There must be something you can use to direct all of that light in one direction.
Robert De Nero
Monday 30th of July 2007 1:46 am
There must be something you can use to direct all of that light in one direction. |
 More than 500 degrees?
That's hot. |
 One Q I didn't see here: you seem to melt a lot of things, and molten or broken stuff falls on the light sharpener. Do
you have to spend a lot of time to clean the mirrors after an experiment? |
 You could use a negative lens a bit before the focus to create a parallel bundle of light rays.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Concave_lens.jpg]
Then via a cunning system of mirrors you could use this focused ray of death in those 'tricky-to-get-at' spots. |
 I think it would require a complex work of prisms to unify the beams into a single one.
Also, adding any lens to the apparatus would "eat" away some the the light intensity. Adding purer, clearer (and more
expensive) lenses would only lessen the effect of diminishing intensity. |
 In the case of the secondary mirror, you could use a biconcave lens. Of course it's easier said than done... |
 Could you use it to tattoo Steve-O's butt? |
 You must harness this power for the hot waters! It is a moral imperative for you to follow this path. I found this site
while combing the web for home built thermal weapons... my bad!
http://www.solardev.com/solar-dhw-adding.php
Viya con Dios |
 Free Hat |
A light sharpener? What does it sharpen? Light? Whatever. That's hot. |
 If the water is already hot why run it throught the focal point? |
 Do you have a hot tub? If so, this would be a great "green" technology to heat the water. Set it up and I will do some
naked hot tubbing. |
 That thing's hotter than I used to be! |
 surely if you're gonna heat the water with the light sharpener you won't need to pump hot water through?
you'll get better results heating cold water |
 Why don't you try cooking with this thing in a more realistic manner? Sure, burning frozen chicken might be fun once or
twice, but it's wasteful. A grand-scale rotisserie might be a bit of a challenge, but why don't you pick up a dutch
oven or heavy cast-iron pot? You'll need a support far more rugged than electrical conduit, but wouldn't it be nice to
get some practical use out of it? |
Heating your home/water is a good start too, but instead of running a single copper pipe through the focal point it'd be
more efficient to couple the pipe to a larger flat black heating recepticle. Or you could spiral the copper pipe in some
sort of black heating pan. As long as the copper and black surface are touching, heat would be transferred. |
Is there any risk of the light sharpener causing an aircraft pilot to become blinded and crash? |
 very interesting |
 Wow! This solar dish sounds HOT! Just like me :)
Keep up the good work! |
 Hey! Cast Iron Cooking is the way to go! If you could get some sort of dutch oven pan mounted on an A-Frame near the
focal point (or slightly off) you could heat up a stew rather fun for for your next party!
That's how we used to do it.... |
 With a collector like that, I could make dozens of meals in 30 minutes or less. |
You know what? I think the things you come up with are amazing. Half of us could never have pulled this off, and it
just kills me to see people putting it down, or saying someone else did it first or better. You are remarkable, Rob
Cockerham! Thank you for the hours of entertainment you bring to my boring work days! |
 why would you pump HOT water through the copper pipe? wouldn't cold water be a better idea? |
 This is neat. |
 This is Steve Jobs here, just wait until you see Apple's new iDish satellite receiver *and* solar furnace, all in one
sleek design that will put all your crap to shame! |
 Don't worry if you find me some night all dirty and disoriented inside your light sharpener. I'll just be waiting there
for the mother ship. No biggie. |
 Durka durka backa-la, muhammed jihad! Durka durka! |
 It seems like you could attach both the mirror AND the magnifying glass with devastating results! |
I think you should put a disco ball at the focal point! |
 I invite all of you celebrities to the Grand Opening of da TRUMP DISH, in beautiful MIAMI, Florida. My HUGE new solar
dish is supported by columns of Roman marble, and is covered in 24 Karat Pure Gold. It does not use the power of the
sun. Instead, it works day and night, reflecting a huge "TRUMP SIGNAL" into the sky above my TRUMP STRIP mall of HUGE,
LUXURIOUS CASINOS. |
The atmosphere has never looked more classy! Behold TRUMP SKY! Now you can look up to TRUMP wherever you go. TRUMP is
the name when you think HIGH CLASS. |
 Perhaps the mirrors produce tachyon condensation and will brew me a nice hot cup of earl grey tea. Make it so! |
 thats as hot as my movie...check me out at www.PETERGRIFFIN.com |
 I'm way too drunk and involved in various pirate duties to help, but I would love to see a rotating food arm, like a
small rotisserie at the end of a stick. The hot dogs and chicken, if kept rotating in and out of the hot spot, might
let the food cook evenly, rather than charring it on one side. |
Q. Wait, wait, How about mounting a copper pipe through the focal point, and pumping hot water through, to heat it? You
could save a lot on hot water heating.
