Printer Friendly

Post Your Cool Pic Here!

Part Scavenger, Wed Mar 29 2006, 03:53AM

I thought it might be cool to see other's neat pictures. The picture can be anything as long as it is impressive/pretty/impossible.

The rules are:
If it is "photoshopped" it must say so,
And it must be taken/edited by you.
Also it must follow the rules of the forum of course.

I'm interested to see what pops up...

-Part Scavenger

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Self Defenestrate, Wed Mar 29 2006, 05:09AM

A good shot from a while ago. The Goods. Edited by myself.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed Mar 29 2006, 12:34PM

Here are a few of my favourites :

1. Campfire in Scotland (Summer 2003) - not photoshopped
2. Sandy beach inWales, UK (Summer 2004) - not photoshopped
3. Flag pole on local Scout hut, one evening - photoshopped
4. Sea in Wales, UK (Summer 2004) - photoshopped

I've used them all for wallpapers at some point.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Wed Mar 29 2006, 12:44PM

Avalanche - i like the 2nd photo, really cool

Here some my photos:
1. snowflake on a car window / not photoshopped
2. closeup od a sow thistle, probably the best photo i've ever took

/ a bit photoshopped
3. little swallows in their's "house"

/ not photoshopped

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Wed Mar 29 2006, 01:12PM

A beacon light in front of the Lofoten mountains.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ben, Wed Mar 29 2006, 01:58PM

A hut in Machu Picchu:

On our way there:

No photoshop.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Omicron, Wed Mar 29 2006, 03:07PM

Take a look at my avatar, no photo shopping, its me dumping 250 amps into a washer.

No regrets: -D
(for the washer that is.)
I know its hard to see, I will try to get a better pic.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
FastMHz, Wed Mar 29 2006, 08:13PM

I took a flight on a WWII B-17 bomber a few years ago...here's a neat pic:

1143663202 179 FT6000 Fastmhzb17 Inair Engine2

lots more pics here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Mar 29 2006, 09:18PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu Mar 30 2006, 03:02AM

Taken on a 3.1Mp sony cam.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Desmogod, Fri Mar 31 2006, 02:57AM

Just a few plasma pics,
None are Gimp'd (photoshopped)
They where shot at f2.5 1/8sec exposure iso400
1143773710 139 FT1630 Plasma1

Not sure why I don't get the nice mouseover like others have, full size images are in the attachments thread.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Fri Mar 31 2006, 05:39AM

i had to fix the mouse over on mine, when i posed them the first time they showed at full size.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Mar 31 2006, 06:46AM

Sorry guys, after my lasercut coilformer (litz wire secondary for tesla coil) thread got ignored, I'm going to inflict this upon you: ^^

*gasp*

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Fri Mar 31 2006, 11:41AM

Attempt at infra-red photography.

:)
-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Desmogod, Fri Mar 31 2006, 11:46AM

blackplasma wrote ...

Sorry guys, after my lasercut coilformer (litz wire secondary for tesla coil) thread got ignored, I'm going to inflict this upon you: ^^

*gasp*

Mate, the last time I had 4 chicks that close to me, I had to pay for it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Fri Mar 31 2006, 12:16PM

I got an IR one too. Finding some large UV-pass and band-pass filters at a reasonable price has proved difficult.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Mar 31 2006, 01:19PM

Wow, some great pictures here! I really like Bjorn's landscape photo from the Lofoten islands, and c4r0's nature pix. He also has an awesome pic on his site of a Lego man getting zapped by a Marx generator, and some crazy free running style acrobatics :-o

Here are some of my favourite pictures, that I took a long time ago with an old-fashioned 35mm film camera. Remember those, they used a piece of plastic coated with chemicals in place of the usual CCD or CMOS sensor

I used to do my own black and white developing and printing and I have a couple of thousand 35mm negatives and slides lying around. I went digital and now have a few gigabytes of jpg files to add to that :-/ I'm looking for an excuse (not to mention some money!) to buy a digital projector to see them all on.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Horden, Fri Mar 31 2006, 03:24PM

Steve Conner wrote ...

Wow, some great pictures here! I really like Bjorn's landscape photo from the Lofoten islands, and c4r0's nature pix. He also has an awesome pic on his site of a Lego man getting zapped by a Marx generator, and some crazy free running style acrobatics :-o

Here are some of my favourite pictures, that I took a long time ago with an old-fashioned 35mm film camera. Remember those, they used a piece of plastic coated with chemicals in place of the usual CCD or CMOS sensor

Hi Steve,

The second photo where is that what is that? It looks well neat.

I have lots of cool photos and about 200 gig of them and I will get some put up shortley as soon as I pick the best ones.

Adam

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Fri Mar 31 2006, 04:00PM

Some sunset photos . . .

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Mar 31 2006, 04:07PM

ooo! Where were those taken EVR? The sky colours in the second one look beautiful.

Adam: It's out on the edge of the city about 10 miles from my house. The building is a water tower with a cell phone base station on it. 200 gigs of photos, omg omg!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Fri Mar 31 2006, 04:13PM

Thanks. The first shot was taken at Coyle Field, NJ (an old naval airfield) with a 200mm f/2.8L lense, and the second shot was taken at Atsion Lake, NJ. Both are at areas i use for astronomy.

Dan

wrote ...

Bjorn writes:
I got an IR one too. Finding some large UV-pass and band-pass filters at a reasonable price has proved difficult.

From the look of it, seems like there is quite a bit of visible spectrum coming through in that shot - i can tell by the contrast in the sky and on certain objects in your photo. What kind of camera did you shoot this with and what type of filter? Also, not sure why you would need a UV-pass / band-pass filter for IR shots. All you need is a low-pass IR filter such as a Hoya 72 or equivalent. However, most digital cameras (if not all) are basically useless for near IR photography as their internal filter cuts out most near IR light.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Mar 31 2006, 06:19PM

Edges of Osijek at winter, and mini-receiver in dark (better shot i hope)...
No photoshop.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Fri Mar 31 2006, 08:58PM

Those IR pictures are cool. It'd be particularly interesting to see a visible light version of the same photo.

I think I need to find a digicam to sacrifice for this purpose.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Fri Mar 31 2006, 10:03PM

Here are some IR photos I took with my Canon D60. These are true near-IR digital photos with practically all visible light filtered out. These are just some initial test shots that were taken in the winter. There was really no green foliage available so i had to do with what i had, just a few evergreens and some clouds.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Fri Mar 31 2006, 10:17PM

Isn't that interesting. Some of it is almost negative-like, yet other aspects are certainly not. The graveyard pictures sure are eerie.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Apr 01 2006, 12:04AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sat Apr 01 2006, 12:37AM

Here is a desert shot i took in Death Valley . . .

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Apr 01 2006, 12:57AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Will, Sat Apr 01 2006, 01:25AM

There's a new restaurant in town where the chef cooks right in front of you. As a result they do a lot of fun things to keep the people into it. Seen here is what he referred to as "Volcano."

He takes segments of onion and stacks them up to make a hollow volcano-like shape which he fills with oil and alcohol, and lights the vapor. A real crowd pleaser.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sat Apr 01 2006, 02:04AM

Wow. Some of these are really cool. Especially the sunset and IR ones. Do you have to have a special lens to do IR or what?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sat Apr 01 2006, 03:12AM

wrote ...

Do you have to have a special lens to do IR or what?

For IR work, you can basically use any old lense. However, digital cameras typically are not sensitive to near IR wavelengths due to the internal IR blocking filter. So, to do any serious IR work, you need to remove the internal IR blocking filter from the digital camera. Then, you need to use an external low pass filter which blocks all light, including visible, above the near IR wavelengths such as a Hoya RM72 or RM90 filters. I replaced my internal IR blocking filter on my Canon D60 DSLR with a custom cut Hoya RM72 filter. So my D60 is now a dedicated IR DSLR and can be used for nothing else.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sat Apr 01 2006, 03:52AM

With my cameras I need to increase the shutter time by about 1500 times to get a usable IR picture. That generally means sunlight and a tripod.

Here is one taken without a lens with just a pinhole.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Apr 01 2006, 09:50AM

Those IR pictures are great. I knew about IR film, but I didn't know it was possible to do it with a digital camera. You learn something new every day!

Will: Does someone have to eat the "Volcano" afterwards

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Apr 01 2006, 10:06AM

A while ago I modified a couple of computer webcams by removing the internal IR filter, and putting a visible light filter in (a bit of blackened 35mm film taken from a negative). It works great, and is cheap too. Good for experiments and playing about, for example you can see clearly through red wine using IR. It surprises most people to see that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sat Apr 01 2006, 01:45PM

BjÃ¸rn BÃ¦verfjord wrote ...

With my cameras I need to increase the shutter time by about 1500 times to get a usable IR picture. That generally means sunlight and a tripod.

Here is one taken without a lens with just a pinhole.

Bjorn,

I'm not convinved you are picking up an IR in your photo above. Appears mostly visible light reflections. If there was near IR light passing through, your foliage would appear white, and not green as in your photo.

Here is a photo i took this morning of some rhododenrons in front of my house with my IR D60. As you can see, the foliage is completely white and no hints of green.

Also, here is an interesting shot of my son in IR. Really makes for a ghastly appearance . . .

Also, some have asked why there is a lot of blue (i.e. sky) in my previous IR shots. This is accomplished by simply swapping the red and blue channels using photoshop. The information doesn't change at all, but the mapping of pixels from blue to red and red to blue (channels) restores the blue sky and gives another effect.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Sat Apr 01 2006, 02:14PM

BjÃ¸rn BÃ¦verfjord wrote ...

Here is one taken without a lens with just a pinhole.

EVR,

It's not an IR photo. It is a photo taken with a lid with a pinhole instead of lens.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sat Apr 01 2006, 02:28PM

wrote ...

EVR,

It's not an IR photo. It is a photo taken with a lid with a pinhole instead of lens.

Oh, i thought he said he took an IR photo with a pinhole lense. My bad.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Sat Apr 01 2006, 02:37PM

Here are my brother's IR photos.
1. LEGO RCX data transmitter
2. Bike hub in normal light (both hub and fork are black)
3. The same hub in IR.
4. Car, probably after refurbishment. These stains are invisible in normal light.

Here is my brother's website:

. He told that i have to place his website address in this post if i want to attach his photos

[edit] camera: sony dsc f-707 + homemade ir filter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sun Apr 02 2006, 02:56AM

Those IR ones are cool! I have so got to do that.

BTW, EVR, that makes a really cute kid look pretty creepy...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun Apr 02 2006, 10:55AM

Here are some infra-red pictures I've just taken

I just had to grab my trusty modified webcam to take these. I took apart the optics, and removed the IR filter by scratching it off with a needle(!) and added a visible light filter in place.

First is my Canon powershot G5 - which is usually black (like the hub c4r0 posted above)
Second is out my bedroom window

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Apr 02 2006, 07:10PM

Here's my cool pic. It's my other b-day present, a really expensive poster.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Apr 02 2006, 10:53PM

oot! Is that a real Escher print?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Apr 02 2006, 11:43PM

yea. See his autograph? and 106 of 107

like I said...expensive poster. Technically, 1 poster = 2 GMC Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Mon Apr 03 2006, 12:37AM

Holy hell, that is awesome, Hazmatt.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Apr 03 2006, 01:23AM

its okay..calm down.

My brother has the other Escher.

The one up there, Belvadere, came from Europe but I dunno where, and that's the one I like. There are others too, but they're very expensive.

My dad is helping a dealer who is going through a divorce. Basically she wants the $$, so my dad has a self portriat of Escher as collateral against the loan.

Heh...looks like you can see 25% of my book collection in that shot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Apr 03 2006, 11:20PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Mon Apr 03 2006, 11:28PM

Nice shots, although it appears you didn't disable the image-stabilization feature. Remember, that if you shoot on a tripod, you need to turn the IS functionality OFF!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Apr 03 2006, 11:33PM

EV, how can you tell he didn't turn the image stabilizer off? I'm curious to know.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EDY19, Tue Apr 04 2006, 12:09AM

The first is a pond near my house photshopped a bit, second is a duck in South Carolina, third is a SSTC power arc, and fourth are some longer sparks from my SSTC.

1144108944 105 FT1630 2005 0305 164256aa2

1144108944 105 FT1630 Copy Of Sstcbigtoroid

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Apr 04 2006, 03:23AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jim, Tue Apr 04 2006, 03:40AM

Is that a gun safe?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Apr 04 2006, 03:53AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
McFluffin, Tue Apr 04 2006, 05:20AM

My two favorite photos so far is the pile of tesla coils and the IR photo of the Lego transmitter. I like how you can sort of see through it and it has a picture next to it for comparison.
I have some IR lasers that are 1064nm I think. Could they be seen with an IR camera or is it not in the IR spectra that these see?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Tue Apr 04 2006, 02:44PM

Wooooooooooooooow... Oh, my goodness, I'm jealous!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Tue Apr 04 2006, 03:23PM

have some IR lasers that are 1064nm I think. Could they be seen with an IR camera or is it not in the IR spectra that these see?

Silicon based chips have some sensitivity in that area so you should be able to see them fine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Tue Apr 04 2006, 04:09PM

Silicon based sensors are usually sensitive to about 1100nm, however, this would be if the sensor was by itself. With most digital cameras, there is an internal IR filter which has a pretty steep cut-off around 700nm, so its pretty doubtful you'd be able to pick-up your IR laser using a stock digital camera.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ben, Tue Apr 04 2006, 04:19PM

Every digital camera I've seen can pick up 808 nm at least at high power.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Apr 04 2006, 07:03PM

It depends, 1064 at high enough power will usually look purple on a digital camera. 808nm looks red on mine.

I don't have too many ir shots, but I had a camera that was both ir/visible (ie, no filter) that had a bunch of ir leds around it. It seemed to control the led's by looking at how much light was coming in, so in bright conditions stuff looked normal (well at least as normal as things look in b/w) and in the dark things were different. One time it started oscillating and stuff was changing colors

Unfortunantly the lens broke, so unless I can find a new one (that fits the tiny mount) or build a pinhole lens for it it will continue sitting in the hole it is in... I have shifted my interests towards my little pulnix ones that you can set the exposure down to like 1/1000s and have an external trigger for looking at fast things; but the only lenses I have are a really high magnification and the only output it is a composite video so I need to get my capture card working before I can get any shots out

Here is the only pic that comes to mind, not all the impressive yet, unless you know what it is and have been trying to get it working for like 2.5 years

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Tue Apr 04 2006, 07:34PM

High power, probably. But most IR filters in digital cameras have a sharp cut-off around 700nm where near IR begins. Anything beyond that has considerably less transmissibility, unless of course until your remove the internal filter.

Here are two response curves of the infrared filters used in the Canon and the Nikon DSLRs. Canon uses the same filter material for most of its digital cameras, including handheld point and shoots, so i expect the response to be similar for a wide range of cameras.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Tue Apr 04 2006, 08:19PM

Well, I was going to post a picture of my camera, but I obviously can't do that. It has some IR looking LED's above the lens... I know my camcorder has IR for sure, it can see in the dark and has a built in 1.2Mp ha,ha camera. Could I use that?

What is something I could use around the house for an reverse-IR filter? A floppy disk? What about a CD-RW? Welding goggles? The thing that covers the IR reciever in a VCR?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Apr 04 2006, 10:14PM

the black film at the end of a strip of developed negatives is probably the most common... I think a floppy disk (the media inside) should work, but you will get a little visible light coming through in the reddest part of the spectrum. The thing that covers the ir receiver should work too. Welding goggles wont.

have fun!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Wed Apr 05 2006, 02:50AM

Heres what happens with a floppy disk
medium....

Its a Compact Flourescent bulb

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Apr 05 2006, 05:24AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Apr 07 2006, 11:34AM

Since Christopher Robin posted his coil collection, I thought I better post mine. The pic was taken a couple of years ago. I've since dismantled the two larger ones and built a DRSSTC.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Apr 14 2006, 04:32PM

We recently got a digital projector at work for torturing people with powerpoint presentations, and they foolishly let me borrow it for a while. I watched DVD movies on it until I got bored, and then I thought... what if... I projected a circuit board on my face? I think it looks pretty cool.

1145032328 30 FT6000 Imgp0742 Cyber Dude Proc Crop 475

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Fri Apr 14 2006, 04:57PM

scary!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Apr 15 2006, 07:26AM

woah...Tron flashback

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Sat Apr 15 2006, 05:20PM

A picture of an owl being flown over a row of children..

Untill I saw this pic i didnt realise just how low the owl was flying..

Derek

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jim, Sat Apr 15 2006, 06:17PM

A shotgun shell, found on the streets of Paris.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Mon Apr 17 2006, 06:22AM

A photo I took in my photography class back at school. It was too big to fit in the scanner properly but the gist of it is here.

I hope no-one here will think it's a clock.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Penguin7471, Wed Apr 19 2006, 08:55AM

Inspired by the IR photos on this thread, I found a filter off ebay and it just arrived today.

Hows it look? I'll get better at it...My camera is a DSLR Konica Minolta Z10, with infra-red filter NOT removed.

Taken during the afternoon, with exposure of 3 seconds. I tried it again during the evening, but it didn't work anywhere as well. I'll have to try at noon sometime.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Wed Apr 19 2006, 04:09PM

Ahh, that is very cool. It's less clear than some of the others, but it's also more 'artistic' for the same reason. It has a cool mood to it.. Like a picture taken before the apocalypse or something.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Apr 19 2006, 06:28PM

wow, now that's a creepy picture, very cool.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EEYORE, Wed Apr 19 2006, 06:32PM

Penguin7471 wrote ...

Inspired by the IR photos on this thread, I found a filter off ebay and it just arrived today.

Hows it look? I'll get better at it...My camera is a DSLR Konica Minolta Z10, with infra-red filter NOT removed.

Taken during the afternoon, with exposure of 3 seconds. I tried it again during the evening, but it didn't work anywhere as well. I'll have to try at noon sometime.

Im sure Pharoah would certainly run from it

matt

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Apr 19 2006, 06:49PM

wow, I like this, evil forest

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Thu Apr 20 2006, 12:26AM

I always thought this one was cool.

A year or two ago, I had a horizontal breakout on a VTTC about an inch away, aiming at a piece of thick plexiglas in an attempt to photograph dielectric crawl across the surface. The streamers eventually ignited the acrylic and the flames started at the center of the breakout point and moved radially away in sharp triangular fashion. It looked very surreal--the manner those flames licked and danced about. I wish I had a video of it rather than several snapshots.

Plexi 5

I suppose someone can always duplicate this if they have a TC of some sort. I'll have to brush off the dust and fool around with it again sometime!

[Edit: Go here

to learn how to post pictures.]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Apr 21 2006, 11:37PM

Here's my first attempt at a Pocket Alchemy Set.

2 Retorts and an Alembic. I need more practice, but I think they're really cool.
Probably would have been better if I had the flame profile I needed.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Penguin7471, Fri Apr 21 2006, 11:59PM

Wow! Those glass figures are awesome Hazmatt. Welldone.

Here's an aerial shot of our house taken by a remote controlled camera suspended from a weather balloon. (visit my site for details). You may be able to identify where I took that IR photo from.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Apr 22 2006, 06:47AM

Here's a more proper Alembic I made a few hours ago. The downspout is almost in the right place, a bit too high, but not bad for a start. It also thermal-shocked so I had to refire the crack and do some itty-bitty filling with a piece of scrap rod pulled off, but nobody would ever know the difference.
I put some of that CuCl[sub]2[/sub] to good use here. Now I need to make a tiny cylinder, some little beakers, and a little sepratory funnel would be really cool especially on a little stand. I would have to fake the stopcock, but who cares.

Yep, I've gone totally off the deep end, but it sure was fun making these. Who else in the world has a micro-alchemy set anyways, heheheheh.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Shark, Sat Apr 22 2006, 12:46PM

since there's a lot of arty stuff here, I dare post this:
Vegetarisches

There are a few more things on my homepage,

but not really much since I started getting serious about photography only recently.

Oh yeah, Steves self-portrait is definitely the best so far, I want a high resolution version of that!

[Edit: Go here

to learn how to post pictures.]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Sat Apr 22 2006, 01:48PM

A japanese style bridge at Port Merion in North Wales.

Just a little paint shop pro activity to black & white the background.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Noelle, Sat Apr 22 2006, 08:22PM

Joe, your animal pictures are cute. I love the squirrel. Hee.

I've been dabbling with photography for a couple years now. Here's a couple of my favorite shots:

The only 'shopping I do to my pictures is to sharpen, clarify, fix brightness/contrast, etc.

I've got more in an online gallery here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Apr 22 2006, 10:39PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Sun Apr 23 2006, 05:11AM

Many (most, all?) CCDs pick up IR frequencies near visible and I tested that by taking a picture of my rifle. The taclight has a removable infrared filter unit outputting 125/250 lumens (w/o filter) depending on configuration and is used as an IR illuminator for extending the operational range of night amplification devices. There is also a unit with a pair of visible/IR laser diodes for target painting as well as a holosight with an ultra-low light illuminated reticle that is safe with NV amplification. Another shot of the purple IR haze can be found here on a manufacturer's customer gallery:

I took a week-long trip into the Olympic National (rain)Forest on the Washington penninsula area about half a year ago. I brought that cheapy digital camera to test conditions and a film SLR to bracket shoot goodies (though photography wasn't a main goal on this trip), which I embarassingly dropped and shattered the lens near the end of my trip (though the body and film are fine). I suppose I shouldn't juggle 20lbs of hanging equipment on MOLLE gear, a rifle (bears/wolves/coyotes/mountain lions abound), and two cameras all while hiking. There were lots of neat streams/waterfall/river pictures but none of the digital ones turned out due to lack of shutter speed control. I'll try scanning actual photos sometime.

Last picture is the Tacoma Narrows bridge, the same one that infamously shook itself to pieces due to local winds 66 years ago. We had to take it to the penninsula and I'm almost never down that area so I snapped a picture while driving. They're building a new bridge next to it...either to complement it, or to replace it. Bridges are so much larger in person than they are in photos.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Sun Apr 23 2006, 11:40PM

Last picture is the Tacoma Narrows bridge

Wow Tacoma Narrows bridge Thats one bridge I cant forget, after seeing the clip of it destroying itself many times in Physics. What always amazes me about that clip is the people walking and driving across the bridge whilst its is buckling +/- 3' underneath them.

A duck in a cup. No photo editing at all

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
The Wumpus, Sun Apr 23 2006, 11:59PM

Just noticed the subject and wanted to post my best high-speed photo so far:

Tomato1 Tn

Link to (somewhat) larger version:
http://www.abo.fi/~joheriks/hispeed/tomato1.jpg

The subject is a small cherry tomato and the pellet travels at about 120 m/s. I was happy with this particular one since the entry and exit holes looks similar to Edgerton's classic apple photo.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Mon Apr 24 2006, 12:14AM

When I was driving over it, I kept mentally playing that B&W footage and remembering the parked (or abandoned?) car just bouncing up and down with the twisting bridge.

I took some photographs of an 88 year old Waltham Vanguard 23 ruby/diamond jewel railroad-grade, mechanical pocket watch. It still runs perfectly albiet needs a professional cleaning as there is a pesky piece of lint that occasionally stops the movement.

There is an amazing amount of artistic and mechanical marvel in these timepieces and they are second only to chronometers in accuracy relative to period pieces. Railroad grade pieces had to satisfy or exceed Federal guidelines after a major railroad accident involving a watch that stopped for four minutes, and restarted on an engineer. Mechanical watches will run at different speeds depending on it's orientation, and temperature fluxuations. It was a marvel that something this could have orientation and thermal compensation in a purely mechanical fashion. The "damaskeen" cosmetic grinding work on it is amazing as well considering the scale of the piece and you don't see that type of cosmetic finish much, if at all today on even the most expensive watches like Piaget, Jaeger LeCoultre, Rolex, etc.

It's quite impressive seeing how many of these pieces were done on steam and belt-powered machines...under eye loupes and steady hands. Likewise these ruby and diamond bearings were done without the aid of modern devices such as abrasive waterjet or laser drilling. The watch in the picture is roughly 1.65" across from edge-to-edge of the gold casing. The square ground pattern in the center measure about .075x.075" for reference. Diamond and ruby jewels are nestled in 24k gold "caps" and hold the various bearings of the device.

Done on the same cheap-ass digital camera, but with the cheating help of a 7x optical comparator (without the reference scale attachment)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Mon Apr 24 2006, 12:24AM

Wow! That level of engineering is an artform in itself.

I've got a few high-speed shots at home but nothing on that quality. One of my polyprojectitis itches is to reduce the capacitance of my triggered flash to get some sharper photos.

wrote ...

Wow Tacoma Narrows bridge Thats one bridge I cant forget, after seeing the clip of it destroying itself many times in Physics. What always amazes me about that clip is the people walking and driving across the bridge whilst its is buckling +/- 3' underneath them.

Why is it that every physics class that mentions resonance has to show that clip when I've never seen a Tesla coil pic in academia ever?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Mon Apr 24 2006, 12:39AM

Wumpus

Just noticed the subject and wanted to post my best high-speed photo so far:

Ive just had a look through your web site at the other highspeed photos you have done..
An Exhibition of High Speed Photography
Excelent work, both engineering and photography wise.
After seeing that, I'm really trying not to add high speed photography to my ever expanding project list....

Derek

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Apr 24 2006, 02:34AM

My Physics book shows only the output terminal of a Tesla Coil with a very small corona in the chapter on charges.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Tue Apr 25 2006, 03:01AM

While people are talking about infrared, here is a before and after shot through an IR filter. Note the change in colour of the shirt.
Third pic is the bandpass filter graph.

I have gone over 600 pics on my website now so might choose some more...

Peter

1145934065 10 FT6000 Infraredfilterchart

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alessandro, Sat May 06 2006, 06:39AM

Took this with a 3.2MP FinePix S304.
Nothing special but anyway...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Sun May 07 2006, 01:42AM

My last shots were IR, now for some UV.

This is a small dead scorpion that I found in a spiders web, bound up. I carefully unpicked the web, steamed the scorpion to loosen and reposition the limbs into a more natural pose.

The first photo shows the scorpion under normal light and the second photo shows it brightly fluorescing under a standard UV fluorescent tube. Apparently most scorpions are like this. The only part that does not is the very tip of the sting if you look at the enlarged photo.

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Shark, Wed May 10 2006, 10:04AM

Steve Conner wrote ...

We recently got a digital projector at work for torturing people with powerpoint presentations, and they foolishly let me borrow it for a while. I watched DVD movies on it until I got bored, and then I thought... what if... I projected a circuit board on my face? I think it looks pretty cool.

Hey, you are not the only one who can do that! Have a look at

(moderate nudity) for an artist who actually makes money with shots exacly like that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Wed May 10 2006, 10:28AM

Pylons far, pylons wide, trannies dancing on either side.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Thu May 11 2006, 01:15AM

Branching a little into more 'arty' shots with low light, pastel low saturation colours and peaceful themes.
The first one is titled 'Hint of cows'. How many can you see? Of course with the electric fence it probably should be in the 'High Voltage' forum

The second horse shot needs green-eye-reduction and is included just for fun. Taken at 100yds with a flash by mistake, cropped and enlarged a lot so the eye is only a few pixels.

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Shark, Thu May 11 2006, 01:04PM

I can do arty/boring stuff too:

But really this pic is just an excuse for asking: Peter, do you stay up till dawn, or are you acutally that crazy to get up so early?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Thu May 11 2006, 02:07PM

An Arty Sunset picture... Why sunset? beacuse I avoid dawn. Any picture of mine taken at dawn would have to include the contents of a bedroom

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Thu May 11 2006, 03:39PM

Not only was I up at dawn (for work), I was also still up at 2am a few hours before, taking moonshots so didn't have much sleep. I am NOT a morning person.

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Psyko, Thu May 11 2006, 08:12PM

Not really artistic, but, my today's pick of the trash bin.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Thu May 11 2006, 09:50PM

Damn your hand is small . . .

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Fri May 12 2006, 05:43PM

Here is my 80kV lifter lifting one of those things. The lifter is actually 12 feet across...

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon May 29 2006, 07:30PM

You get a big bunch of cookies if you figure out this one.

It's not photoshopped, and only single exposure.
You can see my keyboard, mouse and pad burning.

They lived.

(PLEASE don't try to repeat this at home especially in ways that can set it on fire!)

Also some pics that could serve as nice desktop backgrounds.

Thet too aren't photoshoped nor fixed in any way.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Mon May 29 2006, 08:39PM

Firkragg wrote ...

You get a big bunch of cookies if you figure out this one.

It's not photoshopped, and only single exposure.
You can see my keyboard, mouse and pad burning.

They lived.

(PLEASE don't try to repeat this at home especially in ways that can set it to fire!)

And I still think that you sprayed something flammable and ignited it in the air. (in a safe distance above your PC peripherals)

J.M.

Edit> closer look- it doesnt even look like a flame... maybe a long exposure of something transparent waving in the air?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Mon May 29 2006, 09:03PM

Id use a single sheet of acrylic or glass at 45 degrees to reflect a burning fire or similar into the plane of the photo... or put it another way, its all done with mirrors...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Liam, Tue May 30 2006, 10:40AM

The light that's cast would suggest that it's actually coming from there - is it just something that burns with a low temperature?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Tue May 30 2006, 10:54AM

Some liquids evaporate so fast that they absorb almost all the energy from the flames and leave the surface slightly warm.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue May 30 2006, 12:21PM

I would guess a short-lived butane puddle or acetone initially.... but it's kinda in mid-air and there's nothing shiny on the desk =P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue May 30 2006, 06:21PM

I'm going with flash paper from a magic store or the like.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Tue May 30 2006, 06:53PM

Deodorant?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue May 30 2006, 10:51PM

He just put some acetone (or anything else that is volatile and flammable) on the mouse pad... It soaked into the neoprene and the vapors are burning... This works really well on concrete as it is very porous so you can get a decent amount of acetone in there... Freaks some people out to see the concrete burning

Oh, and do you have a higher resolution version of the second of the pic of whatever it was flying around? I think my desktop might be a bit brighter than before

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Wed May 31 2006, 12:04PM

My cousin used to douse his hand in zippo fluid and light it. I didn't hurt his hand, but I never was dumb enough to try it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Wed May 31 2006, 05:31PM

Seems like this pic I just shot comes pretty close.

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Penguin7471, Thu Jun 01 2006, 05:46AM

Super bright green LED waved around in some crazy fashion during long exposure?

Mmm, have no idea about the fire one.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jim, Thu Jun 01 2006, 10:19AM

It's smoke.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Thu Jun 01 2006, 02:18PM

I thought long exposure and a laser pointer....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Jun 02 2006, 11:41AM

Quartz crystal hit with a red laser

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Jun 02 2006, 07:25PM

I would guess a short-lived butane puddle or acetone initially.... but it's kinda in mid-air and there's nothing shiny on the desk =P

He just put some acetone (or anything else that is volatile and flammable) on the mouse pad... It soaked into the neoprene and the vapors are burning... This works really well on concrete as it is very porous so you can get a decent amount of acetone in there... Freaks some people out to see the concrete burning

Yep, butane was used.
And it needs much more of a procedure than being just 'poured' in there.

Acetone, gasoline, etc. would probably blow me up

, don't even think of doing such a thing.

Mouse pad and wood are much more flammable than concrete!

I filled a abot 3cm iwde, 15cm long cardboard tube with butane to the top and ignited it.
It burns slowly in top of the tube.

Then I trigger the camera (in dark room) and quickly lift the tube up.
Air rushes in it from te top and pushes all the butane to the bottom, and it blows up pretty violently.
It happens so fast that almost no heat is transferred to the surface, even if it gets quite licked by flame.

First few pictures I took were actually 'preparations' for this :P
I especially like the look of flame in first 'brning hand' pic but I had to move my arm :(
Also bigger pic here for Peter K. (Sorry this one was taken as 640*480, but I didn't seem to get much quality degradation by sizing up.)

And also my favourite pick of keyboard pics..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Sat Jun 03 2006, 09:53AM

my best lightning photo so far. last year captured with my old canon powershot a200 (2,1mP)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
The Wumpus, Sun Jun 04 2006, 06:10PM

by the ligtning shot

Absolutely great, how did you get such a tight crop on a lightning bolt? Luck? Personally I've only had bad luck with lightning photos, it just never strikes where you expect :(. Double exposure or photoshop tesla coil + landscape is probably easier

Sun{rises,sets} are a bit more predictable, here is a morning shot of typical Finnish archipelago from last weekend:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Sun Jun 04 2006, 07:48PM

all you need is time and strong nerves. i couldnt sleep at this night and i decided to try to catch a lightning bolt. i was sitting about 2 hours on our window with an exposure time of 2 seconds and series pic function. i took around 200pics to get this one,never thought that it would be so great.. call it luck

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Jun 04 2006, 10:43PM

Wow, that is a neat sunrise photo, wumpus

I like how you type sun[rises|sets], it saves typing, but kind of takes the romance out of it.

This is a sunset seen from the top floor of a building in Glasgow city centre.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
The Wumpus, Mon Jun 05 2006, 12:20AM

Very nice. However, two things you could try out to turn it into a really cracking shot:

Crop out the three chimneys and some of the sky so that the church tower is in the golden ratio both horizontally and vertically.
Clone out the flare spot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Mon Jun 05 2006, 06:20AM

The ideas are good but you always stand the risk of ending up with a dead picture that no one dislikes and no one loves.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Jun 05 2006, 08:43AM

What I like about the picture is all the detail and aerial perspective, that you can't see in a thumbnail. I uploaded the full size pic just as it came out of the camera. I guess if I cropped a little off the left-hand side, it would make the sun, the church tower, and the three chimneys into a more even composition without throwing away too much nice detail. And that would get rid of the flare spot too.

Better still, if the picture ended up square, I could pretend I had a Hasselblad.

I think the monitor I use at home has a different gamma or something, the picture looks very dark on this computer here. If I had been using old-fashioned B&W film, I would have dodged the bottom half when making the print. The exposure I used was a compromise between getting the sky burnt out and the city completely black. But now I know more about how digicams work, I realise that compromise has more to do with the limited dynamic range of the JPEG files than the camera itself.

Does anyone here shoot in RAW format and adjust the dynamic range later? Is there software that lets you reduce the dynamic range by dodging and burning like you do when printing a black and white negative? I know Photoshop does dodging and burning, but can it use the full 16 bits per colour that you get from modern digicams?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Mon Jun 05 2006, 09:32AM

Does anyone here shoot in RAW format and adjust the dynamic range later? Is there software that lets you reduce the dynamic range by dodging and burning like you do when printing a black and white negative? I know Photoshop does dodging and burning, but can it use the full 16 bits per colour that you get from modern digicams?

I always let the camera shoot in RAW+JPEG. I usually use the JPEG files since they are much faster and simpler to work with and often they are like I want them to be. I keep the RAW files as you would keep a negative for possible future use. Pictures taken in difficult lighting or with very delicate colour ranges often benefits a lot from RAW and careful post processing.

Photoshop handles 16 bit per colour very well so there is no problem working with RAW files. Most cameras only deliver 12 bit but that is rarely a problem.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
The Wumpus, Mon Jun 05 2006, 02:42PM

I usually use the following techniques which gives good results in most cases:

Shoot in RAW to get the full dynamic range.
Import into Photoshop with a good converter and check that the contrast setting is not too high.
When postprocessing, work in 16 bits/channel and use the levels or (preferably) curves tools to ajdust the contrast so that the darkest pixel is mapped to (0,0,0) and the brightest pixel is mapped to (255,255,255). Do this in a colorspace with a reasonable gamut (e.g. Adobe RGB). For simplicity it might be worth trying the "Auto contrast" tool, but sometimes it can throw off the color balance.
Adjust saturation to taste, e.g. + for landscape and - for portraits.

It pays to use adjustment layers so you can tweak the settings without introducing quantization errors (histogram banding).

BTW, a good technique for landscapes is too take two or three bracketed exposures and blend them together in PhotoShop using layers and the gradient tool. Basically like a ND-grad filter only more flexible.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jun 07 2006, 01:18AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Wed Jun 07 2006, 02:27AM

Wow! Do you get lightning from those?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Desmogod, Wed Jun 07 2006, 03:26AM

Lightning, oh yes, and LOTS of it.
I saw a fair few up in NW Aus when I lived there.
The temperature drops dramatically, like 10-15 degrees C, then it just rolls in.
I'll look for some pics.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jun 07 2006, 05:58AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Desmogod, Wed Jun 07 2006, 06:25AM

Yeah, I'll bring the pics into work tomorrow and post a few ;)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Shark, Wed Jun 07 2006, 07:48AM

I am not good at landscapes/sunsets (sunrises are hopeless for me anyway, my office hours are from 11:00-19:00 so I rarely get up before 10) but here is a try:

I really prefer the abstract stuff

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
The Wumpus, Mon Jun 12 2006, 02:39PM

A "hot" picture rather than a "cool" picture, but anyway:

I pre-focused my Sigma 180mm macro lens on the match head and ignited it from behind with a 750 mW IR laser. A lot of trial and error resulted in this picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Jun 12 2006, 02:46PM

Omgpix4me plz! I'd love a 1280x1024 version for my desktop.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
The Wumpus, Mon Jun 12 2006, 02:55PM

Sure, here you go, just use it if you want. There are some sharpening artifacts and noise in it since I optimized it for print (I boosted the brightness of shadows a bit). I have the RAW file so I'll post again if I get a cleaner version done.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Jun 12 2006, 03:35PM

Here's a cool pic! Actually, since I'm in it, it's a 'hot' pic.

Taken with my half-decade-old sony mavica in less-than-desirable lighting, saving bad quality JPEGs to floppy disk.

And here's the best bit: NO PHOTOCHOPPING! =-D

(they won't believe me)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Jun 12 2006, 03:42PM

Omggurlz4matt. oh and thanks for the pic Wumpus!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Jun 12 2006, 05:00PM

finally a good one..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Jun 12 2006, 05:03PM

hehehe, acetone, butane, or what??

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alessandro, Mon Jun 12 2006, 09:32PM

Ah, I remember this one. Methylated spirits right?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jun 13 2006, 05:55AM

Yes and no, can't say. ^^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Tue Jun 13 2006, 06:16AM

You've still got some explaining to do with the first pic...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jun 13 2006, 10:30AM

Well, I admit there was money involved...

...but she didn't get any of it

We conspired together to wear purple, and I don't think it was a bad match.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Jun 13 2006, 11:10AM

O.M.G. BP, was it 'limited by proximity of ceeling'

Good idea for amazing/scaring off girls.
Also you could use this as long-range weapon for shooting evil people down..

hehehe, acetone, butane, or what??

Butane was used, see one page before this for description.

Avatar...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alessandro, Tue Jun 13 2006, 11:38AM

My Green DPSS laser, some smoke was used, but no photoshopping. 1 second exposure.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EDY19, Tue Jun 13 2006, 01:59PM

Since one prom picture was posted, hers one from this year- I just went with a group of people, but it was still awesome! (more so before and after the dance than during it). Heres a group of the guys and girls that went with our group to dinner... And for an actual HV picture, here is me ruining my secondary coil and burning up the whole driver somehow

1150207187 105 FT6000 2006 0413 192226aa

1150207187 105 FT6000 2006 0413 190628aa1

1150207343 105 FT1630 2006 0306 205929aa

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Tue Jun 13 2006, 02:35PM

so which one was you and which one was your date?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Tue Jun 13 2006, 02:37PM

The gipsy moths were bad this year, so I desided to make a desktop pic with them.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jun 13 2006, 03:06PM

So THAT'S what you call those nasty fuzzy caterpillars.

"An Australian sheep farmer was puzzled at the disappearance of sheep on
his farm. After a few weeks of sheep disappearing the farmer decided to
put up an electric fence. This is what he found!"

This whole page is also worth a look:
http://forum.santabanta.com/showthread.htm?t=346&page=8

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EDY19, Tue Jun 13 2006, 03:29PM

I'm on the very far left in the guys picture, and I just went with the group- that way I was free to do what I pleased- no specific date.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jun 13 2006, 04:57PM

Ah, no specific date, so you're free to chat up other people's dates, eh? **sneer** :P

And now I'm posting this pic of Steve's kitchen ^^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Jun 13 2006, 09:57PM

Yea, rub it in Matt, I have no life outside of electronics.

I'll up the ante by posting a picture of my living room.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Tue Jun 13 2006, 11:08PM

Hey, nothing wrong with that.

What's the blue glowy thing?

Here's a couple neat pictures I took a while ago:

fire
fire2

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Jun 13 2006, 11:28PM

I want Steve's living room.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Jun 13 2006, 11:48PM

Alex, it's one of these

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Wed Jun 14 2006, 01:00AM

That shot is bogus. First of all, thats an African Rock Python, and i seriously doubt there are any of those in Australia, and from the size of it, there is no way it could eat a sheep. Looks like its only about 5 feet long. I once had a 12 foot burmese python back in college and the largest thing it could eat was a 10lb rabbit.

blackplasma wrote ...

So THAT'S what you call those nasty fuzzy caterpillars.

"An Australian sheep farmer was puzzled at the disappearance of sheep on
his farm. After a few weeks of sheep disappearing the farmer decided to
put up an electric fence. This is what he found!"

This whole page is also worth a look:
http://forum.santabanta.com/showthread.htm?t=346&page=8

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

I want Steve's living room.

Don't worry. Wait until the wife comes along, and then the kids. You can kiss all that stuff goodbye!

BTW, do all brits always look that pissed off???

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Jun 14 2006, 02:02AM

EastVoltResearch wrote ...

That shot is bogus. First of all, thats an African Rock Python, and i seriously doubt there are any of those in Australia, and from the size of it, there is no way it could eat a sheep. Looks like its only about 5 feet long. I once had a 12 foot burmese python back in college and the largest thing it could eat was a 10lb rabbit.

Meh, I put it in quotes for a reason ^^

Great pic all the same... I wonder what it did eat to get that huge lump halfway down.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Wed Jun 14 2006, 03:05AM

EDY, that girl 5th from the left in the light green is CUUUTE! Does she have a phone #...?

Looks like a great bunch, good fun. Us homeschoolers didn't get prom. Unless you want to take your sister... *shudder*

Really, which one was your date?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Desmogod, Wed Jun 14 2006, 04:29AM

Part Scavenger wrote ...

EDY, that girl 5th from the left in the light green is CUUUTE! Does she have a phone #...?

I'm sure she does have a phone number. I'm rather less sure if any of us will get it.
But yes, she is rather fine. She's probably also what is known as jailbait.

EastVoltResearch wrote ...

BTW, do all brits always look that pissed off???

He's probably pissed off that people keep calling him a brit :P
Or he's pissed off that he has to live that close to so many of them. Can you hear them whinging that far north of the border steve?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Jun 14 2006, 08:56AM

We're pissed off because the Americans have bigger Tesla coils than us.

As for the north/south of the border thing. Britain is the name for the whole island, so technically we're all British. If you also include a little bit of Northern Ireland, you have the "UK". Some Scots really do hate the English (especially now at soccer world cup time) but I could care less. They're really just the same as us except they talk different and their mountains are too small.

EVR: If that's the way it's got to be, fine. True love pwns a bunch of synth modules any day.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Jun 14 2006, 10:50AM

Maybe not the coolest, but rather one of most controverse pics:
Please don't ask this one for desktop :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
WaveRider, Wed Jun 14 2006, 02:06PM

Hello fellow HVers! Sorry for the long absence...been busy looking for a new job.. Here is something that arrived at my door this week. Isn't it beautiful! (You can tell I don't get out much..

) It's a 300W (continuous) dummy load with VSWR under 1.05 at 1.0GHz. It'll tolerate 1500W for short periods.. I ran 120 watts at 4.77MHz into it (using my Class-E amplifier) for hours without it "breaking a sweat.."

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Wed Jun 14 2006, 03:40PM

Firkragg wrote ...

Maybe not the coolest, but rather one of most controverse pics:
Please don't ask this one for desktop :P

Ferrite soup?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Wed Jun 14 2006, 05:11PM

They're really just the same as us except they talk different and their mountains are too small.

People to the north often carry genes from Norwegian Vikings that had a legendary bad temper. Maybe that makes some people a bit grumpy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jim, Wed Jun 14 2006, 07:08PM

what it do.

in da lou.

(mod edit removed yo' wack double post)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Jun 15 2006, 09:42AM

That's cool Bjorn! I always wondered where my mom's skill with the double-headed axe came from.

My dad's side of the family are from Ireland, but I guess the Vikings raided there quite a bit too.

There are a lot of places in the north of Scotland with Norse names, and our dialect of English has more Norse words than usual, such as "bairn" and "redd up".

Of course we all speak American English too, Jim, gimme da cash or i'm'na pop a cap in yo' fo shizzle! In fact, that was a double post so I'm'a pop a cap in yo a** anyway.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Thu Jun 15 2006, 10:53AM

ehhh...ok?
no offence here, but just wtf is wrong with americans?
whats the point?(if there's one)
I just don't get it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Jun 15 2006, 11:02AM

That's cool Bjorn! I always wondered where my mom's skill with the double-headed axe came from.

Ilirian barbarians are more evil than vikings...

Ferrite soup?

Yeah, and pic is pretty old, from the time of easter.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Thu Jun 15 2006, 11:36AM

I'm sure she does have a phone number. I'm rather less sure if any of us will get it.
But yes, she is rather fine. She's probably also what is known as jailbait

Woah, there. I wasn't serious about getting her number, I must live like 1000mi away you know... Nothing was in mind, I assure you. More of a complement really.

no offence here, but just wtf is wrong with americans?

Ah, we wonder the same thing sometimes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Thu Jun 15 2006, 12:03PM

Electroholic wrote ...

ehhh...ok?
no offence here, but just wtf is wrong with americans?
whats the point?(if there's one)
I just don't get it.

Heh, don't blame it on Americans... Stupidity knows no borders.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Thu Jun 15 2006, 03:12PM

That's cool Bjorn! I always wondered where my mom's skill with the double-headed axe came from. My dad's side of the family are from Ireland, but I guess the Vikings raided there quite a bit too.

The Vikings had large permanent bases in Ireland that were used to raid Scotland and other places. Some raids consisted of 200 longships, that would be significant even by todays standard. There were also peaceful and permanent settlements in Ireland and Scotland.

The picture is taken at a place called Skottestad, one of several possible translations is Scotsman wick.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Jun 15 2006, 03:58PM

Wow, that looks like a nice place

I have a load of landscape photos from the Scottish Highlands, but they're all on transparencies.

I went to check up my history of Viking Scotland. Apparently you guys trashed Dumbarton (about 15 miles from my house) in 870 and left "with a heavy cargo of slaves and looted goods." :-<

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Thu Jun 15 2006, 06:20PM

Perhaps you guys can point out on the map where you come from.

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Jun 15 2006, 11:49PM

looking at out member map I sorta doubt we will all fit...

And using an upside down map doesn't help either

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Thingmaker3, Sat Jun 17 2006, 05:38AM

Some snakes get more hungry than others. The black rat snake for instance...

Still, the "Australian sheep eating snake" is every bit as bogus as EVR claims: Article Here

Here's our own little girl, when she was just a baby: Persephonesnack4HV

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GimpyJoe, Thu Jun 22 2006, 04:09AM

Steve Conner wrote ...

Yea, rub it in Matt, I have no life outside of electronics.

I'll up the ante by posting a picture of my living room.

When you find true love and your wife cleans out your living room, can I have your guitar? Looks like a PRS archtop from the headstock and bird inlays, I am in love.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Jun 22 2006, 10:22AM

No way dude, the PRS is staying. Unless I go broke and have to sell it

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Thu Jun 22 2006, 10:22AM

omg isodrivers

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Jun 22 2006, 11:03AM

blackplasma wrote ...

I see you didn't care much for solder

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Thu Jun 22 2006, 11:12AM

Solder is cheap. Especially non-ROHS

Naw, for the sake of peak currents (the power transistor/diode form part of a bridge, remember) I have tinned the tracks very heavily, and also because it guarantees the copper will not corrode. =D

Yes, it was excessive. I'll also admit that I couldn't find my flux and therefore had no way of tinning the boards nicely, so I tinned them... not nicely, instead. =) hehe

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Fri Jun 23 2006, 01:29AM

I thought the same way as Firkragg.

But I see your point now. Makes sense.

wrote ...

Here's our own little girl, when she was just a baby:

Wow! A real snake actually looking cute.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jun 24 2006, 03:21AM

not one of mine (oh man I wish it was though), but still worth noting... As the name suggests it is a huge copper vapor laser, about 100w output power. The guy in the background reminds me of my dad a few years ago

But to prevent breaking the thread rules I will post this very disturbing pic of my thumb a year ago to the day

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Jun 24 2006, 05:01AM

And to break my train of thought away from your mangled thumb, I shall post a godawful pic of me at work:

So, what actually happened to your thumb? I'm glad the thumbnail grew back!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jun 24 2006, 07:31AM

I was splitting a 2x4 into kindling when I missed by just about .2500"

I would post a pic of me at work sitting next to one of the 50ghz network analisers or my 21" monitor with the part I have been designing in solidworks, but the room is somewhat classified (us citizens only), so I can't

I will on the other hand post a pic of my rifd badge to get in the room (or any other room in one of the 7 buildings that makes up the Alhambra branch of Ortel) on monday when they finally give me one

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat Jun 24 2006, 09:57AM

clean and well-organized...

work table

hehe

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Jun 24 2006, 01:00PM

woohoo, thought i'd post some pictures from around my house whilst I was waiting for the kettle to boil.

First up is my bedroom - or my computer corner. Main rig is an Athlon 2600+, one to the left is an IBM 233Mhz Pentium. Scopes are a Hameg 60Mhz and an RS 20Mhz both 2 channel

Second - My work bench in our hideously messy garage. Spot the coils...

Third - Can anyone beat this? The garage is literally filled up with crap, 90% of it is my dads, and it really is rubbish that never moves. I would love the space...

Forth - Dads bench in the garage. seriously...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rev, Sat Jun 24 2006, 01:19PM

i can see why you call yourself avalanche. looks like your about to have one at one end of your garage :P

my shed was almost that populated with stuff till the point i couldn't walk around in it. had to take care of that....

btw. are those motorcycles trapped in the garage?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Jun 24 2006, 01:43PM

stuff collapses all the time in there. As for the motorbikes - the two you see in the second pic can still be taken out, but it takes a while to make a clear path out for them. The other two in the third pic are well and truely trapped - ie you can't see them. If you look at the bottom of the third pic you can see the headlight and part of the fork leg for one of them, that's a vintage Velocette. The other bike is behind that one, my old Honda 125cc

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Jun 25 2006, 12:47AM

Here's a cool picture I took a while ago when the Zapcat powerboat racing was on. I was using an old Pentax manual lens on an ist-DS digital body, and Pentax try real hard to hide the fact that the auto exposure totally stops working in that case

I took this one on the same day with the same gear. Again it was sheer luck to get a usable exposure considering the brightness range of the scene. I guess with hindsight I should have shot it as RAW. Can you see the silhouette of the left-hand guy against the crane? It might just appear totally black on some monitors.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sun Jun 25 2006, 03:02AM

I just realized I've never posted a pic here!

Here's last night's sunset.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Sun Jun 25 2006, 03:22AM

Sunsets from the last few nights....The second one similar to Part Scavengers...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sun Jun 25 2006, 03:40AM

Only better! I like the first one

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sun Jun 25 2006, 01:50PM

yeah, i like the first shot better too. nice job

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Sun Jun 25 2006, 01:58PM

One more from the same night;

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Jun 25 2006, 07:17PM

Can anyone guess how I took this pic?

Hints are:
it is a 2 channel scope
it is not in x/y mode
the M is completly static
the lines inside the m are slowly drifting to the right/left (depending on the trigger level)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Jun 25 2006, 09:11PM

I dont have a guess but I do have a picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Sun Jun 25 2006, 11:42PM

... wrote ...

not one of mine (oh man I wish it was though), but still worth noting... As the name suggests it is a huge copper vapor laser, about 100w output power. The guy in the background reminds me of my dad a few years ago

Looking at that picture reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

"Now he had all the power in the world he wasn't sure what to do next. But he would think of something."

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Mon Jun 26 2006, 02:12PM

I just replaced the MOSFETs in a halfbridge, and I had to photograph one for my site

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Jun 27 2006, 05:01AM

I finally got my rifd badge so I can get in the door at Ortel to help design the THz spectrometer that they are selling to the DoD to detect explosives/chemical weapons/etc No more begging Sharon to get in

I would love to post a pic of my 'office' (the Phasebridge lab pretty much, I have a comp in the middle of it and about 5 people walk through it a day...) or my 21" monitor with one of the parts I designed, but as I said the project is somewhat classified so I can't tell you foreigners

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sun Jul 02 2006, 12:39PM

Had some good storms last night. Spent a few hours chasing them down and got lots of good photos. Here are two shots i got. The second one is a 30 second exposure while the first is a 4 second exposure.

Dan

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Jul 06 2006, 01:17AM

w00t, first paycheck

It is only for my first 2 days (the pay you a week after the work here), so not that huge at a wooping $134.15. On the birght side I only paid $17 for taxes

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat Jul 08 2006, 10:51AM

Sunset from a plane (no photoshop)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Jul 09 2006, 11:57PM

My new (as in just finised building it) air ring launcher.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Jul 10 2006, 12:44AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Mon Jul 10 2006, 12:55AM

Chris, how in the heck do you have money for that many kids AND the best looking tesla coils?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Mon Jul 10 2006, 01:01AM

Hey, nik282000, nice! Can you tell us more about that thing?

(Of course, Chris' TC is awesome too.)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Mon Jul 10 2006, 01:20AM

I'm sorry nik, your picture looked like a picture with water on the lens at first, then it was too big to download quickly. At second look, that thing's sweet! I'm with Simon, more please!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Jul 10 2006, 02:29AM

Christopher Robin wrote ...

