's really not a gauntlet.

    9. Re:Not a guantlet by Chuckstar · · Score: 1

      Guantlet is how someone not paying attention spells gauntlet. ;-)

  2. So where do you put it on the shark? by zugmeister · · Score: 3, Funny

    All the effort to design this beautiful device and I totally don't see how it'll ever fit...

    1. Re:So where do you put it on the shark? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

      make it bigger and fit on the outsides of it.

  3. Hmm. by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Slight problem: Anyone who isn't wearing safety glasses is now blind, including innocent people. And you probably did more damage to everything around you than the bad guys. Ah, well... you are a superhero...

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    1. Re:Hmm. by peragrin · · Score: 2

      that's just it

      Iron man's laser cuts things.

      All this will do is make people blind, maybe burn out a camera ccd.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    2. Re:Hmm. by Brad1138 · · Score: 2

      All this will do is make people blind, maybe burn out a camera ccd.

      Or bring down a plane....

      --
      If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
    3. Re:Hmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG, Terrorists will use it to kill... we need to ban lasers!

    4. Re:Hmm. by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      Or bring down a plane....

      Yes, by the power of photons generated from a lightweight low energy density battery, the plane will simply fall out of the sky on contact with it. No, I think not. Although there have been numerous cases of laser light causing pilots difficulty, no planes have yet fallen out of the sky and are unlikely to. It is, however, a safety issue -- prolonged or repeated exposure to the kinds of lasers people are shooting at the airplanes can lead to eye problems.

      So I'm not saying it isn't a problem, just that it won't cause a plane to fall out of the sky.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    5. Re:Hmm. by Jmc23 · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is that he built an actually effective weapon that won't cause millions in damages like the made up thing in the comics.

      --
      Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
    6. Re:Hmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Builds like this prove that these lasers should be only sold and used by licensed handlers. Safety glasses are an absolute must, how is he going to demo this thing to a crowd? Will he warn them that if they even catch a reflection of the beam in their eyes they could lose retina real estate?

    7. Re:Hmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't ban them, but certainly not allow people off the street who have no regard for public safety use them. If I invented a gun, and told you that all it does it cause permanent blindness, pop balloons, and look cool, do you think we should sell that gun to anyone on the street? Lasers are instant and accidents constantly happen. Try not looking into a laser at your local supermarket at checkout. It's almost impossible - humans are designed to look at bright spots.

    8. Re:Hmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But what if someone uses a relatively powerful laser to blind a pilot in a small private aircraft, like a Cessna 172 or whatever, just as it approaches landing? Unlike large commercial liners, there are lots of smaller planes that can't land themselves on autopilot.

    9. Re:Hmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      USA USA USA!

  4. Re:nihao, bitches!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you really think that Korea is taking over you might want to learn the difference between their culture and language and those of Japan.

  5. Release the lawyers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    quick somebody sue him!

  6. useless by Rockstar+Rich+G · · Score: 1

    half iron man, half 'useless machine'

  7. Does everything geeky need to be "cyber"? by c0lo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    cyber weapons hobbyist

    Does the use of lasers/magnetic fields in gadgets convert them to "cyber"?

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    1. Re:Does everything geeky need to be "cyber"? by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wearable machines makes them cyber. Cybernetic organism, a cheap watch over a human arm. Or so the cyber heroes think...

    2. Re:Does everything geeky need to be "cyber"? by c0lo · · Score: 1

      Cybernetic organism, a cheap watch over a human arm

      Agreed: wearable machines make one at most cyberpunk (a bit different from what cybernetics mean)

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  8. Re:nihao, bitches!1 by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

    Hmmm... Nihao is Mandarin for "Hello"; literally it means "You Good". Sorry, not Korean.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  9. Re:nihao, bitches!1 by retchdog · · Score: 1

    not to mention "ni hao," though i guess korea is kind of like china-lite, in terms of western assimilation.

    --
    "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
  10. but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by wierd_w · · Score: 5, Informative

    Iron man's suit makes use of the absurdly abundant energy produced by his arclight generator to produce high density plasma. His gauntlets are actually high density plasma thrustors. He uses them to fly with. Lasers just don't have that kind of specific impulse. Think more "plasma based jet port", and you are on the right track.

    Sadly, you will discover that containing high density plasma isn't a walk in the park, and would make your containment system quite magnetically attractive to just about anything ferromagnetic. That's because to contain the plasma, you would need a bitchin strong magnetic field. Like what's inside an MRI machine.