A. That definitely sounds more my speed. I'll try it!
-------------
Personally, I'd recommend sending *cold* water through it - that would be a lot more useful. :) |
 This makes me want to raise my goblet of rock. |
 I still think you need to try roasting marshmallows on that thing. I mean, it'll take what, a couple of seconds per
mallow to get them to glorious golden perfection. Then you could invite all of your friends over and have a S'mores
picnic. |
Do you have like any engineer friends who could like build a sterling engine thing and like help you mount in on the
dishy looking thing? |
 Fresnel lenses are great, I nearly burned down my backyard with one once. |
 Because your focal point is so large (like a dinner plate, yes?), consider running multiple copper pipes parallel to
each other along the width of the focal point. Or have the water run through a flatter, wider device that would then
hit most of the focused light. |
 pump cold water thru it. |
haha, you and your light shenanigans, rob. you're just too cool. |
I think you could get a more precise point by using surface coated mirrors- since the reflection is on the back side of
the glass.
Not that you'd want to repaste a bunch of mirrors, but if anyone is following in your footsteps.. |
 weeee |
Of course a magnifying lens wouldn't work. You need a concave reducing lens.
http://www.jerrysartarama.com/art-supply/catalogs/0013846000000 |
 This could end world thirst. |
 The light sharpener is a myth, just like the Holocaust and the female orgasm |
 Surface-coated mirrors? Where does one find those, and what would that achieve? |
 RAHH RHAHH, I HATE EVERYBODY BUT REPUBLICANS EVERYBADI ELSE IS GOING TO HELL!!!! |
why dont you try soylent green? |
It's stirling. Not sterling. But if it melts aluminum you'd probably have a hard time making an engine suitable for
that kinda heat. |
 I think the light sharpener is awesome. I had a great time participating vicariously. I can't wait for your next
project. I'll try to think of a suggestion. |
 Have you lit up a hunka-hunka burnin' love? |
This celestial body is the closest star to earth.
(Jeopardy tune playing...) |
blah blah blah |
 Another FAQ lost to Rob! |
 Considering the fact that you know you can boil water have you considered trying to boil/cook pasta? Seems it would
work, and rather quickly at that. Just thought it would be an interesting experiment to see how quickly you could
cook, say, a box of Kraft Macaroni. I know my electric range at home cooks the Mac in about 10 minutes. Can you beat
that?! |
Please explain why you cannot use a secondary mirror, but a Newtonian Telescope does:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtonian_telescope
I suspect the reason you are trying to give, is that the focal point of your mirror is lower than the edge of the
mirror. This you can resolve this by making a hole in whatever edge you desire to direct the light through. It would
not need to be very big |
 You did not melt that aluminum can.
You set it on fire. That's different.
Aluminum will burn quite nicely. |
 Dude...can we get a holla back? We want to see some of your cockerham acknowledgement....represent! |
 Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. |
 I'm going to go microwave a bagel and have sex with it |
 how are things on the west coast? |
 ...amongst our weaponry are such items as
1. fear,
2. surprise,
3. ruthless efficiency,
4. an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, and
5. nice red uniforms |
 harold and joe? |
 What about a really, really thick fresnel lens? ooooh! I know! I know! A box of wooden match heads! Oooooh! a can
of black powder!!! A CAT!!!!!! |
A parabolic mirror at the focal point would be able to reflect the light rays in parallel towards whatever you wanted -
it could redirect the death ray!
You can get parabolic mirrors by taking apart a car headlight, too. :) |
I always liked Gavin MacLeod. He had a nice shape to his head. But really; "Captain Stubing"...how very lame sounding.