Brought three of my DRSSTCâ€™s up to Grants Pass Oregon this week for the 4th and the kids had a blast making animals out of foil for targetsâ€¦â€¦..pics turned out well, pushed my coilâ€™s to their limits; no failures! Happy belated 4th !

Cheers,
Ch_r

Aww, making animals out of aluminium foil as the targets... why, how cute and politically incorrect, hehehehe -- how old are your kids?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Jul 10 2006, 03:52AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Aug 06 2006, 01:23PM

My first lightning shot (miss).

Bolt on first pic was pretty nice but I caught just a branch of it.
I didn't know what brightness to expect so I set ISO way too high, ending with a crappy pic.

Second is inter/intra cloud lightning, pretty far away and not very nice.

Better luck with next storm, I hope..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Aug 09 2006, 03:13AM

On a whim I dug out my old QX3 webcammicroscope (320x240 at 10, 80, or 200x optical magnification) and downloaded all 93mb of software that it needs (ya, right) from intel and grabbed an old computer chip...

It turned out pretty good for the crude focusing system... I didn't shop it at all, but I did cheat by helping the little tiny light with a luxeon headlamp to get enough light for the ccd to work... This also gave a neat blue color

I just wish it was a bit higher that 320x240, so I could use it as a desktop. Perhaps it is time to make an adapter to use my real camera on my real microscope...

I should point out something special about that chip; the substrate it clear

I can see all of the way down to the solder on the bottom of the die, very interesting to look at with a better (40x stereo) uscope.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Aug 18 2006, 12:42PM

About time I posted some pics from work!!

I've been doing some EMC stuff, and whilst waiting for a 30 minute sweep on a lamp to finish I decided to start desoldering parts from some scrap boards. Our boards contain a small SMPS so I was salvaging the 100uF 400v smoothing cap and the transformer. This soon turned into a major operation when I found a box of about 20 more scrap boards, so I decided that I needed to run that 30 minute sweep a couple more times to verify my results

Note the solder puddle on the floor, it was a heatgun desoldering job

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Aug 18 2006, 12:53PM

zomg.. **jealous of the scope on your right** =-)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Aug 18 2006, 01:36PM

It's the fluke scopemeter in the background I'm jealous of

It's a meter and scope in one unit, color TFT screen, 200Mhz bandwidth 2.5GS/s, all in a portable battery powered unit

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sat Aug 19 2006, 12:13AM

But what's in the boxes I wonder...?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sat Aug 19 2006, 01:33AM

Here is a photo of an Iridium flare I took two nights ago. It was magnitude -4 so it was pretty bright. Center of the flare would have been -8 (visible in daylight), but that was about 10 miles away from my position.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Aug 21 2006, 12:12PM

Small one

And some big arcs

I played with ISO and wb but I still can't get fully natural color - either too blue or too purple

And they are pretty hard to catch, like to go horizontally covering half of the sky

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Aug 21 2006, 07:29PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Mon Aug 21 2006, 09:21PM

!amazed Sweet!

We don't even see lightning like that around here! Ours are really piddly.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Mon Aug 21 2006, 09:32PM

Nice pics, I had enough trouble the other day even seeing the lightening.

It would strike somewhere, so I would sit for about 10 mins watching one side of the valley, then a massive flash would happen behind me, I didn't see a single bolt

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Aug 21 2006, 10:16PM

When storm gets fierce enough big-ish lightning can be seen every 10-20 seocnds or so.

Last one had a pretty big number of these long horizontal bolts (I don't even see point where they hit ground).

They sometimes occur in group with just seconds of delay, sometimes multiple simultaneous leaders, and tend to ring lot of cycles at low frquency making beautiful fireworks.

Thunder from these sounds more like constant, lasting roar than just echoing explosion.

I'm limited somewhat by the window and houses around, and bolts simply don't want to hit where you pointed the camera..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
williamn, Mon Aug 21 2006, 11:07PM

Very cool pics, I think I am even more amazed at all the stars you can see. I only see three or four on a "clear night" here if I am lucky.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Thu Aug 24 2006, 05:48PM

here are some lightning pics i made a few weeks ago

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Thu Aug 24 2006, 06:15PM

Wow, you've got some very nice photos there!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Thu Aug 24 2006, 06:51PM

Very cool lightning pics Firkragg. Nice work!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Fri Aug 25 2006, 02:28AM

Definitely! Well worth checking out.

(Some of them should be cropped a little for extra impact, I suggest.)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Aug 25 2006, 07:24AM

I decided to do an all nighter last night, and didn't bother going to bed at all

Anyway, at about 05.00, I decided to set up a time lapse photography experiment, to catch the sunrise. I set it going at 05.15, and stopped it at 07.45. A 640x480 photo was taken every 30 seconds, and I've compiled it into a video and compressed it for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

vid 3MB-ish, wmv

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Aug 25 2006, 11:41AM

First picture was actually a 'miss', but cropping may help it look-like something (:p)
Those two wires iin air are nuisance although!

PS.
I had a storm during day here but lightning aren't so visible and spectacular at noon, so I didn't bother taking pics :p

This night can hopefully bring something, though..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Sept 01 2006, 11:15AM

"Heavy handedness"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Fri Sept 01 2006, 04:55PM

Nice lightning pics and great sunrise video Avalanche! Hard to compete here.

This is the veiw of the sunset from our cabin. I kinda wish the date wasn't stamped on it...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Fri Sept 01 2006, 05:15PM

It looks like it was taken with a Kodak camera.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Fri Sept 01 2006, 06:44PM

Sony actually. The pic is 1.2 megabytes, but I resized so it would fit the maximun file size. Somehow it became 0.2 megs.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Fri Sept 01 2006, 06:52PM

I've noticed that with my Sony Camera as well. If I just open up each picture and resave it without modifying it, it'll greatly reduce the file size. I think I had to save it with a different file name though.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Sept 02 2006, 08:12PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sat Sept 02 2006, 08:39PM

I got 100 of those, notched to be double-sided since they were quite expensive. Combined they store about 25 MB.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Sept 02 2006, 08:51PM

zomg, yay for 5.25" floppies ^^

...or wait.. is that bigger?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Sept 02 2006, 10:17PM

wheeee

I recently sold 2 boxes of brand new 5.25" floppies on eBay

Surprisingly, they went very fast.

It's these disks I grew up using, on the old amstrad word processor thing. It also came with Turtle for all your graphics needs

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sun Sept 03 2006, 03:54AM

5.25" Floppy Disks ! ! ! !

Thats NEW technology.

My first floppy drive used 8 inch floppy disks with a maximum capacity of 250kb !

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Penguin7471, Sun Sept 03 2006, 09:34AM

Having fun with water...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Sun Sept 03 2006, 04:17PM

Nice, do you have a high resolution version of that shot?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Sun Sept 03 2006, 05:19PM

weekend + 2 smps + monitor + hot air gun =

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Mon Sept 04 2006, 02:32AM

I've got one of those! *Digs through hard drive*

One of my favorite pastimes (pasttimes?) Can you still feel the ends of your fingers?

(BTW, if you can't, 100% cotton gloves are awesome for mass desoldering)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Penguin7471, Mon Sept 04 2006, 06:17AM

Nice, do you have a high resolution version of that shot?

Sure...

There are many others on there too...

Hmm heres a stroboscopic shot of the bullet coming out of my coilgun:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Sept 04 2006, 07:43AM

I'm jelaous about thatt big ferrite toroids you found, I never had such luck

Nice high-speed pics Penguin7471

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Mon Sept 04 2006, 10:08AM

those look like common mode choke, probably powder cores.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Sept 04 2006, 10:10AM

I'm talking about ferrite ones. Uzzors has few on his pic..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CT2, Mon Sept 04 2006, 10:13PM

Capacitors, and more capacitors, and some photoflash circuits.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Sept 05 2006, 05:00AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Tue Sept 05 2006, 11:16AM

Wow Chris! Those are breathtaking.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Sept 06 2006, 11:43AM

Wow chris. My lightning pics are owned..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Wed Sept 06 2006, 12:54PM

Nice rainbow picture with the primary and secondary captured.

Now if you can answer why the colors in the primary vs. secondary are reversed you get a cookie.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Sept 06 2006, 03:43PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Sept 08 2006, 02:13PM

Having a major clearout, been meaning to get things organised like this for ages now.

Just got the resistors to go next...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Fri Sept 08 2006, 04:23PM

I found this on the dirveway. It was very docile and only flew away after I put it on the fence.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Sat Sept 09 2006, 08:46PM

Ah, it's here at last, a new toy to play with. My vacuum variable capacitor. Unfortunately, I didn't have a coke can to show scale. I trust most people are familiar with a soup can's size. Also, obligatory disembodied hand pics, wee.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EEYORE, Sat Sept 09 2006, 09:02PM

Chris Russell wrote ...

Ah, it's here at last, a new toy to play with. My vacuum variable capacitor. Unfortunately, I didn't have a coke can to show scale. I trust most people are familiar with a soup can's size. Also, obligatory disembodied hand pics, wee.

Oh nice capacitor!What are its ratings?
Looks like it would make a great tank cap in a vttc

Matt

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Sept 09 2006, 09:29PM

[quote]

[/quote]

Oh he is cute.. I want one for a pet

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Sat Sept 09 2006, 10:23PM

mattrg2 wrote ...

Oh nice capacitor!What are its ratings?
Looks like it would make a great tank cap in a vttc

Matt

Not so good for TC use. 10-500pf, 10kV.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EEYORE, Sat Sept 09 2006, 11:49PM

[quote]
[quote]

[/quote]

Oh he is cute.. I want one for a pet
[/quote1157845753]

That looks like a bot fly...UGGG...Dont want that for a pet!
Matt

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Sept 10 2006, 02:32AM

that cap has suffered damage!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Sun Sept 10 2006, 03:15AM

Nice collection of books (oh, and nice cap too).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Sun Sept 10 2006, 04:24PM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

that cap has suffered damage!

No, if you look around, they all look like that, at least from this manufacturer. At the final stage of manufacture, they burn off any remaining air in the tube. It ruins the nice copper gleam around the inner electrode, but it still works perfectly. That's why most pics of this tube are taken with the inner electrode fully extended; it's prettier that way.

Here's a closeup, just for fun:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
The Wumpus, Sun Sept 10 2006, 11:28PM

Playing around with a stogie and a 100mW green laser (can you see the green dragon?

) :

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Sept 11 2006, 01:10AM

No Chris. I know a guy at the TRW swapmeet that sells Vac. Caps and they do not all look like that. We even talked about this. That cap has suffered some serious arc over flashing.

They do not burn off the air either. They use a Gettering mixture of metals to absorb trace gasses in the envelope. The gettering material is usually Barium and Calcuim metals, sometimes Magnesium to remove Oxygen specifically.

But they do not all look like that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Mon Sept 11 2006, 03:06AM

This particular manufacturer doesn't use getters, they burn off the last of the air by intentionally inducing breakdown at low power. Every other tube of this rating (or similar ratings) that I've seen from this manufacturer bears the same markings. These tubes were originally built for use in Soviet Army radio gear... they aren't always pretty, but they work and work well.

For what it's worth, I have never seen a Jennings with similar markings, so I can see why one would be concerned. It does look like damage at first glance. A careful inspection reveals that they are surface blemishes on the copper only, and that there's no damage to the metal underneath whatsoever. I've also personally tested it to 8.5kV (highest I can generate at the moment).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
SpyrosF, Tue Sept 12 2006, 03:46PM

TEA laser channel glow discharge. Electrodes gap is ~2mm . Air is used as laser gas
Picture is unmodified (only cropped)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Sun Sept 24 2006, 01:49AM

[quote]
[quote]
[quote]

[/quote]

Oh he is cute.. I want one for a pet
[/quote1157845753]
That looks like a bot fly...UGGG...Dont want that for a pet!
Matt
[/quote1159062090]

It's a cicada. Some of the Australian cicadas can be a couple of inches long and bright green, orange or purple. They make very loud chirping sounds in the daytime in summer and are very much a part of the Australian "bush" experience. They are mostly harmless and only take small children.

Now for one of mine. Have you ever seen a better UFO photo? This is just rotated and cropped and was taken with a flash but not altered otherwise. Fired from my latest vortex ring generator.

Peter

1159062575 10 FT6000 Vortexphysicsskyufo

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Sept 24 2006, 12:35PM

It's a cicada. Some of the Australian cicadas can be a couple of inches long and bright green, orange or purple. They make very loud chirping sounds in the daytime in summer and are very much a part of the Australian "bush" experience. They are mostly harmless and only take small children.

One on nik's hand is exactly the same from wikipedia.
Ours aren't as close as docile and you can catch them only by suprise

.
Also have wierd big eyes and funny fins on head, but differ in color and are a bit bigger.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Mon Sept 25 2006, 12:25AM

Tesladownunder wrote ...

Now for one of mine. Have you ever seen a better UFO photo? This is just rotated and cropped and was taken with a flash but not altered otherwise. Fired from my latest vortex ring generator.

Brilliant! Especially considering how far this chicken feeder got.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ChemTechLabs, Mon Sept 25 2006, 04:48AM

Just some cool pics I took outside my bedroom window one night.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ChemTechLabs, Mon Sept 25 2006, 04:50AM

here's the last 2 i couldn't fit the first time

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Mon Sept 25 2006, 12:40PM

Very nice photos. Nice crespucular rays!!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Sept 25 2006, 02:55PM

It's, um... me. ^^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Mon Sept 25 2006, 05:05PM

Dock Spider

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Sept 25 2006, 05:07PM

blackplasma wrote ...

It's, um... me. ^^

cool pic bp ...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Sept 25 2006, 05:16PM

I think the only thing cool about the pic was the eyes... and they were very cold indeed. ^^

**glares** heheh

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Tue Sept 26 2006, 05:16PM

An animated gif of one of my small SGTCs

Nothing out of the ordinary, but I thought it looks cool

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sun Oct 01 2006, 03:24AM

M45 - The Pleiades Cluster

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Oct 01 2006, 07:06AM

Jrz126 wrote ...

I've noticed that with my Sony Camera as well. If I just open up each picture and resave it without modifying it, it'll greatly reduce the file size. I think I had to save it with a different file name though.

Be careful, some programs (the microsoft photo editor comes to mind) don't save the pics in the format it opened them, but what you saved the previous one as. So if you saved it a a jpeg with the quality turned down to 10 it saves all of the pics you open with at jpeg quality 10

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sun Oct 01 2006, 01:40PM

Note that any type you open and save a JPG, regardless of quality setting, you are reducing its overall quality. This includes opening up a JPG and saving it under a different name, even if you made no modifications to it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sun Oct 01 2006, 02:58PM

If you open a JPEG picture and save it with the same quality it was first saved with the second compression may be 100% lossless.

I have tried this hypothesis in photoshop and it worked except for some 20 pixels with rounding errors along the bottom edge.

Depending on the implementation of the algorithm, rounding errors may be very rare or almost certain.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sun Oct 01 2006, 03:25PM

wrote ...

I have tried this hypothesis in photoshop and it worked except for some 20 pixels with rounding errors along the bottom edge.

Then it is not 100% lossless then.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sun Oct 01 2006, 03:46PM

Where did I claim that it was always lossless? I even explained that it depends on the implementation of the algorithm. Grow up and try not to be a childish troller all the time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Sun Oct 01 2006, 04:41PM

wrote ...

Bjorn writes:
If you open a JPEG picture and save it with the same quality it was first saved with the second compression may be 100% lossless.

You state that this method indeed *may* yield 100% lossless compression.

wrote ...

Grow up and try not to be a childish troller all the time.

Please keep the personal quips to yourself, or send them to me via PM. And BTW, just because someone doesn't agree with everything you said, doesn't mean they are childish and/or trolling. This is a discussion board the last time I checked. Also, its ironic that you call me childish because I disagree with your statement, when in the previous post you do the same exact thing towards me - disagree with my statement.

You made a statement alluding to the fact that JPG compression may be 100% lossless if implemented a certain way. I am disagreeing with that statement and saying that no matter what the implementation, JPG compression is ALWAYS lossless. (excluding JPG-LS or JPG-2000 which we are not discussing anyways)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sun Oct 01 2006, 05:18PM

That Panorama program is cool! Here's a stitch of four pictures that I took on the fourth of July this year. It's down in our field, just as a storm was rolling in.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
joshua_, Sun Oct 01 2006, 05:20PM

Less flames, more images.

4hv

larger | freaking huge

I took that picture trying to read the label off of that capacitor, and I liked the way it turned out. It could've used a little more depth of field, but oh well. I think it was cool anyway.

[Edit: fixed image size]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Oct 01 2006, 05:22PM

I took this with mt Sony DSC-P52 3.2Mpix camera. If you look close enough you can see my reflection in the frog's eye.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sun Oct 01 2006, 05:45PM

Please keep the personal quips to yourself

My statement was not a quip but a public warning.

I am disagreeing with that statement and saying that no matter what the implementation, JPG compression is ALWAYS lossless.

I have attatched a picture that can be compressed lossless using the JPEG algorithm in Adobe Photoshop CS2 9.02 using Save for web quality 0.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sun Oct 01 2006, 05:45PM

Because of the way the pictures were taken, I could do a tall one and a long one. Here's the other:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Oct 02 2006, 11:26AM

Please stop fighting bj0rn and EVR :P

JPEG compression may produce a bit-for-bit accurate result under some circumstances, but it's not guaranteed to do so. I always think of it as MP3 for pictures. One of my pet hates is camera software that reads the EXIF orientation in all your photos every time you run it and tries to "Turn them the right way up" by uncompressing, rotating the bitmap, and JPEG compressing again. You lose a generation needlessly, and waste a load of CPU time, when it can easily be done with the JPEG lossless transform operations. I guess I should get out more

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Mon Oct 16 2006, 10:03PM

Same spider as before but this time its in my hand.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Mon Oct 16 2006, 10:44PM

I would probably have a stroke and die if I put that in my hand....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Oct 17 2006, 08:21AM

Michael W. wrote ...

I would probably have a stroke and die if I put that in my hand....

why? he is cute..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Oct 17 2006, 11:10AM

Cute... in a "Hi-I'm-a-dirty-filthy-spider-with-eight-eyes-and- spines-on-my-legs-and-a-really-weird-lump-growing- on-me" kind of way.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Oct 17 2006, 12:09PM

The 'wierd lump growing on him' is a bag made out of silk (and dirt) serving as nest for babies.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Oct 22 2006, 08:19AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Sun Oct 22 2006, 03:09PM

Firkragg wrote ...

The 'wierd lump growing on him' is a bag made out of silk (and dirt) serving as nest for babies.

And that somehow makes it more pleasant?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Oct 22 2006, 06:54PM

Part Scavenger wrote ...

And that somehow makes it more pleasant?

Not necessarily, but I didn't want to spread confusion about it...

PS. cool pics c. hooper. I did soemthing similar with my mini SSTC but my camera definitely sucks when compared to yours :/

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Oct 22 2006, 07:28PM

DIY Frequency Counter. This is the tachometer for my 1KW SGTC. It's going to interface with the DC motor tachometer and give us a continuous readout. Pretty cool huh.

Oh....its MSI ...all Old School! none of that programming sillyness.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Oct 25 2006, 03:01PM

sunset in Western Sydney, Australia

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Wed Oct 25 2006, 05:06PM

That's pretty neat BP! What kind of trees are those?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Thu Oct 26 2006, 01:32AM

in the foreground on the left...? eucalyptus =P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Fri Oct 27 2006, 03:27PM

A scener with PS skillz sent me this rather revealing picture...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Oct 27 2006, 08:48PM

Yup, that lens flare was the ultimate clichÃ©, I made sure there were enough to make Douglas Trumbull blush. =-D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Oct 28 2006, 07:12AM

Very, very cheap thrills.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Oct 28 2006, 08:24PM

All glorry to the dremel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Oct 28 2006, 11:27PM

This is for Bjorn, because he probably didn't know there was a "before":

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Oct 29 2006, 02:14AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Oct 30 2006, 09:46AM

The first pic is a bit too red-ish (don't have photoshop at hand). There was a lot of fog around, but next day was great...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Tue Oct 31 2006, 12:22AM

Cheap shots at board member deleted
If you have a problem with someone's behaviour, make a proper complaint. Don't lower your own behaviour.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Oct 31 2006, 07:31AM

Cheap shots at board member deleted

Hey, I was just joking on my account about the number of posts I made.

I wasn't offending anyone over there nor intended to; my english may be bad so I'l keep from such posts in future.

Sorry again everybody.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Tue Oct 31 2006, 11:22PM

wrote ...

Hey, I was just joking on my account about the number of posts I made.

I wasn't offending anyone over there nor intended to; my english may be bad so I'l keep from such posts in future.

That's true. You just quoted something that was deleted so that quote had to be removed, too. That's all.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Tue Oct 31 2006, 11:46PM

Here is my interpretation of the picture with the colour cast.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Nov 01 2006, 02:51AM

Here is my interpretation of the picture, to annoy BjÃ¸rn.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Wed Nov 01 2006, 04:53AM

Here is my interpretation of the interpretation.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Nov 01 2006, 07:12AM

LOL! But hang on a sec, something's missing...

...where's the stingray?

And you forgot to add another-another lens-flare. =P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Nov 01 2006, 09:25AM

simon, some posts to delete over there.. ^ ^ :p

Thread is called post your cool pics here, not post your photoshop syllines here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Nov 01 2006, 10:40AM

It's alright Firkragg, I started it. =-)

I'm pretty sure Simon isn't about to start a modbrawl with BjÃ¸rn. ^^

However, should said modbrawl ensue, here's my prediction, for the record:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Nov 01 2006, 12:03PM

Haha.

The picture can be anything as long as it is impressive/pretty/impossible

Then I guess it's my bad

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Nov 01 2006, 11:46PM

This is a laser-cut and etched faceplate I had made for my homebuilt guitar amp. (to celebrate finally deciding what all the knobs do.)

Blackplasma helped me design it, and some guys I know at the university fabricated it on their Mercury laser cutter

It's made of clear acrylic and will be edge-lit by a bunch of LEDs, probably the same orange ones I tested it with.

1162424810 30 FT6000 Img 1839 Laser Etched

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Thu Nov 02 2006, 01:05AM

Blackplasma: I think it would look more like this. He was the crocodile hunter.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Nov 02 2006, 05:04AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Nov 02 2006, 10:15AM

to celebrate finally deciding what all the knobs do

This reminds me of... me :p

Really coolest thing are those etched letters.

I've been building acrylic face-plate for new 5up3r 53cr3t DRSSTC box lately, but with stone age approach compared to this...

''njinja toaster'' - I like it

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Thu Nov 02 2006, 09:48PM

Like the faceplate up there! I've never found an easy way to make decent front panels for projects.

A few pics from exactly one week ago...

don't know why, but I wouldn't mind going in here to explore. There's another one a mile or so down from here, and they both extend hundreds of yards into the depths of the hill. Closed for safety... I tried both ends, but they are well and truely bricked up.

View from the viaduct on the first pic

Doesn't matter which way I go here, same thing both ways

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Nov 02 2006, 10:49PM

Yay for bikes! I wish I got out on mine more in nice places like that, as opposed to just commuting on it

I got the panel partly assembled and lit up for a test. The main problem I have just now is that the plexi is too thick, so the pot shafts don't stick through it far enough to put the nuts on. If I used thinner plexi though, it'd be harder to glue the LEDs to it. I guess I should enlarge the holes and file the corners off the nuts, or something. But then if I try to enlarge the holes with a drill, I'll probably ruin it :(

1162507747 30 FT6000 Img 1842 Laser Etch 2

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Nov 02 2006, 11:03PM

Hi Steve

(know we'r jackin't th thread, but..)

Large holes in plexi are pain to drill with noraml drill. It's hard and brittle, sets drill to flutter and it smashes the plexi violently. (doh).

I used to enlarge some very large holes by drilling very slowly in backwards direction (lol!) using only direct friction to slowly grind acrylic. It takes ages, needs cooling periods and is worth only if you care about the piece of plexi very much.

I think it would be great if you started a new thread about this, as I'm very interested (hope others are) about potential more pics and details about that amp..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Nov 03 2006, 02:14AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Fri Nov 03 2006, 02:21AM

Looks nice Steve.
Here's one that I like.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Fri Nov 03 2006, 02:43AM

I LOVE the toaster. About the holes, I dunno, but luckily we've got an acrylic master just two posts up!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Nov 03 2006, 09:37AM

Yeah, somebody should start acrylic Q&A thread but won't bother cristopher neither!

When I tried to bend it it looked like hell, nowhere to get that pretty dichloromethane solvent, and I didn't even know there are such things in existence as acrylic tubes! :p

Perfect primary form and secondary protection!

Great coil (and pic) Cr!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Fri Nov 03 2006, 03:15PM

Fill in an amusing place and time at the top using white letters.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Nov 05 2006, 12:18AM

anyone guess what this is?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Penguin7471, Sun Nov 05 2006, 07:33AM

Green laser light being diffracted through something weird... Can't make out what that "hook" on the left is. Maybe a long exposure of drifting fringes from a interferometer?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Nov 05 2006, 03:50PM

yes it came from a 532nm laser, no is wasn't a long exposure.

Not sure what hook you are talking about, if it helps there are 2 doorknobs in that pic.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon Barsinister, Wed Nov 08 2006, 03:55AM

This was not too cool when it happened, but in 1985 I was on an Iberia airlines flight from Frankfort to Madrid and it taxied into a fuel truck after landing. It felt like someone chucked a log under the left main wheel. The stewardesses weren't too happy with me snapping shots of the fiasco. Most of the other passengers were Germans and at that time I spoke enough German to be amused at their sarcastic remarks. We had to de-plane out the rear airstair. (It was a Boeing 727 btw)

Rich

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Wed Nov 08 2006, 03:59AM

If movies have taught me anything, there should be fireballs in that picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Nov 20 2006, 07:20AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Mon Nov 20 2006, 07:57AM

Kind of old, but these are some nice close up shots of my xenon short arc lamps. It would be interesting to get a shot of one running like through a darkened filter of some kind, but I'm not sure just how to go about it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Nov 20 2006, 05:51PM

Jeez, those look like they mean business! Did you ever get one to light? I remember trying to get a smaller mercury short arc lamp to light, it was a total pain since it took something like 2kV to strike and then 12V @ 10A to run. That was before I knew about Tesla coils, though, it would be easier now

When I finally did get it to strike, I was shocked by how bright it was (and probably dangerously UV-rich too...)

PS: Do you know what the cooling requirements are? Those lamps look like the kind of things that would explode violently if they didn't get enough airflow.

To get a picture of the arc, I'd use a pinhole camera to project it onto a piece of white paper and photograph that. The arc in mine looked like a tiny sphere about half the size of a rice grain.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Nov 20 2006, 09:02PM

Steve: you could strike them up relatvely easily, using some kind of pilot transformer, hooked up in series with tube and 12V source (there was and arc cuttger project on this site using similar design).

OR maybe you could just ionize them externally with a TC or something.

Regarding cooling, it shouldn't be some great trouble since power is just 120W (dunno for chris's tubes; but they look pretty

)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Mon Nov 20 2006, 11:06PM

Both these lamps require a 30kV strike voltage, and around 100V no-load DC voltage for the arc to develop properly. They require forced air cooling. The DC operating voltage and current for the large one (4500W) is 32V 135A and the small one (2kW) is 24V 80A, both at like 2% ripple. It's definately a job for a serious and well regulated power supply, otherwise BOOM. I was going to use my alternator set to accomplish this, but haven't got around to it yet and have other projects. I did build a good heavy lamphouse for them though. They contain about 30atm (440psi) hot and 10atm cold, and operate at such temperature that they need a special graded and folded seal to join the quartz envelope in several stages to the electrodes to allow for the difference in thermal expansion. The smaller one is the exact same type we used at the theatre when I was a projectionist there, and that's how I got interested in them. That type retails for around $1000 while the larger one retails for $2500. I got them on ebay for much less of course, the 2kW lamp is brand new and the 4500W one has 500 hours on it, but seems to be in remarkable condition for that much use. You definately wouldn't want to run one in the open, not only because of the potential explosion hazard, but they would really burn your eyes almost immediately if you viewed the arc. The big one puts out 190,000 lumens from a 6mm gap

so it doesn't leave much to the imagination. They put out a great deal of UV, and mercury ones do even far more. I want to make a huge spotlight with it, just for fun. If I get a pic of the arc I'll post it here.

Edit:
I always thought this frame of one of my test rocket engines was interesting. The exhaust makes a toroid thingo when it hits the ground.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Thu Nov 23 2006, 03:15AM

Not one, but *gasp* five cool pics. =)

Aw, why not six, seven, eight, nine.

[Edit: Avoid double-posting (FYI: double posting is posting twice in a row in a thread, without allowing any replies in between). Double posting just to get a topic marked as new is a no-no. Every topic deserves a chance. If yours slips into obscurity, its chance came and went. If 48 hours have elapsed, and you have some new information to add, you may double post. This is the only exception, there are no other exceptions!]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Mon Dec 18 2006, 10:35AM

It's probably not too difficult for most of you to guess what these pics are of. Anyway, I thought they looked cool. Enjoy.

The lamp is fully warmed up for all these pics, I just played around with the exposure time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Thu Dec 21 2006, 01:10PM

It looks a bit like this doesn't it

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Dec 21 2006, 03:05PM

Except that it is actualy yellow (I am guessing that you were looking through a pair of welding googles?) and about a million times as bright

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Thu Dec 21 2006, 06:43PM

Yeah, it's a 1500W metal halide lamp. Really bright at about 6000K color temp (white). I was definately looking through a welding lens.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Dec 30 2006, 04:33AM

Headroom?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jan 02 2007, 05:10PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Jan 02 2007, 11:00PM

It sure is cool

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Jan 06 2007, 11:19PM

Just had to post this here as well, took this pic tonight and it is a mixture of about 80% of my hobbies - mountain biking, photography and things that make use of high frequency

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Jan 07 2007, 12:27AM

Very dramatic, very nice pic, Avalanche. I love the crisp silhouettes.

Here's my "today's cool pic".

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Jan 07 2007, 12:34AM

Here's my "today's cool pic"

What's supposed to be cool about these?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Jan 07 2007, 01:49AM

Aw, come on Firkragg, you of all people should be able to recognise a square peg in a round hole when you see one.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Jan 07 2007, 02:53AM

careful BP

Here is a little amp

I forgot to take a pic of the real one >.<

Just imagine where I would have put solder and then lift a few traces arround the ucc37322 (replaced it 5 friggin times while testing)

Anyone that can guess what it does gets a cookie

Anyone that can explian what the cap in paralell with the 300r resistor on the output of the ucc37321 does gets 2 cookies

edit:

pretty self explanitory... gotta love pov-ray

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun Jan 07 2007, 02:59PM

Here's another from last night, 15 second exposure aimed at a couple of the towers

I'll probably go back up there one night and have another go, those are only two of the smallest towers there

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun Jan 07 2007, 03:16PM

Guess what caused this injury... This is unenhanced BTW, the pictures do not show the extent of the soft tissue damage but 48 hours later you can still feel a large bump where the bruises are..

-A

"Bother" said Pooh, as he was dipped in bees...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Jan 07 2007, 11:36PM

Ouch, that must be tender! No idea what would cause a bruise like that... I can't think of anything exactly that shape or profile... wooden-edged stairs? CRT monitor falling from a great height? Heavy machinery? =P

Here's my pic. It's a pulse-squasher, AND it works. Very handy for reducing duty cycle if it's just a smidgin above 50% ^^

(clickie to biggie)

[Edit: Image-squashed by the moderator team because the picture was a smidgin over 400 pixels wide. Please resize or edit the post to learn how the width tag works.]

[Cheers, and apologies, fixed. -M]

If I double posted now to upload these, I would get well and truly smited. So I've used the attachments forum. </angel>

New layout for 13.56MHz coil:

Distraction:

Sky above where I work:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Jan 09 2007, 09:58PM

Here's my cool pic.

Just showing you the comparison between the pewny binding posts of your power supply, compared to the monstrous binding posts of my power supply.
They're rated for 100A and will be a nice touch to my lab supply, which is in progress now.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Jan 09 2007, 11:22PM

Meh,

Those are 9/16" nuts

Sorry the angle is a little weird, the supply has a 25w laser diode hooked up to it atm, and a ton of crap piled on top of it so I had to use an old pic...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Wed Jan 10 2007, 01:38PM

Thats right, 300 IRFP450s, ready for service.

Andrew's sci-spot.com motto comes to mind....

1168436329 95 FT6000 Uzzors 300 Irfp450s

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Jan 10 2007, 02:12PM

What did you pay each? Ebay scoop? :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Wed Jan 10 2007, 02:27PM

Norwegian ebay equivalent, QXL. The whole pack only cost 199 NOK, which is 31.31 USD, or 40.15 AUD. Quite the bargain!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Jan 10 2007, 08:37PM

Woot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Jan 11 2007, 12:47AM

Omgwtfbbq! What is that crazy thing Firkragg, did you build it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
williamn, Thu Jan 11 2007, 12:53AM

Looks like a DRSSTC on a board.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu Jan 11 2007, 09:45AM

Thats awsome Firkragg! I'm pretty jealous of that badboy.

Here's my cool pic for Thur.

Fully functional 2430A, now extended with the 2402 Tekmate, Complete software package, Data logging, time stamp, FFT, extended math functions, extended disk storage. She's 16 years old, but its as good as it gets for a guy like me.
Someday I will have the $1300 for a TDS2002B, but that's somewhere far off.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Thu Jan 11 2007, 11:46AM

I spotted this whilst cooking dinner outside tonight... at first I thought it was a vapour trail from a jet... then it inflamed briefly and I thought better and got the camera out.

Meteorite? Space junk re-entering? Not a 'shooting star'..?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Jan 11 2007, 12:25PM

Steve Conner wrote ...

Omgwtfbbq! What is that crazy thing Firkragg, did you build it?

Yes, It's my newest DRSSTC fullbridge. It is a double sided board with ground and +325V plane to keep parasitic inductances minimal, plus a hoard of decoupling caps.

I yet need to find a cap for it, biggest I have here are only 100V

Solder therminal caps I used before seemed to be underperforming, although I'm obivously ending with them again.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Thu Jan 11 2007, 04:37PM

Meteorite? Space junk re-entering? Not a 'shooting star'..?

It looks exactly like the vapour trail from a jet lit by the sun that is just below the horizon.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Thu Jan 11 2007, 05:41PM

Me and my OLTC.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/jrz126/images/oltc/me_and_the_coil.JPG
I'm starting to get some sparks out of it. http://www.personal.psu.edu/jrz126/images/oltc/sparks.JPG No arcs to air yet, hopefully tonight

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Thu Jan 11 2007, 08:49PM

BjÃ¸rn BÃ¦verfjord wrote ...

Meteorite? Space junk re-entering? Not a 'shooting star'..?

It looks exactly like the vapour trail from a jet lit by the sun that is just below the horizon.

That's what I thought, but it glowed and flickered and burned from time to time... :-/

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Jan 12 2007, 06:54AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Jan 12 2007, 07:13PM

PYLON! Now this really is '4hv'

On my travels earlier I came across this pylon, this is a fairly remote area and it was very windy so I can see why it came down. It's interesting how it just stabbed itself into the ground, and they left it. The scary thing is, when I passed the replacement pylon, I noticed that it's foundations are all broken - the blocks of concrete had been pulled out of the ground, so it's pretty much just standing there, only a matter of time before the same thing happens again!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Fri Jan 12 2007, 10:07PM

This is my cool picture for the week.

Just got this little baby with the mail

1168639111 125 FT6000 Tektronix Tds1001b

It`s A lot better than the Phillips PM 3267 I have, I wont even bother using a analog scope again

And the cool thing is, that I can control it from my labtop!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jan 13 2007, 12:09AM

congrats on the cool scope!

I got to use a 4 channel/150mhz (1.5gs/s) one at work for a while. If I could have one thing out of the lab (which included a number of $50k instruments like a spectrometer that has a 50hz resolution from 16khz to 50ghz

) it would have been that scope.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Jan 13 2007, 12:39AM

balsamplack wrote ...

I spotted this whilst cooking dinner outside tonight... at first I thought it was a vapour trail from a jet... then it inflamed briefly and I thought better and got the camera out.

Meteorite? Space junk re-entering? Not a 'shooting star'..?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/halleybeating-comet...

Looks like it wasn't a vapour trail after all =)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Jan 13 2007, 12:58AM

It looks so like a vapour trail though, I think I can even see a little black plane-like speck at the end. A comet couldn't have any part that looked darker than the sky, since it's outside the atmosphere.

Also, I found some photos of Comet MacNaught on Google, and it looks nothing like the object BP photographed:

A chocolate chip cookie for any 4hv member who manages to photograph it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Jan 13 2007, 01:09AM

"nothing like"

I could hardly see it with my eye, I wouldn't be surprised if the dark bit is a camera artefact...
**wallows in own ignorance**

it still looked cool, inflamed from time to time, and I actually photographed it so PAH! =-D hehe

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Sat Jan 13 2007, 07:12AM

If it were a comet, wouldn't the trail point away from the sun?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Liam, Sat Jan 13 2007, 08:07AM

As the jet itself reflects the sunlight at certain angles (which would be suggested because it's right at runrise) it will appear to flicker and may very well look like a burning object.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sat Jan 13 2007, 08:14AM

Generally the comet tails points away from the sun. The plasma tail is pushed away by the solar wind and usually points in a straight line away from the sun. The dust tail(s) are pushed away by the sunlight and lags behind because of the relatively weaker push. In some special cases tails may seem to point in opposite directions when viewed from earth.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Jan 14 2007, 11:20PM

Some edge-lit mess, and a plasma photo from one of my old coils.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Jan 15 2007, 01:10PM

Wee, edge-lit plexi party! This is another pic of the edge-lit plexi panel that I posted previously: I finally got it installed. I suppose I should mention that BP helped me design it

This is what the back of the amp looks like

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Jan 15 2007, 01:51PM

Steve Conner wrote ...

...I suppose I should mention that BP helped me design it

LIES, it's all LIES, I tell you!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Fri Jan 19 2007, 04:46AM

Wee, those are some sexy tubes you got there Conner.

Here's some red fuming nitric acid, fuming ominously at the tip of my pipette.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Grant, Fri Jan 19 2007, 04:49AM

Excellent work Chris, I had been waiting for some good photos of your progress with distilling RFNA, well done.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Fri Jan 19 2007, 04:57AM

Damn, those are good pictures.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert, Fri Jan 19 2007, 09:17PM

Had a little windy night here.
This are the pics i took on my way to uni, dindt have much time and the battery ran out too.

Nice place to rest for sure.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert, Fri Jan 19 2007, 09:18PM

That sign once was welded to a steel post at a train station:

Quite interesting how this traffic-sign pole broke instead of bending.
The diameter at the point of break is about 20% larger then the normal diameter.

Umm, btw i was riding home yesterday evening on my bike.
Was quite fun, but the wind can be a *little* surprising sometimes...My shoulders still hurt.

[Edit: Fixed double post]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert, Fri Jan 19 2007, 09:24PM

Since i guess i have to show something geeky to compensate for all these pics, the last one for today:

Thats from my home lab btw.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Jan 21 2007, 09:39PM

No glues!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Liam, Sun Jan 21 2007, 10:03PM

Firkragg had did you do that?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Sun Jan 21 2007, 10:20PM

Firkragg how did you bend it?

Did you heat it with something before bending?

I`ve done some things with lexan-Polycarbonate myself, but not near that cool!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Jan 21 2007, 10:42PM

hi guys..

Yes, i made it; it is a faceplate for my DRSSTC.

I used hot wire bender to shape plexiglass. Wire heats up very narrow regoin until it softens, and then it can be bent by hands without help of any mold.

I'l post pics of everything tomorrow in project thread once I get to garage...

This is how is it going to be fit like. And the resulting machina is indeed going to look pretty nasty

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Jan 22 2007, 06:42PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Jan 22 2007, 07:22PM

Quite! Is that a lovely big ion motor? :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jan 23 2007, 04:50AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Jan 23 2007, 01:01PM

..it's adorable, chris

But..it's not an ion motor? It isn't elite that way!

I wonder if it would work... ...if you just bent the wire tips and ran it without that motor

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Wed Jan 24 2007, 11:56PM

A couple of shots of people while I was comet watching with the 1% crescent moon in the backdrop.

Peter

1169683000 10 FT6000 Cometcyclistscrescentmoon

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Wed Jan 24 2007, 11:59PM

I did not take this picture, I found it on the internets:

It's worth sharing.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HV Enthusiast, Thu Jan 25 2007, 12:33AM

Tesladownunder wrote ...

A couple of shots of people while I was comet watching with the 1% crescent moon in the backdrop.

Peter

Don't forget Venus.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Fri Jan 26 2007, 06:29AM

Mmm Alex, G2V are some of the tastiest.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Tue Jan 30 2007, 01:11AM

robert wrote ...

Quite interesting how this traffic-sign pole broke instead of bending.
The diameter at the point of break is about 20% larger then the normal diameter.

Umm, btw i was riding home yesterday evening on my bike.
Was quite fun, but the wind can be a *little* surprising sometimes...My shoulders still hurt.

Here in Australia we don't find vandalism or theft funny. I don't feel that qualifies as a cool pic in my humble opinion. A lot of stuff we do is illegal or a bit antisocial but we should seek to minimise our impact on others or accept the consequences.

Peter

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Tue Jan 30 2007, 01:53AM

Didn't the sign break from the wind/storm? Thats what I got from it....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jan 30 2007, 03:37AM

Ya, I think the implication was that it came down in the storm... though I have NFI how the pole circumferentially expanded at the breakpoint... that's cool.

If I ever find a graffiti "artist" defacing my property, I'll make "art" of his collarbones with a steel-waterpipe "persuader" I keep handy. Here in the business park there is no respect for private property... it makes me absolutely ropable when I see graffiti 'tags', when people rip the 3D lettering off corporate logos and streetmarkers, or when people do donuts in the caldesac, ride motorbikes or light fires in the national park nearby, etc, etc, etc.

I think it's a crying shame the police do SFA... At times it makes me so frustrated, I'll wish graffiti was an offense punishable by shooting... and I'll have a shouting match with anyone who tries to justify/rationalize vandalism on the basis of "self expression". Don't "express yourself" on other people's property.

Here, the solution would be to have a boomgate and booth across the entrance to the business park -- anyone and everyone who works in the park would have some kind of ID, and the savings in graffiti removal alone would easily pay for someone to man the entrance.

The only problem is that although all the property in the business park is privately owned, the roads are owned and maintained (or rather, not maintained) by the council. I believe you can publicise private roads, but there's no way to do the converse, so you can't easily control the traffic going through.

If the police came and picked people up who were found doing donuts in the caldesac, or spraypainting mailboxes and signs etc, they'd solve a lot of other problems -- the kind of people who deface private property and do donuts are more often than not the kind of people who have stolen cars, or stolen goods in their boot, or hang around with other petty crims. If you can't get them for murder, then get 'em for tax, I say.

</minirant>

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jan 30 2007, 10:06AM

I was looking back in this thread's history when I saw the brilliant fuming nitric acid pics... which reminded me of this:

It's a fuming, not-turned-on SSTC. =P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Jan 30 2007, 10:21AM

BP, how off topic is it possible to get?

That pole was broken by high winds.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Jan 30 2007, 02:57PM

Doh, OT. But again I can't resist not to pimp out the primary coil I wound these days.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Tue Jan 30 2007, 05:47PM

Looking good Firkragg, I can't wait to see your coil running.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jan 30 2007, 06:50PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Jan 30 2007, 07:10PM

Question, are those steel screws at base ?

Yes, screws are high stainless steel. They are not very magnetic (not attracted to Nd magnets) and hopefully won't be catching enough flux to start making trouble. (Iron screws I used on my fullbridge heatsinks are much likely to get hot.

If they start to get really hot, I'l have to find brass replacements..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert, Tue Jan 30 2007, 08:39PM

Michael W. wrote ...

Didn't the sign break from the wind/storm? Thats what I got from it....

Yes, thats correct.
The damage was 100% caused by the storm on the night before.
So i think its okay to keep it there?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Tue Jan 30 2007, 10:11PM

Yes, that is fine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LarsE, Wed Jan 31 2007, 03:47AM

Just want to show the primary of my DRSSTC.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Wed Jan 31 2007, 04:17AM

Very nice, it looks professional. How are you going to ground the strike rail?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LarsE, Thu Feb 01 2007, 03:36AM

Thanks, i think i will machine a new brass ball so i can use a pice of the same copper pipe that i used i the primary to ground the strike rail.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Thu Feb 01 2007, 02:56PM

Firstly, Robert, my apologies if have wrongly accused you of vandalism. But, why did your shoulders hurt riding home

Secondly, I don't normally post photos that aren't mine but I make an exception here.
Taken in Perth Western Australia. The comet shot is not that fancy but the background is dramatic with lightning and the Australia Day fireworks and a river beach scene all in one. Very Aussie. Unknown photographer.

The thunderstorms that week gave some of the best lightning shots of horizontal strokes I have seen. Unfortunately I was working. Here is one sent to me by Wayne Osborn.

Peter

Oooopps, just read the post header requirements for ones own photos only. Please feel free to delete if you wish.

1170341763 10 FT6000 Cometlightningfireworks

1170341763 10 FT6000 Lightningwayneosborn

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Feb 11 2007, 10:11AM

omg squee squee, I ripped off a zellebag. ^_^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Feb 16 2007, 07:58PM

This is how I'm spending the evening - surfing forums, with the only HV related drink I could find

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Feb 16 2007, 11:45PM

Wow, beautiful pic.... Crisp, well focussed, great colours. Neat =-)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Sat Feb 17 2007, 01:08AM

It is a nice picture. If you look in the dark areas, you can see a lot of jpeg compression noise - it's kind of interesting.

By the way, nice monitor.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dago, Sun Feb 18 2007, 08:54PM

Heres my cool pic, plasma under water:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Feb 22 2007, 06:34PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Feb 22 2007, 11:04PM

I call this one "Self-Portrait With Thingy"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:25PM

I call this one "Self-Portrait With Thingy"

Mjollnir's (or his clone's) guts?

Beautiful as always with your stuff.

Secondly, I don't normally post photos that aren't mine but I make an exception here.
Taken in Perth Western Australia. The comet shot is not that fancy but the background is dramatic with lightning and the Australia Day fireworks and a river beach scene all in one. Very Aussie. Unknown photographer.

Simply a must to say something about.. That pic is just so surrealistic.. the sky looks like some kind of fantasy world with various planes of existence merging at one point..

Colors and focusing are simply beautiful. And exposure is still short enough to catch most of people on the beach nicely!

Maybe you could call that pic 'a typical australian evening'..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Fri Feb 23 2007, 11:47PM

Not my picture but 9x9 rubik's cube made by Tony Fisher. The thread is here:

[Edit: Fixed double post and spelling]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Sat Feb 24 2007, 01:28AM

"Not my picture but 9x9 rubik's cube made by Tony Fisher. The thread is here"
OMG! I wonder how difficult it would be to solve that cube.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Feb 24 2007, 04:15AM

Hah, not very hard at all.

The fastest time I soved the 3x3 is 29.95 unlucky and 28.05 lucky. If you go to the TwistyPuzzle's forum I'm there. Also use the search tool and search "mod". (Note: It took Tony Fisher about $15K and 4 years to build it)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Feb 24 2007, 06:07AM

Easy ?!?!? I can't even solve a 4x4 gah. >.<

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Feb 24 2007, 04:30PM

There are patterns to solving big cubes. You have to know how to solve a 3x3, 4x4, 5x5. It's like solving a 4x4x5 you have to know how to solve a 2x2x3 and a 3x3x4.(and yes they have been made) The way you solve any cube bigger than a 3x3 is: 1st solve the centers, 2nd group the edges, 3rd solve like a 3x3, 4th if an even numbered cube then fix the parity is there is any.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Feb 24 2007, 04:46PM

I can't even do the regular 3x3 Rubik's Cube, and it never stopped me leading a full and happy life, so meh. When I saw that 9x9 cube I thought I must be hallucinating.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Feb 24 2007, 04:55PM

I also have a hard time solving one side of 3x3 cube. I was never bothered about techniques and things..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
JimG, Sat Feb 24 2007, 11:57PM

You guys shouldn't feel too bad about the 3x3, I've had this thing on my desk for 7 years and still haven't been able to beat it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sun Feb 25 2007, 08:53AM

Just sove the 2x2 like the corners of the 3x3.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert, Sun Feb 25 2007, 02:01PM

Parts for LED bike light (4x3.5W)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sun Feb 25 2007, 11:13PM

Meh, the 9x9 is not actually real. it is a bunch of layers that rotate so it is a 1x1x9

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Sun Feb 25 2007, 11:41PM

Digital photos of color polaroid Kirlian images...

more at

*shrug*

edit: width should be fixed now.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Mon Feb 26 2007, 12:08AM

Wow, those are excellent.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Mon Feb 26 2007, 03:32AM

I have yet to see a cooler HV photo than this one.
Spark under liquid nitrogen. Green colour is the green laser that I shone down the dewar flask to illuminate things.
From here.

TDU

1172460661 10 FT6000 Nliqsparkundergreen

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LarsE, Mon Feb 26 2007, 04:59AM

I was inspired by Christopher_R pic of "the wheel of fire" so i spent some time this weekend to machine one myself.
As you can see itÂ´s a little bit smaller then the original but i want to use it with smaller SSTC and DRSSTCÂ´s in demos.
Its machined of aluminium and then polished.
I haven't tried it yet, but hopefully i will be able to do that soon.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Feb 26 2007, 06:02AM

If the base of the ring is metal, it wont work. There has to be a potential difference between the ring and the body, the ring being live and the body being grounded.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Feb 26 2007, 12:30PM

The ring seems to be on an insulated pedestal, so it should all work fine. Looks sweet btw!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Mon Feb 26 2007, 09:21PM

This is my cool picture.
No prizes for guessing what it is.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Feb 26 2007, 10:10PM

It's silicon?
It's a wafer?
A wafer of 40N60's waiting to be built into a homemade mega brick for a godlike DRSSTC?
Or just a guinea pig for some of those little_hopping_plasmoids R&D?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Wed Feb 28 2007, 10:00PM

It's just a simple wafer, and I have no idea what is on it.
Oh and here is another one of my cool pictures. My stash of IRFP460 mosfets.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Thu Mar 01 2007, 03:39PM

Thats not big, didn't you see my stash?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Thu Mar 01 2007, 06:29PM

Yes I have seen your stas, but I tought my picture was cool anyway.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Mar 02 2007, 01:11AM

Jeez guys, you're making me feel bad cuz I got ripped off (relatively speaking) =P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
J. Aaron Holmes, Fri Mar 02 2007, 05:14AM

uzzors wrote ...

Thats not big, didn't you see my stash?

Too much silicon. How about 1/3 of my 80+lb tube collection

Pictured is a 6268 H2 thyratron. Fits the hand like a soda pop can

I've got far too many of these thyratrons (mostly 4C35's, though). Maybe one day I'll think of a use for them!

Regards,
Aaron, N7OE

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coyote Wilde, Fri Mar 02 2007, 05:53AM

Next time someone complains of my cubic meter of dust-collecting tubes, I can point at you. Thanks, J. Aaron Holmes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Fri Mar 02 2007, 11:11AM

This VALVO TB 4/1250 tube fits my hand like a jug.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
J. Aaron Holmes, Fri Mar 02 2007, 03:55PM

Andrew L. wrote ...

This VALVO TB 4/1250 tube fits my hand like a jug.

Ha-haa!! What an awesome beast! I was going to stick up a pic of my 3-1000Z (which sits in my office at work as a conversation piece), but you've got me beat either way; I think the 4/1250 must be at least an inch taller

Regards,
Aaron, N7OE

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Fri Mar 02 2007, 10:45PM

To bad this tubes filament is broken, because it would make an awesome VTTC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
J. Aaron Holmes, Sat Mar 03 2007, 12:18AM

Andrew L. wrote ...

To bad this tubes filament is broken, because it would make an awesome VTTC

That is a very, very sad thing

I was going to ask if you had plans for it...

Regards,
Aaron, N7OE

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Mar 03 2007, 12:51AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Sat Mar 03 2007, 07:47PM

I call this General Protection fault !!!

Taken today at the Nottingham Gaussfest with my Jacobs ladder.

More pictures to come...

Derek

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Mar 03 2007, 08:36PM

I call this General Protection fault !!!

What's that monster transformer in the pic O_o?

PS.. I saw it on your site and it's driving me mad.. more pics..?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Sat Mar 03 2007, 09:20PM

fire GOOOOD!

Fire makes the world...

1172956454 546 FT1630 Img004

Location is Puna, Hawaii. I am standing near the back edge of what's known as "the bench" where countless (ok, 2 or 3) tourists are killed every year because they get too close to the edge and fall in when the shelf breaks off.

I took these in the early fall of...let's say... 98 or 99 ish.

I have many more at

-Doug

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Mar 04 2007, 03:26AM

hehe, you can never go wrong with lava...

I remember the last (and only time) I went to hawaii we went out to the lava fields and after finding the shelf was like 100ft tall so it is almost impossible to see the lava hit the sea we headed inland a little ways to eat dinner. My little bro being the messy little brat dropped a piece of cookie into the rock we were sitting on... About an hour later we started to smell baking cookie and realised that the bottom of the crack in the rock was glowing, and we should probably move ;)

It actually turned out great, after it got dark there was a ton of lava bubbling out of the general area where we had been sitting (luckily he head for the car side of the flow)
Unfortunately I don't think I have any pics (although I do have some sweet video) so you will have to live with this pic looking out from the wet side of Mt. Whitney:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sun Mar 04 2007, 03:34AM

Taken today at the Nottingham Gaussfest with my Jacobs ladder.

