SteamPunk Guns

SteamPunk guns aren’t just something to hang over your mantle for decoration. The weapon pictured above is a fully functional Nerf gun created by Etsy seller faustus70. Alas, it is already sold, but there is really nothing stopping you from making your own customized SteamPunk gear out of some beloved item and stuff you have lying around the garage. Faustus70 made his gun out of planks from an old chair and hand cut aluminum strapping. A bit of sanding, painting, and artificial weathering, and a masterpiece is born.

My only criticism of the piece is that I think rivets would normally be centered on the planks, rather than between them. It’s important to get these things right, because hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.

This one may be gone, but last I checked, he still makes such things and sells them at quite a reasonable price at his Etsy store here.

Chain Clock

I don’t know what it is about clocks, but they are a magnet for innovative designers. I love the simplicity of this device, which is made from a gear and a bicycle chain with copper digits. I think it would be fun to make a clock under this principle with scoops on the numbers. Put the bottom of the chain in a basin with ball bearings or some other scoopable which would ring the hour when they fall from the top.

Steampunk Lamps | Frank Buchwald

The artist who created these lights , Frank Buchwald, has a design trait I commonly see among the greatest of machine oriented designers: He doesn’t so much see himself as an artist creating art, but as  evolving the design of an object to the point where the form becomes inseparable from the the function without becoming a slave to it; a state morre often seen in nature than machine.

SteamPunk Computer Mods

The above SteamPunk computer casemod was commissioned as a giveaway for a new computer game. Jake of all Trades did a great job of it. I’vc seen quite a few SteamPunk computer cases go by recently, but this was the best. I wonder if it is water cooled?

Update: The above SteamPunk Flash Drive was a one of a kind piece.  I hope this inspires a wave of flash drives.

Update: Click the above mechanical flash drive to see its construction.

There’s even a company that makes steampunk skins for phones and Kindles.

I’ll update this post, and keep an eye on my Steampunk and Atompunk tags.