Designing a flux capacitor from Back to the Future

In a recent Instructables post, Maker Chris Fry (who goes by the handle of n1cod3mus) details his journey to construct a flux capacitor from the ‘80s classic Back to the Future. Using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), Fry certainly succeeded at his task.

In the post, Fry discusses his early obsessions with the hilarious film trilogy, “10 years back I decided I wanted to build a flux capacitor, but I got stuck back then because I didn’t have the correct skills at that time.”

Much like Dr. Brown, now a decade into the future, he decided to come back to it with my now improved skills and technology.

The Maker did some serious research to assure that his flux capacitor was as authentic as possible. After scouring the web he concluded that the enclosure was a Stahlin J1210HPL, which is now out of production. He used stills from the film to color and outfit this case as accurately as imaginable.

Though, he does divulge one change from Doc’s initial iteration claiming, “The original flux capacitor used in the films used incandescent bulbs, LEDs are better suited for our needs.” Subsequently, he went on to attach the Arduino to control each of the device’s many LEDs.

Once securing the electronics within the box and wiring up a speaker, the talented Maker even found time to add a remote control to this prop. In the video below, you can see the full device in action.

Looking to get up to speed on Fry’s project before October 21, 2015? You can find his entire Instructables post here. If you want to explore one of his latest projects, discover how he turned old floppy drives into tunes.