That looks very very hot. Who is the guy in the background picking his nose?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Sun Mar 04 2007, 09:22AM

That looks very very hot. Who is the guy in the background picking his nose?

Sorry I have no idea who he is, He looks much more interested in other shots though...

What's that monster transformer in the pic O_o?

Its part of a SLC cap charging supply converted into a JL there is more information on my site at http://www.extremeelectronics.co.uk/hvpsu/index.htm

1172999961 74 FT6000 Img20070303 173548 01

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Mon Mar 05 2007, 07:02AM

notice the odd little "ufo" trying to escape towards the lower right of the main 'spire'. I have no idea where that one came from... odd stuff that milk.

more at:

Some high speed photography I've done over the past year or so. It's been months since I've used the set up...

All shot with a Canon powershot G2 and a Vivtar 285 flash with circuits explained, among other places, here:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Wed Mar 07 2007, 04:01AM

A glimpse of the aurora borealis, it was gone before could set up a tripod so I did not get a proper picture of it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Mar 07 2007, 06:06AM

wow, must be nice being far north enough to see them like that.

I say them once, in a plane, on my way home after a week in europe (and a horrible time getting back home). It almost thought it was just the milky way at first it was so dim/colorless.

But I can say I have seen them

Anyone else a folder?

(btw, after hitting 100k points with the smartwhiteboy name I have switched over to a more resonable PeterKrogen, and have been slowly regaining my score with about 6 cores running 24/7)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Thu Mar 08 2007, 01:40AM

Wow BjÃ¸rn, that's beautiful. I never would have guessed it wasn't a 'proper' picture. Does it appear that vivid to the naked eye?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Thu Mar 08 2007, 02:39AM

It was slightly dimmer to my eye than it looks on the picture. With dark adapted eyes it would be brighter than it looks on the picture.

It was fading quickly so I had to steady the camera on top of something and have a guess at the exposure time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Tue Mar 13 2007, 08:01PM

!!!Splash!!!

Other than brightness levels & cropping no PS work...

Derek

1173816112 74 FT6000 Img20070311 232226a

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Mar 13 2007, 10:50PM

Ooooooooo, purty

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Wed Mar 14 2007, 02:55AM

Two million watts, just across the icy bay.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Wed Mar 14 2007, 04:15AM

An air to air heat pump struggling at -15 deg C air temperature, the efficiency is getting low with all the ice building up on the heatsink that has to be melted every 30-60 minutes. It is still able to save some electricity.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Wed Mar 14 2007, 04:38AM

Does anyone know what this is?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Wed Mar 14 2007, 05:54AM

Chris Russell wrote ...

Two million watts, just across the icy bay.

Wow! Where is that taken? and what is it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Mar 14 2007, 08:45AM

yea shawn, looks like a phototransistor

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Wed Mar 14 2007, 10:42AM

"yea shawn, looks like a phototransistor"
Nope, try again.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Wed Mar 14 2007, 01:44PM

photo diode? LED? IR LED? solor cell in epoxie? photoresistor?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Wed Mar 14 2007, 07:23PM

Is it an IR photo of some component?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Wed Mar 14 2007, 08:02PM

"photo diode? LED? IR LED? solor cell in epoxie? photoresistor?"
Nope, nope, nope, nope, and nope. You are close. I will give you guys a clue. There has to be a reason why I put it in the cool pic thread.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Wed Mar 14 2007, 08:31PM

Peltier heat pump ???

Derek

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
J. Aaron Holmes, Wed Mar 14 2007, 09:01PM

Is it a photodiode casting its shadow on the plume of smoke eminating from the explosion of your breadboard in the background? (the explosion being why the photodiode is flying through the air?)

Or maybe an ultrasound of your left lung after your wife/girlfriend walked into the garage during "playtime" and told you that you were going to be a daddy

Or how about a photodiode being used as a spaceship prop (seen here entering Earth's atmosphere) in an ultra-"B" flick shot using your Fisher Price PXL-2000 video camera?

(frame grab gotten by taking a picture of your TV screen during pause using your cell phone's 500-kilopixel CCD and JPEG'ed for minimum size, hence the spectral quantization artifacts)

Sigh...ok...enough with the outlandish suggestions. Maybe it's just a some radiotelescopy of a nebula that looks remarkably *like* one of the above

Regards,
Aaron, N7OE

...but I'm voting for #2!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Mar 14 2007, 09:23PM

Here's my cool pic.

What the heck is it?

This is a badly beat up cold trap that I dismantled to do some repair work on. Somehow the inner wall was crushed into a triangular shape! It was soo sad, but even with my poor metal shaping skills I got it back into what resembles a cylinder.
First challenge finished.

Second challenge, soldering stainless steel!
After about 10 tries to solder the stainless, I finally succeeded. This is a major milestone for a guy like me, who doesn't know hardly anything about metals. I researched soldering stainless and applied what the articles said, and they were all wrong except for one. It takes the right flux and right solder to really do the job. And this job is very critical because this cold trap is going to be used on my ultra-high vacuum pump cart.

So any of you guys thinking soldering stainless steel is easy, I say give it a shot, soldering 304 stainless isn't as easy as you think if you're using the wrong stuff.

Inner wall cylinder under vacuum testing solder seal integrity. Gauge holding at 76cm.
I still have to solder the inner lip for an inner and outer seal. Then I have to rejoin the steel lip to the outer canister without ruining the inner seal.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Wed Mar 14 2007, 11:42PM

"Sigh...ok...enough with the outlandish suggestions."
It is an IR PIN diode being viewed with IR camera.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Thu Mar 15 2007, 04:57AM

Here's my little argon filled jacobs ladder that I just rigged up tonight. It runs on a 7.5/30 NST.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Mar 15 2007, 05:06AM

wow, that is amazing

me marching in the 2007 rose parade

the guy holding the pole on the left

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Mar 15 2007, 05:29AM

At what pressure? I'm assuming that it is around atmospheric pressure cause of the arc and also than plastic bottle is not being crushed or expanding. Also would the heat from the arc melt the plastic? Wow very cool.

It would be cool to do it with diff gasses too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Thu Mar 15 2007, 05:56PM

er...missed the boat. I'll replace this post with a cool pic later today.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Mar 15 2007, 07:22PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Thu Mar 15 2007, 08:47PM

Yeah the ladder was filled to about 1atm. The pressure would rise when it heated and decrease when it cooled, though. I ran it for like 5 hours last night and the bottle barely got warm. Before I added the argon, with just air inside, it got hot rather quickly and was about to melt. I don't know what the difference would be, but there clearly is one.

Any speculation what this is?

I suspect either a large capacitor discharge, or a muzzle blast from either a railgun or a regular gun of some sort.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Mar 15 2007, 10:08PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Thu Mar 15 2007, 10:56PM

Ever consider a lighter sub-sonic load? that would nearly eliminate the muzzle flash.

Also, mind if I PM you about your class 3 experiance? I'm an avid gun nut but have yet to delve into class 3 stuff.

-Doug

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Mar 15 2007, 11:50PM

Chris wrote ...

Yeah the ladder was filled to about 1atm. The pressure would rise when it heated and decrease when it cooled, though. I ran it for like 5 hours last night and the bottle barely got warm. Before I added the argon, with just air inside, it got hot rather quickly and was about to melt. I don't know what the difference would be, but there clearly is one.

It might be that air is a better conductor of heat than argon? So cool, I got to try that out.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bored Chemist, Fri Mar 16 2007, 12:11AM

"It might be that air is a better conductor of heat than argon"
It is.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Mar 16 2007, 02:34AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Mon Mar 19 2007, 02:57PM

Hi all.

This is my cool pic...

After seeing John Freau`s toroids some years ago, I wanted to spin some discharge terminals myself.

So I have used a lot of my spare time at the department I work in last week, trying to spin Al. and copper. The only problem with spinning discharge balls, is to make the form... But at my work we have some really big steel balls, from some huge 100-160 tonne mechanical stamping machines

And they fit in a lathe perfectly!

It`s made out of 1mm copper.

Bigger ones to come...

Cheers, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Mar 19 2007, 07:33PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Mon Mar 19 2007, 09:44PM

I wish I had a HV lab.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Mon Mar 19 2007, 11:20PM

Andrew L. wrote ...

I wish I had a HV lab.

I think most of us could say that.

Right now I'm living in a boarding school as a tutor. That's about as far removed from a dedicated HV lab as you could get.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Mar 28 2007, 04:20AM

Right now I actually think I would rather have a laer lab, as the dust/vibrations in my room are really killing me. But that is just me....

In any case, anyone wanna describe how I took this pic?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Mar 28 2007, 07:32AM

well...no...but I am a bit disappointed that you're using a scope as a cinder block.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Wed Mar 28 2007, 09:09AM

using the cd as a diffraction grating

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Mar 28 2007, 02:11PM

Meh, the scope was just there, like I said the lab isn't really up to par

In any case, you guys are missing how there is a red beam going in, but red and green coming out...

note-no scopes were harmed in the making of this picture.

Here is one at a sligntly different angle, with a flash, and not hanging off a scope

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Mar 28 2007, 03:13PM

Meh, if there's red and green going out, the incoming beam is yellow. It was obviously from the red/green part of your RGB laser project. I'm looking forward to seeing the "B" too

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Mar 29 2007, 11:39PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Mar 30 2007, 04:34AM

Here's some pics of my neighbours.

The great thing about building tiny coils with CW discharges only an inch long is that I never have a problem with arcs hitting the ceiling/walls in my apartment -- my room is only about two metres wide, hehe.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Fri Mar 30 2007, 03:39PM

Cool BP! I don't see any of the neighbors though... Any cute ones?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Mar 30 2007, 04:04PM

Nice pics BP... I just hope it isn't really too confined for you!

And yes, make sure to fall in love with a pretty girl.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Mar 31 2007, 08:06PM

Here's my cool pic for today.

12 2nF 40KVDC doorknobs from the TRW swapmeet for $20.

One guy almost wouldn't leave me alone since he wanted them.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Mar 31 2007, 11:01PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Sun Apr 01 2007, 08:40PM

My version of the Russian/German "Ball Lightning" demo. Really just a water vapor plasma,
in my case doped with copper sulfate. Roughly 4.5 kJ was dissipated during this shot.

Scott

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sun Apr 01 2007, 08:56PM

Wee! You should try it with lithium or strontium salts to make it scarlet red too, or other salts for other colors

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Apr 01 2007, 11:39PM

Great Scott, that is impressive.

Big pulse capacitor?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Mon Apr 02 2007, 08:54AM

I am using a pair of 230 Î¼F 7kV pulse caps wired in parallel. This is close to what the original (Russian) researchers used.

Chris â€“ I do intend to try out different salts as colorants. The brilliance of the initial flash, and to some extent the fireball, tends to saturate both eyes and camera so some experimentation will be required.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Tue Apr 03 2007, 07:58PM

Guess what this is

I can tell you that it`s something I work with every day

Sparking all the time, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tonic, Tue Apr 03 2007, 09:02PM

I'll take a shot - is this a plasma cutter?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Wed Apr 04 2007, 01:53PM

nope

It`s a ED wire-cutting machine.

It is also called EDM (Electric Discharge Machine) cutting.

The machines I work with is extremely accurate, they are used for high precision workpieces in the tooling industry. They make a very fine surface on the iron, cobber, brass, graphite or tungsten or whatever we cut in.

It`s a great tool to have if you need to cut some tungsten electrodes

Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Wed Apr 04 2007, 02:10PM

but isn't a an electric discharge from a TC or Flyback or MOT Plasma just so long as it gets hot enough?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Wed Apr 04 2007, 02:32PM

Hi HVAC Plz.

This machine don`t use high voltage, but high current pulses. The machine i work with has 8 Class D amplifiers, that generates up to 700A pulses through a capacitor circuit.

Here is a link to a explanation:

Cheers, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Wed Apr 04 2007, 09:48PM

OHHH ok, i was just thinking that they were simmilar, with the energy and power used. but thanks for the link and clarified explanation!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Apr 06 2007, 07:21PM

This machine don`t use high voltage, but high current pulses. The machine i work with has 8 Class D amplifiers, that generates up to 700A pulses through a capacitor circuit.

Ok, but there must be a pilot HV transformer wich starts up the arc?

And what class D amps have to do with it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Fri Apr 06 2007, 09:02PM

Hi Firkragg

This is what I learned a few weeks ago about the machine:

There are no transformers in the machine, itâ€™s all Solid State. There is a big switch mode power supply in it. The old ones are based on Class A amplifiers, and they have a BIG transformer in them (in our case 3phase) they are from the 80ies

The Class D amplifiers make the high current frequency (or what I call pulses) that moves material from the work piece. There is a â€œspark gapâ€ between the thread and the work piece, itâ€™s about 0.2-0.05mm, but the gab depends on the power setting on the machine.
I need some pictures from a book from work, if you want to know how it starts the sparkâ€¦

When a spark flies from the thread to the work piece, some material are vaporized and moved from the work piece. This happens many times per second, itâ€™s not a fast way to make things in metal, but itâ€™s one of the most precise.

It can â€œfeelâ€ how close the thread is from the work piece, and then it will back off if itâ€™s too close, and release a pulse. I donâ€™t quite understand how it can do this, but it can

Because sparks develop lots of heat, itâ€™s all under distillated water with â€œdielectric powderâ€ (I donâ€™t know the English word for it), and an insane water filter system that keeps the water clean.

And a big cooling system, the work piece must have a temperature about 20degrees celsius, or else the machine will shut down. This automatic shutdown happens because if it gets warm, the metal will expand and then we canâ€™t hold the tolerancesâ€¦

I donâ€™t have any pictures of the On and Off time and duty cycle of the machine, but I can get it next week.

I will copy some of the pictures from my theory book and post them if you like. Or maybe measure some myself with my scope and differential probe.

Cheers, Daniel

BTW, the 700Amps are the peak current.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sam, Sun Apr 08 2007, 03:01PM

100 2326

guess what the green stuff is...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Sun Apr 08 2007, 03:32PM

Give us a tip Sam

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sam, Sun Apr 08 2007, 03:58PM

yumm, I would drink it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sun Apr 08 2007, 04:39PM

soda?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Apr 08 2007, 05:05PM

Hmm, fluorescein, which you're going to light up inside your ear instead of a plasma disc?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Sun Apr 08 2007, 05:28PM

absinthe?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sam, Sun Apr 08 2007, 06:45PM

Michael W. wrote ...

absinthe?

i cant even pronounce that, and no.

its Koolaid... I show You guys something funny in a bit...

100 23351

[Edit: Fixed double post]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Sun Apr 08 2007, 09:52PM

I still don't know what it is

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Michael W., Mon Apr 09 2007, 12:01AM

Sam wrote ...

its Koolaid... I show You guys something funny in a bit...

The first ones koolaid I'm guessing and the second is some kind of black light or a cold cathode tube....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Mon Apr 09 2007, 03:24AM

koolaid is a powder that you add to water to make sugarwater

It was invented back in the 1920's, and now just about any of the 'just add water' drinks are referred to as koolaid.

ok well technically I didn't take it, but we are remodeling and all of the koolaid it suspended over the shark tank behind the small pool of lava

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sam, Mon Apr 09 2007, 05:46AM

haha, with vitamin c...

It's a black light. Just thought I'd have some fun. Kind of scary having HV running around Your body so close.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Tue Apr 10 2007, 08:18PM

Amusing pic I found

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Vaxian, Fri Apr 13 2007, 03:55PM

Couldn't find the pic so here is a link to it

When I built my 813 VTTC the secondary was part of a clown's balloon inflator and had a wood block in the bottom and 2 screws, oops, forgot to remove them. Just call the coil smokey.

[Edit: Spamtrap/spyware link removed. Please attach the picture directly to a post.]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Fri Apr 13 2007, 04:24PM

Don't click on the link above unless you want loads of crap !

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Apr 13 2007, 05:24PM

It was fine for me on firefox, but still, you could have found better hosting than that!

Just attach pics to post...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Apr 13 2007, 05:29PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Fri Apr 13 2007, 10:29PM

New Project Chris, trying to convert electtolites into HV? and then see if the gatoraid tastes any different?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Apr 15 2007, 10:11AM

I think Chris is designing a new fridge for dieters that guards the food with high voltage.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sam, Mon Apr 16 2007, 03:49AM

Must eat... ZAPPPPPP! ouch
Must eat... ZAPPPPPP! ouch

I think I'll watch TV

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Apr 16 2007, 06:08AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Mon Apr 16 2007, 07:38AM

Oh
Em
GEEEEE!!!

thats so cool!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Mon Apr 16 2007, 09:26AM

Chris, is that a VTTC?

Is there one zig (or zag) per rf cycle do you think?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Apr 16 2007, 07:09PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Apr 16 2007, 07:21PM

Beautiful chris

Just how did you make it into branches??

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Apr 16 2007, 09:17PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Tue Apr 17 2007, 01:45AM

Simply awsome! Grumbles...Now if only I could get an arc longer then 1"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sam, Tue Apr 17 2007, 01:51AM

GA, tesla coils!! I liek my 2 foot power arcs the blow fuses and such.

EDIT:my spelling sucks

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Apr 17 2007, 04:46AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ben, Tue Apr 17 2007, 12:56PM

Yep I'm a dork.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Apr 17 2007, 02:39PM

meh, you think YOU have problems...

idea...

edit, looks like I actually have more datas then I originallly believed Ended up stopping at 2222.2gp.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ben, Tue Apr 17 2007, 03:18PM

2600

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Apr 18 2007, 03:33AM

meh, blue boxing went out with 2600 baud modems

On the other hand, I didn't realise that count was still rising and thought it still said 2012.0gb

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Vaxian, Wed Apr 18 2007, 04:32AM

No your not stoned, it's the coil that's smoking.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Apr 20 2007, 08:01PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Fri Apr 20 2007, 08:53PM

whOa OMG!!!onehundredandeleven!!1!!!111!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!

Floating zero gravity Orgone chair of d00m!!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Apr 20 2007, 09:16PM

This is what Im working on right now. It's a lego control system with pendulum. Unfortunately the implementation and code differ substantially from the documentation, so I have to go in and modify, edit, and tweak the thing so it works.

So far I have added an initializer to grab the pot's initial value so it will self calibrate before the main code starts, otherwise it will never be able to calculate or maintain a 0 angle deflection.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Sun Apr 22 2007, 06:51PM

How did I do this?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Thomas, Sun Apr 22 2007, 08:19PM

Looks like pref board with copper plated holes being feed high voltage to arc between the copper holes. One hole is burning since it can't dissipate the heat. However you have scratched off some of the copper platings to make the pretty pattern. I think in the center you can see where the two high voltage electrodes are soldered into the circuit board.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Apr 22 2007, 08:23PM

I's just a piece of perforated board.. pattern is done with wise electrode alignment.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Sun Apr 22 2007, 08:31PM

Youre both right, and I didn't scratc of any copper. I just put a perforated board on the breakout point of my class E SSTC.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Tue Apr 24 2007, 06:26PM

High voltage neon!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Tue Apr 24 2007, 06:29PM

boredom @ work =

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ConKbot of Doom, Wed Apr 25 2007, 12:02PM

Avalanche wrote ...

boredom @ work =

1.3.3.7. mA? haha whats going on with the decimal points there? They get goofy on you?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Wed Apr 25 2007, 05:16PM

Maybe theres rf feed back, I had made a Flyback drive in highschool, and was using 1 of the schools power upplies and the voltage meter display on it was bouncing around like mad showing 8.834, 33.45, display diming could hear the over current kicking on and off from time to time, thats just a guess so I don't know.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Apr 25 2007, 05:52PM

Nah, that model of power supply lights all its decimal points to let you know it's in current limit or current set mode.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Apr 27 2007, 10:11PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Apr 28 2007, 04:30AM

Is that a disassembled 'Lady Red' in the background I see there

In any case, can anyone find something wrong with this picture...
1177734620 56 FT6000 Hmm

edit, aside from it not being attached...

edit2, umm, where did the upload button go (it isn't even there in the attachments thread) and all of the smiles go...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu May 03 2007, 03:00AM

In the bargian bin today: A Mass Spectrometer ;p

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CT2, Fri May 04 2007, 02:27AM

My little tesla coil burning some steel whool. Picture was taken in complete darkness, sparks illuminated everything.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri May 04 2007, 04:20AM

CT2 wrote ...

My little tesla coil burning some steel whool. Picture was taken in complete darkness, sparks illuminated everything.

Very beautiful, and well-focussed, too!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Fri May 04 2007, 04:41AM

Nice camera, nice lens, and a nice picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Sat May 05 2007, 01:14AM

CT2 wrote ...

My little tesla coil burning some steel whool. Picture was taken in complete darkness, sparks illuminated everything.

That is an amazing picture. Do you have a RAW version of it? I'm playing around with the jpeg, it's so clear and pretty, but having all the original pixel data would be even more awesome.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CT2, Sat May 05 2007, 06:53AM

Hey thanks for all the compliments, I didn't expect it to turn out so well :) and ah no RAW sorry... I don't have anything on my computer to support RAW right now...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat May 05 2007, 09:08AM

I agree, that picture looks great!

Check out my new all-terrain geek toy... I always wanted one of these fancy full suspension MTBs, but they are way too expensive. Last year, I got to try a Santa Cruz Bullit and that just made me want one even more, but I was determined not to pay $3k or whatever. Finally I found this frame really cheap on EBay UK and swapped the parts from my old bike onto it. The result looks pretty mean and seems to just barge its way through anything I ride it at. Hopefully the wheels won't fall off like with a certain person's car. :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CT2, Sun May 06 2007, 01:25AM

Hey nice bike Steve! MTB's are for sure an expensive hobby, I just got some new stuff for my bike over the winter (brakes and forks). This bike takes me everywhere I love it. Hopefully though I'll be getting a dirt bike soon (YZ250F), just had a nice spill on my buddies today though... dirt isn't soft at 70km/h...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andrew L., Sun May 06 2007, 02:27PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue May 08 2007, 12:53AM

Very cool coil pic CT2!

A little switching power supply

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue May 08 2007, 01:29AM

Firkragg, your work with that double-sided protoboard is always so neat... Great work! I wish I could get my stuff on protoboard to look that pretty, if it ever works, that is. :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed May 09 2007, 05:06PM

Quote from workmate today: "I don't think it's a problem with the 5 volt rail"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Wed May 09 2007, 06:23PM

Reminds me of the days when (mainframe) pcbs had rows and rows of TTL logic
sometimes one IC would have a +5V to 0V short - very tedious to find
so we'd use a heavy duty PSU to 'let the smoke out' of the faulty IC then replace it.
Barbaric but effective.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed May 09 2007, 07:09PM

haha, blow the faulty chip off the board at the same time!

We do something similar to diagnose faulty return boards, but it isn't as destructive. On the larger boards, we use a thermal imager and slowly increase the current. If an ic or other component has failed shortcircuit, it can be seen clearly, along with the heated pcb traces leading up to it. It has all kinds of other nifty uses too, I keep meaning to download some of the pictures so I can post them in this thread...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed May 09 2007, 07:29PM

BlackPlasma wrote ...

Firkragg, your work with that double-sided protoboard is always so neat... Great work! I wish I could get my stuff on protoboard to look that pretty, if it ever works, that is. :P

Thanks matt.. perforated board (especially double-sided) is expensive, so I try to save every cm of it if I can. (wich sometimes creates more trouble than good

)
I barely started etching real PCB's around this time so I definitely won't be beating you at that part.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Thu May 10 2007, 02:38AM

That is a cool little SMP Firkragg. What is it's output ratings?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Thu May 10 2007, 04:39AM

Avalanche wrote ...

It has all kinds of other nifty uses too, I keep meaning to download some of the pictures so I can post them in this thread...

That would be kind of neat.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Thu May 10 2007, 08:57AM

Well, there're not that great, but here are some of my cool pictures of
spudgun related destruction. (Click on them for the full size version)

The cannon involved is a pneumatic type called Behemoth, and is fairly widely accepted as one of the most powerful in it's calibre in the UK due to it's custom valve design. If you want to see the cannon, it can be seen here.

This picture involved experimenting with various projectiles versus 1mm steel plate (from a broken DVD player):

The holes and deep dents are mostly from solid steel rounds. The other dents result from paintballs, potato and grapes. (It has put paintballs to Mach 0.8 so far.)

And a frozen grape put through a wooden plank:

However, this power pales before the designs I have for the next cannon which should be finished in a day or so.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu May 10 2007, 07:35PM

ShawnLG wrote ...

That is a cool little SMP Firkragg. What is it's output ratings?

Actually it's currently 0W rating since it almost blew up when I plugged it in.

I mixed up pins 1 and 2 on the UC3842 and feedback didn't work.. fortunately all components except one zener are fine.
The controller and mosfet gate seen more than 30V of Vcc and didn't blow up O_o

The another one I built worked happily as I plugged it in adn gives some 20W of power.
Output voltage is variable for some 3-20V and current is pulse-by-pulse limited.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu May 10 2007, 11:58PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Mon May 14 2007, 06:07PM

Boss was out this afternoon, so I got out the thermal imager and had a bit of a play around!

My mug of hot chocolate... Seemed to become drinkable when the surface hit about 65*C, it started out at 75*C!

Soldering iron, only a few seconds after switching on.

Here's my laptop, you can tell where they put the ccfl! The hard drive is towards the left of the case

And here's what we actually use the imager for. This board looks like it has some serious design issues with those hot spots, especially when mounted in an enclosure.

I'll do some more if I can think of anything. I was messing around with a piece of copper pipe as well, watching the path that the heat took on the screen of the imager. It would be interesting to see how an sstc fullbridge heated up, I'd do that if I had one handy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Mon May 14 2007, 08:57PM

That's pretty neat! thedatastream (I think) took some pictures with a FLIR camera that he was working on, lemme see if I can find the thread...

Awww, the pictures are gone.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Mon May 14 2007, 10:03PM

but even better there is a picture from his expedition to Peru where he proved that lake Titicaca consists of 100% beer.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Tue May 15 2007, 10:41AM

Wow - Thermal imaging always looks great.
Looking at that I can't help thinking of the Splinter Cell games. (Man, I play those too much.)

I recall a time from a while back where I was fortunate enough to get to use a military style version at Army Cadets. The fact that it could see through the local vegetation was very neat, because you could see people playing football (or soccer in US terms) on the nearby field through the tree line... It was rather interesting to try and guess where the ball was.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue May 15 2007, 11:37AM

Mmmmm, beer. Looks like Guinness, too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Tue May 15 2007, 06:47PM

BjÃ¸rn BÃ¦verfjord wrote ...

...Titicaca...

Obligatory: hehehehe *snicker*

So since we're on the whole thermal/IR thing.... I did a fair bit of film photography with IR film. This is from a 4x5 glass plate... old scan.

there are also some pictures I took in theaters as well as some of my other very early work..(first/second semester)...

-Doug

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu May 17 2007, 04:27AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat May 26 2007, 09:24PM

Testing the image resizing script.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Sat May 26 2007, 09:26PM

The image washing-out script. :/

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Sun May 27 2007, 12:20AM

Fixed now!

1180225211 1 FT6000 1180214680 30 Ft6000 Imgp0918 Amp Small

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Wed Jun 06 2007, 02:29AM

CW-DRSSTC anyone? Not quite... but it sure scared the mess outta me when I tried it!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Jun 06 2007, 09:37AM

Cripes! :-o

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
thedatastream, Wed Jun 06 2007, 02:18PM

Says it all really...

From some of our CAD1 power supplies made for us by a cheap Chinese manufacturer

James

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Wed Jun 06 2007, 06:49PM

"CW-DRSSTC anyone? Not quite... but it sure scared the mess outta me when I tried it!!!"

I was able to draw power arks from my micro SSTC because it had a several millisecond on time. Since I transfered from proto to PC, I could not do it anymore. The PC board impedance is much lower and I would blow a FET when attempting to draw arks. CW-DRSSTCs have a lot of potentual when they are design for that purpose.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jun 13 2007, 09:42PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Thu Jun 14 2007, 06:08AM

This is not photoshopped, but is in some fog.
I reckon this is pretty

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Wed Jun 27 2007, 05:52AM

Nice tunnel. What are using?

I just took this with my phone - low quality, and I couldn't get a good shot from inside the tunnel.... but this is it from the side. 20mw green laser pointer and a little 9v motor, very simple. (all pics click bigger)

Here's the ghetto set up. I use gap filling CA glue and accelerator (Heptane) to mount everything. It comes loose easy, but holds rigid if left alone.

...

And since we shouldn't double post....

My dad says this is an Engineering Sample / non-production tube - I couldn't find any info on it. Apparently Eimac made very few of these due to induction problems with the cooling systems. The cooling water went into a pair of tuned glass coils and used deionized water, but there were still too many bugs in the system and they switched back to traditional forced air cooled tubes.

It's a 4W1250A water cooled triode that was used in a VHF transmitter.

Basic stats, from memory

Filament 7.5V @ 35A
Anode 2500V/2A (1250W)

-Doug

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Wed Jun 27 2007, 09:46AM

this is actually inside a triangle sort of shape, 10mw green laser and 3 motors with variable speed on each. that laser you have there, is that one from dealextreme, just cut open?

the camera i used was an eye toy (you know..for ps2) youve got a nice and simple setup there

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Thu Jun 28 2007, 02:25AM

it's a $30 dealy from China through Winlan.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Mon Jul 02 2007, 02:26AM

just made this one

that's with my twin ignition coil setup, but with the wires close together. i can get about 6cm sparks out of this setup

1183343166 809 FT6000 Lego Man High Voltage Png

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Jul 02 2007, 04:45AM

HAHAHHAH that's great.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Mon Jul 02 2007, 05:24AM

thanks, that was just one of the things i do when i am bored, play with high voltage!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Jul 05 2007, 03:32AM

HMm see about getting a Star wars lego figure, and set it up so the arc looks like the lightsabre and add a caption saying something about the force, Just a funny suggestive thought.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Thu Jul 05 2007, 05:51AM

haha, allright i will try to find a starwars lego person

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Jul 05 2007, 11:03AM

Check this out. It's a 200mW RGB laser owned by a friend of mine.

His site ( it's in dutch)

Some more pics

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Thu Jul 05 2007, 11:56AM

nice

, i'm getting a RGY laser show off a guy on ebay, but RGB, that's awesome!!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Jul 05 2007, 12:07PM

Not so awsome for your power bill with a 60mw tube using 2.3 KW

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Jul 05 2007, 03:26PM

wow, you know the Electronic Lives Manufacturing guy! I have always wanted to try to replicate his galvo experiments (with my RGB laser ), but after seeing how much trouble Norm had I decided to wait a few years.

Also, unfortunantly, since the 'blue' component of my RGB laser is actually closer to UV, you would need to use a uv florscent fog in order to get the beam effects, so I think it is only graphics for me...

In any case, I have some pictres for you guys of my ssy-1 exploding... It blew the + terminal right off the flashlamp... The plasma off to the right is shooting out of the flashtube

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Jul 05 2007, 03:44PM

This laser isn't great for graphics becouse it's using a speaker. Koen and I needed to finish it in 2 days for a show so we decided to use a speaker based deflection system. Later on he's going to use some home built galvo's.
What a bugger that your ssy laser exploded, hope it ws much fun before it died.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Thu Jul 05 2007, 03:47PM

How hard is it to make a galvo?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Jul 05 2007, 04:13PM

It isn't all that hard to build a galvo from somebody's design. But it's another story if you're going to build you're own. At the moment chan has got the best homebuild galvo's I know of here's his site

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu Jul 05 2007, 10:48PM

I picked up a new camera last weekend.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Jul 05 2007, 11:56PM

Wow

. What is the resolution of the pictures?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Fri Jul 06 2007, 02:10AM

I took it at 8.1Mp (3264x2448) and resized it a tad for filesize purposes (2000x1500).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Fri Jul 06 2007, 02:28AM

Very nice, so whats the beverage, a nice cold beer\ale, or perhaps a dark colored syrup type, such as coke or pepsi, or even root beer?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Fri Jul 06 2007, 02:35AM

If only the filename would give a clue... Anyways very nice :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jul 07 2007, 06:54AM

hmm, since the exploding flashtube pic didn't seem to take, here ti is --along with a few of his friends

although personally, I prefer them in blue...

the deathtrap in all its glory

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EEYORE, Sat Jul 07 2007, 05:39PM

Jeeze! How many Joules were you pumping into the flash lamp in those SSY1 laser pics?Looking at that metal target, you musta been pushing the envelope there!

Matt

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jul 07 2007, 08:25PM

the top pic was about 250j in, with the passive q-switch removed. The 2 bottom pics were both taken at a measly 20j, although they had the q-switch in place.
Unfortunately, 250j was too much for the tube, and after about 10 shots it exploded (that is the big column of plasma shooting out of the laser off to the right on the first pic)

The 250j shots on black plastic were larger, but IMHO not as visually appealing...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Jul 07 2007, 08:28PM

Talking about overpowered

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert1, Sat Jul 14 2007, 09:05PM

What i blew a whole lot of money on (finally recieved it last week, after waiting nearly 6 weeks):

Newsflash: HP Cameras suck badly.Even my 6 year old fuji is better then that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Jul 14 2007, 09:38PM

Here's my cool pic. It's a du/dr board for a small company I do projects for. It steps a voltage up in a controlled time interval, with start, stop, and pause. This one allows the user to adjust the incriment time while the program runs, a feature that none of the boards permits. I think that's because continuous refreshing slows the whole thing down, but that's what my boss wanted so that's what he's getting.

This project is neat beause of how the DAC (the voltage output) and the volts/minute display are handled. They use a frequency counter algorithm to serially transmit the data to the clock inputs of both of these setups, utilizing a binary conversion, clear, and latch to hold the old data. This is important because wasting 8 pins for the DAC was not possible with the 16 pins available on the basic stamp. I have converted 2 8 bit operations into 2 3 bit operations, saving 10 input pins for other important inputs.
It was also good programming practice.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Jul 20 2007, 03:09AM

my cool pic(s) for today.

1200V IGBT's
300A
200A
3x 150A dualies
3x 75A dualies

I don't get to see many IGBT's because I don't really have a connection for them, so for me they're a bit rare to come by.

And a neat Mil pulse capacitor 2x .055uF 18kvdc. This could be the start of a neat DC TC. I might be able to get a supply thing going for my PT and use this cap for the tank. We'll have to see far down the road if that even happens though.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Fri Jul 20 2007, 03:16AM

cool!!!, is the big box down the bottom the cap?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Jul 20 2007, 03:45AM

yea that's the pulse cap. 450 pulses/second max. I'm going to need a big switch for it though, so I have to think about how to achieve that goal.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Jul 20 2007, 08:56AM

Well, it would make a great DRSSTC tank capacitor... :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Jul 20 2007, 06:44PM

but where would I get a switch capable of 18KV? I dunno what the current from that thing would be, it has to be horrendous. I'd probably have to go with a rotary unless I can find a SF6 switch capable of switching 20J somewhere.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Fri Jul 20 2007, 10:27PM

how are you going to charge this thing????

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Jul 20 2007, 10:53PM

Well, it would make a great DRSSTC tank capacitor... :P

110nF is quite low for DRSSTC's, except maybe smallest ones, while 18kV is quite high voltage. (It would look silly in a coil size of mjolnir).
It may work in longer bursts, although everybody seems to consider high characteristic impedance less efficient.

Depending on it's voltage reversal rating, you may actually be much better to use it for a SGTC.

If it can handle such operation and be efficient, you can use two outer terminals for a killer 36kV 27.5nF capacitor. Good for like 20kV at 4kW, maybe even more depending on it's reversal rating.

Do you have any information on internal constrction of that cap? What dielectric does it use?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Jul 21 2007, 12:02AM

Fffffrying tonight.. We're cooking GOOD!!!

lol :)

(btw those things *really* HURT!)

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Jul 21 2007, 01:00AM

They don't specify the dielectric, but it is a pulse cap and the make is BYCAP INC. 2x .055uF 18kvdc 450pps max. That's all I know.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sat Jul 21 2007, 02:35AM

My latest chemistry toy, just tested today. It's a two-stage quasi-continuous reflux distillation aparattus, all borosilicate, teflon, corrosive rated stainless pressure/vacuum gauges, and fluorosilicone based stopcock grease.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Jul 21 2007, 03:50AM

Sweet setup you have there. The only trouble with second hand labware, and I have a lot too, is you don't know what has been in it, so you don't know how clean it is. This can be real problematic depending on what you want to do. Flushing with Nitric would probably be a good idea, and BC would probably have some suggestions too.
Chromic-Sulphuric used to be used a lot, but the Cr 6+ is a pain to dispose of properly.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Sun Jul 22 2007, 01:39AM

Chris wrote ...

My latest chemistry toy, just tested today.

She's beautiful! Congrats.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Mon Jul 23 2007, 08:00AM

There was a nice sunset last week, and I took this photo from the balcony of my apartment.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Jul 24 2007, 12:17AM

I tried some partycup-capacitors this evening, they didn't fair too well but I DID get some cool photos of the aftermath.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Jul 28 2007, 02:57AM

Guess what this is. (Shouldn't be too hard)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jul 28 2007, 03:32AM

I am a little rusty with my seafood, but octopus tentacle? The black specs have me baffeled, unless they are just pigments in its skin...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Jul 28 2007, 03:44AM

You're right, and the black spots are pigment.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Sat Jul 28 2007, 09:43PM

It's my brothers pic. Pump laser diode from 5mW green laser pointer :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Jul 29 2007, 12:00AM

Nik wrote ...

Guess what this is. (Shouldn't be too hard)

This looks like one of those cuttlefish/squid fish baits.

c4r0: very cool pic. I think, is that taken under microscope or something?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Sun Jul 29 2007, 03:19AM

some cameras have a manual focus setting, with my webcam, i can focus in like that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jul 29 2007, 05:52PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sun Jul 29 2007, 06:07PM

Verry nice pictures, how are you able to focus on the arc? Manually? Do you have a movie of this coil, i'll like to see and hear it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Jul 29 2007, 06:32PM

The photo of the laser diode is really cool.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jul 29 2007, 07:09PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Sun Jul 29 2007, 08:35PM

Marko wrote ...
c4r0: very cool pic. I think, is that taken under microscope or something?

No, it wasn't microscope. It was Pentax K100D with "macro distance rings" (i don't know what's its name in english) connected to the lens.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Jul 30 2007, 08:52AM

I think those are called extension tubes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
thedatastream, Tue Jul 31 2007, 11:29AM

When asked by my colleague for a "currant status update" I had to reply with this

No raisin for it
James

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
kv, Wed Aug 01 2007, 07:10AM

WOW chris nice pics!!! it looks like you have a few other coils in the background, oneday i'll have the supplies to build one

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Aug 01 2007, 07:43PM

Hi

Our trawl-line catch from two weeks ago. Here it's actually thawing, I didn't have camera at hand to take pics of her live. It is over 3 kilos and about $130 worth of meat.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Wed Aug 01 2007, 09:00PM

Orange Roughy?

looks like good eatin'

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Thu Aug 02 2007, 12:30AM

My mouth is watering... :\

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu Aug 02 2007, 09:19AM

Look what I found

can anyone guess what it is?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Aug 02 2007, 11:26AM

I'm going to guess it's some kind of AC power controller, that uses a saturable reactor controlled by vacuum tubes. Or maybe it's a prototype cable TV box from the 1950s

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu Aug 02 2007, 01:57PM

Steve Conner wrote ...

I'm going to guess it's some kind of AC power controller, that uses a saturable reactor controlled by vacuum tubes. Or maybe it's a prototype cable TV box from the 1950s

yes it's a vaccum tube power controller, 190-240vac in 220vac out, from the 50's

edit> I removed the big tranny from it, connected the 2 outer coils in series to mains voltade and it makes around 1-2kv on the big coil

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Thu Aug 02 2007, 05:31PM

I guess you already know - the rectifiers look like selenium
which can be toxic (has been used as a poison)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Aug 02 2007, 06:17PM

Here's my new class A mosfet headphone amp which I'm currently testing. I call it the sandwich

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Thu Aug 02 2007, 06:48PM

thedatastream wrote ...

When asked by my colleague for a "currant status update" I had to reply with this

No raisin for it
James

I'm going to need to ask for a sanity refund on that one.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GimpyJoe, Thu Aug 02 2007, 07:43PM

1186083689 316 FT1630 N1114260255 30149860 1189

Me on the right playing bass. Chris (guitarist) looking very odd.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Aug 03 2007, 11:29AM

Yay, fret tapping bass solo. ^___^

jmartis, what tubes does that thing have in it? Want to sell them or trade for some IGBTs? I'm always looking for tubes for audio experiments.

PS. Sulaiman isn't kidding. If those selenium rectifiers ever blow up, they will stink out your whole house with vile smelling toxic fumes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Fri Aug 03 2007, 11:41PM

These are some large nickel sulfate crystals that I accidently grew over the course of about a week by leaving a concentrated solution of nickel sulfate sitting around while it evaporated. The largest one is about 8mm across.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Aug 05 2007, 07:21AM

Ha, that's brilliant, Chris!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Tue Aug 07 2007, 05:42AM

Here's me climbing.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Wed Aug 08 2007, 12:45AM

Demo Fusor at low vacuum.

Corona5

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Aug 08 2007, 01:32AM

That is the coolest thing I have seen this month.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Wed Aug 08 2007, 01:38AM

It's even cooler at high vacuum:

150micron

Too many projects.....too little time....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Aug 08 2007, 02:27AM

Impressive

Looks like your inner grid is a bit out of shape

In any case, anyone care to point out the flaw in the thought process illustrated below...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Aug 08 2007, 06:17AM

That you really need to use the proper size pad and drills??
And a 2 axis table helps too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Aug 08 2007, 08:32AM

How thick is that copper? 2oz? 3oz? =-/

I'll not point out the flaw =P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Wed Aug 08 2007, 11:37AM

Surface mount parts don't lay flat with blobs of solder and jumper wires under them?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Wed Aug 08 2007, 02:37PM

Nik wrote ...
That is the coolest thing I have seen this month.

I have no choice but to agree with that.

That is incredible!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Aug 08 2007, 03:30PM

The bord was sold me to as 1/2oz, although after working with it for a while I am inclined to think it is just a bit thicker than that... The holes were drilled with the correct drill, but don't line up exactly due to the poor tolerances of my printer (one of the layers was slightly longer than the other). The blobs of solder do work to a degree under the chips, although it does make the board look pretty ugly.

But you are all missing the largest and most fatal of all the errors... My only hint is that all of the errors you pointed out accured after my temporarly lapse in common sense. In fact all of the etched board pics are only there to throw you off, you could answer it with only the first 3 pics.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GreySoul, Wed Aug 08 2007, 04:01PM

It's pretty obvious to me....your attempt to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich somehow took a turn towards copper clad and a digital camera....

What's my prize?

..also...where does the "freakin' laser beam" go?

-Doug

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Wed Aug 08 2007, 04:51PM

Are the traces mirror-reversed / wrong side exposed?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Wed Aug 08 2007, 04:58PM

You etched a negative of your ground plane.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Aug 08 2007, 05:40PM

Hey, very cool pics everyone. Is that fusor completely under glass envnelope?

Peter: Does your printer have a ''B & W Halftones'' setting or something similar under quality/toner save setting? Some modes may have it set automatically.

It needed to be set to none/solid otherwise printer messes up the black/white boundaries (obviously bad) and mine also tended to randomly shrink the entire picture for a part of millimeter, enough to cause the infamous top/bottom side mismatch after printing.

When properly set it printed very precisely.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Aug 08 2007, 06:05PM

Sulaiman got it, I mirrored the wrong side of the board

My printer is configured correctly, it is just a really cheap printer ($300 for a full color laser, including a full set of 'full' 5k page toner cartridges). It feeds the paper at a somewhat random speed, so everything gets stretched/shrunk a few percent at random. Not a problem for normal things, but when you are trying to get the top/bottom to line up to +/- 0.002" it gets to be a major pain.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Wed Aug 08 2007, 06:12PM

Marko wrote ...

Hey, very cool pics everyone. Is that fusor completely under glass envnelope?

The fusor grids are under a pyrex bell-jar sandwiched between aluminum sheets. I'll post a picture of the whole assembly after I get home later today. There are some more photos here:

Fusor Link

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Wed Aug 08 2007, 06:50PM

whats about the x-ray emission? I asked the german wikipedia for answers about the fusor.
The x-ray emission is the main radiologic risk. and i dont see any grid to screen the x-rays
Do you use deuterium or so? What psi and voltage on the electrodes.
A bit more info please :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Aug 08 2007, 07:52PM

well... whatever the case is with your board ... , your connection pads either need to be bigger or the drill hole smaller because mechanical movement will tear them off of the board.
And you need to rethink how you're etching these boards. If you're going to be etching something this sensitive you're going to have to agitate the board or else you will get what you see there, a board that is over etched and under etched.
I have had that problem too from leaving boards in solution, no agitation, solution too cold, or trying to re-use an old solution.

If I had to etch your board I would agitate it in my FeCl3 tank while hot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Wed Aug 08 2007, 07:52PM

Reaching wrote ...

whats about the x-ray emission? I asked the german wikipedia for answers about the fusor.
The x-ray emission is the main radiologic risk. and i dont see any grid to screen the x-rays
Do you use deuterium or so? What psi and voltage on the electrodes.
A bit more info please :)

I don't run the voltage high enough to get x-rays (I'm only running about 450 VDC), and I'm not using any deuterium - so It's not a real fusor making radiation - it's only a "demo fusor" making plasma from trace gas. The guys using deuterium and producing neutrons have stainless steel vacuum chambers and much better vacuum pumps (I can only get down to about 100 microns). If you want to learn more, there's a fusor forum at: Fusor Forum

Scott

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Aug 08 2007, 11:25PM

The etching on the board went fine, it was the transfer that was foobared. I was using PNP transfers, which just don't work for large boards with lots of .008" traces (especially when using uber thick copper). I don't have the pre-etch pics handy (but you can see where I reworked the transfer in the pic of the board etching, black = done by marker), but about a third of the traces were screwed up after the transfer, so I tried to clean them up, but that obviously didn't work to well. The holes for the connectors were the right size, but the library was drawn assuming plated through holes, so the pads were way smaller than they should have been for a homebrew board.

But none of that matters now, I have decided that for the $30 (incl s&h) it will cost to have the board made at batchpcb, it just isn't worth my time. And now I get a solder mask and silk

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Aug 08 2007, 11:44PM

yea. Never never use markers for touch up, they suck. I use a paint pen. That way it doesn't rub off during etching.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Wed Aug 08 2007, 11:45PM

Here's the fusor parts as they were on the bench:

Fusorlab

And here it is all stuffed into a box:

Portafusor

Scott

[Edit: 400 pixels]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Thu Aug 09 2007, 03:06AM

Ok that's one of the most cool things ever. I like it better without the box, though.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Aug 09 2007, 05:28AM

Wow, what steve said

Although looking at the pics, even with the front panel done the back/sides of the box are still open, no?

Have you put any thought into getting a better pump and trying for some higher voltages? Not that many people would appreciate the difference between a system good for 100mtorr or .01mtorr...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Thu Aug 09 2007, 11:58AM

... wrote ...

Wow, what steve said

Yea, it's kind of a half-box, so I can still get at the pump valves and vacuum purge valve. It's nice to have it portable for demonstrations at my son's school and Geek Group events.

I'm always up for making bigger and better projects, I just don't ever seem to have enough money.

Scott

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Aug 09 2007, 12:21PM

No matter it's just an odd plasma globe, it's still very cool.

How did you bend this what looks like 5mm aluminium? I never had a chance to work with such thickness, and I heard it's impossible to bend 90 degrees without breaking.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Thu Aug 09 2007, 12:37PM

Marko wrote ...

No matter it's just an odd plasma globe, it's still very cool.

How did you bend this what looks like 5mm aluminium? I never had a chance to work with such thickness, and I heard it's impossible to bend 90 degrees without breaking.

Ah, that's some great stuff. It's actually 1/4 inch plastic with aluminum bonded to each side. You cut a 45 degree "V" grove with a table saw through one side and the plastic, then bend it to the shape you want. It's strong and stiff, without being too heavy. My brother got me some scraps from a construction job he was working at a few years ago. I don't think you can purchase the stuff off-the-shelf retail. I don't even know who makes it, or what it's called. I made the box for my big variac out of it also.

Variac

Scott

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Thu Aug 09 2007, 12:49PM

Looks like this stuff:

Aluminum Composite Panel

Here's a link:
Link

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EEYORE, Thu Aug 09 2007, 03:59PM

Now you need to add some Deuterium gas and pump up the voltage/current so you can produce some neutrons..THEN that will be cool! (PLUS I would be knocked off my feet to see someone do that with a glass chamber!):-)
Matt

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Aug 09 2007, 04:21PM

That fusor looks great, Capper!

I've seen that aluminium/plastic sheet stuff made by Alcoa under the trade name Reynobond, in Europe at least. It seemed pretty expensive, though I bet it's cheaper than a pure aluminium sheet of the same thickness! (If aluminium is solidified electricity, like one guy said, then they saved money by making an electricity and oil sandwich...)

I'm not happy with aluminium just now, since I just cracked the MTB frame that I posted a pic of two pages ago :( I'm taking it to my local TIG welding expert for a verdict.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CT2, Thu Aug 09 2007, 05:55PM

Uh oh Steve... that doesn't sound too good. Where did you crack it? And is it just a crack or did something snap off?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Thu Aug 09 2007, 07:36PM

Fill the frame with cyanoacrylate and the Glaswegian weather should make sure it repairs itself each time it cracks.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Tue Aug 14 2007, 08:32PM

Just thought I'd let you guys know what the corner of my bedroom looks like at the moment. Slightly hazardous, maybe?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Aug 14 2007, 09:53PM

I'm just waiting for the cat to knock things over >.<

I WAS trying to find the AC resistance of the coils and make some logical sense out of it, but its just too dammed non-linear and my sample set isn't large enough now, so I think I'm going to have to give up on that.

I think I will be able to predict how much Cself falls when loaded with a toroid though. I haven's started working on that part just yet, but I have the data and have to see if I can make sense out of that too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Aug 15 2007, 09:56AM

Hazmatt, Paul Nicholson's GEOTC algorithms should predict the change in Cself, since they use proper finite element analysis methods rather than the cookbook formulas every other calculator uses.

CT2, my swingarm cracked

I took it to a friend who TIG welded on a large gusset. I don't have the facilities to heat-treat it properly though, so I'll just have to see how it goes.

Avalanche: Looks pretty dangerous if you're allergic to batteries :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Wed Aug 15 2007, 10:16AM

some Sunset pics on the sea

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Thu Aug 16 2007, 11:33AM

Coils of various sizes:

Mod edit: 400 pixels max image width plz

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Aug 16 2007, 09:15PM

I found this beautiful, huge fluffy moth trying to sleep in my garage. I never seen such a kind of moth here; he has wingspan of like 7-8cm. I thought it is a small bat when I first seen it, it's wing beat can be heard.

Those new cameras have such a great macro mode... (my cousin's C5060).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu Aug 16 2007, 10:32PM

Secondary coil MADNESS! ! O.o !

Hers's the coil I frequency swept, there are no really $$ toys for Hazzy yet because he's unemployed, so.... have to do things the old fashioned way, function generator, paper, pen, and voltage readings.

coil 5

Coil 5 unterminated.

Coil 5 ground terminated.

I'm going to evaluate both modes to try to satisfy my curiosity about the open/short filter characteristics of the coil. I know what one of the equivalent circuits looks like from the ARRL handbook, but the graphs will hopefully help me determine the exact values of the parasitics which will lead to a more accurate model of the coil as a system and not just a simplified model.

*********
Little bit of progress.

Second system simulated well with the calculated value for the shunt capacitence of 519pF with the coil 26.5mH, Rdc 50R. The simulation is not quite as steep as the measured, but there are variations in the generator output as well as the probe output, so I think its pretty close.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Thu Aug 16 2007, 11:24PM

That fish has cool lips.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Aug 17 2007, 11:24PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Aug 17 2007, 11:32PM

Secondary Coil rough approximations from both frequency swept modes of the coil.
Secondary grounded gave me a low frequency resonance with 519pF, and the later high frequency dip at 800K+ is resonant with 72.6uH. It doesn't dip here in the simulation so I need to go back and do some real calculations insted of guessing.
First dip at 330K with the 8.5pF series resonant system. This is going to be quite a bit of work.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Aug 18 2007, 07:35AM

I found this in a box that someone gave me

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Aug 18 2007, 10:48AM

hazmatt, it's work that Paul Nicholson has done already, go read about his TSSP (Tesla Secondary Simulation Project)

I've used the FANTC simulator based on his work for several coil designs, and they all turned out within a few percent of what the simulator said.

Myke what the heck is that, is the green thing a 12" ruler?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Sat Aug 18 2007, 10:58AM

Myke, that resistor is more than 2.5x older than you !

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Munkey, Sat Aug 18 2007, 08:50PM

Capper,
I have no idea what that is but the glowing purple thing looks really cool!

Here is my favorite abstract lights pic:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Sun Aug 19 2007, 01:22AM

Steve Conner wrote ...

Myke what the heck is that, is the green thing a 12" ruler?

The scale says 6". Still big.

Sulaiman: a lot of my junk is much older than me. I wouldn't be surprised if most if it were. I should post a picture of my early op amps sometime. They're bigger than a matchbox.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun Aug 19 2007, 09:01PM

This woke me up at 3am a few days ago. It was smelly.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sun Aug 19 2007, 09:31PM

Finally, after making several comments in this topic, I finally have something to post. Afraid it's not a photo though.

I have tried drawing in the past, but it was more cartoony, and after a while, it got put on hold. But I found my art folder last week, and inspired, got out some books, read them, then picked up my pencils again.