    It HAS to be high density plasma, because low density plasma thrustors don't have enough thrust either. (Work fine in outer space. Not so hot on the earth's surface.)

    1. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      arclight siege artillery had the best damage, it would wreck anything, dragoons, ultralisks, but then the new "crucio" replacement not only cost more and required more crew but did less damage.

    2. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      But the new version looks cooler and has better animation.

    3. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Strong magnetic field to contain plasma + diamagnetic superconductive field insulating the plasma chamber, sort of like a souped up Faraday cage = plasma containment system that won't turn you into a walking fridge magnet.

      Yes/no?

      (Captcha was "dampen")

    4. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by arth1 · · Score: 1

      Laser also is quite a bit faster than IM's shots, which you can see move.

      Anyhow, editors, please don't use phrases like "... working laser gauntlet -- just like ...", unless it really works just like. It's just like in the same way as a flip phone is just like a Star Trek communicator -- a superficial resemblance unless actually used. If you mean awesome, say awesome; if you mean resembles, say resembles. Telling untruths is plusungood.

    5. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by englishknnigits · · Score: 1

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZWzf3h50LU

      Skip to 1:14. I'm no physicist but those look like lasers to me.

    6. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thank you. The GP has absolutely no business on Slashdot if he can't even distinguish Iron Man's palm-mounted arsenal from his wrist-mounted arsenal. It brings shame upon the entire community.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    7. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Luckyo · · Score: 1
    8. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As opposed to the OP who can't distinguish between gauntlets and arm guards.

    9. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really correct. This is the laser we often see iron man use in the movies, the one that he ejects after use because the laser tube burns out after a single use. His propulsion in his palms and boots is through repulsors, which are not a plasma based technology, they are some form of electric massless rocket that operates through an unknown process. The miniature arc reactor may have plasma in it but it does not supply his systems with plasma, it produces electricity using another unknown process.

    10. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by davydagger · · Score: 1

      a Sat Phone is a good comparison feature and size wise.

      Star Trek woefully underestimated computer technology, and over estimated starship technology. Not suprisingly. The world was enthralled by the space race, in the late 60s. No one cared about computers.

    11. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by bfandreas · · Score: 1

      Oh well, it was good as long as it lasted.

      Back to replicating the Shark Repellent Bat-Spray!
      We can already confuse goldfish. We're getting there!

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    12. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      but then the new "crucio" replacement not only cost more and required more crew but did less damage.

      Nah, you only think it does less damage because you aren't aware of the improvements in armor technology in the galaxy since the last war.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    13. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, lasers have the highest possible specific impulse. The exhaust velocity of a photon rocket (our laser in this case) is the speed of light.

      Did you mean thrust?

    14. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by bgarcia · · Score: 1

      FYI, you can post a link that skips to a particular time in a YouTube video:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZWzf3h50LU&t=1m13s

      --
      I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
    15. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is a repulsor ray, and as stated it is fired from his palm.

    16. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by hypergreatthing · · Score: 1

      actually.... you know i don't believe you're correct. The arc reactor or whatever has to do with fusion. I would surmise that any micro fusion reactors would deal with alpha particles, not plasma directly. Maybe it creates quark-gluon plasma which is a completely different animal than high density plasma. It could be very low density yet much more highly charged than any high density plasma and could be controlled more easily with magnetic containment fields.

    17. Re:but.... iron man doesnt shoot lasers.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... Or really, really hot. 'Cause, ya know....

  11. Re:nihao, bitches!1 by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

    Nor is Toyota. Maybe he should have said "Kia" or "Hyundai" or the vnerable Daewoo. Or the rising sun, or any of the other things he listed. I'm guessing it was a troll.

  12. Woulda been 1st post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Spent too much time watching thing on top of arm go up and down, up and down, up and down.

  13. Legal battles ahead. by mark-t · · Score: 1
    Fta:

    According to Patrick, it took him 120 hours to build the gauntlet â" and he wasnâ(TM)t working from plans of any kind. As with his past creations (such as a coilgun, flame-throwing glove, and rotary blade-shooting crossbow), heâ(TM)s not about to tell people how to build one of their own. If you contact him via his website, however, he might be willing to make you one ... for the right price.

    So...he's made his intent fairly clear that he intends to profit from this, even going so far as to create a form of scarcity by not disclosing to others how he did it. How long do you do you think it will take for the lawyers to descend?

