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Job Offer - Design and/or Build a Circuit/Machine for Hair Removal

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Dani.sleepless

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Hello! I have an interesting proposition to anyone interested in doing a one-time gig. I wanted to purchase an electrolysis machine for permanent hair removal, but all of the decent, professional options are out of my price range, so I wanted to see if someone here could design, and possibly build a circuit/machine for me. Obviously, this will be paid work, and we can discuss that privately!

Some general requirements for the device:
-Battery Operated (if possible)
-Able to use professional electrolysis needles
-Switch to operate (footswitch ideally?)
-Current limiter & adjustment
-Ammeter and timer built in perhaps?
-Safe to use! Efficient!

If possibly, adding a blend option via thermolysis would be incredible as well, but I don't expect it. Here's a decent website explaining some of the ideas of galvanic electrolysis and the basic circuit, and a review of a cheapie consumer device for the purpose: **broken link removed**

And another discussion on a homemade device that may prove useful: http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/9087/1.html
 
Good luck, but my gut tells me that it would be cheaper to buy an expensive piece of hardware than to have somebody design a customized machine.

Custom electronics are generally made to get unique features that can't be found commercially. But in almost any case the effort to design a device far exceeds the parts cost, and the lack of mass production doesn't give you those benefits either. In this particular case where electronics will be in contact with a human, safety and all the costs involved with that may increase the expenditure significantly.

I would never say it can't be done, but I do want to point out how difficult it can be to keep the costs under control.

If you read my tag signature about Murphy, of course now there will be some schmuck that will offer to do this very thing for you for free...rendering my whole comment grotesquely wrong.
 
Honestly I had a feeling going into this, and I think you're probably right about that. However, I figured it might be worth a shot nonetheless, given that the basic hardware for this is relatively simple, and a few extra features shouldn't drastically increase the cost of it. The market is relatively small for these machines, so the prices are unusually high relative to what the machines actually do and are capable of.

I hadn't really planned any sort of mass production, just to share the plans so others can benefit from a homebrew set-up that will ultimately save them money. Part of the motivation for me is that I'm currently a student, working full time, and still not having enough money to pay for professional electrolysis where I would need/like to get it (I'm a trans woman), and I've always had a fascination with electronics, and anything technical in general.
 
Just to increase my knowledge in general, I did some reading/searching and looking at your links. So, someone built one with a 9V battery, a variable resistor and an analog meter.

Some things that came out:
9 V battery is somewhat underpowered
2 mA max
negative potential to skin
Discussion about electrodes (sponge and real electrodes) - No one mentioned Titanium

Time duration? I (guessing order of seconds)

An analog current meter (e.g. 50 uA) runs $100 USD You can MAKE them read whatever (e.g. 2 mA) with resistors)

Parts do add up and so does postage.

A GFCI (https://www.ul.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ul_GroundFaultProtectiveDevices.pdf ) trips a 4-6 mA. So, that amount of current across the heart muscle can be deadly.

We USUALLY consider 24 VDC and power limited to 100 W to be safe, but poking a needle in the skin and using an intentional electrode patch well...

So, the needles, the needle holder really need to be commercial. The BNC connector seems to be common.

There is a current regulator chip available https://www.linear.com/product/LT3092 but a resistor is obviously safer.

This https://www.linear.com/product/LTC6993-1 chip is probably better than a 555 timer IC, but it does require a 5 V supply.

So, I won't design one because safety is a big issue here.

You would want some sort of LED indicator that the needle is powered. Since current set in the case I described is somewhat arbitrary you may need a push button way to keep it on, until the current can be adjusted.

The same would be true with the time. Adjustment could be fixed or variable with the knob position indicating the time. It could use a turns counting dial.

I would not go higher than a 24 VDC source. Charge/Use modes again adds more cost. The 9V battery battery by itself would require constant adjustment.

A low battery indicator would be a nice addition.

I'd make a comment that it would seem you would like the large patient electrode to be near the area of hair removal. i.e. Not use your left ankle to remove right arm hair and not to intentionally span the heart muscle.

Self doing it means you no longer have the operator essentially being independent and can remove the needle.

Researching RF, I was 100 V p-p at 13.56 MHz. 13.56 is an industrial freq where you don't need a license. Again, all the variables are missing. Max current, Max power, max time etc.

Yep, batteries are definitely safer by a long shot and so is a a variable resistor 9V battery and an analog ammeter. And so is having a second person doing the procedure.

This https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/oscilliscope-purchase-help.123313/#post-991452 guy has an interesting view of safety.
 
Last edited:
Another comment:

if this is for self-administered electrolysis, think twice:

One hand for the tweezers to grab the hair.
One head magnifier to target the follicle.
One hand for the tool to insert the needle along the follicle.
One foot for the pedal to start the process.
 
Hello! I have an interesting proposition to anyone interested in doing a one-time gig. I wanted to purchase an electrolysis machine for permanent hair removal, but all of the decent, professional options are out of my price range, so I wanted to see if someone here could design, and possibly build a circuit/machine for me.
So to summarize the project parameters:

Want somebody to build something that already has multiple sources but somehow make it cheaper. said project carries high risk of human injury with malfunction.


Makes me long for my days when I worked for a living.
 
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