And I ended up with this after a practise attempt (click for full size version):

I did draw this from a source - the cover of the UCAS magazine that appeared in my house recently (again, full size on click):

Not a perfect copy, but pretty good nonetheless. Quite fun to do as well. I need to do more of this drawing lark.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Aug 19 2007, 11:42PM

Finally, after making several comments in this topic, I finally have something to post. Afraid it's not a photo though.

I have tried drawing in the past, but it was more cartoony, and after a while, it got put on hold. But I found my art folder last week, and inspired, got out some books, read them, then picked up my pencils again.

Beautiful

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Aug 20 2007, 06:24PM

Wow ...that's really incredible.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bennem, Thu Aug 23 2007, 09:43AM

My small collection of DRSSTC's
poor pic quality due to phone camera.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Thu Aug 23 2007, 10:33AM

Heres a pic showing my wall. the dragon is 3,50m in lenght from head to end of the wings. the whole picture is 4,15x2m, full pencil style. i needed around 2 month to get it to this point.
still unfinished though

Drache05small

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Aug 23 2007, 04:49PM

wow. That is sooo good. I like it a lot

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Thu Aug 23 2007, 09:17PM

Nice... how many pencils have you got through doing that? I simply couldn't keep focus over the whole thing if I tried anything even a fraction of that size. I struggle to manage larger than A4 size.

But I'd be killed by my mother if I tried decorating my wallpaper with any artwork. Anyway, although I'm improving, I'm nowhere near confident enough that I could do such a thing. (And even if I could, my bedroom wall is only about 3m long.)
I do have a friend who does have more lenient parents though. She has walls covered with artwork of wolves and such.

I didn't like art lessons at school... they never seemed to teach me HOW I should draw, or paint or sculpt. It was just: "Sit and draw this", "Copy this" or "Paint this".
I never really saw improvement - all my other lessons, I could see I was going somewhere, but for art, it was a rare luxury to see an advance.
After art lessons were no longer compulsory at the end of Year 9, I gave it up, and it was only after I got into a silly "bet" a year and a half back with a friend who was starting to draw himself that I actually chose to draw of my own accord again. After that, I developed a bit, did a dozen drawings or so, then as I said before, put it on hold.

I suppose my years of painting wargames models helped develop some understanding of things. I did a year or so back sculpt entire models about an inch high from putty - not perfect, but quite good for early attempts - I think.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu Aug 23 2007, 10:31PM

All this security stuff I'm going through is kinda scarry!

This damn thing is a NSA security encryption program O.o!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Thu Aug 23 2007, 10:32PM

Reaching,

Your drawing is now my desktop background.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Thu Aug 23 2007, 10:33PM

he

I used differend pencils with different strenghts (from B to HB) Its unbelievable what a single pencil could draw until its end, so i used 4 until now. but its still unfinished and needs a lot of work . When its finished the whole thing gets a special varnish so that the pencil could not be blurred or washed away..

Lots of work on the wings of the dragon and lots of work for the castle, walls and bridge, characters, horses, shading etc.. Maybe another 4 month until im contently with it, maybe longer, dont know..
and, my parents are amazed, not angry or so. thats the first design that size i made..
And, thats not a wallpaper, its simply white painted wall, then sanded and varnished with a clamping coat (dont know the right word, special varnish for pencil, coal drawings on painted walls, he, very special)
some of my friends said that im mad. 8mÂ² pencil drawing, but who cares. i started in may this year with some lines and a huge A2 print. after finishing the predesign on paper i scanned it and printed it on foil. then i used a overhead projector and drawn the first lines etc
mh, estimated 200 hours for this

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Fri Aug 24 2007, 07:19AM

Hazmatt, is that Win3.1 or something? That takes me back...

wrote ...

some of my friends said that im mad. 8mÂ² pencil drawing, but who cares.

Indeed, who cares? It's awesome.

Projects like that are great for stress relief.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Aug 24 2007, 07:35AM

I think its win 3.2 ..but yea... man is it ugly. You'd think they could afford to update everything.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Fri Aug 24 2007, 07:36AM

Here is my first "Manhattan Style" circuit, a 136 kHz series L-C tuned Clapp oscillator.

and here is where I do my electronics hobby stuff

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Fri Aug 24 2007, 07:50AM

Never heard of a clapp oscillator before.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Fri Aug 24 2007, 03:38PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Fri Aug 24 2007, 04:38PM

In my case where I want a nice sinewave with negligible frequency drift vs. temperature
the Clapp oscillator needs to be re-spelled with an "r" instead of an "l"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sat Aug 25 2007, 02:06PM

My friends know I'm mad, but that doesn't matter... they know that if they try to run away, they'll just know a sharp pain between the shoulder blades, and then nothing more.
Wait, I didn't just say that... *puts on sunglasses, gets out neuraliser*

An overhead projector is quite ingenious. It hadn't crossed my mind as a method. If I ever get an urge to draw on my wall, I will first try to destroy it by holding my head in a bucket of water, then if that fails I might well have to borrow a projector.

I normally use pencils ranging from 4H to about 2B or 3B. I find that the harder pencils are good for the line drawing, then I advance to a HB and B for the general shading and for the really dark areas, the 3B range.

And for some good news, the hosting I had my files on managed to recover (it's been on and off for months), so I'm finally recovering the digital versions of my earlier work. I'm going to rehost them reliably, and then link to a couple of them so you can see some of that too.

Also on my agenda, if all goes to plan, I'll be meeting up with a member of a spudgun forum in a week or two to do some stills photography of things being shot with air cannons. Not as cool as high speed videos, but pretty neat anyway.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Aug 25 2007, 03:20PM

Mmm, coffee and vacuum variable cookies.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Sat Aug 25 2007, 03:21PM

meh, to work with the overhead projector was just a pain in the ass.. the pic was blurry and far away from what i expected, so i used it only for the significant lines and areas and then brought it back (projector was borrowed) a beamer would have been much better, but, shit happens. now im working with a few prints, thats all

i like that coffee steve. it reminds me on my coffee. mh shit, where are all the smileys gone?
mhh, cookies

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Aug 25 2007, 05:11PM

I recognise that scope Sulaiman, hope you're getting some good use out of it! Did you ever find the fault?

steve - they look a bit like rear hubs... sort of.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat Aug 25 2007, 05:25PM

I found this on the wall above my head when I woke up this morning. Such big ones are rare to see where I live, this one was over 5cm (2") big.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Sat Aug 25 2007, 11:21PM

Oooohh! They're very nice Steve.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Aug 26 2007, 12:10AM

jmartis wrote ...

His eyes are glaring, hehe.

I found this on the wall above my head when I woke up this morning.

And how cool is that?

Steve: Did you paint them blue? What were they/are you going to use them for?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sun Aug 26 2007, 07:43AM

Heres one:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zonalklism, Mon Aug 27 2007, 12:29AM

I know this isn't a very original pic post, but here it is. My first tesla coil.
LINK TO MY BLOG And yes, I know pretty much everything about it was designed incorrectly, but i already had everything but the caps, so i just through it together. P.S. This goes without saying, but dont try to do what I'm doing in the the last pic.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Mon Aug 27 2007, 11:44AM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

I think its win 3.2

3.1 or 3.11
there never was a 3.2 (that I've heard of)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Aug 27 2007, 05:40PM

okay. I haven't seen it since the mid '90's. sure is ugly.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Aug 28 2007, 12:12AM

I've heard rumours of a Win 3.2, but never seen it with my own eyes.

The blue things are Jennings vacuum variable capacitors that I bought to make a magnetic loop antenna. A 12-500pF 15kV and a 7-1000pF 5kV. They were blue when I got them.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
WaveRider, Sat Sept 01 2007, 10:01AM

Hello fellow 4HVers!
Just because I have been absent for a while does not mean I have been idle!

I moved into a new apartment last month and had to set up my "lab" again.. Work pressures did not allow me to be very quick about it (unfortunately). However, I am mostly settled in and ready to start on a few new fun projects.

Here is the workbench and test-instrument "tower"..

My prize acquisition this summer was a second-hand Tektronix 494 spectrum analyser on Ebay (10kHz to 21GHz).

I fired up my HF tesla coil and here is the spectrum analyser display with no discharge.

With a discharge, the center frequency shifts down a little bit and more noise is apparent on the signal.

First light in many months!

What do you think I gonna do with these???

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Sept 01 2007, 10:21AM

Hey, nice to see you Waverider.

You own some nice toys over there

What do you think I gonna do with these???

I can only speculate..

-Build a tesla coil driver?
-Donate to a lucky forum member?
-Donate to me?
-Sell and give the money to the poor?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Sept 01 2007, 11:44AM

Whee, Waverider has a metal gate MOSFET, a DEIC420, and a spectrum analyzer. He wins this week's Boys' Toys prize

How much was the spectrum analyzer? Do I even want to know the answer?

Also, apartment workshops FTW! Mine is in the corner of the kitchen (the item underneath the scope is the fridge)

Marko, don't be sad, if you are having trouble getting a specific part for a specific project you are stuck on, I'm sure other forum members can help. I'm not sure if the argument "Give me a DEIC420 because WaveRider has one" would work though :P

1188647094 30 FT6000 Imgp1016 Kitchen Lab2

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Sept 01 2007, 01:21PM

WaveRider wrote ...

Here is the workbench and test-instrument "tower"..

What do you think I gonna do with these???

Wow, a genuine IXYSRF MOSFET! And the appropriate driver IC good to 50MHz...

It would appear I'm a 27.12MHz rotten egg.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Sept 01 2007, 01:37PM

Marko, don't be sad, if you are having trouble getting a specific part for a specific project you are stuck on, I'm sure other forum members can help. I'm not sure if the argument "Give me a DEIC420 because WaveRider has one" would work though :P

Steve, even if I had a bunch of those I wouldn't have anything to do with them apart from sell them, so only kidding :D

But I'm sure it makes some forum members jealous (BP)?

Also, apartment workshops FTW! Mine is in the corner of the kitchen (the item underneath the scope is the fridge)

You guys dare to think you can pwn my disarrangement so easily?
Creative mess FTW. :p

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dago, Sat Sept 01 2007, 04:17PM

You have the same scope as me

I think my scope has a bad connection somewhere though, sometimes I lose the signal (or well it gets *very* attenuated). Both channels do this every once in a while. But I guess its pretty easily fixable if I'd just could get the energy to open the scope.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
WaveRider, Sat Sept 01 2007, 04:18PM

Don't worry BP, the 27.12MHz goal is not on my list yet. I intend to use the transistor/driver for a 13.56MHz setup first. (Probably a class-CD type amplifier without ZVS..I need to do some simulations first to estimate safe dissipation levels).. The data sheet for the RF power transistor indicates a switching time of 14ns..good enough for 13.56MHz, but for anything above 15MHz or so, dissipation could be a problem at sustained high power levels. IXYS sell a version of this transistor in an RF flat pack (much less parasitic lead inductance) that switches in 4ns.....but they are very expensive..

Steve, Marko: I love creative messes.....but I'm a married man who likes to maintain the domestic tranquillity..... My mess needs to be confined to the "lab"...

My wife is very understanding, though...

The spectrum analyser set me back 2500 euros. It is spot-on frequency. I compared its measurement results to a new Agilent PSA 4443 series spctrum analyser and it is still fairly well calibrated.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sat Sept 01 2007, 05:04PM

WaveRider, can i have all your gear when/if you die ?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Sept 01 2007, 05:47PM

HFsstc-freak wrote ...

WaveRider, can i have all your gear when/if you die ?

Aw, what are you sayng hfsstcfreak...

I think my scope has a bad connection somewhere though, sometimes I lose the signal (or well it gets *very* attenuated). Both channels do this every once in a while. But I guess its pretty easily fixable if I'd just could get the energy to open the scope.

Yes, I had it lose contact on the BNC's few times, usually when I would pull the probe cables too much. Open it and check the connection with multimeter if it's a big problem.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Sept 01 2007, 07:40PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Sat Sept 01 2007, 08:46PM

Lol

Creative chaos... Wheee

Creativechaosklein

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sat Sept 01 2007, 11:18PM

My whole bedroom looks like that. Except my room's more full of spare plumbing than electronics.

But it still needs tiding up, electronics, plumbing and all.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sun Sept 02 2007, 01:47AM

Yay I have some little tray organizer things just like those for electronic parts, but most of them are not filled. Btw, why do you have a vacuum tube on that top shelf? What if it fell off?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Sun Sept 02 2007, 02:10AM

Chris M, that thing's great! How big is it?

You guys think you've got messy workspaces? I can see clear benchspace.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun Sept 02 2007, 10:51AM

Simon wrote ...

You guys think you've got messy workspaces? I can see clear benchspace.

Absolutely! Time for a photo update of my place I think...

The garage has got to the point where it is simply a hazard, and I cannot work there anymore. This is about the closest I can get to the bench without treading on things

So I haven't got a work area any more.

...I've started moving delicate stuff into the spare room and the dining room, so it doesn't get trashed

My bedroom floor consists of old appliances and half-complete projects (check out the theremin, that's nearly finished!)

And if you think this is bad, I have to store things in my car as well! I need to seriously start sorting things out, but there's no space to do it

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Sept 02 2007, 11:56AM

Reaching wrote ...

Lol

Creative chaos... Wheee

Reaching I admire the IGBT bridge in the right

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sun Sept 02 2007, 03:44PM

Avalanche wrote ...
My bedroom floor consists of old appliances and half-complete projects (check out the theremin, that's nearly finished!)

So just a little more work, and you can do your own version of the Doctor Who theme tune.

@Simon: I've been tiding my room for 4 hours already today, and there is still only 2 square feet of even vaguely clear space - and all of that is on the floor under the wardrobe.
My room is the international scientific standard of messy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Sept 02 2007, 11:21PM

*duh*

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Mon Sept 03 2007, 11:43AM

I dream of seeing the place where that 2 square feet of empty space was before the stuff covering it got covered.

My double garage and shipping container only are shown. The carport and back verandah are another series in themselves.

TDU

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Mon Sept 03 2007, 01:29PM

Here's my workspace, as clean as it gets.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Sept 03 2007, 02:02PM

Dalus, that's really cool if you can keep it so tidy! Nice oscilloscope.

What's on bizarre looking metal heatsinks/structures on the desk?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Mon Sept 03 2007, 02:46PM

Well thanks I guess, I only keep keep so tidy because it doubles as my bedroom and study room. The oscilloscope is a old tube based one they're virtually indestructible. The metal things on my desk are heatsinks from an old Philips amplifier they're made from a number of U shaped peaces of aluminum.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Mon Sept 03 2007, 03:12PM

Eeuuu those kinda heatsinks suck, so high thermal resistance.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Sept 03 2007, 04:02PM

Yeah you need a pair of these

1188835368 30 FT6000 Imgp0985 Big Heatsinks

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sync, Mon Sept 03 2007, 06:19PM

Yay! Those heatsinks are neat.

My lab:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Mon Sept 03 2007, 06:44PM

Here's the result of a radiofailure. Everything worked before take off and after the crash. But I lost the full radio connection in mid-aire the plane changed direction by itself and started to spiral downward.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
WaveRider, Mon Sept 03 2007, 08:40PM

Hi TDU! You have a backyard shed that sets the standard for every Aussie bloke! :))

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Mon Sept 03 2007, 09:55PM

Some Caps, transformers and igbts

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Sept 03 2007, 09:58PM

Some Caps, transformers and igbts

Wow man.. where do you get all that stuff?

I think you should seriously consider some large (I mean *really* large) DRSSTC's.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TeslaCoilBuilder, Mon Sept 03 2007, 10:07PM

80 of my 260 6000ÂµF 385V caps

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Tue Sept 04 2007, 12:57AM

I put up a bunch of the Fusor pics on the JPG magazine site.

Link

You guys should put up some of yours. Maybe we can get them to run an "Art of Technology" theme.

Scott

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Tue Sept 04 2007, 01:03AM

TeslaCoilBuilder wrote ...

80 of my 260 6000ÂµF 385V caps

Holy Crap, TCbuilder, what you making with those?

Scott, very nice fusor pics, particularly like the reverse vacuum one,
though I don't understand it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Tue Sept 04 2007, 01:29AM

TDU: I think I'd have a nerdgasm or two walking into your garage! Do you charge for tours?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Tue Sept 04 2007, 02:09AM

Simon wrote ...

TDU: I think I'd have a nerdgasm or two walking into your garage! Do you charge for tours?

Not sure if I'd really want you to have one of those in my shed, let alone two of them.
It is always interesting looking at other peoples stuff though. You constantly think of things you could do with that and that and that and ...

There was actually a book about Aussie blokes and their sheds. I should get it one day.

TDU

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Tue Sept 04 2007, 06:10PM

I have a new temporary work bench! In the kitchen

Making slow progress with the theremin... the scope is showing the result of filtering the carrier frequency out of the beat of the 2 oscillators in the theremin (1 fixed, 1 variable) and rectifying it. This is the audio frequency you hear, at the moment it is being generated entirely by component tolerences between the two oscillators. Anyway I've written too much...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Tue Sept 04 2007, 10:17PM

Tricky thing the Theremin, never got mine going properly. I had it at one stage then, then my nephew knocked
the antenna off, and I never had the patience to get it right again. I'll give it another go one day, and box it properly too so the antenna can't be knocked off again.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Tue Sept 04 2007, 10:22PM

TeslaCoilBuilder wrote ...
80 of my 260 6000ÂµF 385V caps

I am deeply envious. A single cap in that size would cost a lot here, and 260 of them would be the equivalent of a mortgage on a small flat.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Tue Sept 04 2007, 10:42PM

hrhr, you dont want to know, what tcb payed for his 260 caps

that would make you cry and make you angry :)

ok, he payed around 1,30$ for one cap though. he got his caps from an ebay auction which was very popular and discussed in my forum.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Wed Sept 05 2007, 09:04AM

TeslaCoilBuilder, That's a scary capacitor bank.

I didn't notice any discharge resistors in the setup.
I would put a resistor across each row of capacitors
or you will have problems servicing the bank,
you'd have to wait a very long time before the bank would be safe to touch.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Sept 05 2007, 09:14AM

Ragnarok, you live in the UK right? You make it sound like deepest Elbonia.

I think those guys got their capacitors surplus, from some huge industrial inverter drive that was scrapped in Germany. I've seen photos of guys dismantling it with cordless drills and stuffing the back of an estate car full of capacitors, but I can't remember where I saw them.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Sept 05 2007, 09:49AM

I think those guys got their capacitors surplus, from some huge industrial inverter drive that was scrapped in Germany. I've seen photos of guys dismantling it with cordless drills and stuffing the back of an estate car full of capacitors, but I can't remember where I saw them.

At RS, 6000uF 350V caps cost 681 dollar each here. So it's 177 060 $ worth of new caps.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Sept 05 2007, 12:32PM

Well, you have to understand that RS sell to the maintenance market. Their target market is troubleshooting guys in factories trying to fix an inverter with just one blown capacitor that's holding up production. They will accept a large markup for the convenience of being able to get the part they want quickly. RS have branches in most industrial areas where you can just nip over and get the part (my local RS is about 500 yards away) and if they don't have it, they will get it for you overnight.

I do sometimes buy parts from RS for hobby projects, though, because they have some crazy stuff that's really hard to get elsewhere.

If I wanted 260 brand new large capacitors for a commercial project, I think I would just contact the capacitor manufacturer directly. I don't imagine you would have to pay more than 50-100 bucks per cap if you were buying such a large quantity.

Otherwise I'd wait till some appeared surplus on Ebay. I've often waited years to get the right part at the right price for some hobby thing that I might get around to building some day... :P It doesn't really matter if you get around to it or not though: if you got a good deal on something desirable, you can resell it any time without losing money.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Wed Sept 05 2007, 01:24PM

Steve Conner wrote ...
Ragnarok, you live in the UK right? You make it sound like deepest Elbonia.

Yes, but I'm also new to electronics, so I'm still having to learn what sort of prices I should expect to pay - and where I should get things.

I am not happy about using eBay, having seen the number of swindles that my brother has nearly fallen into when trying to buy mountain bike parts.
Combined with the fact I can't yet drive, my access to parts is limited to internet stores and local shops. Not great for finding the best deals on components.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Sept 05 2007, 02:21PM

Hmm, well I haven't had much experience of buying MTB parts on Ebay, but it has been interesting. I bought a used Orange Sub-5 frame from an Ebay seller a couple of months ago, and the swingarm just recently cracked on me. The seller might have abused it, but then again, it might just have been my own fondness for drop-offs and pies that did it in.

I have bought a lot of electronic components and parts on Ebay, though, and only been burned once. Even then I managed to get some of my money back by threatening the seller with bad feedback. Sure, there is a risk, but IMO, the amount of cool stuff you can get on "Fleabay" outweighs the risk. That Sub-5 was far and away the coolest bike I've ever ridden until it started to crack :|

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TeslaCoilBuilder, Wed Sept 05 2007, 02:27PM

Sulaiman wrote ...

TeslaCoilBuilder, That's a scary capacitor bank.

I didn't notice any discharge resistors in the setup.

yes, but the pic is not up to date, I have some discharge resistor on it now

Steve Conner wrote ...

I think those guys got their capacitors surplus, from some huge industrial inverter drive that was scrapped in Germany. I've seen photos of guys dismantling it with cordless drills and stuffing the back of an estate car full of capacitors, but I can't remember where I saw them.

The caps are from the German Railways.
Possible you have seen it on the CTC-Labs forum

Goldsphere wrote ...

Holy Crap, TCbuilder, what you making with those?

Blow up some stuff and ET(C)G

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Munkey, Wed Sept 05 2007, 04:41PM

TeslaCoilBuilder wrote ...

The caps are from the German Railways.
Possible you have seen it on the CTC-Labs forum

Wow I have never see so many capacitors in my life, that is a truly amazing sight!
Were the capacitors heading for the bin? Did you get them for free? I'm curious now...

Ragnarok wrote ...

I am deeply envious.

Hehe, me to, I would chop off my arm for one of them, for 260 of them, well you don't want to know what ill do for that!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Wed Sept 05 2007, 06:35PM

Steve Conner wrote ...
Hmm, well I haven't had much experience of buying MTB parts on Ebay, but it has been interesting.

Well, my brother is an MTB addict. If his wheels aren't bent yet, they will be by the end of the day. He's constantly trying to buy new parts, and very often, you'll find the seller bidding themselves under another name in order to crank up the cost they get for it.

I myself am not interested in mountain biking for any more than actually getting somewhere or casual riding - the act of hurling onesself off things doesn't appeal to me.

Here's a neat picture. I'm sure a lot of you know exactly how I did it, but it looks nice anyway.
There's no photoshopping, glue (or other adhesives), they're not soldered/welded together, nor are there unseen supports round the back.

I also had a very nice picture of a frozen spider's web somewhere, but I can't instantly find it. It was a touch out of focus, but that actually made it work well.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Wed Sept 05 2007, 07:09PM

its magnetized with a magnet from a microwave magnetron or so

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Wed Sept 05 2007, 07:27PM

Bingo. There's a neodymium magnet out of a scrapped hard drive under the sheet of paper.
Most people don't realise that (modern) 1p coins are magnetic, which makes it an excellent photo for confusing people.

The magnet in question wasn't quite powerful enough to hold the top coin in place as well, so that one IS actually balanced on everything else.

I'm still trying to find the one of the spider web on this computer, but if that fails, I know where I have a copy of it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ShawnLG, Thu Sept 06 2007, 04:24AM

"260 6000ÂµF 385V caps"

That is 115 KJ worth of energy storage!! You should build a PPDRSSTC(pulse powered DRSSTC) with those caps and generate a monster arc.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Sept 06 2007, 07:10AM

I'm guessing with that much energy that wouldn't classify as an arc anymore it would be more like a lightning bolt, haha.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Thu Sept 06 2007, 01:57PM

High voltage rectifiers, 2X2A and CV1290. Glass components truly are beautiful. Producing x-rays should be no problem with these tubes.

1189087074 95 FT6000 Hvrectifiers 2x2a Cv1290

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cprossu, Thu Sept 06 2007, 04:40PM

My desk in my computer lab/bedroom (old pic, will create new one some day)

My working tek type 547 'scope (I have a type 535 too)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu Sept 06 2007, 10:28PM

the 3rd cylinder exaust valve from my car. No wonder it kept stalling.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Sept 07 2007, 01:38AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Sept 07 2007, 03:32AM

...Theremin? =P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Sept 07 2007, 04:31AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Sept 07 2007, 10:55AM

sweet! I like it, never seen one with a toroid for the volume 'antenna', it appears to work in reverse also?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Fri Sept 07 2007, 01:43PM

The family guinea pig, Arrow:

She's nearing five years and 4 months old, which is, I understand, pretty old for a guinea pig.

We had two, but the other one (Jet) passed away back in January. Although, that wasn't all bad, because Arrow has become much more sociable for it, talking/loudly squeaking to people when she feels she hasn't been fed enough in the last 5 minutes - although she clearly doesn't quite have the very limited intelligence the other one had.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Capper, Fri Sept 07 2007, 03:18PM

She's so cute.... and I hear they taste like chicken.

(kidding of course - they don't taste like chicken at all)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Sept 07 2007, 04:13PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Sept 08 2007, 06:43AM

Here's a few shots of a batch of PCBs I milled recently.

My photo captures a natural effect which fascinates me -- when a large dark clouds covers most of the sky, but the afternoon sunlight comes in sideways, brightly illuminating the ground. The effect is that the ground is lighter than the sky; I always find this very pretty, somehow.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sat Sept 08 2007, 02:19PM

Capper wrote ...
She's so cute.... and I hear they taste like chicken.

I wouldn't really know about that, because I'm a vegetarian.
I know they are kept in some parts of the world for food (South America mostly IIRC), but I can see much more enjoyment out of keeping one as a pet, which lasts for years, than eating it, which would last a few minutes.

@BlackPlasma: That photo reminds me of when I went up Ivinghoe beacon a week back. I really should have taken some pictures while I was up there, because it was possible to see for many miles in each direction.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Sept 08 2007, 03:16PM

Add to the list a brilliant landscape photo one of my friends took, a cute room, and two cute girls. (The lady on the left kindly bestowed me my ring)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
WaveRider, Sat Sept 08 2007, 04:02PM

BP, you old dog you....

Is she into HV too?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sat Sept 08 2007, 10:01PM

That landscape photo looks almost like Van Gogh's wheat field painting.

Now for a really cool photo of a lightbulb being smashed by a flying ball bearing.
I admit totally that this is not mine (It was taken by Peter Hoare), but it's great anyway:

As far as I understand, that was done with a specialist HD video camera at 1/10,000th of a second exposure time, doing 30 frames per second or so, and that picture is a single frame from the video footage. About 2400W of lighting was used to illuminate the scene.

Actually the reason I'm mentioning it is that, if it can be sorted out, I might be meeting with the guy to do some more photos like that, using one of my more powerful air cannons instead. (His opinion, not mine)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Sept 09 2007, 01:22AM

WaveRider wrote ...

BP, you old dog you....

Is she into HV too?

Unfortunately not, and her English isn't good either, but she puts up with the electronics, which is good enough. ^.^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Sept 09 2007, 11:11AM

Unfortunately not, and her English isn't good either, but she puts up with the electronics, which is good enough. ^.^

Matt did I say something about you and girls?

Beautiful Asian girl who loves electronics and cares about you, maybe all you need to do is teach her some english

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Sept 10 2007, 04:09PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Mon Sept 10 2007, 04:41PM

Christopher, I haven't posted here for ages, but that photo & more importantly the coil, is just fantastic...

Good Work...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Mon Sept 10 2007, 05:02PM

That's one cool heater

Hope to sea it in action soon it's so cool

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Part Scavenger, Tue Sept 11 2007, 01:21AM

That is COOOOOL!

Gorgeous absolutely gorgeous.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Sept 12 2007, 10:22PM

There was a thunderstorm last night in toronto. I only got 2 photos so here they are. (first one is un-post-processed the second one has been processed slightly)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zonalklism, Wed Sept 12 2007, 11:11PM

I just got into paintball, so I figured this would be a good thread to post some pics of how awesome I look in pb gear...
(Since these pics were taken, I have aqquired a 20oz tank.)

Link to the blog post with the pics

And yes, that is a Homestarrunner t-shirt...Support the Municipality!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Sept 19 2007, 11:24PM

Can anyone tell me what I've photographed here?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Danielle, Thu Sept 20 2007, 01:00AM

an old digital scope?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Sept 20 2007, 01:03AM

That be one heck of a DSO!

Worth more than a decent luxury sedan...

Last one to get a TC resonating in the X-band is a rotton egg

What you might have been using it for baffels me, unless to took a job in the telecom/rgovt buisness...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Sept 20 2007, 09:25AM

This is our best DSO at work. Great Scott, 1.21 Jiggasamples!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Sept 22 2007, 12:34PM

... wrote ...

That be one heck of a DSO!

Worth more than a decent luxury sedan...

What you might have been using it for baffels me, unless to took a job in the telecom/rgovt buisness...

I've had this for a couple of months now -- it's really handy! Unfortunately, I don't drive; even if I did, I don't think anyone would trade this scope for a luxury sedan.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Sept 22 2007, 10:06PM

This is what im borrowing. It's no jigasample or 50GHz toy, but it will do what I need it to do I think.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Sept 23 2007, 08:42AM

I can pwn you all with my TESLA tube scope.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Sept 23 2007, 09:12PM

Bah, I think my new scope is cuter. I've always wanted a Tek 222 and I finally found one on Ebay last week.

I also just finished building up my new bike. It turned out cheaper to buy another second-hand frame than to get the cracked one fixed properly. I just need to turn the Kona badge into Conner and I'm done! :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sun Sept 23 2007, 09:39PM

Don't even think of eatting my sub!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Sept 23 2007, 10:06PM

heheheh ... aaah... cooking with RF .. the new hip trendy thing to do.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Mon Sept 24 2007, 04:42AM

Nah theres No where near the power to cook any part of the sub, although enough energy to cause the arcs to heat teh salt on the bread, and make the arc at teh base glow red. Although the 4" coil would cook something pretty well...may wanna try that! =)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firnagzen, Mon Sept 24 2007, 06:55AM

Pop the sandwich (Subway?) on a DRSSTC and see what happens. I reckon there's enough power there! By the way, ugh. What's that blackish stain on your torroid?

Also, jmartis, what's a tesla tube scope?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Mon Sept 24 2007, 02:30PM

Firnagzen wrote ...

Also, jmartis, what's a tesla tube scope?

A brand of scopes made with tubes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Mon Sept 24 2007, 06:33PM

Sandwich, yes subway (Itallian BMT). Yea I imagine the the sub would have been toasted. The blackish stain...I think that was from when I sat the toroid on top of the 4" coil and I had some wire over hang and the wire got vaporized and left a black mark.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Sept 25 2007, 12:36AM

Some high-res close up photos of jacobs ladder arcs. Lots of thing to see that you don't notice when you see them in person. There is a patter to how the arc moves up the rail, does any one know why?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Tue Sept 25 2007, 01:41AM

To do with the frequency it is running at. It's moving up while turning
on and off.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Sept 25 2007, 02:00AM

The position of the hot rising gas is a continuous variable. The rate of your inducing the sparks is a discrete variable, and they'll appear at the drive frequency of your coil, wherever that line of heated/ionized gas happens to be.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Sept 25 2007, 02:06AM

I knew it was the frequency of the arc flipping on and off, I meant the smaller point of contact VS the larger ones.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Tue Sept 25 2007, 05:01AM

alternating current!

Positive and negative alternating.

positive terminals tend to 'throw-off' positively charged metal ions, negative terminals attract them
negative terminals emit electrons probably, or something like that

I think that the brighter ends of the arcs are the positive ends ejecting copper ions.
(I'm guessing here)

I'm sure someone will have a better description.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Sept 25 2007, 06:36AM

I think it's the negative end that glows because if you connect a neon lamp to DC the negative electrode is the one that glows. I don't know if it's caused by the electrons leaving the electrode or the metal ions hitting it but I think it's most likely the electrons leaving the electrode which then ionizes the gas.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Sept 30 2007, 04:44AM

The launch is rapidly approaching (2 weeks), so it was time to put some paint on Krazed.

Of course, you can't launch the GPS tracker with any old paint job, so it was time to break out the System.

We discovered that if you use run of the mill spray paint, spray it on, wait 5 minutes, then spray it with florscent paint, the florscent paint will craze over and form a 'desert playa' patches, the size of which are dependent on how heavy you put on the top coat. I light coat gives a very fine pattern, with features about 1/4" in diameter, a heave coat gives the result you see in the pics.

This time we were armed, and did a few trials to to see what color effects were possible. Notable ones included green/black, yellow/red, red/black, and red/bue.

So we decided on the red/blue, but the red looked kinda pink, and was to bright, so we put a coat of blue clear on it, and covered it with a coat of clear. So there here he is:

[

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Sept 30 2007, 11:00AM

Nik wrote ...

I knew it was the frequency of the arc flipping on and off, I meant the smaller point of contact VS the larger ones.

I notice this even with my flyback driver that runs at several 10's of kHz, I think it has to do with the surface of the electrodes that the arc doesn't move continuously on them but rather jumps little "steps" because the surface of the ladder is never perfectly even.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Sept 30 2007, 12:45PM

Yay, crazed paint job for a krazed rocket! That looks great, I'm tempted to try it on the pickguard of my old guitar.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Wed Oct 03 2007, 12:22AM

One reason why circuits are smaller these days:

(An old op amp)

1191370722 32 FT1630 Opamppicsmall1

The insides:

1191370722 32 FT1630 Opamppicsmall3

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Oct 03 2007, 06:12AM

talking about rockets... did you guys see the X-wing fighter with 4 engines in it? its supposed to launch on the 10th but i dunno what the link is.
That's a crazy rocket.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Oct 03 2007, 02:21PM

Yes I have head plenty about it

here is the build thread

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Tue Oct 09 2007, 01:03AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Oct 09 2007, 03:11AM

I was worrying about that -- and the flight dynamics (of lackthereof) of what was designed to look cool as science fiction, as opposed to flying... =P

I guess it would have worked great in space! =-D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Oct 09 2007, 04:03AM

They are still speculating on why exactly it died--it should have worked--the most plausible one I have heard was that the launch rod was to short, which caused it to take off at an angle, which overstressed the 'fins' and lead to the catastrophic failure.

It did make a nice picture though!

taken from here Hopefully no one will come and kill me for rotaing/croping it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Oct 09 2007, 06:50AM

I hope this next time they actually stop a moment and figure out its C.O.M. and balance it properly. That and actually build a decent superstructure.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Oct 09 2007, 10:51PM

Looking at this pic I thought it's a small toy model, but cripes!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Oct 10 2007, 12:16AM

Indeed, for those of you who don't know, that rocket is about 20ft tall, weighs around 500lbs, and has about .2GJ (yes, 200,000,000 joules) of ammonium perchlorate + rubber propellant. Sadly, it suffered an horrible structural failure a few seconds after liftoff (most likley due to a miscalcuation in the rockets stability), and came down in about 5 pieces. No one was hurt, Andy Woerner (the man behind it, although he had a ton of people helping him with it) got the publicity he was looking for, and considered the launch a success. Although he doesn't plan one making another one next year

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Oct 12 2007, 03:42AM

This might not be a 'cool pic' for most of you, but for me its a godsend. This is a capture of a horribly adjusted 'scope probe, sent from my Proligix USB GPIB controller card, to my computer, to the KE5FX Data Acquisition Toolbox. I was so happy and thankful that I wrote everyone a thank you letter after my first capture. It's been a difficult road for me, but I can finally do it now, and I'm so happy!

[Edit: 400 pixels and all that]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Oct 12 2007, 08:05AM

I just realized I have access to a microscope here at work, so for a cheap, quick thrill, I photographed some 8-MSOP UCC gatedrivers.

1. You can see the mould flash appearing near the edges of the pins,
2. See how the top texture is ablated / flattened to give the text on the top of the chip,
3. This is the powerpad (just over 1mm^2) found on the bottom of the chip.

Neat!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Fri Oct 12 2007, 08:14AM

How did you get the camera and u-scope to work nicely together? I have tried a few times to get decent pics out of my scopes, but I always end up with a tiny spot on my camera, so the resolution goes to crap, but it looks purdy (see avatar, that is a late 1980s era IC on a clear (sapphire?) substrate, illuminated with a blue light, probably about .1mm across ). I even have one scope that is set up to project an image onto a bare CCD, but no decent cameras that don't have a lens permanently attached

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Oct 12 2007, 09:08AM

I pressed the camera lens up to the eyepiece, carefully centred it, and the trick is to zoom the camera in/out until you maximise the spot size.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
thedatastream, Fri Oct 12 2007, 08:23PM

Our microscope at work has a Nikon camera with a screw fitting attachment designed for the job. There is a control to divert one of the two eyepieces to the camera which sits vertically above the lens.

Works perfectly :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sat Oct 13 2007, 08:05AM

Here's some pictures I took tonight of a small crucible of molten sterling silver. The churning patterns that result as the surface oxidizes and then decomposes back to shiny metal have a mesmerizing appearance. I tried some different exposure times to get the color right.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Oct 13 2007, 10:12AM

Wow Chris... your crucible? Gas?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Oct 13 2007, 11:35AM

I wish I could show you guys inside, but I'm not allowed (which is understandable!)

Anyone want to guess what this is used for?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Oct 13 2007, 12:27PM

3 phase frequency converter?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sun Oct 14 2007, 09:27AM

Wow Chris... your crucible? Gas?

Cheap little silica/alumina ceramic crucible surrounded by firebrick, and expensive propylene gas. You're looking at something barely 1 inch in outside diameter.

Anyone want to guess what this is used for?

Power supply or charger for some overly priced government toy? (otherwise surely you could show us the inside).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Oct 14 2007, 10:46AM

Chris wrote ...

Wow Chris... your crucible? Gas?

Cheap little silica/alumina ceramic crucible surrounded by firebrick, and expensive propylene gas. You're looking at something barely 1 inch in outside diameter.

I'm guessing you have a good lens and didn't need to approach the camera so close that its lens would melt from the radiation? :P

So, what're you doing with the silver? **eager, eager**

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Oct 14 2007, 11:14AM

Propylene, is that like MAPP gas?

Avalanche, I'm going to guess it's a ground power unit for some large aircraft.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun Oct 14 2007, 04:37PM

Good answers, but none correct!

Note the 'voltage' pot on the control panel - this unit is used an an induction heater, and that pot sets the output power. There is another remote control that plugs into it, for controlling the thing when you are standing by the work coil. A couple of weeks ago we boiled about 200 litres of water in only a few minutes with this thing which was fun, especially when the large iron pipe containing the water boiled over. The bits I didn't show you obviously are the work coil and power factor correction caps

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sun Oct 14 2007, 07:45PM

this unit is used an an induction heater, and that pot sets the output power.

And why would that be so top secret that we cannot see the inside of the enclosure?

I'm guessing you have a good lens and didn't need to approach the camera so close that its lens would melt from the radiation? :P

So, what're you doing with the silver? **eager, eager**

The camera was indeed a few feet away and not directly above the crucible (where exhaust from the flame would melt it). It has a decent zoom which I used but is by no means a top of the line camera. The silver is for chemistry stuff like generating high purity halogens and other gases by photodecomposition of silver salts, where it can be recycled over and over. Also, silver is an indirect form of money that is not subject to inflation :).

Propylene, is that like MAPP gas?

Not really. MAPP gas is a mixture of methylacetylene (C3H4 with a single bond and tripple bond) and propadiene (C3H4 with two double bonds). Its burn characteristics are much like that of acetylene (very sooty if burned rich, but very hot flame, similar odor), and has a lower vapor pressure than propane. Propylene is CH6 with a single bond and a double bond (as the name implies). It has a higher vapor pressure than propane and similar burn characteristics to it, besides being hotter. It is the monomer of polypropylene, and also used to prepare propylene oxide (could this be the true reason I got it?).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun Oct 14 2007, 09:13PM

wrote ...

And why would that be so top secret that we cannot see the inside of the enclosure?

I asked my boss and he said no, simple as that.

I can't remember saying anything about any 'top secret', where did you get that from?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Sun Oct 14 2007, 10:18PM

Heres a pic of my new primary i build a few days ago.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Mon Oct 15 2007, 06:56AM

Nice primary,

I hope that bolt at the bottom is stainless steel because if it's normal steel it may get hot enough to melt the plastic.
Or is it wood?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Mon Oct 15 2007, 04:50PM

i wanted to use plastic screws, but then i found the empty bag and had to use normal screws until i get new plastics. iÂ´ll replace the metal screws,. the material i used is so called hdpe, really nice plastic to work with

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firnagzen, Tue Oct 16 2007, 09:56AM

A temporary fix, if it's a nut and bolt setup, are zip ties... You cut off the head of one tie and use it as a 'bolt'. Crude, but hey, in a pinch, it works!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Oct 16 2007, 09:31PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Oct 16 2007, 09:37PM

Chris, you use quite large primary... never had problems with flashover?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Oct 16 2007, 10:02PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Fri Oct 26 2007, 12:35AM

Not my image but it inspired me to rethink my own airzooka.

[Edit: 16 + 128 + 256 = 400]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
EDY19, Fri Oct 26 2007, 04:31AM

Hmmm... Ideas pop into my head while seeing that animation

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Fri Oct 26 2007, 05:22AM

found this guy on my battery charger:
are you sure you want to plug that in?

now he is coming to get you ....

or he might just be licking its leg...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Fri Oct 26 2007, 12:21PM

Nice ... By the look of the mantis's abdoman I'd say its a she! Definately a she, probly trying to find a safe place to lay the clutch, niffty either way.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Oct 27 2007, 06:54PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
thedatastream, Tue Oct 30 2007, 12:03PM

I've just come back from a trip to Shenzhen in southern China which involved a day's stay in Hong Kong.

This is the night view from The Peak over Hong Kong and looking over the river to Kowloon

Beautiful.
James

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Tue Oct 30 2007, 03:32PM

Hong Kong is the whole city, Kowloon Peninsula+ all the islands around it. You were on HK Island, and thats not a river in the middle, it's the Victoria Harbour.
very nice picture, it made me feel a little bit home sick.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
thedatastream, Wed Oct 31 2007, 10:52AM

Electroholic wrote ...

Hong Kong is the whole city, Kowloon Peninsula+ all the islands around it. You were on HK Island, and thats not a river in the middle, it's the Victoria Harbour.
very nice picture, it made me feel a little bit home sick.

Every day is a school day!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Thu Nov 01 2007, 09:11PM

b0rkx0rd of the day

Arcade Fire gig last night, feckin' awesome.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Thu Nov 01 2007, 11:37PM

Is that a fixed 15kHz monitor? I have a multisync one that looks just like that except it has some dials and buttons at the bottom.

Here is a neural network that is teaching itself to read...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Nov 02 2007, 01:39AM

wow, that's pretty cool.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Nov 07 2007, 10:17AM

One of several reasons why I am glad I don't go to MIT.

I think it looks like the Yellow Brick Road threw up!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Nov 29 2007, 12:21AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Jan 12 2008, 05:32PM

Took this one on a lark.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jan 29 2008, 03:30PM

Once a perfectly good S-band transceiver...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Jan 29 2008, 05:31PM

what did you use to draw that thing

the edges of the board look too smooth, and the shadows a little suspicious, but like the solder joints are just so perfect :o

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TeslaCoilBuilder, Tue Jan 29 2008, 09:16PM

some caps for new mmc

WIMA MKP 330nF 1600V, total cost 200Euro (=300$)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Jan 30 2008, 10:14AM

Good grief! If you were going to spend that much money, why didn't you get a capacitor that is known to work like the CDE 942 series?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Wed Jan 30 2008, 12:18PM

Wima MKP is strong cap, i have used them in SGTC's and induction heaters and they can do the same as 942 caps :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TeslaCoilBuilder, Wed Jan 30 2008, 02:15PM

I use this type in my drsstc, and Reaching use the same type in his drsstc. works well without failures.
I have seen the CDE 942 150nF 2kV for ~2$, i think thats to much for equal caps

btw I kepp only 50, the others are sold to other people

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Jan 30 2008, 09:28PM

Friend of mine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CT2, Thu Jan 31 2008, 12:02AM

My eye! (and photoshop).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firnagzen, Thu Jan 31 2008, 01:53AM

Now clip the eye out and put it between two giant posts.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CompWiz, Thu Jan 31 2008, 05:05AM

Built a Marx generator...

...then i got bored.

Video:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Shaun, Thu Jan 31 2008, 06:40AM

I love that GI Joe one!

"Bow before your new god! ...because knowledge is power!"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Jan 31 2008, 11:40AM

Yeah, a little photoshopping and you can apply for a Department Of Defense research grant!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CompWiz, Thu Jan 31 2008, 05:13PM

Insulated screwdriver not very good...(last pic)
the one above that is a "iFan" that i spray painted silver.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Feb 01 2008, 09:19PM

OMG induction heater

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Fri Feb 01 2008, 09:25PM

I took some closeup photos of MOT arcs at high speed to see what they really look like. Both photos are 1/500th of a second. It looks like there is a conductive core and a flame that wraps around it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Fri Feb 01 2008, 11:06PM

ooo cool.

That's what I see when drawing arcs. Too bad I can't take a pic of it because my camera's CCD saturates so the entire arc looks white.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CompWiz, Sat Feb 02 2008, 12:59AM

I took a pic like that, i should go find it...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CompWiz, Tue Feb 05 2008, 05:40PM

I burn paper clips...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Tue Feb 05 2008, 11:02PM

Avalanche wrote ...

OMG induction heater

OMG that is cool. They're doing that to curve the pipe, right?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bauerb2, Wed Feb 06 2008, 03:38AM

My old (2yrs) coilgun shooting 40-60 fps (exact speed im not too sure)

^^shooting a quarter held by some alligators clips.

pics were taken by a normal camera, no fancy triggers, just my eyesight and some dumb luck.

things to notice:
-the faint gold/orange line. it is in every one of my pics of these.
-the projectile is from an electric typewriter; it'sdesigned for use in a coil.
-my pimpin' looney tunes wallpaper.

Andrew

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Feb 06 2008, 05:22AM

also worth noting is TDU's picture as your desktop background

In any case, I am pretty sure that orange line is just lens flare...

Me + 500kV in physics class today

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed Feb 06 2008, 06:54PM

Goldsphere wrote ...

Avalanche wrote ...

OMG induction heater

OMG that is cool. They're doing that to curve the pipe, right?

Not quite, that thing is used to heat the pipe up to re-apply the (plastic?) coating to undersea pipelines, where the pipes have been joined. As you can see the work coil is on rollers and can slide along the pipe. I haven't even seen the process being done, we just make the inverters and attempt to test them in various insane ways!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Thu Feb 07 2008, 04:53PM

Wireless bulbs omg

1202403202 89 FT6000 Bezicne Zarulje 1 Large

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Feb 07 2008, 05:15PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CompWiz, Sat Feb 09 2008, 04:38AM

1st = my house at night
2nd = fire at night
3rd = strip of Al foil vs. 200uf photo flash cap.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Feb 09 2008, 08:33PM

I converted my old DSC-P52 to IR.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sat Feb 09 2008, 09:07PM

At the Cheesehead, I was running the mid size DRSSTC and Steve Ward was standing under his big DRSSTC, we must have been close on the fo because his coil arced over to his head, whooooops. Dang that hurts.

Oh, I hope he wasn't too hurt. Take care guys

I'm going to power some DC loads too; a bridge of diodes works well as long as load is connected, but resonator base acts like a current source and would blow it up without load!

Going to need to design some kind of hysteresis-controlled circuit which will short the resonator to ground once a cap is charged!

The coil is running quite < 100W on the pic, yes it's interesting to see how much power can be transferred even with streamer load!

-marko

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Mon Feb 11 2008, 08:59PM

This is my new H bridge, it`s a double sided PCB mounted on top of a 5600uF cap. The IGBT`s is HGTG20N60A4D.

I hope my low inductance layout work, because I didnâ€™t make room for a snubber cap...

Itâ€™s for a DRSSTC Iâ€™m making

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bennem, Mon Feb 11 2008, 09:49PM

Cool H-bridge Daniel,

It kind of reminds me of Steve Conners 1st early DRSSTC bridge.
Hopefuly you won't need that snubber cap,
So....what are the specs for your coil?
and what driver do you intend to use?

All the best,

Mel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Feb 12 2008, 12:44AM

Some more IR and hybrid photos.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Feb 12 2008, 02:27AM

ooo pale purple plants

reminds me of fungi

nice photos

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Feb 12 2008, 02:30AM

The reflected IR light washes out the reflected green visible light from the plant's leaves. It also makes skin look kind of translucent.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bauerb2, Tue Feb 12 2008, 02:40AM

hmmmm..

this is IR out my back window of my room.

and now for something completely different...

i filled the glass snowman with butane and dropped in a match.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Tue Feb 12 2008, 04:44PM

That snowman picture is great!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Smlizz, Tue Feb 12 2008, 07:09PM

Wee superconductors

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Feb 16 2008, 10:30PM

Here's my cool pic:

PRICELESS!!

I would have pictures of some satellites for you guys too, but I'm not allowed to take pictures, National Security and all that, very hush hush...heh heh.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Feb 16 2008, 11:40PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Feb 27 2008, 01:03AM

Full view is worth it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Wed Feb 27 2008, 10:57PM

Trabi in action

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Wed Feb 27 2008, 11:16PM

sorry for double post but the last picture was not uploaded...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Feb 29 2008, 03:12AM

Pretty cool stuff at this place!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Sat Mar 01 2008, 10:32PM

CW fun

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Mar 02 2008, 11:52PM

#1 A present from a physics prof.
#2 Guinness is IR transparent.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Mon Mar 03 2008, 02:51AM

what is that mercury?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Mon Mar 03 2008, 06:12AM

teslacoolguy wrote ...

what is that mercury?

1204501919_53_FT6000_mercuryjar_.jpg
yes

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Simon, Tue Mar 04 2008, 02:46AM

Wow! That prof must really trust you. (Or else have breathed a little too much of it already.)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Tue Mar 04 2008, 04:21PM

Or he was just too nice, i got some copper chloride from a chemistry teacher @ school once.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Mar 04 2008, 05:25PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Mar 04 2008, 07:52PM

A little bit of film grain and you would think it was Tesla's real lab.

The prof knows I'm not going to drink the mercury or otherwise maim my friends and family with it. He didn't need it any more and it will make a good addition to my "WTF is that" shelf.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Mar 04 2008, 08:45PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert1, Wed Mar 05 2008, 10:24PM

Got the Philips Voltmeter today (25 euro), looks nice with the nixie tubes (hard to photograph the way they really look).
Rather accurate even though it probably was last calibrated like 15 years ago

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Mar 06 2008, 12:17AM

Good lord, got enough multi meters? Nifty picture otherwise.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert1, Thu Mar 06 2008, 07:46PM

For the Meters, its a bit of collecting them as well (at least for the Philips Nixie-Tube one (i have another 3.5digit in my other home).
However, i do put them to use every now and then, although im mostly using the other ones (which feature a HPIB port, which is very usevul and also have a very good TRMS converter thats useable up to 1Mhz).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Tue Mar 11 2008, 07:25AM

An angel (the head is made in photoshop

)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bennem, Wed Mar 12 2008, 09:32PM

Here's a couple of videos of my last DRSSTC
taken at a 2008 Nottingham Teslathon.

and this one was its last run, an arc blows half of my full H-bridge of IGBT's...

cheers,

Mel.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Mar 13 2008, 05:05AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LarsE, Thu Mar 13 2008, 12:46PM

Testing my ETG.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bauerb2, Fri Mar 14 2008, 03:07AM

One of the cars i've been working on. Plymouth Prowler. Modeled in 3ds max 9, rendered with vray

more pictures here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat Mar 15 2008, 04:23PM

130KV from single flyback
(assuming 1KV/mm air dielectric strength)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Sat Mar 15 2008, 07:04PM

Nice one, Jan!

How did you do it? And shouldn't that flyback be immersed in oil?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat Mar 15 2008, 07:39PM

Uzzors wrote ...

Nice one, Jan!

How did you do it? And shouldn't that flyback be immersed in oil?

I see no reason for immersing it in oil, it is doing fine in free air

The only problem is that everything gets charged up by static electricity, including me (I can even feel my hair move a bit and the clothes stick to my skin), this can be a shocking experience... And of course it makes LOADS of ozone and corona wind

Driver is the original flyback topology with a resonant capacitor.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Sun Mar 16 2008, 10:20PM

I've always wondered about your flyback driver Jan, does it operate like class E? Could you post the drain waveform?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sun Mar 16 2008, 10:45PM

I want to see schematic.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Mon Mar 17 2008, 06:40AM

Ok i drew a quick schematic
phasing of primary is important
core must have ~0.5-1mm air gap

i dont have time now so ill answer any questions later

EDIT
Some more things:
set frequency to ~20-21kHz
duty cycle adjusts output power

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Mon Mar 17 2008, 11:12PM

Plasmaddict wrote ...

130KV from single flyback
(assuming 1KV/mm air dielectric strength)

Hey Jan, 15cm = 102KV ! (using 1,27cm square rods). You have barely 90KV (I would say below 80KV according the sharp endings of your electrodes)... But it's nice.
Once I had a fly-back form a TV which could make also like 13cm sparks but this one was exceptional and it died after a while anyway. I think you are at the very edge and most likely you destroy it...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CT2, Tue Mar 18 2008, 05:05AM

The other night I was kind of bored and was playing around in photoshop with one of my tesla coil pictures. After a little bit I managed to get this cool effect on all the sparks showering off the topload, to get the full effect and detail you have to full screen it. This is the original beside the photoshopped copy:

(for some reason I can't upload pictures right now? so I have to link it)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:08AM

My poor-man's flash trigger. I extended the leads on the reed switch and made a pressure sensitive switch under the container of water.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Tue Mar 18 2008, 03:16PM

Mates wrote ...