Nothing as distictive as "Captain Jean-Luc Picard". Have you read the wikipedia? "Famously bald", it says.
So there you have it.
Anyhow, I thought that if you projected the light at my head the result would be a thousand points of light! Ha ha,
that is funny. |
 I'm not afraid to fight either!
So you've boiled water with this contraption is that so then? Well I fancy that very much so. So then the water is hot
that is correct then? It seems so very complicated you know. The water being so hot and the boiling of it then so also
you know. |
 Hey, why don't you put Eddie Murphy with his damn "opie cunningham" gag on a spike here? |
 Shine it towards my eyes. Please, I beg you, burn my eyes out of their sockets...put me out of my misery.. |
 Well, I gotta tell you something now. That is one cool son of a bitch you got there. |
 you don't shcare me, BOY! Lishten shonny, thish little apparatush is going to cosht you....you....uh...shit I need
another drink... |
...hey did you hear me? I said a CAT. C - A - T. CAT. Tie it up there and melt it like. Good idea. cat. |
..cat. good idea. cat. |
cat. |
Here, kitty kitty! |
cat. |
You are all wrong... let me tell you why without letting you speak your mind... |
Nobody puts light sharpener in the corner... |
 "You could save a lot on hot water heating."
Do you really need to heat hot water |
I bet we could cook a family meal in under 60 minutes with that thing! |
I kept telling them the WMDs were not in Iraq, but rather in the hands of a true madman. |
Sigh... what's the use of inventing fire now? |
A tube of mirrors can be used to harness the light for a more direct application. Also, you might be able to turn it
into a laser with this method if you're smarter than I. |
I approve of this message.
I believe we can use this to end global warming, and world hunger. |
 Rob,I feel so obsolete. Please stop making things. It's not like I can go back to my old life as a paint roller.
Paint would get in my eyes and BLIND ME! Rob, don't do this to me. I loved you way back when, when you were just a
nerd. RAAAAAAHHHHHHHHBBBB!!!!!!!! My only solace is the fact that the light sharpener will be much harder to e-bay.
Hear that light sharpener? E-BAY! |
 Lord Xenu is not going to be happy about this. Look at you Rob. You are so glib. You have no idea about the burning
wrath of L. Ron Hubbard. I know about these things. |
 Rahb, when yoor done wit this ting I wanna bouy it fa my boyz. I think it'll be a great noo way ta tan. We'll call it
da 30 sekins ta melanoma. Or sumthin'. |
Can it be mounted on your car or truck for drive-by light sharpening? |
Pop More Corn! |
Why don't you use it to murder your ex-wife and her boyfriend? |
 Is it big enough to lure aliens into? |
 Try using the headpiece to the staff of Ra |
I was gonna try making a Light Sharpener if the rubbing-two-sticks-together thing didn't work out. |
You mentioned a curved secondary mirror being used to focus the light from the focal point onto one point of the dish
itself. In future experiments, could you use a small highly polished metal dish or something to use as a cap to harness
all of the 800 energy beams of the focal point? By suspending the bowl from above, you could reach a much higher
temperature at the focal point. |
Just throw some thick slabs of crap in a pan with some evoo and cook it to fill my giant yap, and make one for Rosie
Odonnel too. |
Do you always make up all your own questions?
Sincerely Yours,
Sexy Alien Killer |
 This makes me hotter than myself when my car is on fire. |
the "Mythbusters" are losers. They only partly cover aspects of whatever they seek to bust or prove, not like Rob, who
delves into the most underlying of the sciences involved in such things as "light-sharpening" and amounts in amounts.
MEEEHHH!! |
 Could you make me a cheeseburger? |
My God! This picture makes me look like fat Elvis. With that in mind, have you tried making a fried peanut butter and
banana sandwich? |
 Word has it, I'll be a Brave by the trading deadline. |
If you put this on the roof of a DeLorean you would have one hell of a crappy car! |
Aaaaargh fire goo |
 Don't let it get you down... all FAQs devolve into confrontational conversations. If anybody ever properly translated
the hieroglyphics on the walls of my tomb they'd find a really snarky bit about the best way to remove the liver from a
cat written on the East wall. |
The melting temperature of aluminum is closer to 1200F. if you can really get it that hot, you might try loading up a
soup can with some bits of aluminum can in it. It should get hot enough to melt the aluminum, but not enough to melt
through the can.
