Straight out of a (low-budget) Bond flick is the Solar Death Ray, a combination of particle board, 112 mirrors and, of course, Sol. Each of the mirrors are pointed towards one area, focusing the sun’s rays onto a target easily heated up to 930-1100 degrees Fahrenheit. The project page contains bunches of science facts and enough instruction to build your own, Popular Science style. In all seriousness, though, watching it melt through some of the “targets” in their gallery is a bit disconcerting as I imagine hundreds of maladjusted youth attempting to build their own as an easy yet tragic way to score a new cat.
Project Page [SolarDeathRay via MAKE:Blog]
Update: Alexander reminds us that giant fresnel lenses are also affordable.
