Mark Pauline is currently replacing the steel baseball bat wielded by the Motoman at the Explosion of Ungovernable Rage show in Santa Rosa three years ago with a motorized flamethrower.
According to Mark, “This SRL project is a lightweight high powered flamethrower attachment for the SRL Armored Motoman UP50 6 axis robot arm. The arm has a capacity of 50 kilograms. The flamethrower will weigh around 90 lbs and will bolt to the end effector bolt circle. The fan motor is a modified 550cc Kawasaki Jet ski motor with around 60 HP. It spins the forged aluminum fan at 8500 rpm, generating 15000 cfm of air. Diesel fuel will be injected into the air stream using a Parker Macrospray fuel vaporizing nozzle at a rate of 9 gallons per minute. This will generate a flame about 25′ long. Due to the fine fuel vaporization, the flame will be clean burning and very hot. The arm will be programmed to move the Flamethrower in ways that will strike fear into the hearts of fire dancers everywhere!”
The Flamethrower Attachment can be seen here under construction, mounted to its rotating engine fixture.