Hey Jan, 15cm = 102KV ! (using 1,27cm square rods). You have barely 90KV (I would say below 80KV according the sharp endings of your electrodes)... But it's nice.

hey, do you have any spark size vs. voltage graph, for different electrode shapes? I was searching for one for quite some time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Tue Mar 18 2008, 04:18PM

Sheesh CT2 that right pic look creepy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Tue Mar 18 2008, 07:23PM

Plasmaddict wrote ...

hey, do you have any spark size vs. voltage graph, for different electrode shapes? I was searching for one for quite some time.

for rod electrodes

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Mar 19 2008, 06:28AM

Same idea as before but I set up a more sensitive trigger for the flash (still pressure sensitive).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Wed Mar 19 2008, 08:07PM

That looks quite cool Nik.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wolfram, Thu Mar 20 2008, 08:28PM

While we are on the subject of this wonderful, liquid-at-room-temp metal. TO247 for size reference. Unfortunately it's a bit oxidized, but I don't feel like cleaning it right now.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu Mar 20 2008, 09:26PM

Wow, thats quite a bit. Where did you get it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wolfram, Fri Mar 21 2008, 08:29AM

It should be just around 2kg. I found it at the dump, some dentist must have thrown it away to avoid all the work related to disposing of it in a safe way. So I did the only responsible thing and removed it

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Mar 23 2008, 04:50AM

More mucking around with my triggered flash.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Mar 23 2008, 06:14AM

eek, make sure to keep your fingers out of those things

Anyone else go to FIRST

the active part of the team (I am the one hiding behing the robot wearing black) and the electronics board I made

The arm I drew and later helped build

The idea was to move this big ball arround the track, although it turned out that we weren't very good at doing that so we ended up placing 35 out of 52 teams. Oh well...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Mar 23 2008, 03:01PM

omg? Where did you find such an amount of teenagers motivated for something like that, and of course required amount of $$?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Mar 23 2008, 03:34PM

The money (a bit over $5k) comes from our school district, and the kids come of their own accord by word of mouth and the promise of power tools

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adrenaline, Mon Mar 24 2008, 06:09PM

Yes, I did FIRST in highschool for 2 years. Our sponsor was Baxter Labs.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Mar 25 2008, 11:43PM

Mystery photo! I found these on the bumper of my car this morning. I know what they are made of (salt from water on the road) but I have no idea why they formed the way they did, in the same way as a lichtenberg figure).
$1206488629 53 FT6000 Saltfractal$

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Wed Mar 26 2008, 12:39AM

It looks like diffusion fractals.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Wed Mar 26 2008, 06:13PM

An IGBT brick from a 60kVA UPS :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Wed Mar 26 2008, 06:43PM

c4r0 wrote ...

An IGBT brick from a 60kVA UPS :)

That's one of most-beautifully blown IGBT's I've seen in a while!

Those TO247 devices of mine always just boringly short out... need more bulk capacitance!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed Mar 26 2008, 07:23PM

omg it's full of microcontrollers

we have a 'semiconductor graveyard' at work with much of the same. If I get a few moments when there's no-one around I'll try and get a couple of photos...

edit - someone reply for us so I can add pics... I can't be ar$ed to upload/link

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Mar 27 2008, 08:32PM

Most wouldn't consider It a cool pic,

BUt I'm excited its my new oscope yay fianlly 2channel oscope, and its sooo light I almost thought it was fake!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Mar 27 2008, 09:21PM

Well, I think it's cool! I've always wondered if those Chinese clones of the Tek TDS210/220 were any good. Please let us know how you get on with it.

FWIW, the real TDS210 and 220 feel pretty light and plasticky too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Mar 27 2008, 10:15PM

Yea, when I got it out of the factory box I thought the guy screwed me over then I plugged in the stuff and it works fine, as far as using it, the waveforms are pretty crisp it looks like it has maybe 1mv of Noisebut it could also be the draw\rendering of the line. BUt hey $350 US I think is a pure steal, since a good textronic costs like 700+.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Thu Mar 27 2008, 10:26PM

I'm looking out for a decent TDS220-ish scope at the moment. We use those at work and they seem invincible despite the lightness, I'd also be interested to know if your clone hangs in there after some serious use, or drops out of cal etc.

We actually have some fake Fluke meters there, not much of a comparison but they do actually seem to be very good both in build quality and performance. I didn't believe they were fake until I cracked open the clamp meter to replace the battery.

BTW, here's the most blown up brick junk I could find in the inverter room, it's was a 200A/1.2Kv halfbridge module

edit: - Dy(nex)amite

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Mar 27 2008, 11:44PM

Not sure how serious of use you want to know about nor Do I know how serious of use I'll be using it for, It's got 2 rather useful features I've found so far, and thats factory reset and self Calibration, but After some time of use I'll report on how it handles.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dave Marshall, Fri Mar 28 2008, 01:23AM

Here's a 15 second exposure of the International Space Station at about magnitude -1.3 in Georgia this evening. At the time this photo was taken I'd estimate it was about 15-18 degrees above the horizon and moving away. There is a bit of 'jiggle' in the photo. I need a better tripod.

Colors have been tweaked a little bit for best contrast.

Shot at ISO 200 (hence the poor exposure, still learning the camera). This is with my Olympus E-510 DSLR and a 15-44mm Zuiko lens at about 20mm.

Two nights ago it was >-3 magnitude, and was so bright that it caught my eye through the trees. At that time the shuttle was trailing the ISS by about 20 seconds and was also very visible. Unfortunately I didn't have enough warning to get my camera prepared.

Dave

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Fri Mar 28 2008, 02:37AM

I can't see anything. Can you post a higher res image maybe?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ramses, Fri Mar 28 2008, 02:58PM

it's the streak in the sky. click on it. it's just down and left of the center of the photo.

ramses

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Fri Mar 28 2008, 07:13PM

It was nearly 4am tonight when there was a noise from the corridor.

I was confronted by evil incarnate. (Our Siamese, known in daytime as Blue Bubbles for his blue eyes).

The noise was the dead rat being flung high up in the air against the wall repeatedly as the cat played.

TDU

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Fri Mar 28 2008, 07:41PM

Haha THats not a cat thats a Mountain lion cub or what ever you guys have over there!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Sat Mar 29 2008, 12:29AM

No Mountain lions over here. We have dingo's though and kangaroos. Australia, remember

Taming big cats is in the family though....

This is a photo taken 60 years ago and shows my mother as a child standing with her 3 brothers holding lion cubs. They brought these up at home in suburban Sydney, Australia as her father was a lion tamer with Bullens circus. This was real head in the loins mouth stuff.
Apparently, at one stage they had the grandson of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion (the one that roars at the start of the movie).

TDU

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tonic, Sat Mar 29 2008, 08:55PM

(imagining TDU taming a furious lion with chair in defensive position and waving a metal whip connected to Tesla coil)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sat Mar 29 2008, 10:51PM

Haha that would be funny.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ArcLight, Sun Mar 30 2008, 10:45AM

I thought that I saw a little brown streak earlier this evening. So after making my dinner (and obviously before cleaning the stove) I set out some peanut butter for my little uninvited house guest's last dinner.

Regards, ArcLight

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sun Mar 30 2008, 03:07PM

Very Nice Premortum shot!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Mon Mar 31 2008, 04:16PM

The big mutha core arrived today. I put what was previously my largest flyback core into the picture for perspective. I can't wait to try it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Mon Mar 31 2008, 05:33PM

Uzzors, that's one hell of a core o_O I can imagine it running 15KVA just fine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zum Beispiel, Mon Mar 31 2008, 06:34PM

:-O

Solid state pole pig, anyone?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Mon Mar 31 2008, 09:52PM

I found out earlier today that my webcam is good for macro photos. The photo below is 2 grains of salt on the end of a ball point pen.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Tue Apr 01 2008, 01:15AM

Crazy! BUt nifty

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Tue Apr 01 2008, 06:22PM

Cool, Nik. I found that my logitech quickcam did a pretty good job as well:

[edit] Oh, and that is not my real avatar.. Silly April 1st.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Tue Apr 08 2008, 04:08PM

Old washing machine motor armature with 555 on it :)

flats milled with 4-axis CNC machine (shooting fly with shotgun but at least it is pretty accurate)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Shark, Wed Apr 16 2008, 10:05PM

I have got a bit of a mystery picture here, anyone want to take a guess?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Wed Apr 16 2008, 10:07PM

Funky stuff and wood?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Thu Apr 17 2008, 04:43AM

bacon?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Thu Apr 17 2008, 05:13AM

Whale meat?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Apr 17 2008, 10:15AM

A giant portion of SurstrÃ¶mming?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Shark, Thu Apr 17 2008, 11:45AM

Close guys, keep it coming!

In fact it is the cathode from some some anodizing I had done, and I just left it in the sulphuric acid for a couple of weeks. So in the middle that's a 4mm aluminium sheet, and around that thick crystal growth of alum (aluminium sulphate). For some reason the crystals would grow outwards in sheets.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Shark, Sun Apr 20 2008, 09:29PM

I must show off my new scope, a wee little Tek 222:

Steve got one a couple of weeks ago, so I knew I had to have one, too. Finally the bad scope days are over!

The second one is a completely random snapshot, we had the first signs of spring in Finland this weekend, so I had a lot of fun playing with my dog, rather than working on my project as any real nerd would have done.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ultra7, Sun Apr 20 2008, 11:45PM

Dr. Shark wrote ...

The second one is a completely random snapshot, we had the first signs of spring in Finland this weekend, so I had a lot of fun playing with my dog, rather than working on my project as any real nerd would have done.

What game are you playing?
"Keep the snake away from the dog"?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Shaun, Mon Apr 21 2008, 12:12AM

After rebuilding my SSTC, I fed it a few blank CDs and it made some cool burn fractals.
I used those black Memorex CDs for the effect, but after the burning was done it was very hard to view the fractal. I had to hold the disc up to a very bright light source and look through it.

So of course scanning it was a challenge; what I ended up doing was removing the lid from my scanner and holding a piece of paper over the scan bed at a 45 degree angle, with a 300W halogen worklight shining on the paper.

And the result:

It makes a nice wallpaper

And P.S. if the resolution (35MP!) and image size (764kB?) look mismatched, its because I scanned it on 1200dpi and then saved on Photoshop with jpeg quality set to 0! I thought it still came out looking pretty damn nice, tho...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Mon Apr 21 2008, 04:29AM

Shaun wrote ...

And P.S. if the resolution (35MP!) and image size (764kB?) look mismatched, its because I scanned it on 1200dpi and then saved on Photoshop with jpeg quality set to 0! I thought it still came out looking pretty damn nice, tho...

Gotta love JPG, that would be roughly 3GB as an uncompressed bitmap

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Tue Apr 22 2008, 07:32PM

Doing a CQB training course we blew up a door, the picture is captured right as the explosives are ignited at the bottom, pretty amazing considering the burn rate it 6000 meters/second. its 3 times 2 meter explosive wire. Thats about 100 grams of explosives.

[Edit: Sprengegutt, hold deg til 400 piksler][oops, sorry about that :D]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Apr 22 2008, 10:29PM

Can anyone guess what this thing is?

Double points for say who sent it to me

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Tue Apr 22 2008, 11:02PM

The inside of a magnetron?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:09AM

No guesses but I have a cool pic.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:17AM

that would be the top view of your 3-1000z from Aaron.

I'll have an oatmeal raisin, please

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Apr 23 2008, 05:34AM

electroholic gets it, but since I am out of cookies all you get are more pics :p

It has a ring of several filaments, about 10 all considered

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Wed Apr 23 2008, 08:40AM

This is the 32" DGM LCD I just resurrected by panel/controller swap :)

Didn't require much modification, a little work with an angle grinder on the bottom panel mount as the donor panel was 5mm bigger (grr!) and some self amalgamating tape on the delicate flexi-pcb's to prevent damage and shorting. I epoxied the control PCB in place on the metal frame as none of the mounting screws fit, and the two sub PCBs to the top of the frame. Had to also modify the metal display covers to not press on the glass, five minutes with cutters and a metal file took care of it.

Apart from a few black spots (this is best done in a clean room FWIW) it works just fine, and has increased its value by about $700

If anyone else tries this, be aware that most panels are *not* electrically compatible. The AU Optronics panels are very similar to the LG ones, but may not work correctly unless the pinouts match and the controller is capable of recognising the commands. I did this to a 22" Samsung panel but the picture was noisy and washed out.

I've also done panel swaps on 17" LCD's, if the connector is the same with the power pins in the right place, the chance of it working is around 80%. Helpfully the backlights usually don't fit but that can be sorted out.

Interestingly, the old panel wasn't actually faulty but the controller's connector had been torn off the PCB somehow. This is a weak point in these monitors, resulting in strange display problems over time and eventually burning out the controller :( unless you have a good controller to swap this usually means its clusterfscked :(

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Wed Apr 23 2008, 12:35PM

I don't often contribute here but it ain't really science or electronics. Just 5 second shots of sparklers and a cordless drill.

Sometimes I get bored ....

TDU

1208954079 10 FT6000 Sparklerssmallcircle

1208954079 10 FT6000 Sparklersbigspiralcircle

1208954079 10 FT6000 Sparklersspirographcircle

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Apr 24 2008, 05:09AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Fri Apr 25 2008, 01:49AM

Ice in april.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bennem, Fri Apr 25 2008, 05:49AM

Any more pics or info on your new little half bridge?

Mel.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Apr 26 2008, 02:19AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bennem, Sat Apr 26 2008, 05:02AM

Hi Chris,

Thanks for posting the pics.....its looking great!!
as does all your work.
I'm always impressed with not only your coils function, but how each one
is a work of art!
I look forward to following it when you start your post.

Mel.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
robert1, Tue Apr 29 2008, 07:52PM

The least crappy photo from last weekend...
Heavily brightness/contrast enhanced because the crappy (HP) camera screws up badly outdoors

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Tue Apr 29 2008, 08:37PM

1,700 Polygon 3D Skunkworks Skunk
Modeled in gMax

And then fully skinned...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
FastMHz, Fri May 02 2008, 03:50PM

A slight overvolt condition in a component

This is the vapor from the detonation, caught on paper, scanned, and colorized in photoshop:

Scanimage001av3

[Edit: 400 pixels]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Fri May 02 2008, 09:35PM

KTP from a 5mW laser pointer :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Fri May 02 2008, 10:02PM

it changed colour!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Sat May 03 2008, 12:08AM

I took this picture out of a window on an airplane

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Frog_Qmak, Tue May 06 2008, 02:19PM

hv water bridge :)
69872723xk2vr5

photos in bigger resolution can be seen HERE

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Tue May 06 2008, 02:56PM

Photoshopped version of the plane...

1210085790 27 FT6000 1209773271 1107 Ft6000 Airplane2

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
J. Aaron Holmes, Tue May 06 2008, 03:44PM

BjÃ¸rn BÃ¦verfjord wrote ...

Photoshopped version of the plane...

Nice work.

I would have added a UFO, however

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu May 08 2008, 08:59AM

Whats for lunch today?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Thu May 08 2008, 01:03PM

Do you think that the same trick will work for disposable camera transformers? They have some very nasty green (or whatever colour) stuff keeping the core halves together. The tiny cores would be useful for something.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu May 08 2008, 02:17PM

It will work for most cores but you sometimes have to boil them longer/pull apart hard/try more times, and even then some of the nasty ones just won't come apart...
It's then best to break the core in 1 place, it will be easier to disassemble and if you do a good job super-gluing it back together, it will work just as fine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Thu May 08 2008, 03:52PM

Hi All!

Impressive Kirlian photo

GU81 Vs RS1024 X-RAY picture

Glow discharge in high vacuum

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Thu May 08 2008, 05:29PM

Plasmaddict wrote ...

It will work for most cores but you sometimes have to boil them longer/pull apart hard/try more times, and even then some of the nasty ones just won't come apart...
It's then best to break the core in 1 place, it will be easier to disassemble and if you do a good job hot-gluing it back together, it will work just as fine.

Oh, no hot glue, the dreaded thing! I've got a hot glue phobia. I tried to seal my airgun with it, but no way! Better to just use epoxy.

Just kidding! In some uses hot glue is just the perfect choice.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu May 08 2008, 06:05PM

spark wrote ...

Oh, no hot glue, the dreaded thing! I've got a hot glue phobia. I tried to seal my airgun with it, but no way! Better to just use epoxy.

Just kidding! In some uses hot glue is just the perfect choice.

Oops that was a typo

of course I meant superglue!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat May 10 2008, 07:48PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun May 11 2008, 05:27PM

The local bugs are out.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Sun May 11 2008, 06:09PM

what happens when a chip meets 4000v dc

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon May 12 2008, 11:13PM

wow... look at that new 4kv CMOS.. hehe... ouch!

We just repainted the place and I didn't want to put holes in the walls again, so I'm getting desk units, also I need some workspace. So I got this bench and customized it a bit so the printer would fit well, cable routing, all that stuff, and I think it turned out pretty well. So this one is the setup where the scope will talk to the computer, and I have a couple more benches to go when I find more $$ hiding in the couch. It's all pressboard garbage, but I bonded it so the desk should fall completely apart inbetween the glued spots..heh.

I need to get a couple more benches that will hold heavy loads due to the antiquity of my gear, but its okay, it's better then trying to put everything on the art table and having it collapse

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Tue May 13 2008, 04:52AM

Looks nice, Matt. How long will it stay that clean? My setup sure doesn't last long..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue May 13 2008, 05:35AM

Well, I figure if I split up the mess among 3 or 4 desks, then it won't look so bad as my art table, but then again I could be wrong, heh. I think it'll be an improvement over the art table though. ^^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Thu May 22 2008, 12:04AM

A juvenile bobtail giving his "I'm really scary with a big mouth" routine.

TDU

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
usaman65, Thu May 22 2008, 01:02AM

pics

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
usaman65, Thu May 22 2008, 01:03AM

...

1211418215 1364 FT6000 Insect In Nj Amber 009

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ArcLight, Fri May 23 2008, 08:08PM

And you wonder why I never take you anywhere.

Some barn cats are uglier than others.

Bushy eyebrows can make anybody look old.

Complaint Department.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Sat May 24 2008, 07:17AM

Nano coiling, anyone?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat May 24 2008, 08:34AM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Nano coiling, anyone?

That copper plate (is it?) below the coil might not have the best effect on its performance...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Sat May 24 2008, 11:00AM

The coil is grounded on the piece of copper clad below it. What unwanted effects could it have?
This coil is going to be portable and (hopefully) running from a 9V battery, so I don't want any other ground plane.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ArcLight, Sat May 24 2008, 07:04PM

Not all babies are cute.

However, they are all hungry.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat May 24 2008, 08:38PM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

The coil is grounded on the piece of copper clad below it. What unwanted effects could it have?
This coil is going to be portable and (hopefully) running from a 9V battery, so I don't want any other ground plane.

It is one big shorted turn, it will eat the power away and get hot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat May 24 2008, 11:39PM

You know its hard as hell to find those Blues Brothers Review Posters !!!! Expensive Too!! 0.o and they're just being wasted on that brick wall, what a shame.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Sun May 25 2008, 06:45AM

Dr. Monsterarc wrote ...

It is one big shorted turn, it will eat the power away and get hot.

Could it work if I put the ground plane next to the coil, not below it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun May 25 2008, 10:55AM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Dr. Monsterarc wrote ...

It is one big shorted turn, it will eat the power away and get hot.

Could it work if I put the ground plane next to the coil, not below it?

yes

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Sun May 25 2008, 09:44PM

I was looking through pictures on my computer when I found this one. It was taken at Hemsedal last winter, or maybe two winters ago...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Mon May 26 2008, 07:45AM

Botanical quiz: what flower is this???

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Mon May 26 2008, 01:51PM

I would say that it is a sstc breakout flower with a little photoshopping.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TeslaCoilBuilder, Tue May 27 2008, 09:06AM

first light of my 12MHz SSTC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Tue May 27 2008, 11:35AM

Wow, be sure to post more information about that on the Projects thread!

What driver are you using and how much input power?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TeslaCoilBuilder, Tue May 27 2008, 12:06PM

Simple BD139/140 drives an IRF730 in Class E
input: ~60V 1-2A or so, canâ€™t measure it
With more V the flame increase from 8 to 15mm

and the Mosfet blows up.

I work on a more powerful driver now if it works I make a thread

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed May 28 2008, 12:00AM

ROP Student of the year

(all high schools in southern California)

Of course it chose that day to start pouring rain after a week of 100degree weather, so my pool started steaming...

And while I wasn't winning awards I was making new friends:

Met her in physics of all places

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Thu May 29 2008, 03:14AM

you go to UCLA? my sister is going there, she just graduated.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu May 29 2008, 05:23AM

Na, I am off to UCSB, that LA banner was just there because they let our librarian (uuber UCLA fan) set up the backdrop for pictures

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Mon Jun 02 2008, 05:41AM

I do not want to start a new thread so I placed it here - really nice "sparks" photographed by some guy in Prague

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Mon Jun 02 2008, 06:34PM

Mates wrote ...

I do not want to start a new thread so I placed it here - really nice "sparks" photographed by some guy in Prague

Nice! I liked the last two, especially the 6th one. It had a 'streamer' going a complete different direction than the 'main' one. I say streamer because it almost resembles a tesla coil in the sense that it has a stray spark. Did that sound stupid to anyone else?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Jun 03 2008, 10:11AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Jun 10 2008, 05:40AM

Shortly after this photo a pole pig blew up near where it hit but I didn't catch it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Tue Jun 10 2008, 08:40AM

Eww.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Tue Jun 10 2008, 03:02PM

Propane and water with dishwashing agent:

Video:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Tue Jun 10 2008, 05:46PM

How does that work? Liquid propane is immiscible with water, much lighter than water, and way below the freezing point of water. I have played around with mixtures of propane and ice though, where the propane becomes trapped in the ice when water is added and flash freezes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Spedy, Tue Jun 10 2008, 06:41PM

Chris wrote ...

How does that work? Liquid propane is immiscible with water, much lighter than water, and way below the freezing point of water. I have played around with mixtures of propane and ice though, where the propane becomes trapped in the ice when water is added and flash freezes.

I THINK he just bubbled propane through soapy water, then ignited the resulting foam....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Jun 10 2008, 07:26PM

Spedy wrote ...

I THINK he just bubbled propane through soapy water, then ignited the resulting foam....

They did that on mythbusters with methane gas, since the gas is lighter than air so the foam supports itself into a column of mind boggling heights.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Tue Jun 10 2008, 07:46PM

Yes that was so simple :). I bought a high pressure regulator for 22e (~34$) from local gas tool store Wilhtom. The regulator has a knob that behaves like potentiometer and pressure is freely adjustable within 0-2bar. Gas goes by hose to soapy water and forms bubbles. Bubble size is tunable by adjusting gas pressure. Big bubbles give flames that climb high, but they are weaker against wind.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Jun 10 2008, 09:53PM

Try using a basic shower attachment to get smaller bubbles.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Jun 14 2008, 03:19AM

More lightning but this time it changed direction!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Sat Jun 14 2008, 04:11AM

It could be two bolts striking a tower.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Jun 14 2008, 03:14PM

There are no towers or high rise buildings in that direction, also there is a well defined loop shape at the bottom.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jun 14 2008, 04:16PM

is it near power distribution or a place that uses a relatively large amount of power, like a factory?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wirenut, Sat Jun 14 2008, 09:41PM

is it near power distribution or a place that uses a relatively large amount of power, like a factory?

Why would that matter?

Mind-bending crazy photo Nik!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jun 14 2008, 09:50PM

presence of unusually high electric fields... factory was included due to the fact that some have to have a mini-substation type area to handle the load, and distribute it to the individual sections of the complex... at least a couple nearby do... it is a debatable theory, but wouldn't be surprised if it is wrong... main thing I know is that I have watched too many pole pigs blow up due to a lightning strike, just after the streetlights came on.
also, anyone know what causes that loop?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jun 15 2008, 04:17AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
J. Aaron Holmes, Sun Jun 15 2008, 04:24AM

Is that a 450TH hidden back there? We'd better see that show up in a VTTC at some point!

Cheers,
Aaron, N7OE

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ArcLight, Mon Jun 16 2008, 06:22AM

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and observing Steve Ward operate his pair of singing Tesla coils this last Friday in Naperville, Illinois. Weather (rain) threatened the event, but when darkness finally came the clouds held and the show went on.

It was obvious that the majority of the crowd were unsure of what they were about to see, but once the performance started it was clear that they were completely amazed and very impressed with what they were seeing and hearing. I'm sure that they all have an incredible story to tell about the amazing singing lightning that they observed. If you ever have the opportunity to witness Mr. Ward's high-voltage work I highly recommend it.

On a personal note I would like to thank Steve and his entire crew (please forgive me, I should have written down names) for their hospitality. Even though they were in the middle of preparing for a show, they were all gracious and cordial when asked even stupid questions.

To Steve and crew I would just like to say Thank You for a memorable evening.

Please forgive the poor quality of the photos. My camera is clearly not at it's best at iso-400.

I (am only guessing, but) believe that the raggedness of the arcs is caused by the audio modulation.

Best Regards, ArcLight

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Mon Jun 16 2008, 11:47AM

Rest In Peace

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Jun 16 2008, 07:49PM

I guess we know why the flyback isn't resonating properly now huh...heheheh.

Great... I don't have anything that even comes close to the twin coil picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Jun 22 2008, 09:09PM

Can anyone guess what this is?

My only hint is that pixel is about 1um across.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zum Beispiel, Sun Jun 22 2008, 09:13PM

... wrote ...

Can anyone guess what this is?

A laser diode? Or a regular LED?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Mon Jun 23 2008, 12:02AM

LED would be my guess.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Mon Jun 23 2008, 12:50AM

... wrote ...

Can anyone guess what this is?

My only hint is that pixel is about 1um across.

Led!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Mon Jun 23 2008, 07:02AM

its a laser diode!?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Mon Jun 23 2008, 11:45AM

My bets on a mosfet or an igbt.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Mon Jun 23 2008, 02:50PM

I'd say a LED or a laser diode

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Mon Jun 23 2008, 03:38PM

I would say it is a smd led.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Jun 24 2008, 04:09AM

AVI was closest, that is a 150mw 405nm laser chip. (the gold part is 5.6mm diameter)

Heres another one:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Jun 24 2008, 05:39AM

The rod and flash lamps of a YAG LASER.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Jun 29 2008, 01:37PM

Flatmate's graduation.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sun Jun 29 2008, 05:58PM

my first decent high speed water balloon pop:
1214258432 341 FT48170 2097905863 47875a2283

1214258432 341 FT48170 2097905863 47875a2283

the clown made of glass that I never finished:
2619065457 E7f718c438 M

a glass seal I made:
2249208361 Cfc4e39ff9 M

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Thu Jul 03 2008, 04:05AM

Ok so technically not *my* photo, but a interesting page of electronics, microwave/RF equipment, etc gone wrong.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Fri Jul 04 2008, 01:17AM

Hah, I really enjoyed the microwave mortuary.

Nice photography, DaJJHman. There are some other members here who are interested in glasswork as well.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Fri Jul 04 2008, 03:01AM

Here's my laser diode

you can see how bright and how small the light source is, and this is driven way below the rated value for the photo. So now you know why such a small over voltage can damage it. It is running at its limit (normally)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jul 04 2008, 03:49AM

Alex wrote ...

Hah, I really enjoyed the microwave mortuary.

Nice photography, DaJJHman. There are some other members here who are interested in glasswork as well.

I just wish I had a torch that has oxygen that lasts longer than 15 minutes! but I must save money for that, I have an oxy torch at our farm, but that is an three hour round trip, and I don't know if the farmhand will be using it when I get there... so I just have to try to work fast lol, and who are the other glass workers here?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Jul 04 2008, 04:07AM

Speaking of glasswork, anyone seen or made 'Prince Rupert Drops' in person? I've seen it once in a tour of a glass factory, the tension of the glass on the outside holds the whole thing together but if you snap the tail the whole thing explodes.... might make a good high speed photography project too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jul 04 2008, 03:16PM

aonomus wrote ...

Speaking of glasswork, anyone seen or made 'Prince Rupert Drops' in person? I've seen it once in a tour of a glass factory, the tension of the glass on the outside holds the whole thing together but if you snap the tail the whole thing explodes.... might make a good high speed photography project too.

that is actually on my list of things to make AND photograph lol....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sat Jul 12 2008, 01:27PM

Here's one I took on a recent canal trip - a wagtail nesting inside a steel lock gate. It was actually quite hard to get this photo, but it came out quite well, at least after I'd done some light cleaning up in photoshop.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sun Jul 13 2008, 06:20PM

Cupric chloride dehydrating in a round bottom flask. The blue-green color is of the dihydrate while the anhydrous form is brown.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Sun Jul 13 2008, 09:33PM

Resonant mot arcs anyone????

1215984824 1107 FT6000 Dscn3308 002 0004

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
tesla500, Mon Jul 14 2008, 07:18AM

"Shoppin" hauls, from the yearly spring clean up in Delta. During one week, everyone can throw out stuff they don't want. A group of geeks get together with a couple of vans and a trailer and pick up useful (to us atleast

) stuff.

We got 19 microwaves in 2006, for tesla and other projects, along with lots of computer monitors and other stuff.

This year I had a vacuum cleaner fetish

, 18 of them I think. The recycling depot got a LOT of plastic after taking those apart.

. We also got more microwaves, some very nice CRT monitors, and a 2.4GHz computer that just needed a hard drive.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Mon Jul 14 2008, 09:21AM

Haha Sounds like our city wide spring cleaning here, This year someguy tossed out a crap load of PERFECTLY GOOD computer parts, a wirelessG network printer adaptor, 2 usb wirelessG adapters, 1 tower that just needed a HDD also, 2 working laptops, the one was a P2 IBM, and the other was a Toshiba satalite with built in wireless card, and a 1.8GHz P4 it just needed a reformating and it only got like 20mins from a full chrge on the battery, plus 2 PCi Wirelss G cards, a sound card, 2 Nvidia video cards, a PC stereo w\ subwoofer system, I don't have the pics cause It was my Step fathers Brother who dug it all up.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Jul 14 2008, 07:16PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Tue Jul 15 2008, 01:56AM

Man, Dr. Spark, you are lucky to live so close to the Rockies. I would love to be able to hike up there more often, but alas, I've only ever gotten the chance once.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
KresoLiubov, Tue Jul 15 2008, 04:21AM

aonomus wrote ...

Speaking of glasswork, anyone seen or made 'Prince Rupert Drops' in person?

I made some last week. Verry interesting project.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Jul 15 2008, 03:26PM

[meant to post this earlier]
I made some of the drops on fourth of july weekend, but on some of them I accidentally burned-off the tails... I could not break them with blunt objects to save my life... I have not tried cutting tools though, and I still have them around here if you can suggest a way to break them...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jul 19 2008, 12:31AM

Kids, stay away from table saws.... Even when your hand is well away from the blade you aren't safe!

I was making the last cut on a set of pieces to make a plexi box, and a little piece of plaxi got stuck in the blade (I didn't take a pic, there was just a little strip curled up in one of the teeth) which caused the piece to jump and drag across the blade. That wouldn't have been too big of a problem, except for the fact that when it grabbed it slipped out from under my hand, and dragged my hand across the blade...

The piece of plastic I was cutting, you can see I was almost done with the cut (and it was the last cut out of about 12) then the blade grabbed, and dragged the piece across the blade (quite quickly as you can see, the blade I was using was about 100teeth, turning at at probably 100rev/sec, so if it moved 1/4" between teeth the piece was moving about 100-200mph) My thumb was at the notch (there was some flesh there after the incident) slightly above the line of dings.

Me after the doctor stitched my finger back together:

And my thumb after they were done with it. Sorry the picture didn't come out well, we only had a cell phone and the er wasn't all that happy about us taking pictures to start with. I am only going to link it since it kinda NSFW

The cut along the left wasn't that bad, so they stitched it up, but over on the right the flesh was just (and I quote) hamburger meat so they did their best to sew it together and I go back in 45 hours to see how it is healing.

Lessons learned:
1. always keep the blade as low as possible... The only reason I have the tip of my thumb a all is that only 1/4" of blade was sticking up so it could only cut so deep
2. Keep your buddy around. I had my brother home but he decided to go to sleep and even banging on his door didn't wake him... Ended up calling 911 on my own and he finally came rolling out of bed when he heard the paramedics...
3. Never let your guard down... My hand was a good 6" from the blade, there was only a tiny sliver of blade showing, but still I am lucky I can use my thumb at all...
4. always apply pressure to a wound. Luckily they shoved that down our throats in the boy scouts, but in the 15 seconds that I was freaking out trying to figure out what to do I lost probably 10cc of blood, after I wrapped it in my shirt and applied pressure (even if it hurts its better than passing out from blood loss) it stopped bleeding almost immediately.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sat Jul 19 2008, 12:50AM

Your User name is all I have to say for a comment "..." (still disturbed at ur perdicament.)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Jul 19 2008, 07:42AM

...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sat Jul 19 2008, 08:52AM

Throw that old pos tablesaw out and get a new one from sawstop!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Jul 19 2008, 11:29AM

Matt, that's evil! :D Sorry to hear of your injury ..., hope it heals up ok.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Sat Jul 19 2008, 12:47PM

Yeouch.
I've messed myself up in pretty bad ways before, but even then, that's not pretty.

As HFsstc-freak says, it's kind of a pity you didn't have one of these:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Jul 19 2008, 01:08PM

Ouch. I've had nasty burns before, my part time job is technical for a production/DJ company, and lights get *very* hot. Even with gloves I can get burnt, I have no pictures but I hope you heal fast there.

As an example of nasty cut-type injuries that can happen in the industry, I provide

(no disgusting pics unless you click links inside that post)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jul 19 2008, 06:04PM

I am not convinced that even a saw stop would have saved me on this one, in the demo they move their hotdog slowly toward the blade where as when this happened my finger was moving at about 100mhp toward it. Even if it had only let the blade move 1 tooth after I touched it I would still have a big rip through my thumb to the bone. The problem might have been saved by having those feathers that keep kickback from happening, but I am not really convinced they would do anything on a smooth piece of plastic... Really the only way to have 100% prevented this would have been to be holding the piece with something else (either using a radial arm saw and having it clamped to the table, or using a sliding clamp on the saw) so that the clamp got chewed up instead of my finger.

Although I know that I am going to be ordering the rest of my plexi fro

and having them cut it down to size for me or using a hot wire

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zum Beispiel, Sat Jul 19 2008, 07:47PM

Owch... I hope that heals up fast. Looks painful.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Jul 19 2008, 08:00PM

DaJJHman wrote ...

[meant to post this earlier]
I made some of the drops on fourth of july weekend, but on some of them I accidentally burned-off the tails... I could not break them with blunt objects to save my life... I have not tried cutting tools though, and I still have them around here if you can suggest a way to break them...

Clamp in vise? Throw em at a concrete wall? Worst case scenario, place the drops on ashphalt and carefully place a cinderblock ontop and drag the drop across the pavement which should break the 'skin' and make it crack at least.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jul 19 2008, 08:52PM

aonomus wrote ...

tried the vise, the wall, giant, tractor size hammers (for their montrously sized pins), but I am sure the cinderblock and pavement would work, as that could make irregularities that might affect the surface tenson holding it together... but they are gone now...
P.S: I used a nail and hammer...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jul 20 2008, 01:05AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Jul 20 2008, 01:11AM

Matt Bingham wrote ...

...

HAHAHA! That made me laugh out loud!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Jul 20 2008, 05:59AM

And now Peter (...) can take his turn to laugh at me! ^_^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andyman, Sun Jul 20 2008, 06:18AM

If your claims are correct, then the saw stop wouldn't have done anything. According to the site, the saw stops withing 5 milliseconds. If your hand was moving at 100 mph, thats the equivalent of 1.75 inches per millisecond. (I was bored so I did the math). In 5 milliseconds thats more than 8 inches!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Sun Jul 20 2008, 12:54PM

Woah Peter, only glad to see you smiling in that pic (hope that's not the way you cry?)

Ugly thumb wound, I really hope you won't have permanent effects, get better fast

Yep, had the top of my finger cut of just above the jointâ€¦. There are 300 nerves per square centimeter in your finger, so going to hurt for a looooooooooong time. There are only 75 nerves in your lower intestines for scale. The finger next to it was also in bad shape but they could save it. Still hurts ten years later on cold mornings

Glad you did not lose the entire thumb! Bummerâ€¦.ensure you get lots of pain pills!

Heal fast!

Cool pics below.

Wtf Chris, never noticed that, you guys are making me scared of saws, hot wire is safest indeed (next to giving someone else to cut the plexi for you).

You really mean it still hurts 10 years after? :O

Marko

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Jul 20 2008, 03:33PM

This is why I'm a fan of low speed band saws, metal saws and drills. Less likely to kick back at you but the drills have A LOT of torque, try not to get all caught up in them

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sun Jul 20 2008, 04:37PM

Digikey order, big pile of stuff makes me grin :D

Until I see this:

Also is there anyway to resize off-site images to clickable thumbnails when I post them to the forum?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jul 20 2008, 05:29PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sun Jul 20 2008, 06:17PM

Speaking of injuries, i almost got a fingertip hacked off by one of those old all steel 230v computer fans, i guess my luck was that it was turned off and coating down, i heard the fan slowing in speed while looking at something and then *SCHONK* and felt a pain similar to get pinched in a door, had the fan been at full speed, a finger could very well have been 4-5mm shorter today, iÂ´ve also gotten bit by a manual hacksaw, a small wood chipper, knives (common for kids) and beeing thrown onto the ground and slid several meters while biking, scraping up a 1x1dm square on my left arm.

IÂ´ve always had respect for table saws, never ever in my life used one, not even back when i built speaker cabinets.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ragnarok, Mon Jul 21 2008, 11:48PM

Andyman wrote ...
If your hand was moving at 100 mph, thats the equivalent of 1.75 inches per millisecond.

If his hand was moving at 100 mph, I'll eat my hat. The piece, regardless of the maths, was likely not doing those speeds either, and the hand is unlikely to have achieving the same speed as the piece.
10 mph at most... and a shallow cut 0.8" long is better than totally mangled finger.

Two pics from me.
My new(ish) 0.177" Air Arms TX200 Hunter Carbine, which I've now had about 7 weeks. Great fun, and damned accurate!

And a moderately large icosahedron made from Geomag:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Jul 22 2008, 03:08AM

I got a slightly better pic of my thumb (see post at top of page) when I went in to have it redressed yesterday

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Jul 22 2008, 04:04AM

o.0....

Ouch.
Just... ouch.

Now back to my dinner.. *nom nom nom* :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jul 22 2008, 04:05AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Tue Jul 22 2008, 09:49AM

Your damn lucky you dident loose that thumb!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tom540, Tue Jul 22 2008, 02:59PM

Matt Bingham wrote ...

...

LoL, lets just hope no one else has any plastic that grows teeth and bites them. Good thing my coils are wood.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Jul 22 2008, 09:10PM

Exploding wire anyone?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Jul 22 2008, 11:20PM

warning-see post at top of page before clicking...
now in HD

I dare one of ya to set someones screensaver to one of those, but don't hold me responsible for any heart attacks...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Wed Jul 23 2008, 12:13AM

Has the pain kicked in yet?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Wed Jul 23 2008, 12:28AM

I just stared at that with a morbid curiosity... theres a grid like pattern where the flesh was removed, did they fill it back in and put some kind of absorbable dressing on?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Jul 23 2008, 02:17AM

The space where it looks like they removed flesh is just where the skin is gone, they did not add anything. The checkerboard pattern is from the xeroform (petrolium soaked gauze) that they put on it to keep it moist and keep the gauze they wrapped it with from sticking.

And actually it has been hurting less now. I can actually write (even on carbonless copy forms!) with that hand, and can use most of the strength in the rest of my fingers (a few days ago I couldn't apply any pressure with my fingers since the natural thumb movement associated with that would hurt like heck). I do think I lost a few nerves unluckily, the left side (away from fingers) is pretty much numb from the base of the big gash up to the tip. The right (toward fingers) side seems fine luckily :) I ain't poking it in the middle...

The stiches should come out next tuesday so I will probably have another update then

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Jul 24 2008, 06:48AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Jul 24 2008, 08:36PM

Ever wondered what is inside of an xbox 360? The answer is, not a whole lot.

The cd drive.

And btw dr. spark, those 810's look nice!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Jul 24 2008, 08:54PM

HAha I could have told you that an Xbox or ps is just a pc mobo with no adaptor slots, i dont think any memory slots, a built in tv formated video card, a ps, a HDD, and a dvd drive theres more but not much else, I'd say salvage the laser and the heatsinks.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Jul 24 2008, 08:56PM

Ken M. wrote ...

HAha I could have told you that an Xbox or ps is just a pc mobo with no adaptor slots, i dont think any memory slots, a built in tv formated video card, a ps, a HDD, and a dvd drive theres more but not much else, I'd say salvage the laser and the heatsinks.

Well, the xbox is alright but the cd driver is broken. I am going to get a new cd drive

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Jul 25 2008, 03:06PM

Flame-effect transistors I believe.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Fri Jul 25 2008, 03:21PM

aonomus wrote ...

Flame-effect transistors I believe.

Excellent

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Fri Jul 25 2008, 08:22PM

Arcstarter wrote ...

Ever wondered what is inside of an xbox 360? The answer is, not a whole lot.

The cd drive.

And btw dr. spark, those 810's look nice!

Why not do the RRoD fix? iirc you just need a mod kit (Â£4 on ebay) and maybe a heat gun depending on how far gone it is.

regards,-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Jul 27 2008, 01:03AM

TRW Swapmeet goodies prior to work today:

nabbed myself an elgar CW801. Looks to be in pretty sad shape, no controller board :( I may contact them to see what I would have to fork over to get it repaired.

Boonton signal generator in dirty but decent condition :) little guy goes up to a gig!! Hope the really high section works too, the other nearly identical unit I have won't work on its upper freq. ranges.

And a little 0.5uF 16KVDC filter cap.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Jul 28 2008, 05:36PM

flame effect transistors...

seems more like "freaking exploding transistors" lol... nice pics

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GeordieBoy, Mon Jul 28 2008, 06:59PM

The elgar CW801 is a good bit of kit to have around. Well worth getting fixed if you can get the missing board - Just a bit heavy to lug around though!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Jul 28 2008, 07:07PM

Oh my god yea is it heavy!!! You can even feel the toruqe pulling the transformer down and out of your hands while trying to carry it around!

I'm really going to try to get it fixed because it has the GPIB socket in the rear, I'm just not sure wether I have to ship it in or if they can send me the board, depending on how 'security' minded they are and if they want to seal the unit.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Jul 28 2008, 10:43PM

Yea, I saw that little module at a scrap/surplus store in Toronto and bought it as-is for 2 bucks, just cause it had a heatsink which had an insulated block for the TO-3P's to mount to with clamps instead of screws. Worth the cleanup imo.

Also I bought a $9 clamp meter today, I'm proud :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Tue Jul 29 2008, 09:31PM

Guess what type of salt this is.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Jul 29 2008, 10:15PM

hydraliskdragon wrote ...

Guess what type of salt this is.

copper salt?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Jul 30 2008, 04:36AM

Nope but close.

The name of this salt start with A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jul 30 2008, 04:43AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Wed Jul 30 2008, 08:36AM

arcs

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Wed Jul 30 2008, 08:53AM

Jmartis2 the arcster

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Jul 30 2008, 10:28AM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

arcs

Hazmatt, ask Tom540 about your Elgar AC thingy, he may be able to help.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GeordieBoy, Wed Jul 30 2008, 10:29AM

Jan, those metal rods look quite thin, and the arcs look ferrocious. I'm surprised the rods don't melt!?!?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Wed Jul 30 2008, 10:58AM

GeordieBoy wrote ...

Jan, those metal rods look quite thin, and the arcs look ferrocious. I'm surprised the rods don't melt!?!?

The rods are welding rods and I never run it too long, the arcs rise on the ladder so there's really no "hot spot" on the rods. The only hot spots I'm facing are those in copper windings

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. SSTC, Wed Jul 30 2008, 11:22AM

Jan your one crazy man

man how big do you want your arcs to be lol

getting a pole pig anytime soon

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firnagzen, Wed Jul 30 2008, 01:46PM

jovica wrote ...

Jan your one crazy man

man how big do you want your arcs to be lol

getting a pole pig anytime soon

I think, after observing these fora for some time, I cna safely answer for Jan: Of course, and then that pig is going to take 10x the amount of power it should and draw more energy than an average household uses in a year.

And before that day, Jan'll probably put as much power into a flyback as most people get into a pole pig.

Jan is a HV god.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Wed Jul 30 2008, 02:13PM

Firnagzen wrote ...

And before that day, Jan'll probably put as much power into a flyback as most people get into a pole pig.

I'm already working on this, give me a week and if the circuit works like my theory predicts I'll start a thread

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jul 30 2008, 06:50PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Jul 30 2008, 07:21PM

Okay yea.. I'll bug tom about the Elgar thing.

Man, those arcs are really sweet! I had no idea they could get that long with just 2 MOT's! I really gotta get on the wagon with that stuff!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Wed Jul 30 2008, 11:25PM

Same, now to find some big microwaves...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fraggle, Thu Jul 31 2008, 01:08AM

hydraliskdragon wrote ...

Nope but close.

The name of this salt start with A

Arsenic?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Thu Jul 31 2008, 03:20AM

Nope but close.

The name of this salt start with A

If by close you mean same periodic group, that narrows it down to Au or Ag. I think it's auric chloride or possibly chloroauric acid. If not that maybe AuCl.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Jul 31 2008, 03:23AM

those arcs are awesome, and I bet that flyback would explode at those powers... anyone willing to videotape the test of it? lol...

and nice BBQ setup...

also, once I get a memory card reader for my new camera (cable is missing) I'll post some shots of me shooting an M249 SAW Light Machine Gun (unfortunately, I don't have any pics of the AK47, the Sawed Off, or the MP5)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. SSTC, Thu Jul 31 2008, 09:45AM

DaJJHman wrote ...

those arcs are awesome, and I bet that flyback would explode at those powers... anyone willing to videotape the test of it? lol...

how about you check that lol

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firnagzen, Thu Jul 31 2008, 10:03AM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

Firnagzen wrote ...

And before that day, Jan'll probably put as much power into a flyback as most people get into a pole pig.

I'm already working on this, give me a week and if the circuit works like my theory predicts I'll start a thread

I knew it!

All hail Jan, god of high power high voltage!

*Goes off to sacrifice some FETs*

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu Jul 31 2008, 11:31AM

jovica wrote ...

how about you check that lol

As i said I'm working on a new circuit, based on a series LC resonant tank as a constant current source. This way the arcs should theoretically get about 2x longer for the same stress on the flyback. I've done some tests already and they look promising.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Thu Jul 31 2008, 07:30PM

3 charges of 500g explosives

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tom540, Thu Jul 31 2008, 09:18PM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

Okay yea.. I'll bug tom about the Elgar thing.

Man, those arcs are really sweet! I had no idea they could get that long with just 2 MOT's! I really gotta get on the wagon with that stuff!

Yeah tell me what you need and ill see what I can do.

What sucks is today at lunch the asshole maintenance guy just gave me shit again for digging in the dumpster and I told him to have someone else tell me I can't do it so the HR people paid me a visit and said were not allowed now. I'm assuming this is another bullshit Xantrex policy. This place is really going to shit fast because of them. Really pisses me off to see them trash so much good stuff that could be used by us hobbyists.

However I do have a few things at home. If you know exactly what you need I can ask the engineer who is in charge of those products. The same guy who gave me the amp for the other AC supply.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. SSTC, Thu Jul 31 2008, 10:02PM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

jovica wrote ...

how about you check that lol

so 4000watts peak

1400watts avarage

maybe you should make a projects thread

lol you will probably hold the record for longest arc ever achived by flyback

or do you already

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Aug 01 2008, 12:44AM

2720651816 6e62cdcca8 M

sorry they are blurry as can be, but that gun is an M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) Light Machine Gun @ 100bpm and a red dot sight.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Fri Aug 01 2008, 11:19PM

DaJJHman wrote ...

2720651816 6e62cdcca8 M

sorry they are blurry as can be, but that gun is an M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) Light Machine Gun @ 100bpm and a red dot sight.

O_O what are you doing with that SAW :O

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Fri Aug 01 2008, 11:52PM

MadsKaizer wrote ...

3 charges of 500g explosives

madskraizer, is it legal to do that over there?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. SSTC, Sat Aug 02 2008, 02:56AM

Marko wrote ...

when i was little and still lived in croatia, my dad used to bring them home, because he found them on the road and he didnt wnat them to get killed, i dont really remember this but my sister do they were like 7 and i was 2 or sumthing

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Aug 02 2008, 03:51AM

I own a hedgehog... they are awesome!

now if only we had named it Sonic O_o

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zum Beispiel, Sat Aug 02 2008, 02:34PM

Marko wrote ...

Hedgehog

Aww

We have a really big one in the nearby park. First time I saw him (at 3am) I thought it was a Russian tank

It isn't too afraid of people, either. He just walked to about a meter from me, sat there for a while and then left.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Aug 02 2008, 03:00PM

hydraliskdragon wrote ...

DaJJHman wrote ...

2720651816 6e62cdcca8 M

sorry they are blurry as can be, but that gun is an M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) Light Machine Gun @ 100bpm and a red dot sight.

O_O what are you doing with that SAW :O

shooting it at 100 real-bullets-on-a-belt per minute, what else?
I love trips to Las Vegas, I was shocked you could do this there...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sun Aug 03 2008, 03:51PM

Our ferocious office guard dog :D

Halp, I've fallen and I can't get up! :D heh

Also, found this guy making a ton of noise and caught him with some stuff lying around the office...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sun Aug 03 2008, 05:43PM

Marko wrote ...

madskraizer, is it legal to do that over there?

When doing it as a soldier with the military, yes :)

aonomus wrote ...

LOOK AT MY FUCKING BALLS! LOOK!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zonalklism, Mon Aug 04 2008, 05:57PM

My new paintball camo. This is quite an improvement from my "camo" from my first paintball game, which consisted of an old Metallica t-shirt, camo jeans, and a bright red gun.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Aug 05 2008, 10:35AM

DIY vacuum tube construction:

Socket

Grid and filament

Plate and getter added

Making bulb

Ready for sealing

DONE!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Aug 05 2008, 11:05AM

My demo fusor

Glow discharge in low vacuum

Better vacuum, better confinement, i finally got a poisser

Poisser at 215 microns

inner grid immediately after power off

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Aug 05 2008, 04:39PM

nice job fabio!
what's the neutron output of the fusor?

also, is boro glass required for vacuum tubes? the only torch I can use (without a 2 hour drive and limited work ability) lasts 15 minutes before the oxygen runs out, and I still can't afford a bigger setup, so I hope to use soft glass...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Aug 05 2008, 07:16PM

If you can get a source for soft glass or leaded electronics glass definately go that route. It'll mean you have to anneal the stresses out, but the soft glass will give you more electrode options. The only options I have for Boro are Tungsten or Kovar which then require carefully constructed graded seals, a lot of hassle.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Tue Aug 05 2008, 07:48PM

Yeah, sweet dog aonomus.

Heres our Dog

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Aug 05 2008, 09:25PM

nice job fabio!
what's the neutron output of the fusor?

Actually this is only a demo fusor that runs with air (so no fusion can be made)

i have found some heavy water, but i still need a better vacuum; my pump can reach 30 microns (measured) but i actually have some leaks in the chamber and the maximum grade of vacuum obtained so far was only 215 microns
now i'm working to a better chamber entirely made in stainless steel but i haven't a lathe so i must ask to friends and wait long times for every piece!

also, is boro glass required for vacuum tubes? the only torch I can use (without a 2 hour drive and limited work ability) lasts 15 minutes before the oxygen runs out, and I still can't afford a bigger setup, so I hope to use soft glass...

borosilicate glass can be easily worked with less cracking problems but glass to metal seals are difficult to make so if you want blow vacuum tubes and glow discharge devices i suggest the use of soda glass and a really special (but also economic and easy to obtain) kind of glass to metal seals: some diode have a glass body (eg 1N4148 or some 1W zeners if bigger terminals are needed) just wipe terminals with a sandpaper to remove tin/lead solder and you have a perfect terminal for glass working

anyhow, if you already have a gas-oxygen torch you don't need a bigger setup but only a bigger oxygen cilinder!i don't know prices in US, but in italy really small single use cilinders are quite expensive and of course runs out in a short time; after i runs' out 2 bottles, i asked to a local gas supplier and i bought a 14 liters x 200 bar (2800 liters capacity) oxygen cylinder for only 150 euros (charged and ready for use), every future refill will' cost only 30 euros

............... anyhow, this is "Post Your Cool Pic Here!" NOT a glassblowing theread so i imediately add some other pics

Equipment used:

some torches

Anealing oven

DIY crossfire

Oxygen bottle

spotwelder

test items and glass works

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Aug 05 2008, 09:58PM

Nice dog Reaching and awesome spotwelder there Fabio.

Also Fabio, what's that small terminal block on the rear right corner of your spotwelder do? Also isn't the top electrode grounded by the looks of it? Or is there a tiny insulator that I can't see?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Aug 05 2008, 11:00PM

the small white terminal block is the connection to a remote switch; almost all spotwelder are fired by a foot switch because both hands are occupied during welding.

top electrode is connected to metallic chassis (and also grounded for safety, see yellow-green cable behind), the bottom electrode is connected to "hot" leg of the transformer but never pose any healt risk because the transformer have only 3,2V output (at more than 1kA peak current!)
Of course, the transformer is homemade (old MOT with shorted secondary, rewired with 4 turns of monster audio cable)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Aug 05 2008, 11:02PM

AWESOME 833C vttc stuff:

Right lower side green and brown thing with blue things is the grid leak resistors and capacitors. The white thing covered half way by red is a tank resistor and inductor. The red round thing is a 45kv 2nf capacitor.