solar powered metal casting! :D |
 Have you considered re-doing your science club tanning experiment by combining it the light sharpener? I'd expect you'd
have excellent tanning results. |
 You blinded me with science! |
SWEET |
great faq,
hey, remember when I was on star trek? |
 Are you serious? You're wasting our time. |
 Rob, you need to put up a sign in your kitchen with rules for the little one. Rule #1: Don't play with daddy's light
sharpener. |
they leaked my abc show on the torrents... and people know my show is lame before it's even on.... |
Which would burn faster: a ninja or a pirate? |
Yeah, that happened to me too. Torrents. They are the worst. Well, this phony celebrity comments thing is pretty bad
too, but not as bad as those torrents. |
What about a hot air balloon (a black bin bag) centered above the sharpener, with three lines holding it? I wonder how
high hot air rises above the focal point once it's been heated. |
But does it play music and access the internet like I can? |
 I and im sure many others admire what you do... |
 Will the Sharpener be visible in Google Maps' satellite view or will it destroy the CCD of the camera? |
How do you clean the sharpener after you melt/burn/incinerate things over the middle of it? Also, why don't you put Mr
Clean in the list of celebrities? Or at least Mr T (who looks kind of like him)? |
 Why don't you put something on there that will blow up like a spray can or something? |
 Rob,
To avoid any legal difficulties you may encounter if a well-intentioned neighbor decides to call the fire department,
you may wish to obtain a burn permit at your local fire department office. They are usually free and easy to obtain.
However, you may have to tap dance around what you are burning and HOW you are burning it. :) |
What about tying a nekkid chick up and burning her clothes? |
Q: Is the middle of the light sharperner getting totally disgusting with all of the drippings from food that you've been
setting on fire??? |
I did it! |
If I'm the first and only person to ask a question, will it show up in the FAQs? |
OOOH, melt a golfball. I've always wondered how much heat they must be able to endure during their flight. |
 Is there a chance you could accidentally start one of the nearby trees on fire? |
As a relatively well-educated and accomplished caveman, I have two intellectual nuggets of wisdom to share with you:
1) It's spelled "Stirling".
2) You could mount a mirror at the focal point and direct the energy elsewhere, you just can't do it with a flat
mirror. You need to "collimate" the beams into one beam.
|
People used to talk about me ... a LOT! What happened? Do I smell? I took a shower today. I used Irish Spring! |
 Rob:
Excellent work! You should teach science. Have the kids sign a 42-page waiver and have'em in the backyard cutting
mirrors and lighting smokes from broken light bulbs. They'd learn a lot!
|
 You, and the Light Sharpener, are effing awesome. I can't effing tell you how effing smart and creative I think you are.
Long Live Cockerham! |
Why do I get the impression that this is all part of some evil, evil plot? |
 You're the man, and I really want to make my own. |
 You can try toasting bagels. |
Tatooine, huh? See ya in court, kid. |
What about trying ye old water balloon? |
I think you need to cook things on it like cheeseburgers or eggs and cover it like you do. |
Cat! |
Damn shaking....I would just like to hold still for awhile. |
 Aw, come on. It's always possible to focus it into a single beam. Look into getting a biconcave lens, which should focus
it into parallel rays, and a mirror to bounce those to a spot on the ground or something equally easier to work with.
