Is it possible to make a CPU with a blowtorch, hammer, and metal?

Can this be done? i mean all a proccessor is metal melted on top of other metal.

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yes, but it wouldn't work.

The limitations of those tools would limit you to 4 transistors in the space of a normal cpu where as todays cpu's have billions

^^ my numbers may be off a little but its the theory that counts!

Reply to bc4

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Reply to spathotan

WUT

Reply to Kari

i suppose you could make your own, but intel and amd have very sophisticated and expensive machines to make extremely small transistors. you would never be able to fit the 731 million that went into the core i7. and there are still other things that you wouldn't be able to do, like programming it to work with a motherboard and such.

Reply to Nik_I

Sure, CPU's are just a massivlely complex collection of interconnected and interdependent switches - you could make one out of monkeys and paperclips if you could get hold of enough bananas.

Do you have something interesting in mind?

Reply to stuart72

Not sure it would even be possible with such crude tools. I think eve building a vacuum tube required more sophisticated equipment (but maybe those could be built with metal and blowtorch ).

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz

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Reply to Zenthar

Has someone just received a blowtorch, a hammer, and some metal for christmas?

Rather than try to catch up with Intel, why not try and make a BBQ?

Reply to MrSiko

Considering that the gate insulators in switching elements (transistors) are about 10 atoms thick, I doubt if you have the same precision.

Reply to jsc

^^ where would he get 731,000,000 monkeys, do Pets at home stock them?

Reply to rtfm

Zenthar, that's pretty much how Lee deForest got his start.

Reply to jsc

I think you could do it, but the size of the cpu would likely be the size of a small city.

So if you do it, Texas would be the best state to try. lol.

Reply to pip_seeker

Doing some research about vacuum tubes, I found this video that could interest the curious: making a vacuum tube (the site is in french, but the video at the bottom is the interesting part). Requires some specialized equipment, but a few tons of those and you end-up with 2.25MHz Univac .

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Message edited by Zenthar on 01-03-2009 at 05:07:16 PM

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz

Reply to Zenthar

No it is NOT possible, it may be possible to make a transistor or two but by definition a Central Processing Unit is Central to some peripheral electronics, and since there is nothing to plug your device into, it cant be central to anything.

Reply to will_chellam

Besides a blowtorch, Hammer and metal you would need the following items

1-The latest edition of Victoria's secret
2-Some baby oil
3-Kleenex

Because your just jerkin off anyway

Reply to SoiledBottom

I'm making one out of a potatoe,salt water and a light bulb.......

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Reply to teaser

Stay in school kid.

Reply to joefriday

Not without a working flux capacitor and exactly 42 safety pins.

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Reply to NMDante

You could built a computer made out of relays.
A basic 4-bit binary electromechanical adder made entirely out of relays.
http://www.electronixandmore.com/p [...] index.html
A full CPU made entirely out of over 270 relays.
http://www.electronixandmore.com/p [...] index.html
http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~harry/Relay/index.html

Here is a relay computer from NAZI Germany.
http://flickr.com/photos/9479603@N02/1814569067/

Message edited by jj463rd on 01-04-2009 at 08:25:17 AM

Reply to jj463rd

dont let em get you down vous, you can do it! They told me i couldnt builld an F-22 from baling wire, duct tape, tin foil and chewing gum but im almost ready for a test flight.

Reply to Homeboy2

Zenthar wrote :

Doing some research about vacuum tubes, I found this video that could interest the curious: making a vacuum tube (the site is in french, but the video at the bottom is the interesting part). Requires some specialized equipment, but a few tons of those and you end-up with 2.25MHz Univac .

Wow - I'd really like a Univac for my laptop

To the OP: I think you'd also need a bucket of sand from the beach if you want to make your transistors with silicon. Preferably without too much seaweed or crabs in it.

Reply to fazers_on_stun

The OP could make a geared computer too.
Myself,I had a geared electric motor driven mechanical calculator from the 1940's.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/contents.html

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Reply to jj463rd

jj463rd wrote :

The OP could make a geared computer too.
Myself,I had a geared electric motor driven mechanical calculator from the 1940's.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/contents.html

Sure - but would it play Crysis??

I can tell already this thread is going places - maybe it'll surpass the all-time useless thread "very old computer working" or some such, about somebody wanting to know if they should spend $5 to buy a power cord for some ancient computer - that one went over 50 pages as I recall

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Reply to fazers_on_stun

teaser wrote :

I'm making one out of a potatoe,salt water and a light bulb.......

I believe a former vice-president used to spell "potato" like that .