    1. Re:Legal battles ahead. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      WTF are you talking about? What would the lawyers be descending for, to congratulate him for his basic grasp of entrepreneurial capitalism?

    2. Re:Legal battles ahead. by mark-t · · Score: 1

      Selling "Iron Man" replica merchandise.

    3. Re:Legal battles ahead. by BubbaDave · · Score: 1

      He's so far past fucked he can't even catch a bus back to fucked.

    4. Re:Legal battles ahead. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He also is a bit of a jerk, so I can't really see any wrong in wasting his time and that of Disney's legal team in one go.

    5. Re:Legal battles ahead. by mark-t · · Score: 1

      oooh.... I *LIKE* that metaphor. Mind if steal it?

    6. Re:Legal battles ahead. by BubbaDave · · Score: 1

      oooh.... I *LIKE* that metaphor. Mind if steal it?

      Heh, it's already stolen from a fairly well-known software engineer/designer or such.

  14. fortunately theres magnetic field blocking by decora · · Score: 1

    macguffin device that blocks the magnetic fields

    1. Re:fortunately theres magnetic field blocking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't need some magical unobtanium to block the magnatic field.

      Just line the inside of the suit with unipolar magnets.

  15. Working? by Gabrill · · Score: 2

    If by working you mean that it can flash blinky lights. And if you mean "just like the one made famous" to say it can scorch holes through a single sheet of the paper the comic is written on, then yes. It's just like Iron Man's laser cutter that can punch through several inches of solid steel.

    --
    Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
    1. Re:Working? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am less interested in the laser pointer and more interested if it is made of metal and that circle thing actually automatically screws in to tighten the two panels together.

    2. Re:Working? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Hey! It popped some balloons at around 2:40 in the video. I saw it!

  16. was a cooler one years ago by oic0 · · Score: 1

    Guy built one like his palm thruster that fired when you opened your had as much as possible. Lots of cool stuff was built right after the 445nm diodes came out.

  17. I am disappoint by nu1x · · Score: 2

    I opened this newspost actually hoping that the guy somehow made a convenient, portable multi-kilowatt focused laser beam, and also solved cooling problems in one go.

    That would have kept me a bit interested.

    This tho ? Pure false advertising, it is as much (less actually) exciting than a 1 watt powered laser pointer. With todays technology, we could be building more content rich shinies, as opposed to form rich shinies. Form has its place, but as a nerd, I really prefer, and see beauty in, function, and the engineering itself.

    --
    I have nothing to lose but my bindings.
  18. Anybody else the read the headline as by richtaur · · Score: 1

    "Hobbyist builds working replica of Some Kind of Awesome Laser Maze?"

  19. Summary by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Funny

    A guy made something that sort of looks like Iron Man's gauntlet and behaves like Buzz Lightyear's. He won't tell you how he made it, but he might build one for you if you give him lots of money.

    To quote an ancient meme... lame.

    1. Re:Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... or what's weak this week!

  20. I'm not interested in the laser gauntlet by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

    Make a working replica of the miniature fusion engine that powers the suit, and I'll be interested. :-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  21. Next Invention by The_Star_Child · · Score: 1

    Homemade fleshlight!

    1. Re:Next Invention by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      Pfft, my mum turned an ordinary pillow case into a superman cape way back in 1964.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  22. Chase the dot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Irom Man's cat would love this.

  23. Hobbyist buying off the shelf solutions? by destruk · · Score: 0

    WickedLasers has the parts, and then you just mold a piece of plastic and relocated the power switch. Not impressive in the slightest.

    1. Re:Hobbyist buying off the shelf solutions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This was a lot of little things executed very well, not "mold a piece of plastic" around an off-the-shelf laser. The mechanism to tighten and lock the cuff around the arm was well designed, the lighting on the tightening switch was a nice touch, the servo motor and levers to raise the laser off the arm were well done, the fit and finish on all the exterior parts was flawless. It seems like all the critics here focus just on the functionality of the end product, a low-power off-the-shelf laser that can't cut through military vehicles, but it ignores the superb craftsmanship that went into everything else.

  24. The marketing guys will be so jealous! by MasterOfGoingFaster · · Score: 1

    With one of these, I'll be a superhero at the next meeting. Can I get a chest-mounted powerpoint projector to go along with this?

    --
    Place nail here >+
  25. Lasers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Iron Man uses repulsors, not lasers. Get is straight folks