You should also try the copper piping idea (wind the piping into a spiral form right over the focus) along with the
lens. |
 do you think you can make something as hot as my sweet sweet hot little ass |
 Wish we had these in the 70s.. |
if you decide to mount the copper pipe paint it flat black to absorb the maximum ammount of heat even though the
difference would be small with amounts of heat this extreme it might help. Also make sure you pump the water through
quickly so it does not boil inside the pipe and blow the system with excess pressure. Kudos on the reflector by the way
its awesome. |
with one properly cooled photovoltaic cell, or perhaps a small array of cells a foot or so out of the focal point, the
cell array capturing all of the reflected sunlight, you could get the same electricity produced as if you placed enough
of those same cells to cover the area of the dish mesh. it might be possible to generate some really usable electricity
in this way. |
Could we use this to heat Africa? |
Could it light a match, or set fabric aflame? |
So, are you accidentally blinding pilots and astronauts as they fly past, or is the lights strength just limited to
burning tiny holes in air/spacecraft? |
 I'd love to see you melt a solar cell on that thing. That would be awesome. |
Check to see if it can reach 1.21 Jig-a-watts |
Use a small pond pump and a valve to regulate the flow of water through copper pipe. The rest is math:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/phase.html
Father Guido Sarducci |
It needs more cowbell. |
How about a filter on your camera so that everything isn't a white blur? Perhaps you could adjust the phase
polarization, as well. |
Rob, I'm your father. And I'm proud of you. |
If you want to use your concentrator for domestic hot water heating you'll need some type of tracking mechanism. I have
one. It's awesome. |
iSuk |
Why don't you point it at malaria or Linux or something like that? |
 Mark Cuban?? Who is that? You have a lot of weird people on here. |
I like the sound of a rotisserie. You could cook chickens and hot dogs without burning them.
I think the grill on the Solar Death Ray was a good idea, too. Some way of putting something in the locus without
wrapping it in wire. |
Why not stick a hero's engine in the spotlight? |
Would my awesome Multi-touch sensors be any match for your Light Sharpener? |
 Aren't you afraid you'll get raided? Surely airplanes can see this. Are you worried that it may cause havac in the
airline system (or are you hoping?) |
 You are wrong about the lense. It is possible to constuct a lense that would have a somewhat coherent light beam from
the focal point of your parabolic dish. Your dish is an imperfect parabola and the light would be not be perfectly
coherent but the better the shape of the lense the more focessed the light that would result.Your physics is flawed.
over a finite distance it is practical |
Superb. Id like to try this myself. |
Ooopss.. Forgot the type my name. Im kenney and this is my blog. www.kenneyjacob.com |
Why don't you mount it on your roof and reflect sunlight enough to cheaply cool your house. I know how those Sacramento
summers can be. |
your father, he died of dysentery... he gave me the light sharpener and I wore that uncomfortable solar converter up my
ass for another 2 years. And now little man, I give the light sharpener to you. |
i guess i forgot to sign this. kewl project, rob. i'm just thankful that i don't live in sacramento--i would want to
help you on all of these cool projects, and my wife wouldn't like me to not be at home. |
 please try the sterling engine thing |
Your 1984 penny was also zinc. The only copper part of it is a thin coating on the surface. Pre-1982 pennys are 90+%
copper though. Strangely, post-1964 dimes, quarters, and half dollars contain a copper core. You can see it when you
look at the edge. Nickles are nickel though. |
Rather than just a simple copper pipe, you might be able to use something like the heater core from a car (which looks
like a small radiator). |
How are things on the West Coast? |
 Heat a giant marshmallow. |
Or have a massive weenie roast for charity. |
 It would be great if you could chrome the entire surface. Sure, that would be expensive but there's something called
Fantachrome now that is basically chrome spraypaint. You'd need a flat surface rather than the wire mesh on the dish,
though, but I'm sure you could devise something. In fact, I'll help. After all, I'm an expert on shiny, curved
objects. |
How about tying helpless maidens to the focal point on a cloudy day so that a hero can come along and rescue her before
the sun comes out? |
What you need to do is stop messing around, go to www.omega.com, and get yourself a platinum RTD (resistance temperature
detector (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_temperature_detector) )for about $15 that will measure temperature up
to 660C (1220F) using an ohmmeter. |
Hi Rob,
this isn't really Ron Howard, it's his brother. I picked Ron because I didn't see my name, but thought it was close
enough.
Are you sure about the fresnel? I thought the purpose of that lens was to align scattered light into more parallel
beams. The real trick would be finding one that didn't melt/burst into flames at your focal point of death.
Clint Howard |
lenses and mirrors wouldnt help focus the light or use it anywhere else much, but do you have some fiber optic cable
lying around? Perhaps a fiber optic cable could be used to move your light and maybe make a nifty wood burner set.
Also, where do we send a buck to buy you a steam engine or big sterling. I saw on the news that Dean Camen is all
about Sterlings now. |
Video projections! |
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