Reply to fazers_on_stun

IS IT POSSIBLE THOUGH! i believe i can make it, how would you make a cpu out of a potato, water and lightbulb, doesnt seem like it would create anything but french fries

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Reply to vouslavous

vouslavous wrote :

IS IT POSSIBLE THOUGH! i believe i can make it, how would you make a cpu out of a potato, water and lightbulb, doesnt seem like it would create anything but french fries

Actually I think a potato floating in salt water makes a battery, so if you make and break the connection with the light bulb you'd have a on-off switch or a single binary digit-maker . Since a modern CPU processes close to a trillion such binary digits (aka bits for short) per second, I hope he has very fast fingers.

I'll leave it to your imagination as to what to call trinary digits for short .

Reply to fazers_on_stun

fazers_on_stun wrote :

Sure - but would it play Crysis??

I can tell already this thread is going places - maybe it'll surpass the all-time useless thread "very old computer working" or some such, about somebody wanting to know if they should spend $5 to buy a power cord for some ancient computer - that one went over 50 pages as I recall

Some vintage computers are worth a LOT of money as a collectors item (Apple 1 worth $30,000 to $50,000, an Apple LISA (the first model) from 1983 was sold years several back for $10,000).Even the original Macintosh and IBM P.C.'s can be worth several hundred dollars now.Forget the Commodore 64 though as about 20,000,000 were made.

I suppose that one could hook up a Nipkow mechanical television for graphical output up to a relay computer although there would be a lot of complexity involved.
http://inventors.about.com/od/germ [...] Nipkow.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_television

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Message edited by jj463rd on 01-04-2009 at 11:41:40 PM

Reply to jj463rd

jj463rd wrote :

Some vintage computers are worth a LOT of money as a collectors item (Apple 1 worth $30,000 to $50,000, an Apple LISA (the first model) from 1983 was sold years several back for $10,000).Even the original Macintosh and IBM P.C.'s can be worth several hundred dollars now.Forget the Commodore 64 though as about 20,000,000 were made.

I suppose that one could hook up a Nipkow mechanical television for graphical output up to a relay computer although there would be a lot of complexity involved.
http://inventors.about.com/od/germ [...] Nipkow.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_television

Holy crap - and I sold a vintage Osborne 1 CP/M suitcase computer to a friend about 10 years ago for $300 because my wife said it took up too much room in the attic! Wonder how much that thing would be worth now...

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Reply to fazers_on_stun

lol... just... wow.

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Reply to werxen

fazers_on_stun wrote :

Holy crap - and I sold a vintage Osborne 1 CP/M suitcase computer to a friend about 10 years ago for $300 because my wife said it took up too much room in the attic! Wonder how much that thing would be worth now...

This site will have some general price ranges on values of some of those early microcomputers.
http://www.vintage-computer.com/index.shtml
According to his site the Osborne 1 is worth between $5-$200 depending on condition and whether you had the original box,manuals,software,accessories etc.
So although it has lost value perhaps 20 years from now it would be quite expensive as a collector item.The Digibarn is a great vintage computer website although it doesn't list prices/value
they have quite a huge collection of antique computers.
http://www.digibarn.com/
There are many other computer museums as well and there are even some big vintage computer collector shows.

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Reply to jj463rd

this must be a troll thread. honestly... does this guy think AMD and Intel spends billions to create something that could be made with a blowtorch and a hammer?

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Asus P5Q Pro mobo
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Reply to werxen

jj463rd wrote :

This site will have some general price ranges on values of some of those early microcomputers.
http://www.vintage-computer.com/index.shtml
According to his site the Osborne 1 is worth between $5-$200 depending on condition and whether you had the original box,manuals,software,accessories etc.
So although it has lost value perhaps 20 years from now it would be quite expensive as a collector item.The Digibarn is a great vintage computer website although it doesn't list prices/value
they have quite a huge collection of antique computers.
http://www.digibarn.com/
There are many other computer museums as well and there are even some big vintage computer collector shows.

Well, OK now - I don't feel like such a loser anymore . The guy who bought the Osborne also had a collection of other antique computers, including a Tandy 2000 which I believe was about the only computer to use an Intel 80186 CPU, which came out sometime before the 80286. He wasn't married so no problem with the wife carping about the space the computers took up..

Reply to fazers_on_stun

Maybe this is where AMD went wrong with the B2 stepping?

Reply to pr2thej

werxen wrote :

this must be a troll thread. honestly... does this guy think AMD and Intel spends billions to create something that could be made with a blowtorch and a hammer?

Well he'll have to upgrade lithography... I wonder if a traditional lithograph might work... :sarcastic:

Reply to amdfangirl

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