Both Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra have very interesting aspects worth revisiting. However, one of the most popular (or at least one of the most visually attractive) is the manipulation of fire, or firebending. Several YouTube videos show designs of miniaturized flamethrowers that try to imitate firebending, but today the flamethrowers are controlled by a kung fu expert. Needless to say, you can also build one using Arduino hardware and an accelerometer.
The idea of building a flamethrower sounds absolutely crazy... until we see it working. Honestly, I would need the opinion of a psychologist to verify if we all have a kind of latent pyromaniac inside, if we are projecting the desire for a superpower like those of our favorite cartoon characters, or both at once. The good news is that electronics gives us an alternative path, as long as we don't lose sight of the associated risks. Disrespecting fire is a guarantee of an accident, and this comes from someone who burns themselves with basically anything (really). Still, if the challenge doesn't intimidate you and you have the right budget, then you should build a pair of mini flamethrowers while doing firebending in the process:
The essence of the flamethrower concentrates on two components: an Arduino Pro Mini and an accelerometer LIS3DH. The accelerometer's presence is critical to assist the Arduino and limit activation of the flamethrower to "correct" punches, that is, with a well-defined acceleration signature and a sudden interruption (within 100 milliseconds). The chosen fuel is butane gas (the same as from tanks), an arc lighter handles ignition, and a solenoid valve limits the gas output. The fuel chamber requires special attention, as does the adapter valve for the butane can.
There is no doubt that this flamethrower is a prototype, and there is much room to optimize it. One of the main problems was that the butane came out with too much force from the tank, extinguishing the lighter. Maybe a casing in the future? For now, the complete guide is in the link below.