Rest of it is pretty obvious.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Wed Aug 06 2008, 12:35AM

the torch I have will not work with standard oxygen tanks (it uses the disposable bernzomatic tanks), so I would have to buy a new head, hoses, and regulators... a local glass blower (who supplies me with lots o free glass since he and some friends buy them by 25 sq. ft pallets) said he might give me his old one if he does not need one at his school...
so far I still have to save up for it (I have way too many things before it though on my priority list, and 15 min is good enough for small things for art... but not enough for bulb making, as the flame is too thin and cannot heat very evenly, and if made bigger the tanks empty in less time...

also, with other fusors I have seen, it was not a faulty seal, but rather the seal choice... what are you using? Are you using any getter material?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Aug 08 2008, 04:28PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Aug 08 2008, 09:28PM

Is that you in the second photo wiping out?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. SSTC, Sat Aug 09 2008, 12:40AM

Arcstarter wrote ...

AWESOME 833C vttc stuff:

man that 833C looks sexy

GEEK porn

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Thu Aug 14 2008, 09:50AM

I know that threaded joints aren't vaccum tight so i use epoxy glue to sealing purposes (of course, with this method all joints are definitive, but who cares!), all taps are steel ball type, the O-ring for sealing the bell jar is made with natural rubber, i don't' use any getter material inside.

Back to topic.... some other cool pics added .......TURBINE ENGINE........ under construction..........

*************** EDIT (for avoiding double post)***************

Some Xray tube, radiation measurement equipment and radioactive items from my collection (all of these images are outdated because i buy, sell and exchange items regulary)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Aug 17 2008, 03:53AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesladownunder, Sun Aug 17 2008, 04:24AM

Taken at 0500 this am in my backyard with my 180mm lens. A lunar eclipse.
TDU

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Sun Aug 17 2008, 04:27AM

WHAT? how did i miss that!
i need a list for australian astronomical events!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Sun Aug 17 2008, 07:11PM

... wrote ...

warning-see post at top of page before clicking...
now in HD

I dare one of ya to set someones screensaver to one of those, but don't hold me responsible for any heart attacks...

Looks like you're going to end up with a lumpy thumb when that heals, but even still, I'm impressed with how well that came out.. Looks like they did a good job patching you back together.

[edit] Oh, whee, that was an old post. Ah well.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Sun Aug 17 2008, 09:00PM

My trip from Salmon Arm BC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Mon Aug 18 2008, 11:53AM

Visiting the farm this summer.

A baby fox by it's hole, there were three little ones and their mom there on some mornings.

Prairie skys I miss, we get mostly rain or fog in Norway.

The old barn which hasn't been in use for a long time.

Yours truly.

The truck is in regular use and the tractor just needs a new battery.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Aug 18 2008, 06:51PM

HAHAH. My brother has the same gun... no scope though.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. SSTC, Mon Aug 18 2008, 09:57PM

man those beutiful green medow remind me of serbia and croatia, i almost` shed a tear

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Aug 18 2008, 11:21PM

Coil winding! (Actually, clearcoat drying)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Mon Aug 18 2008, 11:46PM

Uzzors wrote ...

*all girls in area are now crazy about Eirik

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Aug 18 2008, 11:51PM

Dr. noob wrote ...

Uzzors wrote ...

*all girls in area are now crazy about Eirik

Ladyquakes

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Tue Aug 19 2008, 06:08PM

My latest CNC machined rsg disk :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Aug 19 2008, 06:46PM

WEE!!!

1219171446 1107 FT6000 Dscn3588 002 0001 Dscn3588 002 0016

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Wed Aug 20 2008, 06:23PM

This picture is not mine, I found it on one webpage dedicated to a photography... However, I like it very much

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Thu Aug 21 2008, 11:10PM

Friend of mine was repairing his car (Saab 900,

)

He wasnt paying attention how ignition leads should be at the distributor end (right output to right spark plug). He tried to start the car and after few attemps it literally blew up

Explosion was so intense that it could be heard from 1km away. There must have been a plenty of unburned fuel/air mixture in the exhaust system and it went off because of wrong ignition order. Muffler blew wide open and it dented car floor. It was quite a shock because that muffler is located almost right under drivers seat

No one was hurt but i think my friend needed new pair of underwear after that

Pic:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Aug 22 2008, 12:38AM

Kizmo wrote ...

Thats one hell of a backfire -.-

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Aug 25 2008, 01:16AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Aug 27 2008, 07:44PM

An 8watt LED MR16 lamp. These are the brightest LEDs I have ever seen. Supposedly it can put out the same amount of light as a 35W halogen light.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Aug 27 2008, 11:43PM

How much was the 8 watt MR16 Lamp?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu Aug 28 2008, 01:12AM

They are about 30$ each (canadian).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Thu Aug 28 2008, 02:25AM

Does the 8watts include running that little fan?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Thu Aug 28 2008, 12:00PM

Found a way to make identical holes in BC337s

This was a unipolar stepper motor driver, it was running fine... as the speed decreased, suddenly got a rhythmic "pop, pop, pop, pop" as the transistors failed one by one in their attempt to switch

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Fri Aug 29 2008, 12:03AM

Are you sure it wasn't a peice of silicone traveling at ultra sonic speed ripping threw eaach transistor? Niffty none the less.

BTW Nik if your interested, Ebay has a few 20watt led stars, with driver and it claims to put out 1000lumens *note: a standard flashlight with a krypton bulb puts out around 65lumens* and the price for one of those led stars....$44 and 25 shipping, theres also 3watt bulbs and theyre pretty bright... got some for my maglite.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Fri Aug 29 2008, 12:47PM

Avalanche wrote ...

as the speed decreased, suddenly got a rhythmic "pop, pop, pop, pop" as the transistors failed one by one in their attempt to switch

Hilarious.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Fri Aug 29 2008, 04:53PM

Pictures of some butterfly caterpillars and a spider carrying its eggpouch.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Fri Aug 29 2008, 07:19PM

Hi all,

Itâ€™s been a while since my last post, Iâ€™ve been busy with my new job as a technician at Aalborg University, under the Department of Electronic Systems. This means that I make the mechanical parts for robots, satellites etc.

This is my latest project at Aalborg University, itâ€™s a small robot made out of a vacuum cleaner. This project is done with a lector, for advertising the department in the public.

Cheers, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Aug 29 2008, 09:14PM

Cool! Will you call him Nilfisk to save having a new nameplate made?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Aug 30 2008, 02:39AM

I made a small joule thief with the parts I had on hand.

Also a small camera inverter circuit lighting a neon.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Sat Aug 30 2008, 05:56AM

Hi Steve,

The nameplate stays as it is:-)

It still needs some programming, but I hope it will be running within a week. I donâ€™t do the programming of the microcontrollers yet, but Iâ€™ve been promised a programming course in the nearest future:-)

Cheers, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Mon Sept 01 2008, 05:27AM

I hase a pipe...

...2000x400x9 polypropylene pipe

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Mon Sept 01 2008, 05:34AM

Ooooo....I like where this is going. :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Mon Sept 01 2008, 07:04AM

Yeah, that will really help with drainage at your property! LMAO

What the heck kinda power supply do you use for a coil that size? A polepig?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Mon Sept 01 2008, 07:33AM

Backyard Skunkworks wrote ...

What the heck kinda power supply do you use for a coil that size? A polepig?

Its not that hard to make or get ~10kVA @ 10-15kV transformer or transformer stack. Maybe pole transformer or few PTs in parallel

Pole transformers are kind of problematic where i live, 3ph power goes everywhere and we have usually quite big step down transformers (100-500kVA 20kV 3~ -> 400V 3~) feeding many apartments at once. Although it is possible to find something smaller like 10kVA but they are rare

I looked one 100kVA unit from junkyard and it was over 250kg :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. SSTC, Mon Sept 01 2008, 08:06AM

WoW, thats should make on powerful coil.

As for the power supply have you ever thought of using a large ferrite cores, powerd by powerfull fullbridges such as this one.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Mon Sept 01 2008, 11:34AM

Just been having a clearout and finding lots of interesting stuff!

This is the QRSS receiver I built/designed (in that order) for Chris's last QRSS transmission. The tricky bit was getting the crystal running at the right frequency whilst being stable. Notice how the crystal is taped up with toroid tape - I spent several hours 'inking' the crystal inside to shift its frequency, before taping it up. The thing was connected to a huge dipole that streched between the house and a tree at the top of the garden. Because I was lazy and needed to connect the dipole to the receiver inside, I simply cut the coax going to the TV antenna and used that

I never actually received any QRSS but it picked up a random US radio station really clearly

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Mon Sept 01 2008, 01:09PM

you have just taken point to point soldering to a whole new level.

It is nice though how that little thing that lots of people would think would never work can pick up a radio station from over 2000 miles away.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Sept 02 2008, 07:07AM

So after a long day of cleaning my workbench and putting up a shelf, plus tons of photography of various things... :D

Pile-O-Silicon!

Parts assortments = Nerd Christmas

Potentially crappy $2 tank cap

And last but not least, a shot from my trip to China earlier this summer: think Mideval times in context of Feudal Chinese History

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Tue Sept 02 2008, 10:03AM

I built this digital thermometer the other day, to keep me entertained during my break from work!

The unique feature is that it uses some very old (late 70's?) display modules, which actually have their own incremental counter underneath the 7 segments themselves. I've had these things for ages, they came from a clearout at my old workplace! Interfacing is simple, just a clock and a reset line for each module, amongst many other unused pins of weirdness. The whole thing is powered by an Atmel AVR (Tiny13) with an NTC thermistor.

Better than doing nothing

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Sept 02 2008, 11:46AM

aonomus wrote ...

So after a long day of cleaning my workbench and putting up a shelf, plus tons of photography of various things... :D

Pile-O-Silicon!

Where did you get the isotop devices, what are they?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Sept 02 2008, 06:40PM

ST Micro's STTH120L06TV1,

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Sept 02 2008, 06:51PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Tue Sept 02 2008, 09:02PM

Hehe, nice catch Dr. Spark. The only thing I can compare to that is the 5 inch large mouth that I caught when I was nine. It was almost as big around as it was long

. Probably one of the wierdest things I've ever seen.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Sept 03 2008, 09:41AM

The lazy man's bypass capacitors.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Wed Sept 03 2008, 05:41PM

My new toy:
001

[Edit: Killjoy was here and shrunk your pictures because they were too large.]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Wed Sept 03 2008, 05:53PM

Nice power supply

What are the ratings?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Wed Sept 03 2008, 11:33PM

My Neighbors.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Sept 05 2008, 05:32AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Fri Sept 05 2008, 05:47AM

I actually have a beautiful undercover bbq area about 3metres from where these guys are standing, with 3 bbqs!!
Why 3 you ask? One is permanent, one is a weber, and the other is the trolley hotplate kind. We take our bbqing seriously in Oz!
There are sheep in the paddock as well if you prefer lamb!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sun Sept 07 2008, 07:22PM

I'll be over in a month Lets have Gyros, I'll stop in greece and get the bread u cover the foleage and FRESH Lamb! J\k, I'd like to visit downunder but never had the time or $$$.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sun Sept 07 2008, 08:44PM

Specs on the ps is 48V 73A, equals 3.5kW.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Sept 07 2008, 11:07PM

HFsstc-freak wrote ...

Specs on the ps is 48V 73A, equals 3.5kW.

WOW! I will give you *digs in pockets* 83 cents for it! LOL. Where did you get it from? If i had a power supply like that, :0.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Mon Sept 08 2008, 09:09PM

From a member on a swedish electronics forum.

For full power u need either 16A three phase or 24A single phase.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Sept 09 2008, 01:31AM

My little collection of silicon.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Sept 09 2008, 02:31AM

Weee. Tubes.

tubes from left to right:
829B
872A
36MC6
589752-1
832
707B (not high power but really high freq. 1.2 to 3.75GHz, 125mW output)
813
809
4-400x (not sure of the last one because the tube is unmarked)
4E27
4-400C
811A
811A

All of them should work besides the 813 (because the filament is broken

)

EDIT: More tube collection

Miniature tubes

Acorn tubes and a nixie tube

Possibly photo multipliers

Strange/cool tubes

Gas filed tubes (voltage regulators and the like)

Random box 1

Random box 2

Random box 3

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Sept 09 2008, 02:46AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Sept 09 2008, 10:19AM

Nice tube collection :D

I have an 832 too. It seems to be gassy, but it's a cute looking tube that looks like it ought to have eyeballs on the ends of its plate pins

The 707B tube is a klystron. The little copper neck part of the bottle fits inside a resonant cavity, and the tube will amplify or oscillate at the frequency of the cavity. If you can get it working and detect the RF with a Schottky diode in another cavity, you'd get major geekpoints

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Tue Sept 09 2008, 10:55AM

here is picture, how have to look pcb

1220957662 1143 FT6000 Pcb Sinchronizatoriaus

and here is my summer project, very high power SMPS, he have 8 FDH44N50 power mosfet's, each mosfet have driving circuit, with 3 independent power supply for high and low side mosfet's, it give incredible driving probabilities.... ISOTOP diodes are 175V and 800A Vdrop is just 0,5V . Working frequency will be between 30KHz~200KHz.
this driver show what he can, in short circuit (output) at low voltage he melted power supply wires, which was quite large

capacitor are Revox Rifa 3300uF 400Vdc (thanks to 4HV member)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Sept 09 2008, 12:27PM

nice neat PCB linas =)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Tue Sept 09 2008, 02:02PM

Yeah! Linas, your PCBs always look like professional work! Keep up the good work.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wolfram, Tue Sept 09 2008, 02:23PM

Lots of nice tubes Myke.

The nixie looks like a 5870, nice tube. maybe you could make a single digit nixie clock.

The "Possibly photo multipliers" seem to be one photomultiplier and one vidicon.

There seem to be a lot of photo tubes among the "Strange/cool tubes"

There seems to be a HeNe laser among the gas filled tubes.

Anders M.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Sept 09 2008, 04:12PM

It also looks like a small possible x ray tube among the "strange/cool tubes" right in the center of the photo with a black base and 4 pins coming from the bottom.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Sept 09 2008, 07:34PM

I really dig your power supply Linas, but it won't work if you crimp the wire with the insulation still on. With the supply I would probably try to find some 10AWG silver teflon wire for the primary too. It can carry a lot more power at HF and it won't melt like cat5 will.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Sept 09 2008, 11:39PM

Dr. Meh wrote ...

The 707B tube is a klystron. The little copper neck part of the bottle fits inside a resonant cavity, and the tube will amplify or oscillate at the frequency of the cavity. If you can get it working and detect the RF with a Schottky diode in another cavity, you'd get major geekpoints

Hmm, an idea for a new project...
Now to figure out how to do that...

teslacoolguy wrote ...

It also looks like a small possible x ray tube among the "strange/cool tubes" right in the center of the photo with a black base and 4 pins coming from the bottom.

I don't see any that would look like an x-ray tube... Maybe you could circle it?

Anders M. wrote ...

Lots of nice tubes Myke.

The nixie looks like a 5870, nice tube. maybe you could make a single digit nixie clock.

The "Possibly photo multipliers" seem to be one photomultiplier and one vidicon.

There seem to be a lot of photo tubes among the "Strange/cool tubes"

There seems to be a HeNe laser among the gas filled tubes.

Anders M.

Thanks. Yeah, there is a HeNe laser and the photo tubes I picked up over the months from this one guy at the electronics swapmeet.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Wed Sept 10 2008, 04:06AM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

I really dig your power supply Linas, but it won't work if you crimp the wire with the insulation still on. With the supply I would probably try to find some 10AWG silver teflon wire for the primary too. It can carry a lot more power at HF and it won't melt like cat5 will.

primary madded 60*0,2mm diametre wires, last time, i was using 25*0,2mm wires, and transformator can woirk on 3KW
i wory about secundary, it's 140*0,4mm diametre

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Wed Sept 10 2008, 02:59PM

My new tetrode tube, QB5/2000. Size comparison is a ice cold danish premium beer which I am now enjoying :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Sept 11 2008, 12:12AM

Cool tube.
Any plans for it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Thu Sept 11 2008, 08:44AM

Cool tube.

HOT tube!

DANGEROUS tube!

TRANSPARENT tube!

S****T tube!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Thu Sept 11 2008, 10:21AM

Myke wrote ...

Cool tube.
Any plans for it?

A big VTTC :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Sept 11 2008, 06:45PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Thu Sept 11 2008, 07:19PM

Myke wrote ...

I don't see any that would look like an x-ray tube... Maybe you could circle it?

I spy a 2X2-A in the 2nd random box, not an x-ray tube but an HV rectifer. You probably have lots of other large rectifers too, and those are good for flash x-ray experiments.

Or even CW x-rays.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Thu Sept 11 2008, 10:08PM

Fabio, I certainly hope that broken tube in the box is not the same one you are holding in the previous pic! Please say these are not "before and after!"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Thu Sept 11 2008, 10:31PM

Don't worry, i have more than 20 Xray tubes in my collection and the giant CAT tube in the second pic is still alive.

Luckily, few months ago i found 2 medium sized CAT tubes in a local flea market for a really low sum, the first tube was used but in working order and the second was damaged, i bought the first one for a really small sum (only 10 euros!!!) and i received the broken tube for free!

Ciao!
Fabio.

******************************EDIT****** ************************

BIG tube!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Sept 11 2008, 10:57PM

Wow that's huge.

How much does it weigh? Where did you get it?

Uzzors wrote ...

Myke wrote ...

I don't see any that would look like an x-ray tube... Maybe you could circle it?

I spy a 2X2-A in the 2nd random box, not an x-ray tube but an HV rectifer. You probably have lots of other large rectifers too, and those are good for flash x-ray experiments.

Or even CW x-rays.

In the strange/cool tubes then I guess teslacoolguy was looking at a photo tube? Those are for receiving light and aren't good for x-ray production as far as I can tell...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Sept 12 2008, 09:53AM

Fabio wrote ...

Holy Moley

Starting your own shortwave broadcast station?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Sun Sept 14 2008, 07:19PM

My new toys. The cap is a CDE 2200uf 450V lytic, and the SCR, which I should have three more of around here somewhere, is C387N-- 800V 325A, 5500A 60Hz halfwave single pulse. Twas a gift from my brother, so I'm not exactly sure where he found them, but he did say he got the cap for a dollar, and the SCRs for five a piece.
This is probably the nicest stuff I have as far as electronics goes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Sun Sept 14 2008, 11:07PM

how can a puck only hande 5.5ka pulse? my studs do a 8.3ms pulse of that. that does have higher continues though.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Sept 16 2008, 06:07PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Tue Sept 16 2008, 07:44PM

Man, Dr. Spark, you always make my awesome stuff look like krap with your bike. Still, that thing looks freaking sweet! How many different hobbies do you have?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Sept 17 2008, 10:32AM

Never mind hobbies, how many different Harleys do you have

I can't afford to build custom motorcycles (let alone the real estate for a garage to keep them in) so I make do with mountain bikes instead. Here I am carrying my latest creation through a swamp that was too gloopy to ride.

This is the one I built before:

pics were all taken by Paul of bikebus.net

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Wed Sept 17 2008, 05:46PM

Eh, no Harleys here, but I have been to the Harley plant and got to 'ride' on all of the floor displays. Besides, my dream is a tuned up '89 XR4Ti (as silly as that may sound). I saw a few at a show a couple of years back and fell in love with the car. But alas, the budget of a college student doesn't allow for these kinds of things.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Sept 17 2008, 06:12PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Wed Sept 17 2008, 07:33PM

How can you not get excited over shiny things, Dr. Spark? I mean, whats the point in living if you can't get excited over the little things?

Also, since Dr. Gigavolt posted a thread on his 3/4 scale Nike Smoke, I figured I would post a starting picture of my little piece of insanity, the beginnings of a 1/100th N-1 moon rocket

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Sept 17 2008, 10:37PM

I have new (old) things! I found a Tektronix 453 50mhz oscilloscope for 40$ and a Mercury electronics cooperation audio signal generator for 15$. The scope is in almost perfect working order, the trace will hiccup once or twice in an hour but it never lasts long and other then that it seems to be accurate (made some time in or after 1967). The signal generator also works great, it was designed to test speakers some time before 1960.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Thu Sept 18 2008, 05:47AM

Huzzah

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu Sept 18 2008, 07:08AM

got me a couple synths, couple vector volt meters, and I had the plotter for a while, but its all necessary for characterizing stuff in the near future.

Next I need to get the racking gear so I can make a cart for the spectrum analyzer + synth + broadband power amp and that will make a neat little test cart ^^, which makes me happy!
The synths are 3325B's and one has the 40V pk pk option 002 which should come in handy!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Thu Sept 18 2008, 09:17PM

Matt Bingham wrote ...

Huzzah for crossdressing.

Wait, crossdressing? Does that mean she normally doesn't wear a top?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Fri Sept 19 2008, 01:29AM

Uzzors wrote ...

Wait, crossdressing? Does that mean she normally doesn't wear a top?

LOL, nope -- she just pinched mine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Sept 20 2008, 12:37AM

been doing some PCB fabricatin

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Sept 20 2008, 08:12AM

I always get depressed after etching a board because the drilling is such a pain! man I hate that part!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Mon Sept 22 2008, 06:51PM

CM800E6C-66H , 3300V 800A IGBT module

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon Sept 22 2008, 07:06PM

Thats a nice brick!

Here is some parts from a 50-60 year old b/w television set i got from a friend, I only recieved the frame with the electronics on. It was in a non-working condition, so took it apart to be able to bring it home on my bike.

The coolest thing about the components are the danish made capacitors, resistors and switches. Only tubes and a few other things are from mostly Germany :)

Abit of a related question, will I be able to drive a PL36 tube at 1.5MHz? I cant find any values in its datasheet except its a line output tube for televisions.

datasheet:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Sept 23 2008, 07:45AM

I finally got my 100MHz Op Amps for the DC - 10MHz preamp ( for driving these power amps ) YAY! so Im happy. They are LM6181IN amps.

The amp to the right is a class B amp that I was playing with for initial testing purposes and I think it will push 20W, I have yet to really characterize it but I will do that after full integration with the preamp.

The amp to the left is my power brick, and I do mean power brick! It has 6 200W Motorola power transistors capable of 20MHz operation and I want to get these guys really pushing the power hard. I was trying to get it going with a CCS and all that stuff ( with some 30MHz transistors ) but I ran into bandwidth problems above 1MHz. Emitter degeneration and compensation are haunting me!

I'll just have to see how many stages it takes me to get 100W out at up to 5MHz. I know some of you guys would laugh at this "audio amp" approach, but I seriously can't get this thing's gain stable from DC to 10MHz with a class AB setup. What I've tried on the brick would be awsome as an audio amp with the CCS and all, but it really won't work above the 1MHz range. So I'm just going to try some more class B configurations and see where I end up. If all else fails I'll buy some real RF parts and go from there. This is my first real RF amp after all.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Sept 23 2008, 11:25AM

wrote ...
I seriously can't get this thing's gain stable from DC to 10MHz

I'm not surprised, I think you are crazy for even trying

If you want power at 10MHz from cheap plastic-packaged thingies, you need to follow the kinds of approaches that these guys use:

BTW, nice brick c4r0! I bet somewhere in Poland there is a train driver wondering why his electric train won't start this morning

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Tue Sept 23 2008, 01:28PM

The first time holding a minibrick in my hand

1222176508 152 FT6000 Flameeffecttransistor

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Sept 23 2008, 06:16PM

I'm still buying books on RF amps and I haven't gotten the book on switchmode RF amps just yet, but the main goal of this amp (and I don't know if the switchmode one will do this ) is to preserve the waveform. I have a GR tube amp here capable of ~15W of power but it still needs work. The original design assumes that the phase splitter output is balanced and its not even close, so I'm having to redesign the front end.
Other then that, I have a few more books to buy, and probably a bunch of MRF parts.
I know the preamp will go to 10MHz so that's a start, I just don't know where the power amp will crap out at yet.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Wed Sept 24 2008, 01:55AM

Oh Hai There.

Halfbridge Complete (Sans Caps)

Team Fortress 2 Buttons of awesome.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Thu Sept 25 2008, 01:34AM

Damn, I want the companion cube button x_X.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sat Sept 27 2008, 11:05PM

The tube is huge and weight more than 30kg, unfortunately, the BIG tube can be used only as giant paperweight because the filaments are broken! :-/

Typical coiler's dress!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Sept 28 2008, 12:49AM

Ike was a a real pain in the ass...

Parents bedroom ceiling collapsed.

One of the two bathrooms:

parents bedroom's closet has alot of mold at the top:

And bottom:

We are going to have 75% of our walls torn out in the house because they are all wet.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sun Sept 28 2008, 03:56AM

Ouch. Hope you guys can recover from that Arcstarter....

On another note, now would be the *perfect* time to get that 30-60A 240V service installed to whereever you do all your HV stuff.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firnagzen, Sun Sept 28 2008, 04:01AM

Fabio wrote ...

Typical coiler's dress!

WHAT THE BLANK!

How much did that cost?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Sept 28 2008, 09:15AM

Hope that's not Beryllium Copper... hehe

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sun Sept 28 2008, 10:41PM

WHAT THE BLANK!

How much did that cost?

1800 eur only for bare copper tissue plus the manufacturing of the dress..... but who cares? this strange dress was made for a TV show, budget wasn't a problem.

Typical DIY radiographer's dress!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Mon Sept 29 2008, 07:50AM

Kizmo wrote ...

I hase a pipe...

...2000x400x9 polypropylene pipe

And now some really heavy stuff: (i really should not carry any heavy things around because i have this:

)

- AWG17 (1.18mm)
- 22kg
- ~2400m
- double enameled (electrical breakdown voltage 10kV)

I 'only' need about 1900m or less but it was cheaper to buy whole reel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Mon Sept 29 2008, 01:19PM

Hey, nice to see the Tesla2 project is going on! Then we would have a giant Tesla coil here in Finland.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Sept 29 2008, 02:46PM

Wow at that 22kg reel of wire! I used a tiny 65g reel to wind a coil for a coilgun and I have most of it leftover!

How much *did* that cost?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Mon Sept 29 2008, 03:40PM

All of those parts were fairly expensive, total cost of that secondary / toroid will be more than price of my car (not THAT expensive, i drive 1990 Ford Fiesta). And yes, this will be Tesla-2 as i promised about a year ago. Tesla-1 was nothing but a pile of screw-ups from spark gap to toroid. This one will be much better and bigger :)

When some real progress happens i will post it to projects section.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Mon Sept 29 2008, 05:32PM

Heh, the proverb "if it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing" applies here well. That wire spool is certainly a reel of hell!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Oct 01 2008, 08:37PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Fri Oct 03 2008, 03:52AM

ehhhhhh.........

I was playing tennis today and i saw that jeep make a right hand turn at about 50mph with 5 people in it and it went onto 2 wheels and then flipped over. Fortunately no one was badly hurt except for the driver but it was something that will stick in my mind forever especially when it happened 20 feet away from me.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Fri Oct 03 2008, 05:05PM

here is my new project, large DRSSTC, for it i have 600V 400A ultrafast igbt (4 times greater than CM300 ) so here is my new power supply for IGBT driving (+15 0 -15V )*3

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Oct 06 2008, 06:17AM

I'm trying to get my test set going so I can do more transmission line analysis, but the thing is the rack mounting stuff is so expensive I have to go cheap for now. I got the handles for the synth and the adapters for the analyzer ( $270 and that was with a savings mind you! @.@ )
But I'll need another $80/unit for the rack rails, and probably another $400 for the rack box, man why does this stuff have to be so expensive!
I would probably modify the cart I have here if it could handle the extra weight, but I doubt it could, the analyzer wieghs 120lbs by itself.

I'm trying to get it to talk to the GPIB interface here, which I dunno if its being totally successful. I have some doubts as to the worthiness of the card in the analyzer, but I'll play more with the plotting tool and hopefully get somewhere.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Oct 06 2008, 09:41AM

Did you buy that thing Hazmatt O___o

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
WaveRider, Mon Oct 06 2008, 06:03PM

Wow Hazmatt. I am impressed.. You are getting seriously into the RF world.. Bravo!!!! Be careful not to burn out the front end of that spec. an. (invest in a collection of attenuators and always keep one connected to the input.)

With your wide-band op amps: be careful to terminate them so that they see a good resistive load on thier inputs and outputs and be very careful to keep all connections _short_!

Also...good luck with the GPIB. It can be a headache, altho' it can be done using a parallel port and some clever software... It's pretty much been superceded in modern instruments with built in network and USB capability.

Drop me a line if you want to talk RF amps!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Oct 06 2008, 06:23PM

Yea that is a good point, I'll have to get some attenuators soon! I could really use some dust boots too but I don't think I should snag those from work, I'll have to ask.

The real GPIB problem I'm having right now is communication errors. I have to play with it more because I don't know if the instrument's GPIB card is really operating properly. Also the older SA's don't support a lot of the GPIB commands so its going to be more difficult to talk to it. I need to sit down with the manual and read some things over. I hope to get some comm. confirmation soon, right now I get some funky noise floor plots, so I may have to dump the window into memory somehow first then send the plot request, dunno yet, I have to figure that out.

Steve, you could get a 494 for about $3K, stuff really isn't all that expensive now. The SA cost $1800 and the synth cost $600, so its really not that bad now. Of course ... concerning the credit card I'm kinda done for a long time which is a problem because I could really use a new DSO.. heh. (2430A is kinda flaky right now).

But yes I'm really serious about RF, really really serious. See:

What I really want right now is to build some lab amps for myself and the forum so they have test bench equipment.

When I started out with electronics I was always thinking "how can I build that myself for a fraction of the cost", and the end goal was always to have a piece of test equipment for the bench that I could use again. Stuff like small ammeters, or a little RF volt meter, or freq. counter. A lot of times I just didn't have the time to really build the project so I bought the majority of my stuff. Some was even donated if it could help me get closer to answering my questions.

After some of my goals are met right now, one of my future goals is a counter/meter (a frequency counter and RF volt meter in one little package). I would like the meter to be autoranging, but we'll have to see.

Anyway, when its all said and done, I am very serious about questions and answers, I invest heavily in finding out what something really is, but you know it kinda pays off because I learn something from it, and then I try to post as much as possible here so others can learn too (if they can understand what im talking about.. not always the case.. but I try to make it understandable).

RF Amps! hell yea.. I'm all for that, I just need to get that sine wave current booster finished and post all that for the time being.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Oct 07 2008, 04:07AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Oct 07 2008, 04:41AM

Wow Dr. Spark, what are the specs on that battery bank/inverter setup? What do you use to charge the bank?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Oct 07 2008, 05:02AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Oct 07 2008, 09:35AM

Wow, yup you're definitely "committed" to RF :D

I never bought a spectrum analyzer, since I figure I always have access to one through my work.

For an RF "power amp" I just bought an old HF ham transceiver off Ebay and modified it for general coverage transmit. It gives 100W anywhere from 1.8 to 30MHz, and using a ham antenna tuner, that RF power can be forced into all sorts of places that it was never intended to go

You might want to study the broadband PAs used in these transceivers, they typically use two BJTs like the 66 dollar one you have there.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Tue Oct 07 2008, 09:59PM

New coilgun carbine body. I'll be filling it with around 400J of flashcaps and hopefully getting over 10J ballistic.

Edit: Hosted with imageshack, my new 110mb account seems to be down ATM.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Wed Oct 08 2008, 04:56AM

Um...your photo is broken, and so's the link...but the X is impressive.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Oct 08 2008, 05:06AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bored Chemist, Wed Oct 08 2008, 05:48AM

Is the colour a political statement?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Wed Oct 08 2008, 06:30PM

Lol.

Link fixed.

I'll have a topic on the finished product up in the electromagnetic weapons forum in a week or two.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Oct 08 2008, 11:12PM

Backyard Skunkworks wrote ...

Lol.

Link fixed.

I'll have a topic on the finished product up in the electromagnetic weapons forum in a week or two.

Is it only me or is the link still broken?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Wed Oct 08 2008, 11:21PM

It has got to be you because it works for me.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Thu Oct 09 2008, 12:08AM

works for me 2.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Oct 09 2008, 04:51AM

Yea looks nice, more like a thompson then a carbide tho.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Thu Oct 09 2008, 05:13AM

Ken M. wrote ...

Yea looks nice, more like a thompson then a carbide tho.

Ah yes, it has a drum magazine that will be filled with around 40 flash caps. That makes it look a lot like an old "tommy gun".

It measures just under 80cm, making it a large carbine none the less.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Oct 12 2008, 05:39AM

Been working on Turkey9's amp requirements and here's a bit of progress.

Got the box, chosen not to be difficult but because it offered better thermal dissipation then the bent boxes, dilemma... mill work!

Now before you guys judge I want to remind you that I am not a machinist, I don't work for a company that lets me machine whatever I like, and I don't have a mill, I know this is a poor job, but all that is necessary is thermal sinking. That being said, I'm almost ready to mount the heatsinks and prepare for through-holes.

I hope to get some real power out of this guy, and maybe get some sort of HF transformer in there to kick up the voltage so I can take maximum advantage of this project.

Pics for you Turkey9:

Hobbiest work at its finest:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Oct 14 2008, 02:36AM

I never want to hand solder this many LED's ever again:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Oct 14 2008, 02:43AM

Heh that is only 70 led's. I had to solder 152 led's onto a proto board for a scrolling sign i made for my cousin last xmas. Then i had to solder a zillion traces to connect them to a pic chip. Although nice work. What is is gona be used for?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Oct 14 2008, 04:00AM

Its for a audio spectrum analyzer (

).

I'll get a better video up in a few weeks once I have all the ribbon cables done up and boards stacked together. I'm almost starting to regret it now because the Fliege bandpass filters I used seem to be a little headache causing with oscillations at times. Also there are other bandpass filters that require only 1 opamp (instead of the Fliege's 2).

Edit: I've also noticed that any channel above 10kHz acts goofy (I suspect due to the LM358 being a 'slow' opamp), and that the sound source (an ipod) gives crap fidelity for the higher bands/dynamic range.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Tue Oct 14 2008, 06:42PM

Bump.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Cristini, Tue Oct 14 2008, 07:45PM

1

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Tue Oct 14 2008, 08:49PM

Matt Bingham wrote ...

If only every catastrophic failure looked that good, troubleshooting might be more fun.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Cristini, Tue Oct 14 2008, 11:13PM

Ah poor power supply lol that's cool.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Thu Oct 23 2008, 10:54AM

here is my new IGBT wor large DRSSTC, 600V 400A pulsed 800A, hyperfast

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Thu Oct 23 2008, 04:28PM

Resonant wall wart. (Don't tell my mom about the tablecloth!

)

I used two E-cores with stock 220V secondaries and a 12V primary. I got resonance by seriesing an 800nF MOC with the spark gap.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sun Oct 26 2008, 03:20AM

Not electronics related whatsoever, but for my Halloween costume:

Bracers:

Scabbard is a work in progress:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TheBoozer, Sun Oct 26 2008, 10:28AM

This was my Tesla coil in it's early stages. This photo is unedited. Shutter was open for half a second. The neon sign isn't plugged in. The arcs aren't nearly as impressive as the arcs it puts out today, but this is my favorite photo because it is eerie...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Wed Oct 29 2008, 01:39AM

Just to let old timers know I'm still around (and secretly watching over all of you without consent), here are several recent images I've taken.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Wed Oct 29 2008, 01:59AM

that first image is very cool.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Oct 29 2008, 02:42AM

I would like to Steal... I mean to have one of those mighty big plyons... Maybe even the substation.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Wed Oct 29 2008, 07:09AM

A transformer project:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Oct 29 2008, 09:13AM

Hey.. that's going to be one hell of a transformer when its done O.O. Probably 2KW conservativly.... love to see it finished.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Wed Oct 29 2008, 12:38PM

Yea. thats going to be a sweet transformer.... just look at the size of the torroid behind it. HFsstc-freak likes to play big...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LithiumLord, Wed Oct 29 2008, 03:44PM

Babe

(new WIP interruptor intro screen)
Fear of teh railgun!

(to shock you even more - this is a vacuum cleaner)

Huge salt blast

Headphone junk-amplifier

What color do you like?

'shrooms

surprizingly positive pic from our car crashsite

Neon backlight gauge

old concept that failed - last spark before the IGBT selfdestruct

whole new concept that doesn't blow - first light

black secondary in the dark is cute :)

lighter-gas "plasma cannon"

..hitting a table

the end of a looong rendering work

(full clip on my UTube profile)
Lab ceiling crash

Things won't blow if you have those

Batman lol

Coil sync utility

Unreal Tournament is here!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Oct 29 2008, 06:32PM

Those pics are nice, but I think some cool pics would be of your vacuum setup and Diff. pump.
I'm still waiting to get some free time to make a cart and set mine up, hopefully someday.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LithiumLord, Wed Oct 29 2008, 08:17PM

Heh thanks! (btw fixed a mistaken link)
Bad the vacuum system is not fully functional - in fact, it's a leftover of the better days this lab saw - the wirings were all cut off and much of the glass pipes cracked. :( By now I fixed all the wirings (in fact, redone it all from scratch), added a mistake-proof control panel to fire up both pumps (which prevents activating the heater before the motor is running by a generic "wrong-button" mistake as well as an incorrect shotdown) but I can't do anything with the glass - the gas supply was brought offline for some reason a few years ago so I even can't fire up a wielder, but it feels even if I could it wouldn't help as the pipes are very old and the replacement is still not there - hope I could use a pipeline from another system which is less damaged. So, by now with some vital pipes broken as well I even can't use the diff pump, so can get only to pretty high pressure :( Got some pics of not very deep vacuum discharge however - running 40Mhz from a part of modified medical equipment.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Oct 31 2008, 02:34AM

Matt Bingham wrote ...

Bump.

So apparently these photos were taken using a film camera, and published, congrats Matt!

See:

,computing-at-60000-volts.aspx

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Fri Nov 07 2008, 12:10AM

THIS is why a 32" LCD TV was thrown out. One damned microfuse and a corrupted eeprom.

Grrr.... oh well. at least it works 99% now.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Fri Nov 07 2008, 04:31AM

More shameless self-promotion since this is my hobby at the moment, due to Boeing's effect on local aerospace subcontracting companies. I have a lot more spare time now and digital photography is free (for the most part).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sat Nov 08 2008, 12:30PM

aonomus wrote ...

So apparently these photos were taken using a film camera, and published, congrats Matt!

See:

,computing-at-60000-volts.aspx

How did you stumble upon that one from Canada? :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Nov 08 2008, 04:54PM

Canada is just my proxy for 'God of the Internet' ;)

Actually I cruise alot of random websites constantly and stumbled across it and it seemed *too* familiar.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Mon Nov 10 2008, 03:31AM

No editing, video still of a wire exploding.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Nov 12 2008, 04:48PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Wed Nov 12 2008, 07:56PM

Capacitors... I CAN HAS THEM

210x Wima FKP-1 0,1ÂµF 1600V
72x 942C20P15K-F
Total bang energy 40J

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Thu Nov 13 2008, 12:23AM

Laakkonen wrote ...

Capacitors... I CAN HAS THEM

210x Wima FKP-1 0,1ÂµF 1600V
72x 942C20P15K-F
Total bang energy 40J

I want your caps!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Thu Nov 13 2008, 01:48AM

After three tries, I finally hit 30 on the ACT.

Yeah, thats the 96th centile!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Nov 18 2008, 04:53AM

Dr. SSTC wrote ...

Arcstarter wrote ...

AWESOME 833C vttc stuff:

man that 833C looks sexy

GEEK porn

Having a nerdgasm over there? (sorry i didn't see this on yet, it is on page 40 :P)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon Nov 24 2008, 03:00PM

2 of these babies found their way around me today, a humble 75kW motor. These will go well with a huge VTTC :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Mon Nov 24 2008, 03:31PM

excellent choice for cooling that 75kw transmitter tube

how many CFM is that?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Mon Nov 24 2008, 04:02PM

Enuf to suck u in if u walk by the intake. These kinda fans usually serve the entire ventilation systems in shopping malls and such.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Mon Nov 24 2008, 05:24PM

look's like a squished jet engine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zum Beispiel, Mon Nov 24 2008, 08:02PM

MadsKaizer wrote ...

2 of these babies found their way around me today, a humble 75kW motor. These will go well with a huge VTTC :)

Heh, I get a grin like that when I'm around big industrial stuff too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Nov 25 2008, 01:46AM

Hah, that's great.

It wouldn't work with a tube with a 75kW plate dissipation because all of those are water cooled. Unless... you somehow got that to pump water.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Tue Nov 25 2008, 02:44AM

You should make the world's biggest Rotary Spark gap TC with it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Nov 25 2008, 03:11AM

hydraliskdragon wrote ...

You should make the world's biggest Rotary Spark gap TC with it.

Wouldn't be the biggest, i don't think at least. Not the strongest for sure though. Someone built a sg with the rear axle of a car!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Nov 25 2008, 07:38AM

Build the biggest vacuum spark gap sucker....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Nov 25 2008, 07:59AM

aonomus wrote ...

Build the biggest vacuum spark gap sucker....

XO
Indeed!
DO IT!
NOW!
RIGHT NOW!
DO IT!
HELLO MY NAME IS MATT!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Tue Nov 25 2008, 08:09AM

that is too big. more power to run the motor alone then what its cooling

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Nov 25 2008, 10:36AM

Nice motor MadsKaizer, but I've seen bigger :)

1227609408 30 FT6000 20070327192855179 Image195

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Nov 26 2008, 12:59AM

Hehehe, we jsut hooked up a 1000kW blower at work but they have a no-cameras or you're fired policy :(

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Wed Nov 26 2008, 03:45AM

Its worth the risk.... =p

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Wed Nov 26 2008, 05:21PM

Nik wrote ...

Hehehe, we jsut hooked up a 1000kW blower at work

and where does this 1MW to power it come from?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Nov 26 2008, 09:44PM

It comes from the city grid. The place I'm working in has 3 substations of its own to run all the equipment and its getting 2 more.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Thu Nov 27 2008, 12:49AM

OMG. where do you work?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tom540, Thu Nov 27 2008, 01:42AM

My new DRSSTC controller, 4layer board white solder mask black silkscreen.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sun Nov 30 2008, 09:42AM

95 1228037269

SGTC power supply with 2 mot

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sun Nov 30 2008, 10:33PM

Here are some neons that I set up for aging.

This is a 555 oscillator that I built but I didn't purposefully make it look like a smiley face.

This is another picture of the 555 oscillator.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Dec 01 2008, 01:36AM

Dude those green blocks look so cool, what are they?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Mon Dec 01 2008, 01:42AM

They are 14 pin sockets I had on hand. They are for wire wrapping because they have square posts. Also the leads coming from the socket are longer than the common ones.

The output freq of the oscillator can be adjusted from ~10Hz to about 21kHz.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Dec 02 2008, 07:04AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zenador, Tue Dec 02 2008, 02:15PM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

time to ride !

Beautiful rides... Makes me want to cry (or move).. It's snowing here today, and my baby is all put away for the winter

Shiny side up - Ride Safe...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Dec 03 2008, 12:04AM

My weird eye.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Wed Dec 03 2008, 12:39AM

Nik wrote ...

My weird eye.

Denatured proteins clouding the cornea...?

Edit: Ever get that eye checked out? You got me a bit worried talking about UV exposure on Hvcomm...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
keegan, Wed Dec 03 2008, 10:55PM

MiniBrute DRSSTC Sparks

400ms CW pulse:

400ms modulated burst:

200ms CW pulse:

solid tungsten tipped discharge point:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LithiumLord, Wed Dec 03 2008, 11:20PM

neon bulbs vs 40MHz (been messing with a gen in the lab)

stab :)

thir

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
e.m.c.2, Thu Dec 04 2008, 09:53AM

Photo of my homebrew transformer:

The tank and the transformer:

The cover:

Winding process:

Me at the winding machine..

500 Bifilar Turns of 1,25 mm heavy duty magnet wire for primary
120.000 Turns (60.000 each winding) of 0.15 magnet wire

and finally 40 liter of Shell diala DX !!!

At least the photo of the arcs..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Dec 04 2008, 05:44PM

e.m.c.2 wrote ...

Photo of my homebrew transformer:

The tank and the transformer:

The cover:

Winding process:

WOW!

That is pretty freaking sweet! Do you know the voltage/current output? And is it limited? And watts? :P Homewound transformers always amaze me.

@LithiumLord:
That first pic looks awesome! (i think it was the first pic, i saw it yesterday :P)
Well, all of them look awesome, but the top is ma favorite.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu Dec 04 2008, 05:55PM

That's amazing transformer, how long did it took to wind it?

What is the interlayer insulation made of?

I think that core would be happy with just 200 turns on your primary, this way you could get more power out of it...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Dec 04 2008, 11:59PM

here are a few pics you might enjoy, especially the bottom ones for those in line for the junk box!
in this order:
"Frankenstein Does Drugs!"
"Imagination-Land Is Surrounded!"
"Manufactured Art" (painting rendition, later used in sculpture awaiting photo)
"Under the Eastern Stars"
"Camera Graffiti"
(OMG)"Monkey Tron"
(guess the location. hint: it's not the Grand Canyon)

The last two are some pictures of the entire assembly from which my "larger" contribution to the junk box will come (being symmetric, independent board design, the rest of it will function hint) and take a guess what it is! - I posted one of the chips to help you out

1228434486 902 FT0 Frankenstein Does Drugs

1228434486 902 FT0 Imagination Land Is Surrounded

1228434486 902 FT0 Manufactured Art The Painting

1228434486 902 FT0 Under The Eastern Stars

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Fri Dec 05 2008, 01:37AM

Whats the 2nd to last pic of?

OT: How much resolution is your camera? O_O

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Dec 05 2008, 01:41AM

I asked you to guess what that pic was, it's for the junk box!

and some pics are really high res and others aren't (change of cameras, but the main thing is that to make the file size proper, I cropped a VERY small sliver around some edges of the pics to make it fit under 2 megs, but I don't know if Vista expanded it to original size...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Fri Dec 05 2008, 04:29AM

DaJJHman, it looks like some sort of optical equipment, so I would have guess a laser of some sort? Or perhaps a sweet camera... perhaps a high speed camera?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Fri Dec 05 2008, 04:47AM

Blew stuff up with the cap bank. Is was 12.5uf and 2kv(7650 max voltage which is 365joules) which is 25 joules.

First one is all the transistor/mosfets i blew up(they where dead, don't worry). First is all of the semiconductors i blew, the second and third are HOT's(horizontal output transistors, in televisions) the fourth is a 20amp 500volt mosfet, the fifth and sixth are two semiconductors(idk what they are, they are freaking old, out of a tv) on a circuit board. In the fifth pic, the semiconductor on the left, the front is still intact, and the right one had all the black stuff blown off. They are the thinks with the 'tabs' that mount them to the heatsink. The sixth pic is the same semiconductors' back side. The last pic is the HOT in the third pic, next to a scr with the same exact package.

It was great fun ;).

1228452417 1225 FT6000 25 Joule Cap Discharge Pics 001

1228452417 1225 FT6000 25 Joule Cap Discharge Pics 002

1228452417 1225 FT6000 25 Joule Cap Discharge Pics 003

1228452417 1225 FT6000 25 Joule Cap Discharge Pics 004

1228452417 1225 FT6000 25 Joule Cap Discharge Pics 005

1228452417 1225 FT6000 25 Joule Cap Discharge Pics 006

1228452417 1225 FT6000 25 Joule Cap Discharge Pics 007

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Fri Dec 05 2008, 04:52AM

A random slew of parts made to look cool and fetch a high price? :D

Looks like one of the hologram projectors. Doubt ude want to put that in a junk box though :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Fri Dec 05 2008, 10:58AM

Dunno if its cool or not:

Heres a vid:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Fri Dec 05 2008, 03:22PM

Before Daniel Uhrenholt left to his new job at Aalborg University Robot Lab, this was the last thing he made on the wire edm. machine at his old job:
Cooling finns out of solid copper for the opto`s for the CCPS.
Blowing up opto`s showed us, that the black spot was on the belly of the chip. So the heatsink is designed to suck heat out between the legs of the chip. They suck like a million dollar wh*re.
The opto`s like it. Wouldn`t you?

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Fri Dec 05 2008, 03:42PM

How well does it work through the plastic casing ?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Dec 05 2008, 11:43PM

The Thinkgeek Annoyatron

Test subjects, they just don't know it yet...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Dec 05 2008, 11:54PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Sat Dec 06 2008, 04:43AM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

It only rains here maybe 7 or 8 times a year and an event when rains (funny to meet your neighbor after 5 years when he comes out front to look at the rain), hee hee.

So these in backyard are rare alsoâ€¦â€¦

No matter how long I live somewhere else, the rain always fascinates me. I grew up in the high desert of California, and similarly, we probably saw around half a dozen days of rain a year. It must rain 50-60 days a year here in Maine, but somehow it never loses its appeal. Can't wait for this weekend's snow! I'll have to get some good pictures and post them here, if it happens.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Dec 06 2008, 11:57PM

the device is optical (fairly obvious), but it is not a camera - and don't spoil it chris, since you already know...
and I don't mind losing one of the [insert number] parallel running boards, as I plan to use only one, and maybe eventually the second, so far...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Will, Sun Dec 07 2008, 02:17AM

From a hill off of Pole Line Road in Ocotillo Wells. Also, neat-o sun beam.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sun Dec 07 2008, 09:57AM

Hehehe come to Denmark, here it is 7 or 8 times a year it doesn't rain :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Dec 07 2008, 11:44PM

I'm 5 shades of green with envy over that winder! sweet machine! I have to use a hand drill in my vise :(

More toys I nabbed. Hopefully the distortion meter will help with my amplifier work...if I can get the amplifiers to work that is.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
tesla500, Mon Dec 08 2008, 05:27AM

DaJJHman wrote ...

The last two are some pictures of the entire assembly from which my "larger" contribution to the junk box will come (being symmetric, independent board design, the rest of it will function hint) and take a guess what it is! - I posted one of the chips to help you out

Is it the optical modulation and beam combiner block out of a 3 chip DLP projector? I notice soldered/welded alignment thingies on each unit, and Peltier devices to presumably keep the DMD chips cool.

David

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Dec 08 2008, 01:36PM

tesla500 wrote ...

that's right!
it is from a NEC SX-10000 tri-chip DLP projector (the assembly in question is known as a "Light Engine"
I won't be throwing optics into the box due to their size, but the board and chip (laid flat, and only one of the three) should not have a problem fitting in... the projector was HD, at 1080i

I snagged this light engine from a local repair place: the apparent issue was that the optical compound on the chip got contaminated or something, anyway it causes the color palatte to shift over to a magenta like hue... otherwise it is supposed to work fine

To the Recipient: I challenge thee to make the DLP/DMD (however you will refer to it) and make it work on it's own, after making the included driver board work
I will still have the other two boards for the future.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Mon Dec 08 2008, 07:27PM

Winder completed and in use:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Dec 12 2008, 02:20AM

here are some pics from my new CNC-in-a-pelican-case project (which is scalable from working in the case to being extended outside the case)
also is a pic from my unknown performance paintball gun rail bun's barrel...

1229048394 902 FT6000 Cnc Pelican Case Inside

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Dec 13 2008, 01:22AM

Lexan picture frame, $1
CR3203 battery, $0.33
Bright LED's, $0.10

Glowy LED's in the dark: priceless.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Dec 13 2008, 06:09AM

I like the plexy display things aonomus. They look very nice and Christmas (or just plain winter time) like.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Dec 13 2008, 06:23AM

Very nice aonomus! That would be a great present.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Dec 13 2008, 07:17AM

I'm thinking about (or rather will, once I've sobered up) a star, a star of david, a present, etc. Any other simple line-art designs I can do?

My major irk with the design is the brightness of the LED, and a reliable way to connect the battery while still being able to add a switch. Currently I have the 2 leads across the top/bottom of a battery, and a piece of cardboard is slipped in to act as a switch.4

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Dec 15 2008, 03:30AM

Here's a real SSTC... no primary... no GDT... no bridge... just a RF driver straight into the base of a resonator, drawing 50W. I'm trying to get some linear amplification going insted of this sloppy switching business because I want to excite the coil with a pure tone, but that has to wait because of work this week. Anyway.. some pics.

Bypassed my little OPT and using a CT to drive the TC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Tue Dec 16 2008, 03:39PM

Gingerbread biscuits, anyone?

I haven't eaten him yet.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Dec 16 2008, 04:35PM

MARIO!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LithiumLord, Tue Dec 16 2008, 11:43PM

Lol sado-maso SSTC :) The black paint with a weird additional top load (was just a test run with it, fixing it properly now) surely suits well with the ability to strike her own primary from time to time :) Gotta be a real S&M for an antenna-driven system - but that's not a suicide coil, it's S&M coil so the long antenna along with proper logic IC protection in order to handle the relatively high current it picks up due to it's length make the coil survive this and never blow.

This is how my radio got destroyed...

Watch the center of the red circle for the actual reason - there's a white dot which actually is a flashover from the pole into the radio antenna wire wrapped around it :)

[add]
Just made a completely random stupid drawing :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Dec 18 2008, 08:10AM

Had the microscope out for some soldering work, decided to take some pictures:
view of a 405nm laser diode inside a to can (it is 500um long in the longest dimension, and what you see is just a gold plating on top of the sapphire substrate)

front view:

illuminated under UV light

the die glows yellow! (note-that diode isn't lasing anymore (wirebond no longer attached, and diode damaged) so it was being illuminated by an external 405nm laser diode

then:
overall view of a MEMS assembly, that appears to be some type of variable capacitor. There are these very fine fingers which are all floating on a complex system of levers made out of silicon

zoomed in on the fingers

1229587541 56 FT6000 Mems Fingers Meshed

and the floating fingers removed from the device

1229587595 56 FT6000 Mems Fingers Detail

The fingers are about 5-10uM wide, and about 200um thick

(there is also a piece of solid gold wire bond wire in the image just for kicks)

all of these images are strait off the camera, just resized for your viewing pleasure

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Thu Dec 18 2008, 08:30AM

Wow, those MEMS photos are sweet. Nice microscope (how many people have one sitting around at home eh?)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Thu Dec 18 2008, 03:00PM

I have 3.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Dec 20 2008, 09:39PM

So I finally got my 200x 0.01uF 1600V FKP1 WIMA capacitor package

In Canada, capacitors come in bags.

Closeup

The pile

All lined up, 200 of them... (yes I had nothing better to do than set up that shot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Dec 20 2008, 10:29PM

Wow, nice. That's a lot of caps. You got them from that ebay auction thing?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Dec 20 2008, 10:58PM

Yea, ebay ftw eh?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
tesla500, Tue Dec 23 2008, 04:34AM

... wrote ...

overall view of a MEMS assembly, that appears to be some type of variable capacitor. There are these very fine fingers which are all floating on a complex system of levers made out of silicon

What did this MEMS assembly come out of?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Dec 23 2008, 08:46PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Wed Dec 24 2008, 12:00AM

Now you need some hardcore tats doc ;)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Wed Dec 24 2008, 12:07AM

now get yourself one of these =p

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Thu Dec 25 2008, 08:49AM

Well this is my version of the rising earth photo...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Mon Dec 29 2008, 07:28PM

Havn't had much time for HV with college admissions, but I still have a cool pic.
I hit the 99th percentile on the ACT reasoning test with a composite score of 32 (same as ~2200 on the SAT).

This (december) sitting of the test was supposed to have the hardest math and science sections ever to boot...
Edit: Yeah, I made the part of the graph where the curve becomes a flat line

Oh yeah, and beat anon01's 31 hehe
</brag>

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Dec 29 2008, 08:08PM

Today I went out to a store to buy some parts for a project, out of curiosity I asked how much the vacuum tubes in these cardboard boxes on the floor were; the reply was "$1"!!

So I bought 5 tubes and 5 matching sockets with screw flanges, I'm going to mount these to a wooden plank, stain the wood and uplight with LED's for a retro look... keep in mind the tubes will never see real use again, but better than ending up in the dump.

I also managed to look up the datasheets for the tubes and get the filaments warmed up

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon Dec 29 2008, 11:26PM

This is pretty much a slap with the clove aimed at Dr. Spark :D

What we see here is the pure essence of vintage, a Danish Nimbus (

) from 1937 along side the dual 811A VTTC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Dec 30 2008, 12:31AM

Just scored this out of the junk yard today. It cost about $5 bucks but there was more stuff attached to it. Anyway there are 12 40n60 igbt's on there.

They have about 30 more of them so i am probably going to get a couple more. They were mounted on a mega heatsink that weighed about 30 lbs but i am going to get some money back for it so i can buy more

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Dec 30 2008, 01:16AM

Thats a cool board with lots of IGBT's, what was it for?

And as for a 30lb heatsink, those things are rare, you could probably do well with reselling them to any 4hv members needing monster heatsinks for IGBT mods....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Dec 30 2008, 03:01AM

hmmmmm that's a really good point. It's not just a heatsink but a actual complete aluminum enclosure. It has a nice compartment that is large inough for 2 cm300's and 2 smaller compartments for a controller board and other stuff. Perhaps i will start a thread in the sale and trade section for these things.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Dec 30 2008, 03:14AM

Pics of the heatsink would be nice probably, just for me to drool over (no money atm)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LithiumLord, Tue Dec 30 2008, 11:53AM

My new case I grabbed yesterday for TC. Stainless steel!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Tue Dec 30 2008, 04:54PM

My 2KW SGTC with 2 mot's, i must make 360nF capacitor for a 12KV max but i have 4,2KV max from mot's.

And my garden :

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Dec 31 2008, 09:13AM

It's very nice. To get the most bang for your buck you will need to at least double your toroid, and halve your secondary. I think you have about 1800 turns there and you need to be at about 1200. Your topload should be about 2x your secondary self capacitence.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Wed Dec 31 2008, 09:58AM

Nice bunker you got in the 2nd pictures :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Fri Jan 02 2009, 07:47PM

A spark from my van de graff generator. The sphere is 14 inches wide and the spark is 3 and a half inches to my knuckle. Not the longest spark its made but the longest I have caught on camera.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Jan 02 2009, 10:44PM

I ripped out a pair of 2n3055's that failed likely due to a voltage spike (from disconnecting a large inductive load), here is a pic from inside:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Firefox, Sat Jan 03 2009, 12:39PM

This is my version of Uzzors' SMPs built inside a rackmount PSU case. I think it is probably the best looking (and hence coolest) thing I've ever built, so I posted it here. I still have to work out a problem with the voltage feedback (suspect screwed up TL494 due to accidental 22V on pin 1 while testing).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Jan 03 2009, 06:07PM

VERY nice Sean!

Is that the 15-48 volt supply? I wanted to make one, but just don't have the stuff, or the smarts

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. H., Sat Jan 03 2009, 09:27PM

Good day sir

aonomus wrote ...

I ripped out a pair of 2n3055's that failed likely due to a voltage spike (from disconnecting a large inductive load), here is a pic from inside:

this looks like a fake 2n3055 to me. I have opened a dead 2n3055 in the past (Motorola) and the die was "enormous" compared to that (atleast twice as big). No pics thou (pesky dead HDD

)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Sat Jan 03 2009, 09:41PM

nah. The chips are usually under a silicone glob.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Mon Jan 05 2009, 12:13AM

Hi All!

A bit off topic here, isn't a picture, is a videoclip:

New year celebrations..... with tesla coil!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Jan 05 2009, 12:57AM

I doubt it was a fake 2n3055, it was from digikey who usually order from manufacturers direct no? The maker was ST Micro, and it wasn't dead cause it was fake, it was dead because it got a voltage spike which broke it :(

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Mon Jan 05 2009, 01:38AM

These are both ETG shots. The first was at the base of the ETG looking up and recording (its a still). The second one was my first attempt at a long exposure. Time was 3.2 seconds with a Kodak 10MP digital camera.
first two here:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Mon Jan 05 2009, 07:57AM

All,

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Jan 05 2009, 03:40PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon Jan 05 2009, 04:07PM

It wants leaded fuel, even the substitutes aren't too keen on the engine.

If a Nimbus stops spewing oil, its broken :D

Value sparks? Its open valves driven from the upper crankshaft, rather innovative for its time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avi, Mon Jan 05 2009, 05:48PM

aonomus wrote ...

I ripped out a pair of 2n3055's that failed likely due to a voltage spike (from disconnecting a large inductive load), here is a pic from inside:

have you tried using it as an 'LED' now?
there was some pics of people doing that some years ago, if you can find the thread.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Mon Jan 05 2009, 09:46PM

6 microwave oven transformers fed from 16amp 3 phase outlet. Every phase has 2 MOTs antiparallel. Primary and secondary windings are connected in star configuration. All three ladders are in HV potential but different phase.

Short youtube clip. Transformes get barely warm but my 3ph ballast got toasted :D I will add second row of 6 MOTs there as soon as i get my 3*100A outlet installed. Whole thing will be rectified and used as TC powersupply. Will post schematics, more pics and stuff soon to projects.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Tue Jan 06 2009, 04:44PM

Two mots and 4 mocs :P I don't remember who use 9 ( ? ) mots and have 100cm spark but he is in this forum :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Tue Jan 06 2009, 09:56PM

Firefox wrote ...

Neat. I've updated the page so it actually has some information on it it now, you might it useful. I'm surprised you were able to put it together with just a schematic, some pictures and a lame description, good job!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zenador, Wed Jan 07 2009, 03:07PM

More Power!!! I'm a Server Engineer, and my server lab was lacking in available power. Our Electrical Contractors are here today installing my new panel and isolation transformer. Took a few weeks complaining to get it done, but this is what I got...

30kVA 600V Primary (D) - 208V(Y) / 120V(S) Secondary.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Thu Jan 15 2009, 12:06PM

My newly aquired panel meters for the upcoming and very long in planning still, 3kW VTTC :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Thu Jan 15 2009, 12:18PM

Hi all!

Do you like my new capacitors bank?

this beauty is able to store a maximum of 2800 joules and have a very low ESR, the following video shows the MAGNEFORMING of an old 5.25" HDD platter at about 2200 joules.

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Thu Jan 15 2009, 05:10PM

very nice! One thing i would suggest though, is make a scr triggering circuit because triggering it with a 9v battery alone may ruin it. Especially at those powers the battery doesn't supply inough pulsed current to trigger the gates properly. Trust me, i have lost several scr's that way.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Fri Jan 23 2009, 11:00PM

Rats!!!!! You'd think it would give up by now... after an entire packet of rat poison and munching on Rentokil.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Jan 24 2009, 12:46AM

My total collection of electrolytic caps to date. I'm thinking either big discharge bank for wire exploder, can crushing/magnaforming, or multistage coil gun. I picked up these big beefy lytics today, $12/piece, and they are the biggest caps I've seen yet. These sized caps are hard to come by especially up in Toronto.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sat Jan 24 2009, 11:24AM

Nice caps!

I just scored 12x BHC 4700uF 400VDC caps from England at only 25 euro, then another 25 euro in shipping to Denmark. So ended up costing me merely 6$ a piece, came in factory box with screwset and all :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Jan 24 2009, 01:37PM

$#@^$ Why does *EVERYONE* have access to cheaper caps in their country >_<

Anyway, whee, more pics. SCR + a pair of salvaged heatsinks from some P2 processors, and my supposed layout for the cap bank....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sun Jan 25 2009, 12:06AM

CAPACITORS...... really good items for really bad uses!

Small rotary switch:

Anyone need a relay?

Disconnect from mains before servicing:

And finally......... launching a disk with capacitor bank, but this is a video not a picture so is another off topic here:

Ciao!
Fabio

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Jan 25 2009, 05:54AM

YAY! I finally got my coat of arms from the Disneyland Armory.

Now I know some of you will say ... but Unicorns.. you should have gotten Lions.. Unicorns aren't very masculine. Well, you might think that, and that's fine, but Unicorns mean a very nasty fight to the death, they were regarded as the most ferocious creature on a coat of arms, and I think it's just perfect.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sun Jan 25 2009, 09:56AM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

YAY! I finally got my coat of arms from the Disneyland Armory.

Now I know some of you will say ... but Unicorns.. you should have gotten Lions.. Unicorns aren't very masculine. Well, you might think that, and that's fine, but Unicorns mean a very nasty fight to the death, they were regarded as the most ferocious creature on a coat of arms, and I think it's just perfect.

"I don't wanna sound like a queer or nothing, but I think unicorns are kick ass!"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Jan 25 2009, 10:28AM

Fabio, that's some SERIOUS gear!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
omegalabs, Sun Jan 25 2009, 03:05PM

RGB laser pictures (407nm -150mW, 532nm- 25mW, 650nm 150mW)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Tue Jan 27 2009, 12:50PM

Here's my going-to-be HF low power Mazzilli SSTC. I built it yesterday, but I accidentally reverse powered it (d'oh!) and the IRFZ44 MOSFETs died instantly. Hopefully it'll get running when I get new MOSFETs. The capacitor is 470pF. This coil is going to run at about 4 MHz.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Tue Jan 27 2009, 03:06PM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

This coil is going to run at about 4 MHz.

Why not 3699kHz ;)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Tue Jan 27 2009, 07:11PM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Here's my going-to-be HF low power Mazzilli SSTC. I built it yesterday, but I accidentally reverse powered it (d'oh!) and the IRFZ44 MOSFETs died instantly. Hopefully it'll get running when I get new MOSFETs. The capacitor is 470pF. This coil is going to run at about 4 MHz.

I think the pullup resistors will really have a tough time pulling up those gates.

The gate is 1.3nF, 4MHz= 250ns period, 50% dutycycle. Assuming 470R gate resistors, the gate will charge to 18% supply voltage during the time the MOSFET should be on. I think that's just not doable.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Wed Jan 28 2009, 01:17PM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

So would it help if I used smaller value pullup resistors?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Wed Jan 28 2009, 03:00PM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

So would it help if I used smaller value pullup resistors?

Yes, but I think the power dissipated in them would be impractical. It turns out that even 22 ohms might be to big, maybe it would run with 10 ohms, at this time you will dissipate around 10W in each resistor (assuming 12V supply), which could still be acceptable but I have no idea if 10 ohms is low enough.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Jan 30 2009, 09:28PM

Ok, so I think I've officially gone overboard and spent too much money on the cap bank :S

Casters and hardware

Total 3800uF at 450V -> 3.8kJ. The 8 big caps and 4 smaller caps give 3.8kJ, and the tiny caps (simply aren't designed for pulse discharges imo) would theoretically bring it to about 4.5-5kJ, although they'd probably explode.

A sketch diode (leaky?) next to my biggest stud SCR. I got it for free, and I have been struggling to find a nut to go with my SCR.

A plastic moulded tray from the box of caps on the shelf.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sat Jan 31 2009, 12:26AM

very nice! One thing i would suggest though, is make a scr triggering circuit because triggering it with a 9v battery alone may ruin it. Especially at those powers the battery doesn't supply inough pulsed current to trigger the gates properly. Trust me, i have lost several scr's that way.

thank you for the advice, but unfortunately i learned the lesson in the hard way

i'm also lost many SCR before finding the last configuration, now i have 2 SCR in a
really strange configuration and no more relays, i never lost any more components after
this modification

Fabio, that's some SERIOUS gear!

This was the inside of a very old abandoned locomotive (i think that it was build in 1930)

Ok, so I think I've officially gone overboard and spent too much money on the cap bank :S

nice gears, but actualy yours SCR is really small and it surely cannot withstand the tremendous power of the capacitor bank
i suggest a bigger one (aka hockey puck)

i also suggest you to build the coils only with big cables, as you can clearly see, a 4 square millimeters wire cannot withstand the power

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Jan 31 2009, 03:44AM

@ Fabio: I do have hockey puck SCR's, that stud SCR is just a $5 trinket I picked up from the store.

The construction thread is now here:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Tue Feb 03 2009, 04:32PM

I took a pic of my acoustic guitar and photoshopped (or rather GIMPed) it a bit

(click to enlarge)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Feb 07 2009, 06:07AM

Fluorescein fluorescing green under UV-near UV excitation.

Should be interesting if I can make a highlighter-based laser...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LithiumLord, Sat Feb 07 2009, 03:13PM

SSTC case WIP

Lab mess - 4MHz matching tests
Xenon tank, 100Torr

same tank, more power so the gas heated up:

evacuated air-filled tube, average pressure, exact value unknown

same tube, higher pressure:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Feb 08 2009, 03:07PM

arc in a bulb

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Feb 09 2009, 02:27AM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

arc in a bulb

did you release the vacuum in the bulb to do that?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
3l3ctrici7y, Mon Feb 09 2009, 06:33AM

Bulbs do not have a vacuum, they're backfilled with Argon.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Mon Feb 09 2009, 08:38AM

now i have 2 SCR in a really strange configuration and no more relays, i never lost any more components after this modification

S**T.....Both SCRs are become passive components!

Don't worry, i have a backup!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tom540, Mon Feb 09 2009, 06:13PM

Hey Fabio,

What type of caps are those? They look like the film/lytic things Ive seen on eBay. I've been wondering about those things.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Feb 10 2009, 12:02AM

3l3ctrici7y wrote ...

Bulbs do not have a vacuum, they're backfilled with Argon.

my mistake, what I meant to ask was if he released the relevant inert gas, I have put high voltage into light bulbs before but with very different results...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Tue Feb 10 2009, 06:30AM

A DMM showing the voltage on an NiMH cell at 1.337VDC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Feb 11 2009, 11:08AM

I found Dr. Spark's slippers.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Feb 11 2009, 12:28PM

What type of caps are those? They look like the film/lytic things Ive seen on eBay. I've been wondering about those things.

As you can see in this pic:

those are PEH200YV447BM, a high quality, high lifespan, very low ESR and ESL electrolitic capacitors made by RIFA; you can found the datasheet here:

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Feb 11 2009, 04:07PM

]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Fri Feb 13 2009, 03:07PM

Hi guys, I have small quizâ€¦
Any guess what this is? (The picture is inverted, otherwise no photoshoping!)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zenador, Fri Feb 13 2009, 03:30PM

Mates wrote ...

Hi guys, I have small quizâ€¦
Any guess what this is? (The picture is inverted, otherwise no photoshoping!)

Liquid - macro shot. Looks like coffee or Cola.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Fri Feb 13 2009, 04:05PM

Zenador wrote ...

Liquid - macro shot. Looks like coffee or Cola.

Shit, that was dam closeâ€¦ But it is not so simple. You right in the fact that it is surface of liquidâ€¦ In fact it is water in flat black jar which is exposed to mechanical vibrations (sinus wave approx 1KHz). At certain frequencies the higher harmonics creates very funny motifs and in case the light source is pointed from certain ankle these motifs can be photographed. Iâ€™m sending the original picture tooâ€¦

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Feb 13 2009, 05:56PM

2 Beefy stud diodes and 5 isotop diodes courtesy of rp181 (thanks!). These should stand up to a fair bit of power in my capacitor bank and will act to help block back-emf...

Also I have extracted some fluorescent dyes from glowsticks, and its a cool level of pretty. The vial on the far left is the hydrogen peroxide used to

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zenador, Fri Feb 13 2009, 05:57PM

Mates wrote ...

Shit, that was dam closeâ€¦ But it is not so simple. You right in the fact that it is surface of liquidâ€¦ In fact it is water in flat black jar which is exposed to mechanical vibrations (sinus wave approx 1KHz). At certain frequencies the higher harmonics creates very funny motifs and in case the light source is pointed from certain ankle these motifs can be photographed. Iâ€™m sending the original picture tooâ€¦

I assumed coffee or cola because of an effect seen on the original. Your original posted image is larger than the unchopped one. When inversed again (back to the original colors) there "appears" to be an oily residue on the surface in the white reflections of the light source. Starbucks coffee has that "oily" look to it when black. The brown color also made me think coffee.

Coffee is still mostly water though... Do I win??? Lol...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Feb 14 2009, 02:58AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Sat Feb 14 2009, 04:16AM

@ aono
If you want a datasheet for the big ones, look at octopart.
@dr.spark
How many motorcycles do you have?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Feb 14 2009, 06:16AM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

Just added a Softale to my collections of HDs.

The Rocker C, wild bike and check out the 240 Dunlap on the back!

The Softale has no visible back shocks and the 96ci motor is rigid mounted, so the engine as to be perfectly balanced and the reason Softaleâ€™s are a bit more $.

Off to start waxing and ordering accessories. Life is good!

Cheers,
Ch

OOHHHHH! Nice! Boy do i wish i had money like that. Hehe, i like going FAST. 6-7 grand and the dune buggy shall be on the road!

Got some neat sstc pics, most from when it was using 80v. you cannot tell the difference in my cruddy pics, but you sure can in reality.

With salt on topload

Breaking out of a smooth topload at 80v in

The lights light up even at 4-6 feet away.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Sat Feb 14 2009, 07:00AM

Sweet looking bike!
BTW, is that a one way put on backward at the front?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Feb 14 2009, 07:15AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Feb 14 2009, 07:23AM

Wow, pictures do not do a justice for this amazing bike! I love the swing arm mounted fender and the fold out passenger seat! And stamping the HD logo on the tire? A nice little touch that is easy to overlook.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Feb 14 2009, 08:11AM

Watcha' need a floor mat for, a Harley that new don't drip oil yet! hahah.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Feb 14 2009, 09:04AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Mon Feb 16 2009, 09:44AM

140nF 24kV tank capacitor is ready for fun :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Mon Feb 16 2009, 10:42AM

Laakkonen wrote ...

140nF 24kV tank capacitor is ready for fun :)

seems like you are mixing caps, I see CDE caps at the bottom?
Diff in ESL/ESR might mess up current sharing.
Otherwise, very mean looking tank.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Mon Feb 16 2009, 02:38PM

Got pics of the new small 4.5 inch secondary. Not great looking, but good enough to work. About 14 coats (thick coats) of minwax clear coat quick drying polyurethane, similar to what Dr. Spark used for Fatboy (and i suppose all the rest of his coils, eh?).

Need the toroid, standoff/toroid holder, and the top cap.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Mon Feb 16 2009, 02:54PM

Electroholic wrote ...

seems like you are mixing caps, I see CDE caps at the bottom?
Diff in ESL/ESR might mess up current sharing.
Otherwise, very mean looking tank.

Yup there are 72x 942C20P15K-F's. FKP's ESR is a bit higher than 942C's, but not much. I connect terminals to the upper floor near FKP's and I hope that gives necessary milliohms. They are both so stiff caps that I think they will survive.

We'll see the failure or the operation :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Wed Feb 18 2009, 06:04PM

After 3 explosion in row (10 dead mosfets) i finally got it right with CW-SSTC

Short specs: Steves minisstc, irfp460 half bridge, antenna feedback, running fullwave rectified and smoothened DC (2200ÂµF capacitor)

Running 370VDC 100% CW

1234979966 599 FT6000 370vdc Cw Newbridge

Burning skin (yellowish salt streamers, whee)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Will, Fri Feb 20 2009, 10:18PM

Just found these pics from back in '07. Apricot blossoms from my back yard. Photogenic things, they are.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sun Feb 22 2009, 05:16AM

The handheld UV light source from hell

Glowstick dyes fluorescing in the dark, the light is attenuated and dispersed by 4 layers of tissue paper (any less and the camera washes out)

Fluorescing under room lighting, the UV led's are bright as hell.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Will, Mon Feb 23 2009, 04:06PM

Pics from the Amgen Tour of California race. First pic is some nobodies, riding the course just for kicks(and to grab some cheers form the crowds). Second pic is the two leaders, Schleck(in red) and Nibali. Schleck placed first. Third pic is all the rest of them, can't really tell much as to who they are.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Feb 23 2009, 04:08PM

here are some more pics of Hikaru Dorodango (and one of these actually won me $200 at my school's Arts Festival, making it two years in a row that I am in the top two... last year's was first place for my high speed photo of the birthday balloon popping)
The Blue sphere is the winner...
S1064826965 336516 9257

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dave Marshall, Wed Feb 25 2009, 01:50AM

A 100 meter wide EF1 tornado 4 miles south of Reynolds, GA on the 18th of February. Video is online at:

This video was seen on WJET-TV Erie, PA; KOCO Oklahoma City; WMAZ Macon, GA; CNN; and The Weather Channel

I went from storm chaser on that one to Storm Chasee.

Dave

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Feb 25 2009, 12:27PM

Dave, was that your own footage that got shown on TV?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dave Marshall, Wed Feb 25 2009, 12:50PM

Yep, can't you hear me yelling in the background like a tool?

I was on the phone with the NWS office in Atlanta warning them that Reynolds was about to take a direct hit.

There are other video clips that I haven't posted, specifically one that has horrible video but some interesting audio as we try to get the hell out of its way. I'll have to get it cleaned up and posted at some point.

Dave

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex, Wed Feb 25 2009, 07:46PM

Impressive stuff! Did you link the video in the chat earlier? I had only seen the pictures until now.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Feb 28 2009, 05:20PM

here are some pics of the dissembling of my Military Surplus Medeco Lock... (the last two are internal parts that hold it togerher securely when locked, but release when the control key is turned the opposite direction from the normal)

1235841599 902 FT6000 Tumbler Perspective

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Mar 01 2009, 12:42AM

Poster I finally had the money to frame, enormous size of course, hehe. It has a little gold bamboo trim between the two mats but its hard to tell in the picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Mar 01 2009, 03:08AM

My idiot cat trying to sleep in a wierd place:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Mar 03 2009, 01:43AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Mar 03 2009, 10:58PM

8 stitches anyone? :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Mar 03 2009, 11:14PM

Speaking of stiches....
Me and my friend where in class, making slide holders. We where using xacto knifes to cut the inner square. He was using a dull blade, and got frustrated. He started stabbing the paper, and it went through. It cut a deep gash in is little finger =)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Mar 03 2009, 11:17PM

Hehe, something similar happened to me in 2nd grade. I was stabbing an eraser with a pencil, and i hit my hand. I can still see the lead in my skin, after ~8 years.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tom540, Tue Mar 03 2009, 11:31PM

Arcstarter wrote ...

8 stitches anyone? :D

Was this an accident or were you being emo?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Mar 03 2009, 11:33PM

Tom540 wrote ...

Arcstarter wrote ...

8 stitches anyone? :D

Was this an accident or were you being emo?

Accident -.- ._.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Fri Mar 06 2009, 09:03PM

My new Hydrogen Thyratron FX297

compared with Raytheon 811A and box of matches.

Anode Peak Inverse Voltage: 25kV
Peak anode current: 500A
Rise time: 2500A/us
Peak grid current: 1A/1kV/us

Heater: 6.3V/21.5A

1236373279 543 FT6000 Hydrogen Thyratron Fx297

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Fri Mar 06 2009, 09:10PM

Harry wrote ...

My new Hydrogen Thyratron FX297

compared with Raytheon 811A and box of matches.

Anode Peak Inverse Voltage: 25kV
Peak anode current: 500A
Rise time: 2500A/us
Peak grid current: 1A/1kV/us

Heater: 6.3V/21.5A

Could these be used for a VTTC? I saw one on local auction pretty cheap, I believe it was bigger (taller) than yours...

Speaking of big glass, here's "the bulb", more likely a balloon, made by...TESLA!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Fri Mar 06 2009, 10:56PM

Someone should try thyratron vttc! Make it disruptive, and perhaps a reverse HIGH voltage HIGH current diode in anti parallel to let the oscillations continue when the 'spark' occurs. Just use instead of spark gap, and it could perhaps be a cheap replacement for IGBT's in a SISG using sidacs to breakdown cause thyratron to conduct, or perhaps use a simple oscillator and GDT (grid drive transformer :)) with a step up, run by a simple PWM circuit. This might be problematic since it is a disruptive circuit, so very good isolation would be good. The GDT might be something like a wall wart transformer backwards or something. I think i will make one if i get some cheap small thyratrons. I will learn some about them, as i don't even know 'grid' break-down voltage.

Hmmm.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat Mar 07 2009, 12:20AM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

Harry wrote ...

My new Hydrogen Thyratron FX297

compared with Raytheon 811A and box of matches.

Anode Peak Inverse Voltage: 25kV
Peak anode current: 500A
Rise time: 2500A/us
Peak grid current: 1A/1kV/us

Heater: 6.3V/21.5A

Certainly could drive a pretty big coil with a hydrogen thyratron at 500A peak anode current!

Your 'bulb' looks like a mercury vapour type. Oddly enough, I bought a couple of 866A mercury vapour rectifiers the other day - which can go to 1 amp at 10kV PIV - because I thought the brilliant violet glow would go nicely with the thyratron while supplying power to the pulse forming line.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat Mar 07 2009, 10:44AM

Harry wrote ...

Certainly could drive a pretty big coil with a hydrogen thyratron at 500A peak anode current!

Your 'bulb' looks like a mercury vapour type. Oddly enough, I bought a couple of 866A mercury vapour rectifiers the other day - which can go to 1 amp at 10kV PIV - because I thought the brilliant violet glow would go nicely with the thyratron while supplying power to the pulse forming line.

Crap, I nearly bought it (for equivalent of $5, the seller obviously didnt know anything about it), but I didn't know if it would work for a VTTC...

Yes it is a high-pressure mercury discharge lamp. Here it is lit, its a bit bright...

(sorry for the poor quality it's a video frame capture)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat Mar 07 2009, 11:06AM

In the UK, at least, mercury vapour rectifiers like 866A are worth their weight in gold if you can find them still in unopened boxes, or in nice used condition.

The brilliant violet glow would look very far out with a show-case style VTTC.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Mar 07 2009, 11:32AM

Richard Hull built a hydrogen thyratron VTTC way back in the 80s, and a few others have done it since. Our own Chris F. tried it but got stuck on some detail of the control circuitry, I can't remember what.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sat Mar 07 2009, 11:40AM

It was the optical signal emitters, Conner. The TOSlinks did not work at DC. My thyratrons are CX1622 and look pretty just like the one at the top of this thread, and I was going to run an anti-parallel pair. I was so close to finishing too; I had the 555 based controller working perfectly and made this crazy isolation transformer for all the filaments and drivers, but I'm afraid I don't have the interest to pick it up again. You guys better not tempt me to either, cause I've got way too much else going on to worry about a project like that!

Someday though...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Mar 07 2009, 12:02PM

*prods Chris with a Tempt-O-Tron

Didn't someone here find Toslinks that worked at DC?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sat Mar 07 2009, 12:43PM

They did, and it was almost too tempting to get some and continue the project... but alas. Fortunately I don't remember the part number.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sat Mar 07 2009, 01:11PM

The worst head crash I have ever seen on HDD I took apart.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat Mar 07 2009, 01:50PM

My own simple plan is to use a Rayleigh PFN. The trigger pulses are to be generated by a small thyratron stepped up to 2kV and sharpened by a mesh series, all very 1950s, I suppose.

If I can make this run at medium power, I've always wanted to have a go at using a coaxial PFN, which has always interested me.

I hadn't been thinking of driving a Tesla with it, as there are a thousand folk who know far more about coils than I ever shall, but am looking for some exciting pulsed power applications that other experimenters hadn't perhaps thought about.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Mar 07 2009, 11:02PM

here are some pics of the Triggered Spark Gap Assembly that I built in a few minutes last night for a Pulse bank I am building... the item I am holding at the end with the grey output is a Pulse Transformer unit from Information Unlimited... got it several years ago... I plan to use wither that, or an Ignition Coil for the trigger spark - likely the ignition coil so that I do not need to plug into mains or modify the pre-made pulse assembly

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Mar 07 2009, 11:57PM

You could likely do this with a higher voltage capacitor with an ignition coil, but you can use the magneto from a lawn mower engine or other small gasoline engine, wrap around 5-10 turns or wire just somewhere on the iron core (placement apparently does not matter) and discharge a cap into that. I used a 680uf cap and only 12-24 volts, and i could get a one inch spark at least. I used it to ignite my potato cannon.

Also, the magneto's do the exact same thing as ignition coils, so 1 inch sparks will not kill it fast (they spark many thousands of times a minute with a few mm gap from the spark plug).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sun Mar 08 2009, 05:20AM

Arcstarter wrote ...

You could likely do this with a higher voltage capacitor with an ignition coil, but you can use the magneto from a lawn mower engine or other small gasoline engine, wrap around 5-10 turns or wire just somewhere on the iron core (placement apparently does not matter) and discharge a cap into that. I used a 680uf cap and only 12-24 volts, and i could get a one inch spark at least. I used it to ignite my potato cannon.

Also, the magneto's do the exact same thing as ignition coils, so 1 inch sparks will not kill it fast (they spark many thousands of times a minute with a few mm gap from the spark plug).

as I said, I would likely use an ignition coil, but the reason I might use the other pulse unit is that I can directly connect to the SCR for a single discharge, or let it run at a controlled number of pulses per second...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Mar 08 2009, 05:33AM

Heh, just throwing it out there so someone that does not have ignition coils can have some sparks.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Thu Mar 12 2009, 11:13AM

That is one genuinely gold plated key. Our chemistry prof had a bottle of auric (gold) cyanide in his lab because a grad student got it for free from a lab that closed down. A little bit of electrochemistry later and that key has a thin coating of gold on it. Sadly it won't last too long to wear and tear.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Thu Mar 12 2009, 05:09PM

Nice looking key there.

The blur adds a nice touch for the security minded...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Thu Mar 12 2009, 05:27PM

humm theres still the shadow above the blur...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Thu Mar 12 2009, 05:31PM

While the blur is gaussian and can be extrapolated, the blur radius was set beyond the height of the blur area, thus any details will be lost and limited resolution would be available on the (important) vertical axis. I would like to see if it is possible to un-blur a similar image but I hope people respect my privacy and make up their own similar image.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tom540, Thu Mar 12 2009, 11:02PM

aonomus wrote ...

While the blur is gaussian and can be extrapolated, the blur radius was set beyond the height of the blur area, thus any details will be lost and limited resolution would be available on the (important) vertical axis. I would like to see if it is possible to un-blur a similar image but I hope people respect my privacy and make up their own similar image.

HAHHA are you kidding me? What makes you think someone would go through all the trouble? For all we know that could be the key to your high school gym locker and even if it was your house key, who cares? It's a key not a license plate or bank account. Hey maybe you should get LifeLockÂ® for your key picture, lol.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Mar 13 2009, 02:33AM

even if someone did, they may not necessarily have enough information to make a key... for example, you did not publish the original aspect ration (and images have to be re-sized to get onto boards), there is no reference for scale in any direction (though it might not be too hard to figure out, it is out of the capability of many people who would want to try such a thing)...
usually if someone wants to make a key based off of an image a reference object such a a quarter is used, and the camera has to be as close to 90 degrees as possible, unless a lot of extra work is desired by the key maker...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Mar 13 2009, 03:23AM

Well to be daft and for the sake of the debate, is probably the most common key out there, the standard Schledge house key. Key blanks are easy enough to get and the spacing between pins is known, thus only vertical extrapolation would be the problem, and since the dimensions are standard mostly, wouldn't be too hard.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Fri Mar 13 2009, 12:16PM

Haha, my dad works at shlage =)

Either way, bluring it didn't take away from the point of the picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tom540, Fri Mar 13 2009, 05:07PM

Hey if a swirl faced pic of aonomous tied to a chair in the basement, shows up here because his key was remade, I had nothing to do with it

Although that could be a fun guessing game. "Decode the hostage and I'll let him go..." lol

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Thu Mar 19 2009, 07:52PM

*This* is how you build an ozone generator, Big Clive style :)

the beastie already cost me one plate due to heat, so I fixed it using one of my many spare PC fans and some tinfoil. Totally unsafe and puts out more ozone than a whole squadron of Lifters.

-A

"Bother" said Pooh, as he was dipped in bees...

1237492336 96 FT6000 Screamingozonedeath

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andyman, Thu Mar 19 2009, 11:41PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
coillah, Sat Mar 21 2009, 05:48AM

xkcd ftw!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Mar 21 2009, 07:55PM

What the frack... Vista has epic suckiness. Observe.

134 YEARS to copy about 430MB of files. Forget it.

-A

"Bother" said Pooh, as the MSFT Wraith bit him...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Mar 21 2009, 08:10PM

lmao, I like the way it does actually calculate and display 'days' if necessary... as if it's perfectly normal for some simple operations to take more than 24hrs

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Mar 21 2009, 08:20PM

My computer hates me 0o

The command prompt started cursing at me!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sun Mar 22 2009, 10:27AM

I start make plasmasonic II With thermal take

And my super ultra 0,9nF for 30kv cap

( for mini tesla )

And morning coffe

Blow MOC ?

It's all.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sun Mar 22 2009, 11:47PM

Hi All!

This is my capacitor bank in his final stage of development!

I had dismantled the previous one because it was too ugly and totally devoid of any security system and remade it in a perspex case with a safety charge controller and emergency discharge system; after this remake, the equipment was finally ready for the TV show.

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Mon Mar 23 2009, 04:49PM

Trying out my new slave flash. It's a disposable camera flash board with an external switch soldered onto it. I'm going to build an optical trigger for it but right now I'll have to manage with finger sync.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Mon Mar 23 2009, 04:57PM

Very nice fabio, especially the SCR stack!

You could create some interesting lighting effects. Do you plan to use it for high speed photography?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Mon Mar 23 2009, 05:16PM

rp181 wrote ...
Do you plan to use it for high speed photography?

Yes, why not. I'll just have to use some other way of syncing the strobe.

Edit: Here are two hi-speed photographs I just took with finger sync.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Mar 26 2009, 12:51AM

First Spark Photos! (at least, first planned ones) - subject being electrocuted is one of our Junior Class Rings, the texture of which offers a very nice spark patter in in the engravings...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Thu Mar 26 2009, 07:50PM

Just received these sweet 60N60s today :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Fri Mar 27 2009, 02:16AM

< bsg_fanboy >

I recreated the Adama Maneuver in Orbiter:

Clip from the show: Adama Maneuver

< /bsg_fanboy >

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Fri Mar 27 2009, 11:37AM

Another high speed pic. This one came out pretty well, I think. *wanting to build a sound trigger

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Fri Mar 27 2009, 04:06PM

Just testing the macro feature

P.S. Could this thread be made sticky?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Mar 27 2009, 10:19PM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Another high speed pic. This one came out pretty well, I think. *wanting to build a sound trigger

pretty nice! A good way to make those even nicer is to use a clear container, allowing you to see the full event, or a downward sloping shot for a better view of the entire crown...
and sound triggers are not the best for water shots, as the sound can be unreliable to set off your trigger, or it is too sensitive and goes off when not wanted.
however, a basic sound trigger can be used in another fashion that works much better:
use a piezo element, a potentiometer, a 9V, a basic NPN, and an SCR and you have a sound trigger! (the potentiometer is used to make the battery voltage varied to the NPN, such that the voltage produced by the Piezo will turn it on, and it will turn on the SCR which remains on until the flash is used up) - a good way to make this work with water is to have the opening of the Piezo attached to the bottom, or sides but I have not tried those, of the liquid container... add a microcontroller and you've got a delay unit as well (I have seen those made with 556s, but I doubt that they are good for anything other than "slow" high speed events)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Will, Sat Mar 28 2009, 05:41AM

After cleaning around my bench I rounded up all the bits found and took a pic cause why not.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Mar 28 2009, 11:35AM

lol... the company i work for advertised on Hackaday!
1238240250 96 FT1630 Pethacked

-A
mod edit: oversized image

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Mar 28 2009, 12:06PM

Will, that picture reminds me of Mothra for some reason... or godzilla...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Mar 29 2009, 06:03PM

I was messing with this mini motorcycle thing today (some of the guys on the irc have heard about it :P) and the cap+start cord that was on it fell off. I guess either vibrations or the action of pull starting loosened it, uncovering this:

Hehe, that is connected straight to the engine, and guess what sits right there? My leg :).

(if you dont like blood, well you get the picture)

And a redneck bandage for the moment :P. Just to keep blood on the floor to a minimum.

Doesn't hurt/didn't hurt, and i can walk just fine :P. Me thinks the 10 or so cuts need stitches though. Thats gonna cost :/

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sun Mar 29 2009, 07:12PM

@ Arcstarter: ouch

So yesterday I went to Hamex 2009, took some random photos and got some random loot:

An oldschool HP DSO/signal analyzer with a CRT touch screen.... wish I had the cash for that. And yes, that is a floppy drive slot on the right hand side.

Catch of the day: a 572B for $5, filament tested good, no shorts

Also picked up a $2 trashed traffic camera board (flash tube and caps still good), and 2x 35V 21500uF, 1x 65V 25000uF capacitors for $10. Also a 10A EMI filter for $1.

Parents also randomly gave me a radio scanner, and a cordless drill (dead battery, motor still good and salvagable).

Top: my scanner
Bottom: parents scanner

I've managed to pick up some 2m and 70cm ham on it along with various commercial traffic, fun stuff

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Mar 29 2009, 07:16PM

Nice aonomus! Some good loot, congrats! Might i ask what you will be doing with that tube if it is good?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Mar 29 2009, 07:52PM

Here's a 4HV first, the beginning of an arc at the bottom of a jacobs ladder taken at 1200fps. You can see the arc starts by jumping from the 10 megohm center wire to the 2 main rails of the ladder.

A video of the arc going out can be seen here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sun Mar 29 2009, 09:07PM

Nik wrote ...

Here's a 4HV first, the beginning of an arc at the bottom of a jacobs ladder taken at 1200fps. You can see the arc starts by jumping from the 10 megohm center wire to the 2 main rails of the ladder.

A video of the arc going out can be seen here

what did you take that with? I have tried to use the 100FPS mode on my Casio EX-FH20, but the resolution is pretty low, lower than that of yours, so it was not a very good image - I plan to retry at some point though, know that I have more experience with the camera (and since I have access to the school power supplies, which are more consistent to use)....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Mar 29 2009, 09:13PM

I used the casio EX-F1 which will take 1200fps but only at ~300x90 pixels.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Tue Mar 31 2009, 03:51AM

Here are a few spy shots of two upcoming high voltage projects with a common thematic design element. All will be revealed in good time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Tue Mar 31 2009, 06:27AM

Nice photography Cesiumsponge. And nice workmanship too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Cristini, Tue Mar 31 2009, 12:54PM

High quality old school parts lol very nice.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Wed Apr 01 2009, 02:08PM

My cat that likes tech stuff that gets warm. He even tried to get on the heathsink of my DRSSTC when it was running not even scared a bit.

This time he wouldn't want to let go of the nice and warm laptop

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Pylon, Sun Apr 05 2009, 07:23PM

Hi,

It's time for my pics:
1-st - fun with my vttc (6p45s tube)
2-nd - my flybacks collection

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Tue Apr 07 2009, 01:37PM

Just recieved some new pictures of the first DRSSTC run, enjoy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Tue Apr 07 2009, 04:48PM

Very beautyfull sparks ! Do you have photo with setup ?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Tue Apr 07 2009, 08:58PM

Nope just a few more video's

Firtst light

Bit better optimized.

Specs:
CM-300 fullbridge
100x20cm 1850 turns secondary
5 primary turns 12mm pipe
0.2625 uF @ 8kV MMC
Ipeak 680A
Prms near 2kW

Going to rebuild it with a double H-bridge and larger MMC, larger toroids soon

Need more power

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Wed Apr 08 2009, 08:05PM

Not my picture, but I think you guys would like this

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Wed Apr 08 2009, 08:20PM

I suppose that is why you use fuses

(note that the damage wasn't caused by lightning but rather by an electrical fire caused when the plane was plugged in on the ground)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Thu Apr 09 2009, 05:56AM

43 1239212602

I yesterday make 2th sgtc with zvs :D

Video:

Nice ? :D

[Edit: 400 pixels]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Thu Apr 09 2009, 09:16AM

We can't say if it's nice cause the pic is a bit TOO BIG

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Apr 09 2009, 08:08PM

here are some more pics of mine: a WWII Field Telephone set I picked up for $40 (Signal Corps Model EE-8-A), and some Raku Artwork (a guest artist at an arts festival crafted the ceramic, I glazed it)...

1239307714 902 FT6000 Raku Kiln Hot Pieces

1239307714 902 FT6000 Raku Kiln Pieces Cold

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon Apr 13 2009, 09:40AM

On my easter vacation I spend alot of time on the Danish west coast that is basicly sandy and flat wet plains, a perfect breeding place for some of the animals we hardly ever see in we living in the the city :)

We ran upon 3-4 snakes, about 50cm+ and believed it to be a harmless grass snake, so I went as close as 20cm for some of the photoes, when we got home I looked it up and it turns out it was a Common european viper, the only poisonous snake living in the wild in Denmark :)

They have not yet nested this early, so they mostly ran off instead of attacking, atleast I got some good shots!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Tue Apr 14 2009, 02:46AM

I bought this splendid old 0-18.5 kV AC/DC electrostatic voltmeter on ebay for Â£10 (11 EUR / 98 NOK / US$15) and after a couple of hours work it is as good as new. The wooden case has come up wonderfully. I have tested it at three points along its scale, and it is as accurate as the eye can tell with an analogue meter.

Here it is, measuring the output of a 10kV NST:

1239676876 543 FT6000 Electrostatic Voltmeter A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Cristini, Wed Apr 15 2009, 01:10AM

A lot of power sitting in one spot.

And here is somthing I am proud of.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Wed Apr 15 2009, 01:53AM

MadsKaizer wrote ...

we got home I looked it up and it turns out it was a Common european viper, the only poisonous snake living in the wild in Denmark :

A splendid picture of a viper (also more commonly called "an adder" in England, but both are correct)

Like Danmark, it is the only poisonous snake we have in Britain, and though people are frightened of them, there is only one definite recorded death by adder bite in Britain since 1900.

A few years ago, one sunny day, I went ashore on an island in the Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland - an island uninhabited since the 1930s - and have never seen so many adders in all my life! With no humans to bother them, and few predators, I saw perhaps six or seven drowsy snakes sunbathing on sandy spots amongst the heather in my first hour or two ashore.

The snakes were untroubled by my appearance, and I just walked quietly by at a good distance, without the reptiles stirring from their sunbathing, but I wish I had been able to take pictures of them as you have.

Last summer I visited Pevensey Castle, a Roman fort about 50km from where I live - and was lucky anough the see a grass snake swimming in the moat, moving along the edges among the reeds, perhaps looking for young frogs. I was standing on the drawbridge that leads into the castle gate, and so was able to look straight down on the grass snake hunting in the green water, where I also noticed some tench.

Grass snakes have a very visible white ring behind the head, whilst the adder, as you know, has its splendid zig-zag pattern.

Wonderful stuff. Thank you for sharing this fine picture with us.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Wed Apr 15 2009, 04:08AM

A couple more random abstracts as I progress on my mystery project.

1239768424 397 FT6000 3414002104 B953abcefc B

1239768424 397 FT6000 3414003082 Bbe80432a0 B

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Wed Apr 15 2009, 08:33AM

Mercury-Argon Thyratrons Type 393A

I bought these two beauties, new and boxed, to drive the Rayleigh pulse forming networks with which I'm amusing myself at the moment.

Specs are:

1250V forward and reverse
6A peak
55A surge
120A 100ms (max recoverable fault)
g1 -500V
Ti 10us @ -500V g1
voltage drop 10V
PRF max 420 Hz.

filament 2.5V/7A

You can see condensed mercury on the inside of the glass of the valve with its back facing upwards.

They are a bit sluggish as thyratrons go - best ionization time is 10us with -500VDC on the grid - but in single shot firing no harm will come to them switching 30A, which is a good old wallop at 1250V .

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Apr 21 2009, 03:33PM

A little silicon i have laying around

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Tue Apr 21 2009, 07:53PM

My latest toy. Rubber boot next to it is size 46 (european)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Tue Apr 21 2009, 09:03PM

Kizmo wrote ...

My latest toy. Rubber boot next to it is size 46 (european)

You have a lot of MOTs mister, and now a pole pig. Its like a torturechamber for electrons

What are you plans for that transformer?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zum Beispiel, Tue Apr 21 2009, 11:19PM

Kizmo wrote ...

My latest toy. Rubber boot next to it is size 46 (european)

Nice! Just one thing I noticed: The name plate says it's manufactured in 1976... it might have PCBs

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Wed Apr 22 2009, 01:51AM

Wow. Really nice Kizmo. Where/how did you get it?

Zb wrote ...

Nice! Just one thing I noticed: The name plate says it's manufactured in 1976... it might have PCBs

PCBs supposedly not that toxic. It shouldn't do anything to your hand if you were to stick it in the oil. It's just not a very good idea Just don't burn it, spill it or anything. You could get a PCB tester to see if it had PCBs. I don't know what you should do if you found it to have PCBs. I would take a guess and fill it with oil that didn't contain PCBs although that could get expensive.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Wed Apr 22 2009, 01:44PM

Just took 'pee sample' and it turned out that this transformer has crystal clear oil in it and no water at all. (total 100kg of oil)

It may be PCB oil but i dont care as long as it stays where it should be.

Im really impressed that 33years old transformer dont have any water or dirt in its oil. First arcs soon.. :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Wed Apr 22 2009, 06:04PM

You can test for PCB oil a few ways:

1. Take a container of water, and drop a few drops of the oil in.
Regular oil floats
PCBs will SINK to the bottom
Remember to get rid of the container, clearly, don't drink from it...
2. Carefully burn the oil, PCBs will burn with a smoky flame due to being highly aromatic and substituted with chlorines.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Apr 23 2009, 03:53AM

I set up my 872A just to see what the glow looked like in real life. I used a rewound MOT for the filament. I used a 25V transformer and a 200W lamp connected to the plate and the filament (I wasn't sure if I needed it but I just put it there for safety). The glow appears brighter in the pictures than in real life. What might be causing the glow above the anode? There shouldn't be much current flowing (if at all) in that region of the tube.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Thu Apr 23 2009, 04:14AM

Hey an 872A! I just bought a few for project in progress.

[edit, just realized you applied 25V to the anode, not the filament, whew!]

Did you follow typical procedure for firing up a mercury vapor rectifier? Mercury rectifier tubes are not as easy going as normal rectifier tubes and require some kid gloves and procedural prepping, as well as stable temperatures that aren't too hot or too cold. It looks like the mercury in your tube hasn't even vaporized completely yet. I can see tons clinging to the wall up top. Its probably stuck all over the anode plate and the walls, hence why it's got funky glowing distribution.

This is a factory precautionary prep sheet that was in the box that my NOS Sylvania 866A came in:

Mercury condensation

Insure that all mercury, which during shipment has become lodged within the tube elements and in the upper bulb region, is distilled to the lower section of the tube before applying anode voltage. The procedure recommended to so "condition" the tube is as follows:

1. Invert the tube in such a manner as to release any mercury trapped in the anode, grid, or cathode structures. Then slowly return the tube to an upright position.

2. Tap the tube lightly to release any large globules of mercury hanging on the bulb walls.

3. Apply filament voltage only and allow the tube to heat until all mercury has been completely distilled from the top of the tube as indicated by the disappearance of the silver coating inside the bulb. The time necessary to accomplish will range from 15 to 90 minutes, depending on the tube and the conditions of ventilation. The time can be greatly reduced by temporarily covering the top of the tube with a cloth blanket.

4. Once the tube has been conditioned as described above, no further treatment is needed unless the tube is removed from the socket and inverted.. To eliminate delay in replacing tubes, it is well to have one or more spares which have been previously conditioned and carefully stored in an upright position.

Anode voltage

Where practical, it is advisable to "break in" a new tube by gradually increasing the applied anode voltage. If no voltage adjustment is available, starting the tube at reduced current is recommended.

Most equipments are provided with a time delay relay to insure that filament heating time is observed. In no instance, however, should anode voltage be applied until the condensed mercury temperature, measured at the location indicated on the tube data sheet, is above the minimum allowable condensed mercury temperature. This requirement is particularly important when it is necessary to start operation at low temperatures as the mercury heating time may greatly exceed the cathode heating time provided by the time delay relay.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Apr 23 2009, 05:22AM

Ah, I didn't know about the part that all of the mercury has to be vaporized. I did have a fan blowing air on one side to cool it so more mercury condensed on that side (the left side in the pictures). I did let the tube warm up for 30-45 seconds before applying any plate voltage though. I don't plan to do much with this tube yet. I just turned it on to see the glow and take a couple pictures of it. Thanks for finding that information. I'll condition it when I find a use for it.

EDIT: "Although low-pressure mercury arcs (all tubes presented here work at internal pressures below athmospheric pressure) emit most of their radiation in the short ultra violet-range (254 nm, the "typical" Hg-line), the visible blue light being only the smallest part of the emitted spectrum, there is - as far as we know today - hardly any danger from this radiation: The glass bulbs absorb this part of the spectrum the stronger the shorter the radiation wavelength will get, so there will almost nothing of the dangerous radiation (below 300 nm wavelength - its energy being limited by the voltage drop - about 15 eV max) come out of the tube. The short-UV-dose you get at each thunderstorm lightning you look at is much higher!"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Apr 25 2009, 04:13AM

Its hammer time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Sat Apr 25 2009, 05:55AM

You mean new hammer time. :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Sat Apr 25 2009, 07:41AM

A hammer shouldn't split like that...looks like the wood grain was 90 degrees off axially.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Apr 25 2009, 08:10AM

Lol @ new hammer time

Uzzors, maybe you're applying too much anode current? The volt drop of a mercury rectifier is about 10V. What's the resistance of your lamp?

I have a couple of mercury rectifiers, and they just show a cloud of plasma that comes out of the cathode spout and hits the plate. I've never seen it go round the back of the plate.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Apr 25 2009, 08:33AM

The cloud is very dim compared to the actual space between the filiment and the plate. I dicided, since I am not sure that there is no UV emmitied, that I will stop messing around with it and wait till I get some UV protection for under 400nm (375nm and below would be fine too). Does anyone know of some material that blocks around 356nm and 238nm?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sun Apr 26 2009, 10:59PM

I've just bought this splendid pair of diode rectifiers from Lithuania for just Â£14.25 (NOK 137, US$ 21). Postage was only Â£2 - (about $3) and no import taxes to pay now that Lithuania is part of the EU.

Va 55kV RMS
Ia 150mA.

They are 180mm tall.

Are these 'cool pix' as the thread has it? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose, and they look lovely to me!

The two of them together will make quite a voltage doubler!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TheBoozer, Mon Apr 27 2009, 12:34AM

I'm in the process of building a DRSSTC based on Steve Ward's controller. I don't have the IGBT's yet, but I do have a bunch of bricks laying around. To see how well this board performs, I slapped together a full bridge using a pair of cm100dy12h's. This assembly looks neat to me, scary to my family, and maybe interesting to the forum members, so here it is. :)

I live in 60hz land. The DC bus is 170vdc. The coil is a measured 5.6uH, the tank cap is 2.5uF @ 5600vdc or 2100vac. The electrolytics total 7820uF and, wow, get dragged down to 138vdc while the system is running at 12.5arms. Scope shows that it runs at around 42khz.

The DRSSTC controller is set to max pulse width. That's around 250uS. I use the BPS potentiometer to control the current pulled from the wall. The OCD is set to about 420a. It really kicks in when the pipe is removed. :) The highest recorded temperature was 958 degrees farenheight. My thermometer won't go higher than that, but the pipe was glowing a bit. :)

Current through the coil peaks at 400a. After a few minutes of runtime is settles down to 350a. I can't figure out why. I tried two different tank cap assemblies, I keep the IGBT heatsink below 110 degrees. I guess I'll just have to keep beefing up the DC connections?

Not bad for a pair of cm100dy12h's is it? Or is this a poor way of load testing the IGBT's? I guess I'll hafta wait and see what happens in an actual Tesla coil configuration.....

Rich

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Mon Apr 27 2009, 02:50AM

Some rare Westinghouse 5V filament transformers in bakelite. Two out of three survived shipping

but luckily I only need one.

Not shown are another two nearly identical transformers at 10V output. Both survived shipping. I will be using these in an upcoming project involving a pair of JAN810 tubes and a 872A mercury vapor rectifier.

rectifier

1240800432 397 FT6000 3471307651 E3def4d642 B

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Mon Apr 27 2009, 02:57AM

Cesiumsponge wrote ...

Some rare Westinghouse 5V filament transformers in bakelite. Two out of three survived shipping

I just recently brought a pair of 816 mercury vapour rectifiers (PIV 7.5 kV/ Ia 500mA) and a pair of mercury-argon thyratrons to experiment with, so I'll be very interested to see how your set up works out.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Mon Apr 27 2009, 03:47PM

If anyone happens to want to use these, Fair Radio Sales has a quantity of the 5V 7.5A transformers available for $24 each. It uses the 4-pin jumbo bayonet socket, same as the 810, 211, 872A, 838, 845, etc. I can't think of a tube with this socket size and a 5V filament transformer other than the 872A rectifier though.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Apr 27 2009, 10:57PM

here are some photos of my work-in-progress Capacitor Bank... still choosing a charging circuit, but whatever it is it will have to fit in the Pelican case as well... and here is a link to some Lightning filmed on my high-speed camera: Youtube
for the lightning I used 210 Frames per Second, but will bump it up to 420, or 1000 FPS next time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Tue Apr 28 2009, 01:52AM

Not sure i would want to take that suitcase through airport security.

Nice setup, what is the energy rating?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Apr 28 2009, 02:10AM

What are you planning to use that for? And how is the triggered spark gap working out for you?

Also, if it were me I would put the capacitors in dangerous end down, so that you don't have to worry about exposed hv where hands can reach (although a piece of plexiglass over that half of the case would work as well).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Apr 28 2009, 02:42AM

... wrote ...

What are you planning to use that for? And how is the triggered spark gap working out for you?

Also, if it were me I would put the capacitors in dangerous end down, so that you don't have to worry about exposed hv where hands can reach (although a piece of plexiglass over that half of the case would work as well).

Electro-Kinetics, and i have a large piece of plexi I am cutting to place over the caps... as for the triggered gap, I have not tested it, yet...

Also, mounting dangerous end down is a nice safety feature, but it makes design considerations a pain for structural support, making/breaking connections, and service...

ADDITION:

teslacoolguy wrote ...

Not sure i would want to take that suitcase through airport security.

Nice setup, what is the energy rating?

each of the larger caps is rated for 700J, with the smaller caps in a parallel-series arrangement (big and small in parallel and the two pairs in series, they are around 1560J)
However, I have more of the larger caps coming soon, and they will replace the smaller caps as they are too small, and make the design horrifically inefficient...

as for airport security, yeah... I may have to ship it when I go to college

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Apr 28 2009, 05:10AM

Finally finished my MOT clamp. I wish I had more tools and were better at working with metal...

All I need to do is make a form from wood and wind 16awg wire on it for the secondary.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Tue Apr 28 2009, 01:25PM

Myke wrote ...

Finally finished my MOT clamp. I wish I had more tools and were better at working with metal...

It looks a solid piece of work, Myke.

Is it possible ever to have enough tools?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Apr 28 2009, 02:32PM

The boat anchor (40A+, 13.8V PSU) takes shape.

Update: PSU Finished, everything is to spec except the capacitors (which are undersized).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat May 02 2009, 04:40AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Plasma Lover, Sat May 02 2009, 05:20AM

Is it a neon bulb string in a helix being used as a top load?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat May 02 2009, 04:36PM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

what is this?

An ion spinner with some salt or perhaps a combustible liquid on the breakouts?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat May 02 2009, 05:15PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Noelle, Sat May 02 2009, 10:22PM

Chris Russell and I went out geocaching today, so I took some photos while we were out in the woods. I saw the biggest woodpecker holes I've ever seen in my life..

3495367392 Db8154e67d O

[Edit: Oversized picture]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat May 02 2009, 11:18PM

My goodness! I've never seen a woodpecker nest before, but thought it would be a tiny hole, like a mouse hole!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Noelle, Sun May 03 2009, 12:23AM

Usually they are fairly tiny! But these were just huge as heck, about 3 inches across.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sun May 03 2009, 12:32AM

Isn't it strange that the bird hasn't disturbed the hanging strands of sap or resin?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
jeffomatic, Sun May 03 2009, 08:14AM

My tesla coil discharges to a bike hanging from the ceiling

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun May 03 2009, 02:09PM

An excellent example of what not to do.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Thu May 07 2009, 06:45AM

Finished up some cable lacing. Beats the pants off of zipties!

1241678647 397 FT6000 3481437989 143bb44ebc B

1241678647 397 FT6000 3509029261 Be52afea61 B

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu May 07 2009, 07:48AM

Yea we should bring back old school lacing, its purrdy (for those of you who don't understand that its pronounced "purr dee" slang for pretty)

Heh... I'm using turrets too come to think about it HAHAH.. guess I am just old school!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tonskulus, Thu May 07 2009, 09:51AM

One of my 6 highvoltage diodestrings. 60kV and enough amps..

I had some time to be wasted so..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu May 07 2009, 07:57PM

Tonskulus wrote ...

One of my 6 highvoltage diodestrings. 60kV and enough amps..

I had some time to be wasted so..

Wow, those are some NICE diodes. I LOVE that art you made, very creative. I think this will tickle Dr. Spark :D. Hehe, reminds me of FastMhz's electronics art :D.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Thu May 07 2009, 08:53PM

Low power test of my 3~ tranny :)

...maybe 35kVDC and 20kVA? (current ballast will cause huuuge drop in input voltage -> should be 50kV with proper ballast)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zonalklism, Fri May 08 2009, 02:10AM

Some random stuff I've been doing lately. The first one was me trying to be super-cool while playing Halo 3 at the same time. (Yes, that shirt does indeed say, "got robots?")

3374722913 F9e0f689b3

Amateur chemistry ftw!

3422365902 032d28a73e

Me, after losing a bet...

3446375792 Aeba251a2b

I just got an airbrush to paint bodies for my Jato 3.3

3445559915 1a02e49426

Another pic of my Jato 3.3 (There's a stenciled airbrushing of Rei Ayanami in the background.)

[Edit: Maximum image size is 400 pixels]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Fri May 08 2009, 05:58AM

Kizmo wrote ...

(current ballast will cause huuuge drop in input voltage -> should be 50kV with proper ballast)

Isn't that what it should do? If ballast did drop no voltage, well, then it would not ballast!

If you think magnetizing current is dropping the open circuit voltage, I wouldn't think so, these distribution transformers are designed with a huge overhead when it comes to core saturation...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Fri May 08 2009, 01:11PM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

Kizmo wrote ...

(current ballast will cause huuuge drop in input voltage -> should be 50kV with proper ballast)

Isn't that what it should do? If ballast did drop no voltage, well, then it would not ballast!

If you think magnetizing current is dropping the open circuit voltage, I wouldn't think so, these distribution transformers are designed with a huge overhead when it comes to core saturation...

Well im not sure but i measured idle sec. voltage and it was 180-195V (230V)

Under load it drops below 100V

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri May 08 2009, 07:24PM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

Yea we should bring back old school lacing...

I'll pass on that

the unit below is one of a roomful of similar units, which I am repairing at the moment. All have different faults and I have used probably over 150 zip ties in the last week putting the wiring back... If I had to relace all these buggers I would be going completely nuts by now

Having said that, one of the wiring looms on the PCB is laced - and that's the only one I haven't had to touch yet!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Fri May 08 2009, 09:51PM

My new baby ;]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat May 09 2009, 11:41PM

A lightning photograph I took/enhanced... I used my Casio EX-FH20 High Speed Camera @ 210FPS to get a basic video (which was not very smooth) but i then merged several frames for said video to get this:

1241912503 902 FT6000 Lightning Intergrated 03 Copy 1

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Sun May 10 2009, 01:57AM

I just spent two weeks working as an in-turn at a big-ass paper factory. An interesting experience, and i'd love to do it again!

I feel kinda bad for not taking more pictures, i really do. I had a busy schedule, and I also forgot my camcorder AND digital camera at home, and i hate myself for that

But but i got time to take a few, with my cell phone that is, and here they are.

Vaccum pump, tandem centrifugal fan style. That asynchronous induction motor is *only* 1500kW.

Da Wood Chipper! The chipper disk holding the knives is visible in the up-right corner (it is shut off for maintenance). That disk is 4,5m wide, and driven to 500rpm by the 4 motors, each at 375kW. A 4m long trunk, two feet wide is chopped up in under two seconds! That is an astonishing sight!

This room is hot and noisy! That odd container is a huge motor, and they have about 15-20 of these. They run the paper mass mills that tear the woodchips into individual wood fibers. The third pic is the two "millstones" from one of them being overhauled.

The process involves a lot of hot water and steam. Some of the steam is reused and turned back into electrisity in this 8MW turbine. They burn bark to heat the process water.

While im at it, here are two pics without any relevance at all:

Snapshot from my visit at the candy factory a few months back.

At least one of them is mine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun May 10 2009, 04:31PM

Renesis, was this the Norske Skog paper mill? A guy from our research group was at Norske Skog last autumn, and he was doing partial discharge measurements on the big multi-megawatt motors that drive the pulp grinders. The pictures he brought back looked identical to your "odd container", so I'm going to guess that it might be the same place.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Sun May 10 2009, 07:06PM

Renesis, was this the Norske Skog paper mill? A guy from our research group was at Norske Skog last autumn, and he was doing partial discharge measurements on the big multi-megawatt motors that drive the pulp grinders. The pictures he brought back looked identical to your "odd container", so I'm going to guess that it might be the same place.

That's right Steve. When the last two of these pulp mills was installed, they were the biggest of their kind in the entire world. The other older mills are slightly smaller, the smallest are 8,5MW if i remember correctly.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon May 11 2009, 06:29PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon May 11 2009, 08:17PM

Just bought today, almost a steal, 40 euro for a 3x6A variac :D

Good size for a bench experiment supply, it can push about 4200W

I am not sure its 6A, but its atleast 6A.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Mon May 11 2009, 08:18PM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

Finally, after 6 months of searching, found the perfect Stancor / Triad 9VRMS 1kVa Filament Transformer for my new bottle. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet indeed!

Spark on,

That is INDEED a sweet tube! That sure is a heck of a filament transformer too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue May 12 2009, 05:27AM

So I got a new (expensive!) gadget. I got the Yaesu FT-857 radio (the scanner on-top I already had). I ran it off a battery I have for this photo, but otherwise it will be powered by a beefy PSU.... once I get my license that is.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue May 12 2009, 06:29AM

HAHAHHA!! I told you battery!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Fri May 15 2009, 01:23AM

These pics are of my first tube stuff that I designed.
This is a picture of the very first tube thing I designed without the use of schematics or design plans. I just used the data sheet for the 9002 and messing around with the values to see what did what. It's just a basic amplifier that I built for proof of concept purposes.

This is a Clapp oscillator that uses the 12BE6. I chose this tube because it can have a signal fed into the third grid for audio modulation. I found the general layout of the Clapp oscillator in a small transmitter schematic. I replaced the crystal with a cap and inductor in series. Right now, my scope's calibration is all weird so I can't measure the exact freq but I calculated it to be about 8MHz.

Here is the scope trace of it. The green area above the actual signal is caused by the ripple in the power supply. I didn't have a good filtered supply for the plate so I used two 12V transformers to be used for isolation and also for the filament supply.

Here's the ripple that's seen on the output. I know... it's a lot of ripple but this is seen though a DC blocking cap.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri May 15 2009, 03:28AM

some various Pics from my Atomic Collection... some came from Teachers, some from trades, eBay, and Chemical Suppliers...
Autinite Uranium Ore (with and without a Black light)
my Radioactivity Container of Lead (a "PIG")
a piece of Trinitite
a tube of Trinitite fragments
a piece of Uranite Uranium Ore, a little smaller than my hand
a piece of Uranium Metal (99.99% pure)
a Uranium Glass Marble (I have a full set and do actually play marbles with them)

1242358093 902 FT6000 Uranium Marble Macro

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Lakeowner, Fri May 15 2009, 11:44PM

aonomus wrote ...

So I got a new (expensive!) gadget. I got the Yaesu FT-857 radio (the scanner on-top I already had). I ran it off a battery I have for this photo, but otherwise it will be powered by a beefy PSU.... once I get my license that is.

Congratulations for your new rig! Hope you get your licence soon. Nice Powerpoles there, too :).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat May 16 2009, 03:28PM

I got my stuff from ebay the other day. 4 Mosfet / Peltier heatsinks (24-fin) for $15 after shipping (Works great with my peltiers.) I also got 6 fans for $12 after shipping, to help my peltiers cool. I planned to maybe someday use these heatsinks for my mosfets, maybe for a mini SSTC, but for now they work very good with my peltier :) Frost is fun!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat May 16 2009, 06:51PM

here are some Pics of Fireworks I took last night at a Texas Rangers baseball game...

I will update this post with a link to some semi-slow motion youtube videos in a few minutes... the uploader might take a while though, does anyone know if certain codecs upload faster by chance?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun May 17 2009, 10:04PM

Nice IGBT explosion photos

800 Amps is just... 800 amps. It just sounds good. This is a panel I made at work last week, and sprayed matt black, before fitting those meters, which can go up to 800 amps. Eight Hundred Amps. I'd better not have any more beers, I've got to test it tomorrow!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun May 17 2009, 10:53PM

The headless biker strikes again!
And again!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Mon May 18 2009, 03:36AM

This curious sack showed up at my doorstep this Saturday.

Inside was something much better than potatos!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Mon May 18 2009, 10:54AM

Cesiumsponge wrote ...

Inside was something much better than potatos!

How does the tuning work?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Mon May 18 2009, 11:27AM

A lovely piece of kit, Kilo!

Did you but have eight pieces like this you should have a C&W of real power!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Thu May 21 2009, 08:35AM

(IM)proper use of HOT GLUE!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat May 23 2009, 02:37AM

Fabio, No offence but i'll laugh when the hotglue on the speaker gives way over time and comes smashing down on your desk or w/e

I went online, and got a free sample of a peltier, yay!

Old guy on top
new 62X62 inch peltier on bottom

Free!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Sat May 23 2009, 04:11PM

Messing with HDRi. I couldn't afford buying Photomatix or Photoshop, so I decided to try out Qtpfsgui, which is open source software and works on Linux, too! I got some rather interesting results.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat May 23 2009, 09:28PM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Messing with HDRi. I couldn't afford buying Photomatix or Photoshop, so I decided to try out Qtpfsgui, which is open source software and works on Linux, too! I got some rather interesting results.

Very nice results! - particularly in the clouds and water portions - better than what I've got with photoshop so far... then again I don't have the option of a cable release for my camera so a lot of my pics become offset

anyways, I think I might give that piece of software a try, because I won't have access to photoshop until school begins next year.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Sun May 24 2009, 10:12AM

DaJJHman wrote ...

Very nice results! - particularly in the clouds and water portions - better than what I've got with photoshop so far... then again I don't the option of a cable release for my camera so a lot of my pics become offset

anyways, I think I might give that piece of software a try, because I won't have access to photoshop until school begins next year.

Thanks! Qtpfsgui is really worth a try. It has many different tone mapping algorithms that provide different results. One can produce two differently tonemapped pictures and then blend them together in GIMP. That way it is possible to produce very personal looking pictures.

For the offset problem, Qtpfsgui has a very efficient automatic aligner - I think it is even more efficinent than the one in Photomatix. I haven't got a tripod for my camera yet so I just have to shoot handheld.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sun May 24 2009, 03:39PM

Fabio, No offence but i'll laugh when the hotglue on the speaker gives way over time and comes smashing down on your desk or w/e

Don't worry!

If you look closer, (click on the tumbnail once, a bigger photo appear in a new window, than click on this photo to see a full resolution pic) you can clearly see that there are no speakers glued on the wall but just a PAPER CONE coming from an old speaker.

some metallic items (the hard disk drive and the plates for example) was preheated at about 50CÂ° with a blowtorch or a hot air gun and immediately glued for promoting the adhesion of the hot glue,
finally, the protuding glass dolphin was fixed to the wall with anchor, screw......... and hot glue of couse

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun May 24 2009, 03:55PM

Awhile ago I made a snubber circuit for my flyback to help prevent spikes and stuff. I learned 2 things with it.

1: With correct hookup, I get thin arcs, but i can go as long as 5 inch (75V) with a flyback. Multi-stringed 5 inch arc.
2: If reversed, I get THICK ZVS-like arcs from 1 inch (20V) to 3 near 4 inch (75V) Shorter, but THICK and white.

I found that my mosfet never got warm, even without the snubber. However the snubbers resistor gets extreamly hot if its not sinked. I use to have a diode on the resistor, until i found its under-rated. 1000V 1A 1n4001. Poor thing smoked a tad. Put a 1000V 6A on it, nope, still did. So i cut that all out.

as you might have noticed, theres some redish crap all over the cap and the side of the resistor..My first Varistor, well, It kinda had a little issue, super smoke bomb. SO. I cut the varistor off my 120V switch I hacked off a old radio, and well, Doesn't even get warm :) She works! You can also see a 4001 hiding under the resistor :D Too bad its not connected due to overheating.

*Diode connected = Diode hot, resistor cool. No diode, Resistor hot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Tue May 26 2009, 02:23PM

Weighing in at exactly 1046g we have here a 67mm wide, 90mm heigh and 150mm deep heatsink, actually there is a total of 8 of these sweet babies.

On top we have 4x IXYS 60N60 IGBTS enjoying the mountaintop view over my desk :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue May 26 2009, 02:54PM

Killa-X wrote ...

Awhile ago I made a snubber circuit for my flyback to help prevent spikes and stuff. I learned 2 things with it.

1: With correct hookup, I get thin arcs, but i can go as long as 5 inch (75V) with a flyback. Multi-stringed 5 inch arc.
2: If reversed, I get THICK ZVS-like arcs from 1 inch (20V) to 3 near 4 inch (75V) Shorter, but THICK and white.

I found that my mosfet never got warm, even without the snubber. However the snubbers resistor gets extreamly hot if its not sinked. I use to have a diode on the resistor, until i found its under-rated. 1000V 1A 1n4001. Poor thing smoked a tad. Put a 1000V 6A on it, nope, still did. So i cut that all out.

Umm, that diode was supposed to be uf4007! It has to be ultrafast, otherwise it will stick halfway on and be linear and heat. Needs to be high voltage, too. The spikes are likely pretty high.

@Mads. You depress me XD. That is just awesome.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat May 30 2009, 07:22AM

I decided to post my pics here because I'm not fully done, and it will be a delayed project until my older brother moves up to Michigan this weekend. Once I get more going, I'll post a thread for a project. For now, here.

Pic 1: With a flash, you can tell I used 2 different spools. I can't buy stuff because of my brother moving, so I'm making things with what I have, many transformers. The transformer covered 6.25 inches of a 2 inch PVC pipe. Then I had extra from a previous one, and finished it to 10 inches. NOTE:It's NOT done. I have to varnish it, trim the bottom to balance it, and cut the top off. Right now I'm adding 2 knex wheels at the ends for a motor shaft to spin while i varnish it. Then i will cut 3 inches off the top.

Pic2: No flash
Pic3: Possible topload maybe. Not sure.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sun May 31 2009, 01:24AM

dabbling with Qtpfsgui for the first time... used some old photos I took for my first attempts at HDRs of my backyard

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TheBoozer, Mon Jun 01 2009, 11:41PM

I assembled a very odd arrangement with my 1st DRSSTC. I thought it was kinda interesting to see a 42 inch arc coming from a 2 inch by 8 inch toroid...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
LithiumLord, Tue Jun 02 2009, 11:17AM

Lol!
Make a fake primary on the bottom topload (sry, didn't intend it to sound that silly, "bottom topload" lol) and it will be a braincrash :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Jun 02 2009, 03:27PM

You should have raised the camera a little more =)

My advanced optic setup:

to magnify a object:

that's around 1/32 of a inch on a aluminium projectile.
And a animation i made:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Tue Jun 02 2009, 05:36PM

rp181 wrote ...

My advanced optic setup:

to magnify a object:

that's around 1/32 of a inch on a aluminium projectile.

I get this error message: "You're seeing this page because account contains no index file. (EG: index.htm)"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Jun 02 2009, 06:03PM

Seems that it blocks those to prevent from using it as a image hosting site. Both are on this page:

The second image is not very good. I mounted the lens and laser, so it stays better. I will get a better picture tonight. The camera also doesn't capture much, just the brightest spots.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Jun 02 2009, 10:15PM

some new items in my Chemical Collection (and I have two more, VERY special Element samples coming in the next few days... bu they are from out of the country so I don't know when exactly I am going to get them...) - anyone willing to guess what elements I am getting samples of?

1243980904 902 FT6000 United Nuclear Two

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Jun 02 2009, 10:55PM

Nice items, what is the caffeine for? Toxic stuff....
I think the elements are toxic... i guess osmium and europium.

BTW, united nuclear is expensive.... but nice on the aerogel. how big are the granules?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Jun 03 2009, 12:40AM

Cesium and Rubidium. Course.. those are so water reactive that they should be considered explosives, other then that, its not radioactive because that won't get through customs, and anything else I can think of would probably be too expensive or obtainable here already.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Wed Jun 03 2009, 03:35AM

rp181 wrote ...

Nice items, what is the caffeine for? Toxic stuff....
I think the elements are toxic... i guess osmium and europium.

BTW, united nuclear is expensive.... but nice on the aerogel. how big are the granules?

good guess, osmium is one of the elements - the other, knowing that, should not be too hard to guesstimate - and I know United Nuclear is on the expensive side, but the chemicals are very high purity, and they are naturally presentable in a collection... the Caffeine is for my collections only, the Aerogel and Thermite are for actual experimentation (I am making Aerogel insulators, by suspending the Aerogel in substrates, and I can't get a reliable source of Thermite at the moment... my former non-ebay supplier had to shut down due to low business)

as for the size of the Aerogel granules, a dime is provided for scale

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jun 05 2009, 03:07PM

It's been three days (well, two and a half) and I am posting some new samples, and some shots of others that I have had...

first photo, from left to right (top them bottom): Sodium Silicate, Trinitite (start bottom); Yttrium, Ferrofluid, heavy water, Silver Disk, caffeine, Aerogel, Thermite, Rocket Nozzle Mix, Sodium Acetate, more Trinitite, Uranium Metal

second and third photos: Osmium

fourth photo: Selenium

fifth photo, from left to right: Magnesium, Uranite, Autinite, Gallium (my favorite, i like to make image-bearing mirrors with it ^_^)

ADDITION: Forgot the Iridium! - last two photos (and that was the second element, next to Osmium, that no one guessed... at least that tried to guess)

1244214464 902 FT6000 United Nuclear All

1244214465 902 FT6000 United Nuclear All

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Fri Jun 05 2009, 04:43PM

Oops

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat Jun 06 2009, 12:06AM

This is antimony metal >99.5%. I keep a small stock of pure metals as dopants and ion sources.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Jun 06 2009, 05:07AM

Hope that's not in your kitchen!

Remember not to have this kind of stuff anywhere near your food.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat Jun 06 2009, 01:37PM

I keep my small collection of minerals and pure metals in a glass case - those which are of interest to the eye and brain. I have an old, but good, Vickers metallurgical microscope and find that examining the elements in their pure state - as crystals for example - can sometimes help me get a better understanding of the element as a whole.. It's one thing to see an artist's representation in a book, and another to see the same crystals under the microscope, where they are, in a sense, brought to life!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Jun 06 2009, 01:49PM

HA! They're finally upgrading my electrical service to 132kV.

1244296140 30 FT6000 Imgp1569 Bigass Cable

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Jun 06 2009, 01:54PM

In that case Conner I dare you to build a 132KV OLTC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jun 06 2009, 04:25PM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

Hope that's not in your kitchen!

Remember not to have this kind of stuff anywhere near your food.

are you talking to Harry, or me? - I never open the containers anywhere other than my work area, or some other proper area that is cleaned after wards... the ones that are dangerous generally have a clear container so it can be seen without opening the seals, the one's that don't aren't opened...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat Jun 06 2009, 04:30PM

Steve McConner wrote ...

HA! They're finally upgrading my electrical service to 132kV.

Yes. I thought the caption was:
"The Delivery of the Primary"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Jun 06 2009, 06:28PM

Harry wrote ...

Yes. I thought the caption was:
"The Delivery of the Primary"

Hah, good one. I never seen a coil of wire that big. I've seen electrical lines put in the ground, but that had the spools built onto the trucks. As yours were like, a trailer. Was a wooden one that was made for in-ground electrical wiring.

But your comment there made me laugh

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Jun 07 2009, 08:17PM

This guy arrived today at my window...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Mon Jun 08 2009, 12:20AM

Steve McConner wrote ...

HA! They're finally upgrading my electrical service to 132kV.

You just gotta love those JCB's. -Oops, i mean: Nice spool, congrats with the upgrade!

Sorry, the farmer-gene struck again...

Btw, 132 kilovolts? Whoah

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Jun 08 2009, 05:55AM

A teaser pic of a big project I'm working on right now with a few other people from the University of Toronto... details for now are 'secret' until a certain date (in a few weeks).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Thu Jun 11 2009, 06:59AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Jun 11 2009, 10:01PM

Those circuit boards are beautiful, Aonomus.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Fri Jun 12 2009, 02:44PM

Had a raccon get into my chimney, open the damper and run around my living room a little while ago (before I chased it back up and got animal control.)

I finally found out exactly how it got in when I had a look at my chimney cowlings...

Those critters sure are strong.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Fri Jun 12 2009, 04:16PM

...but the raccoons won't get past this.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jun 12 2009, 04:37PM

it stormed like crazy in Dallas the past few days... here is what my backyard looked like before it was even done!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Extreme Electronics, Tue Jun 16 2009, 10:40PM

HDR of Vauxhall Bridge London.

No, Not the London Bridge, no not Tower Bridge and no you can't buy it

Derek

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Jun 17 2009, 04:08AM

One can never have too many camera capacitors right?

For the fun of it, I stacked my 400V 470uf (37.6J) caps in the background. Row of camera caps, and a bank of camera caps to the right. In all, I got 4 camera caps that are 330V 160uf. One in the middle of the row :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Wed Jun 17 2009, 05:07AM

I cracked open an eprom and scanned it with an Atomic force microscope.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Wed Jun 17 2009, 06:14PM

c4r0 wrote ...

Oops

lol.. "Remodulate the Hindenburg Compensators Ensign... "

I had this happen to an IC at uni once, someone connected the +15 and 0V rails backwards. Bo000ooo0M! Luckily my head wasn't close to the PCB at the time.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Wed Jun 17 2009, 06:48PM

My cat and village

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Wed Jun 17 2009, 07:36PM

Looks like good fishing, Robert!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andyman, Thu Jun 18 2009, 12:13AM

Can anyone think of or have a use for a 25p6t selector switch??
Cookies for you if you can guess what this came from.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
tesla500, Thu Jun 18 2009, 12:45AM

Andyman wrote ...

Can anyone think of or have a use for a 25p6t selector switch??
Cookies for you if you can guess what this came from.

A 6 position parallel port switch?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Jun 18 2009, 12:47AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
coillah, Thu Jun 18 2009, 01:53AM

aonomus wrote ...

A teaser pic of a big project I'm working on right now with a few other people from the University of Toronto... details for now are 'secret' until a certain date (in a few weeks).

Looks like a couple of microcontrollers (Arduino?) and an old CPU heatsink in the bg

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Thu Jun 18 2009, 02:47AM

Dehydrating calcium sulfate on my stove in an old soup can for an upcoming chem project of mine...

1245293234 1262 FT6000 Caso4 Dehydration

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andyman, Thu Jun 18 2009, 02:49AM

tesla500 wrote ...

A 6 position parallel port switch?

Spot on. The thing was an old box to select between 5 different printers or 5 different computers to 1 printer. *gives tesla500 3 chocolate chip cookies*

Dr. Spark wrote ...

I use to have one like that in a Heath Kit tube checker in the 1960s to change the filament voltage.

Cheers,
Dr. Spark

Wow. Imagine if something doesn't work, you have to check 125 wires!! What a mess

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Thu Jun 18 2009, 03:47AM

Here are some scanning electron microscope images of a power mosfet still being fabricated.

First image is a low mag view of a corner of the die showing some of the massively-parallelled gate/source region. This is a low voltage device, hence there are fewer field termination rings around the die perimeter.

Below that image are magnified views of the gate fingers. This is what's called a 'self-aligned metallization' gate design. a single layer of metal is deposited on both the gate and source regions, then through dry and wet etch processing the metal between the gate and source contact areas is removed.

The drain contact is made on the reverse side of the chip.

While some who post here work with 35nm minmum feature size, I get to work with 20u gates and single transistor die up to the size of a postage stamp.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jun 19 2009, 12:52AM

my first HF Radio, my MicroHam MicroKeyer (still need the right cable for my radio

), and the very large PSU for the radio\
radio is a Kenwood TS-140S... the thing is built like a freaking tank!

also included is an overview of the current Shack.
PS: notice something in one of the photos?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Jun 25 2009, 06:53PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Jun 25 2009, 07:01PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Sat Jun 27 2009, 09:43PM

Some new stuff just arrived.

Duh, those are 305kVAR 13.8kVAC 5.1ÂµF PFC/Filter capacitors. Got them cheap so couldnt resist buying. They are most likely internally fused so any pulse related stuff wont be possible. Maybe i just store them for future to be used as Filter or PFC.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Sun Jun 28 2009, 01:46PM

For the Iranians getting shot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Jun 28 2009, 01:53PM

Kizmo wrote ...

Some new stuff just arrived.

Duh, those are 305kVAR 13.8kVAC 5.1ÂµF PFC/Filter capacitors. Got them cheap so couldnt resist buying. They are most likely internally fused so any pulse related stuff wont be possible. Maybe i just store them for future to be used as Filter or PFC.

Maybe connect them to your distribution transformer and make some monstrous resonant arcs?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Jun 30 2009, 02:52AM

a little Brandenburg Module, at a good price, that Harry was kind enough to point me to:

rated 0-12VDC Input, 0-6Kv Output @ 3W (Linear to the input voltage, so with a Potentiometer this makes a great Variable HV Power Supply that can run from a battery)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Tue Jun 30 2009, 04:38PM

Victorian Garden

Here's a link for this photo in 4080 x 2175 resolution.

Here's some more panographic shots.

Turino Long Beach

Random Place in Victoria

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jun 30 2009, 06:01PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Jun 30 2009, 06:14PM

That looks soo nice Hydraliskdragon. So peaceful looking, wish more places where like that, i want a bedroom like that :D.

@Dr. Spark. What are you planning with that beast? Don't tell me a 15kva vttc, i will have to jump off my roof :P. 5kva vttc? I can't see you doing anything else with such a transformer, you seem to really like those tubes :D.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jun 30 2009, 06:42PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Wed Jul 01 2009, 01:20AM

@ Hydraliskdragon: There is half a mans head in that first photo.
What the??
@Dr Spark: Big filament transformer, water cooled tube. mmmm....sounds like fun. :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Jul 01 2009, 02:27AM

Coronafix wrote ...

@ Hydraliskdragon: There is half a mans head in that first photo.
What the??

Rofl, Just re-looked at the picture to notice the head. Im guessing that photoshop's Photomerge didn't work too well.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jul 01 2009, 04:22AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Jul 01 2009, 09:57PM

Chris, you're making my mouth water!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Wed Jul 01 2009, 10:29PM

ROLF @ Hydraliskdragon's picture.

@Dr. spark, how about a piggy like mine XD. 7.6kv and 50kw. Can you say 'OMG'? *imagines a 200kw vttc with pig)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Jul 02 2009, 08:01AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
FireBird, Sat Jul 04 2009, 06:05AM

It's ALIVE!! Yep my first SSTC is actually working ... better than I expected because my stuff usually never works

The first image is of a moderate duty cycle and a low pulse rate. (1 second exposure)

Same duty cycle but with a faster pulse rate and some NaCl on the breakout (1/10 second exposure)

Finally a low duty cycle with NaCl on the breakout (1/13 second exposure)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Jul 05 2009, 04:34AM

ALL images were timelasps with 6" shutter speed. This way, I sat back, relaxed, as the camera did all the work. This was the first time I ever took a camera with me so

Start of the finally - Too much rain and roman candles!!!

The finally consisted of what i call "rain" and roman candles (Very loud BOOM) and they launched over 50 in a row with less than 0.5 second delay, holy crap! I had over 100 pictures but I picked the best outlooks.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sun Jul 05 2009, 10:40AM

Few random laser pics, not really interesting, but I like them :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sun Jul 05 2009, 06:11PM

I buy gu-81 and planed make first VTTC

With gu-81 :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Jul 05 2009, 11:44PM

Those laser projections are pretty cool!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Mon Jul 06 2009, 02:02AM

Mucked around with my camera this afternoon

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Mon Jul 06 2009, 05:03AM

Messing around with shift registers and made a 12 bit pseudo random sequence generator.

...and here is a video of it (sorry about the quality).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Mon Jul 06 2009, 07:03AM

Hello! I'm now in USA for a month and I had a little 'local' trip last week. Look what I've found at a retro gas station on route 66

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Jul 06 2009, 03:58PM

That's a nice find c4r0! Wish it was that easy to find stuff lying in the streets around here, they're almost clean.

Yesterday I decided to etch my first ever PCB board. It only took 10 minutes using radioshacks etch solution in an agitator. I then noticed I had 2 flaws on the board, 2 holes were touching each other..(hint one is on the 555 pins in middle) So I used a fine-point dimond dremel tool, fixed it :) This is just a GENERAL 555 board. No mosfets were ment to be attended. Just a general "for anything" 555.

I think the issue was too much toner actually, Some of my holes as you can see are not even. I think it's due to using too much toner, but I was still impressed how fricken easy this was. All I had to do was print gloss photo paper, Iron on linen, peal paper off, use dremel nylon brush tool, etch, done. No re-makes. I printed it on "Hard grit" paper (9 year old printer)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Tue Jul 07 2009, 07:39PM

My buddies wanted a "Japanese" style tea table
so this is what i built.
Mostly straight lines, no fancy chamfers or anything, solid and down to earth(literally, only 17" tall).
Finished table weights about 50lbs, solidworks quoted 49.8lb. lol
Now I just have to wait for a sunny day to put on the polyurethane finish.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TheBoozer, Tue Jul 07 2009, 09:57PM

This is going to be cool when I get around to building a new primary. The primary was designed for a smaller coil. Hehehehe

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Thu Jul 09 2009, 09:19PM

What happens when 700J meets 14 gauge wire.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Thu Jul 09 2009, 11:48PM

Nice coils Richard!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. H., Fri Jul 10 2009, 04:47AM

Hi guys

Breaking my new camera in and still learning new features; however, the sparks turned out well tonight.

Enjoy!

Dr. H.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Fri Jul 10 2009, 05:55AM

Wow very nice pics, the camera handles the darkness very well! What model is it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Sat Jul 11 2009, 03:08AM

Some picture I took this month. I had more but this reply seemed to be getting too long :S. Sorry to anyone if this page took a bit to load.

Exotic Flower from Victorian Garden

Another Exotic Flower from Victorian Garden

Yet Another Exotic Flower from Victorian Garden

And so forth with the Exotic Flower from Victorian Garden

Bee on Exotic Flower from Victorian Garden

Star-shaped...Exotic Flower from Victorian Garden...Sigh

The weird duck couples

And their ducklings

Some type of seal distorted by the water.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Jul 11 2009, 05:18AM

I just got some really, really cool pics of optical trapping. Basically, it's a high powered red laser, and you burn a marker right at the focal point, If it's still enough, you end up with a teeeny floating ball of light, which I managed to catch quite nicely. This is probably one of the best pics I have ever taken with this camera.

Click on the thumbnails for a higher res. version, thanks hydraliskdragon :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Sat Jul 11 2009, 03:11PM

lpfthings wrote ...

They are too big to put in the thread, but you can see them here:

Try this

How to add thumbnailed pictures to a post from BjÃ¸rn

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jul 11 2009, 03:46PM

hydraliskdragon wrote ...

lpfthings wrote ...

They are too big to put in the thread, but you can see them here:

Try this

How to add thumbnailed pictures to a post from BjÃ¸rn

May I suggest VSO Image Resizer, after installing it you can just right click an image to resize it

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Jul 11 2009, 03:49PM

I can resize the pictures in MS Paint, but they need to be viewed at larger-than-thumbnail size to be seen properly :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Jul 11 2009, 04:28PM

Yeah, that 'ball of point' is cool. Makes it easy so your not like WHERES MY FOCAL POINT! Just stick electrical tape into the red ball, and burn!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Jul 13 2009, 01:07AM

Gecko!

0.001 ohm resistors!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Jul 15 2009, 08:54PM

I'm going to play this game again... What is this picture bellow you?

This picture basically gives it away

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Doubl3 Helix, Wed Jul 15 2009, 09:24PM

Peltier device is my guess...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Jul 15 2009, 09:43PM

Doubl3 Helix wrote ...

Peltier device is my guess...

I knew that by the first picture, I happen to have one with open sides. I never opened it, but you can see all the metal bars and beams. But Peltier should be correct, Doubl3 Helix. Maybe it WAS a peltier that was over powered :)

Woooo, my $25 used NST works!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Jul 15 2009, 10:12PM

You theory is correct, it's a Peltier Thermoelectric Cooler which has been broken.

I tried to fix it by removing the cover but realized that the ceramic is much more fragile then I thought and it just shattered.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Thu Jul 16 2009, 11:08AM

Thats what my first TEC looked like after I tried to remove it from a heatsink with thermal paste on it ...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jul 18 2009, 12:58AM

some Water Drop Photos - I used the 40 FPS mode on my camera, so while I had to try multiple times to get some shots, they are of much better quality than the 210 FPS Mode... a photo showing the setup is also included

1247878713 902 FT6000 Cimg1317 Hdtv 1080

1247878713 902 FT6000 Cimg1316 Hdtv 1080

1247878713 902 FT6000 Cimg1274 Hdtv 1080

1247878713 902 FT6000 Cimg1196 Hdtv 1080

1247878713 902 FT6000 Cimg1039 Hdtv 1080

1247878713 902 FT6000 Cimg0999 Hdtv 1080

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sat Jul 18 2009, 05:56AM

Good day!
Mini sstc with CT

Click do enlarge :)
And movie:

Its with 9primary turns, when start with 7 turns give ~10cm spark. This is mini sstc for school

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Jul 18 2009, 11:46AM

Unintentional wood burn fractals on my desk after playing with the flyback:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jul 18 2009, 04:20PM

@ lpfthings

have you ever tried controlled wood burning with High Voltage? - it creates very fine detail, and the pen is not as heavy as a soldering iron - even if you only did that on accident, I thought you might find it interesting

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Mon Jul 20 2009, 07:25PM

Hey DaJJHman, what type of camera are you using to capture those water droplet photo's?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Jul 21 2009, 04:04AM

hydraliskdragon wrote ...

Hey DaJJHman, what type of camera are you using to capture those water droplet photo's?

Casio EX-FH20 in the 40 FPS mode - I have been successful using a film camera, a canon AE-1, and a homemade flash setup but I wanted instant results in this case...

the Key to such photos is not so much the camera as it is the setup of the scene - placement of two different colors, proper and even lighting, proper dropping of the drop (I have made several that were not strait!), and stillness of the water...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Thu Jul 23 2009, 07:11AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Jul 24 2009, 03:57AM

I decided to make a circuit board for my segments I got. Sadly, Seeing these are from goldmine, They never said it was ++ input, and the segments are -. This makes it hard because usually, I put a microcontroller ports (+) to each segment. Then I use transistors to turn on/off each segments ground pin. Sadly, these are flipped. I have to use Transistors to change the 7 segments, and use ports to change what one lights up.

This was my first double sided PVC. I created the board from scratch in eagles, Printed to high gloss photopaper, Matched it by holding a light behind it, Taped then stapled it together. Then I slipped a copper clad into the pouch I made (taped 3 sides of the design) and Iron it. I put my Iron to linen, Pushed down hard for 30 secs, light tip rubbing, 30..tip..30..tip..30..30..and flipped. It came out flawless, So much ironing that it was a mess! The holes were less than 1/8 of a mm off because the staples I put to hold the board, caused the design to miss-match :'( But hey, still lines up, still works! Pictures! I don't make boards often, I understand if this isn't the compact way to do it :(

-Flash Shows under layer.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
big5824, Fri Jul 24 2009, 10:50AM

Thats going to take a lot of outputs from your microcontroller, have you considered using multiple shift registers? Im currently driving three 7 segments using only 3 outputs from my PIC thanks to them.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jul 24 2009, 01:12PM

Killa-X wrote ...

I decided to make a circuit board for my segments I got. Sadly, Seeing these are from goldmine, They never said it was ++ input, and the segments are -. This makes it hard because usually, I put a microcontroller ports (+) to each segment. Then I use transistors to turn on/off each segments ground pin. Sadly, these are flipped. I have to use Transistors to change the 7 segments, and use ports to change what one lights up.

This was my first double sided PVC. I created the board from scratch in eagles, Printed to high gloss photopaper, Matched it by holding a light behind it, Taped then stapled it together. Then I slipped a copper clad into the pouch I made (taped 3 sides of the design) and Iron it. I put my Iron to linen, Pushed down hard for 30 secs, light tip rubbing, 30..tip..30..tip..30..30..and flipped. It came out flawless, So much ironing that it was a mess! The holes were less than 1/8 of a mm off because the staples I put to hold the board, caused the design to miss-match :'( But hey, still lines up, still works! Pictures! I don't make boards often, I understand if this isn't the compact way to do it :(

-Flash Shows under layer.

I have an I/O Expansion Board from a Dual Core Arduino Beta Testing Project - it has two output resisters, and two for input - registers are in place, it just needs a few support components like caps and, optionally, a resistor network - I'll send it to you if you want, as I don't think I will be using it any time soon
the registers are as follows: 2x MC74HC595AN and 2x CD4021BE

the board design can be found in the thread: here

there are 15 pages in that thread, and I don't have time to sift through at the moment, but the expansion board design should be within the first few pages IIRC

Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Jul 24 2009, 03:27PM

big5824 wrote ...

Thats going to take a lot of outputs from your microcontroller, have you considered using multiple shift registers? Im currently driving three 7 segments using only 3 outputs from my PIC thanks to them.

Usually Even when I use to run 8 segments, I connected all 7 led inputs together and used transistors to tell which one to light. So it would be like telling them to all be 8, light 1. all be 5, light 2. etc but at a high speed...But I do have over 32 outputs total so

DaJJHman, Not sure if boards made for that programmer will be the same as me using AVR chips.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jul 24 2009, 04:06PM

Killa-X wrote ...

DaJJHman, Not sure if boards made for that programmer will be the same as me using AVR chips.

it's not a programmer, it is an I/O expansion board for microcontrollers based off of Shift Registers - it just takes one of your PIC/AVR/whatever outputs and expands it to as if you had extra addressable outputs...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Jul 25 2009, 12:03AM

True. I never knew you could do it that way, but the whole point was to test if I can manage to do a double sided PCB without any issues. And it was a success for using an iron.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Jul 25 2009, 12:29AM

So i have no money and i needed a scope probe. I decided to make one.

I got a gold plated BNC male jack, and connected a piece of coax cable i had sitting around. The outer conductor (which is electrically connected with the shielding) was soldered to the negative lead with the alligator clip. The middle conductor was soldered to a 10Mohm resistor, which was soldered to a nail. That would make it a 10x probe. It works great!

Also, a video of the scope in X/Y mode with a neat little audio file connected to it straight from my sound card. Looks pretty neat. I included the sound, as im sure some people are curious to know what those oscillations sound like. Thanks to Avi for the idea and file!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Sat Jul 25 2009, 04:31AM

Lots of these lil' fellers running around in the Oregon desert in the morning (before it gets really hot) in Pueblo valley. Caught one and took its picture.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris, Sat Jul 25 2009, 05:24AM

Did it squirt blood at you? They are known to do that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Sat Jul 25 2009, 04:41PM

No.

I've caught many of these in Oregon and California over the decades, and I've never seen any of them do that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Sat Jul 25 2009, 08:04PM

Chris wrote ...

Did it squirt blood at you? They are known to do that.

Isn't this one of them beasties that squirt blood through their eyes?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Sun Jul 26 2009, 05:15PM

Indeed. I believe this one is the species Phrynosoma platyrhinos.

I personally have not seen any species of these guys, that I have caught, squirt blood, but I have talked to other people that have seen that happen.

This species of horned lizard is pretty common in the S.E. Oregon desert. When I was a kid growing up in north San Diego county, California, there were a lot of 'Horny Toads' as they were called, in that area back then. Not now though, too many houses and roads.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Mon Jul 27 2009, 08:50AM

I just had another great Canada vacation this summer.

Fun at a once active army base. The death toll was a bit surprising. Major Kong on the missile is my brother.

Some old prairie stuff.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Mon Jul 27 2009, 12:49PM

Everyone takes photos of ducks right?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Jul 28 2009, 05:18AM

The contents of one of the four electronics surprise boxes from electronics goldmine that I got a few years ago:

1248758293 540 FT6000 Electronics Surprise Box

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. H., Tue Jul 28 2009, 05:46PM

My trip to America

P.S. Love E-bay

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Jul 28 2009, 08:00PM

Cool setup you got there. Now all you need are some RF voltmeters and you'll be set for life ^^

Made some progress last night with the broadband transformer coupled amplifier. Transformer predriver works pretty well from 4KHz to a few MHz, and Preamplifier works okay from 10KHz to a couple MHz, only 2 Watts out though, so I need to optimize bias and see how much power I can pull out. The Preamp is to drive another transformer which drives the PA stage, so I don't know exactly how much drive power I need, 2W or 20W.. that all depends on the gain of the PA, but that is an unknown right now. Anyway, despite the rediculous amount of hardware needed for this 2W out, it works so far.

**little update** I think I've got all the power I need. I just pushed it to over 20W, distorted, but I'll work on cleaning that up.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dave Marshall, Fri Jul 31 2009, 12:04AM

The world's largest capacitive topload...a 35,000' thunderstorm anvil.

Taken by me this past Monday about 10 miles northeast of my home.

10 second exposure, stopped to about f9, with just a hint of daylight still visible.

-Dave

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GluD, Fri Jul 31 2009, 12:39PM

So this is what happens when a rewound mot melts down:

I was pushing like 30 amps through the red PVC wire, which was rated for 11 amps.

Filled the room with like about a cubic meter of smoke.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Sat Aug 01 2009, 07:29AM

In the spirit of high voltage, here are some "shock" diamonds created on my workbench in 2006.

The familiar rocket-and-jet-propulsion phenomenon was discussed on 4hv in:

I had been curious to see if shock diamonds could be formed & visualized on a small scale, without combustion. Discovered that it's stupidly easy.
This is a schlieren photo of an underexpanded, supersonic jet of HFC-134A refrigerant
from a "canned air" spray duster. The nozzle (plastic straw) ID is 0.028 inches (0.7 mm).
A more environmentally friendly source is an ordinary compressed-air blowgun, found on a hose in many workshops. A simpler way to see the diamonds is to look through the jet at a background with high-contrast edges, or look at its shadow cast by a point source (sunlight reflected by a convex mirror, or laser pointer with lens removed). Plain sunlight will do in a pinch. The shadowgraph effect changes qualitatively with distance between jet and screen.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Aug 01 2009, 11:15AM

Nokia phone kludgery. Note, it sorta works, the camera glitches every so often due to crosstalk. I might be able to fix this using 1k resistors on the camera end of the cable
so stay tuned...

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Aug 04 2009, 08:53PM

an HDR made with QTPFSGUI, note that the noise is due to excessive electrical noise on my image sensor, one is presented without noise reduction, the other is: I think I like the noisy one better, because some traits are lost due to noise reduction

I am still new to the program, and I essentially made this in just a few minutes, so I know it's not perfect

1249419233 902 FT6000 Hallway Large No Noise

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Tue Aug 04 2009, 10:52PM

I am really sorry about the double post.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Tue Aug 04 2009, 10:57PM

A view from my summerhouse:

A spider that lives on my balcony:

A field:

There is some post processing done to all photos, just the basics though, sharpening, hue/saturation etc. Camera is 450D.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Aug 05 2009, 08:57AM

brtaman wrote ...

A view from my summerhouse:

Beautiful! Where is it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Wed Aug 05 2009, 10:01AM

Thanks, Steve. The place has special meaning to me as it was built by my father and grandfather quite some time ago. It is located on the border between Austria and Slovenia, the shot shows a pretty good sized chunk of Slovenia.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Wed Aug 05 2009, 07:02PM

Gotta love long weekends at a friends cottage.

Panorama of the cottage

Panorama of the slightly grey sky

Both images just linked, not embedded because they are large-ish.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Thu Aug 06 2009, 12:45PM

Taken on my trusty Nikon FM in southern patagonia about 20 years ago on Ektachrome 400 and scanned from the slide using a Nikon Coolscan LS50.

Some of you may know the mountains...

Edit: RATS! Photo didn't upload and you can't retry with editing - so its down a couple of posts below...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Thu Aug 06 2009, 03:42PM

Good luck, or perseverance?

On a scheduled junk yard check-up, I scored big.
A trunk full of Cornell Dubilier 2800uF, 450V electrolytics. 135 of them @ 1USD a piece.

Now I have the buss caps for the *BIG* one!

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Aug 06 2009, 04:09PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Good luck, or perseverance?

On a scheduled junk yard check-up, I scored big.
A trunk full of Cornell Dubilier 2800uF, 450V electrolytics. 135 of them @ 1USD a piece.

Now I have the buss caps for the *BIG* one!

Cheers, Finn Hammer

what kind of junk yard do you visit?!?!?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Thu Aug 06 2009, 07:35PM

DaJJHman wrote ...

what kind of junk yard do you visit?!?!?

It is a general recycling yard. They take all kinds of junk, but mainly industrial scrap, like swarf, cutoffs, leftovers, you name it. I get all my copper here. But I also get great inspiration from seeing how many things are put together, here.
This was from big computer backup supplies.

I was lucky to get these, because normally, when electronics enter their system, it is registered as hazmat.
But I donÂ´t just walk the walk, I also talk the talk, so *they* let me have them.

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Thu Aug 06 2009, 08:48PM

OMG Finn, thatâ€™s awesome!!!

Just make an induction launcher with these caps, for sure you can hit a plane or something

Or crush a Volkswagen or something like thatâ€¦

Cheers, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Fri Aug 07 2009, 09:21PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

DaJJHman wrote ...

what kind of junk yard do you visit?!?!?

It is a general recycling yard.

Hey Finn - we must visit the same yard (sort of) - I have a shed load of these - banks of 500V 2200uF RIFA PEH 169-series caps... Fully populated there are 12 in a bank, i.e. 3300 J per bank, and there are a lot of them... (not counted)

Something made from these will be at Cambridge...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Fri Aug 07 2009, 10:36PM

For some reason the photo didn't load last time - so here we are with Patagonia in 1988 - no one else in 500,000 hectares of national park. Two day drive down dirt tracks to get there - car was trashed - Nikon FM with Pro Ektachrome 400, scanned by Nikon Coolscan LS50 (at 2400dpi I think).

1249684367 1334 FT6000 Torres Del Paine 2

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Aug 07 2009, 10:55PM

Here's my NOT SO COOL PIC.

Some of you know, and NOW I know, how rare this meter is. It's out of production and there are no parts for it.

This is a pic of a perfectly good meter AFTER being shipped by USPS (correction ). The meter is now worthless.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Sat Aug 08 2009, 08:13AM

That is (was) a useful little meter.
Since the case/glass isn't broken it should be easily repaired,
If you carefuly dis-assemble it and inspect the meter movement you will probably be able to partially unscrew one of the pivot bearings,
re-align the pivot and tighten (carefully so as not to crush the pivot points) the bearing again.
OR
it may just need the pointer to be bent up a little to be clear of the scale.
Worth a try..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Aug 08 2009, 10:29AM

That's too bad Matt, mine survived the post just fine :) The slugs I got with it measure 1kW and 5kW up to 2.5MHz, so I'm on the lookout for some more ham-friendly ones.

You should be able to fix the meter movement. Check to see if any balance weights got knocked off or the pointer got bent. Or find out how many microamps FSD it is and replace it. Also the circuit in these meters is really simple, you can modify it to work with a different FSD. A Bird meter might work, the scale looks similar.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sat Aug 08 2009, 11:16AM

Perhaps the meter washed ashore on an uninhabited island with Harrison Ford following a flaming, cartwheeling 'plane crash at sea... writing "fragile handle with care" on your parcel has no influence on the people who chuck them onto conveyor belts, sometimes missing the belt in their haste so the parcels land on the concrete floor....

It might be cheaper to buy a second-hand Avo Model 8 Mk5 on ebay, which can measure up to 3kV, and goes for about Â£30, say $50. In the Thermionic Age, it was the one indispensable diagnostic tool. Of course it doesn't have Zin = 10M which you find on even the cheapest DMM today, but the fact that it will read out to 3kV may still make it attractive to some 4HV members.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Sat Aug 08 2009, 03:42PM

I've heard rumours that someone is still building high power spark gap coil with very high speed rotary...

Well.. who knows

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Aug 08 2009, 10:46PM

I've ordered a meter for my own version, I just don't know if I can make all of the increments coincide with the reading, I hope I can.

The meter thats blown is a 50uA meter. I'm looking around for a similar one, but 50uA is tough fo find, and the dimensions are going to be hard to find since this is circa '80 made in Japan.

I'm looking for another meter to replace it now, and this one will probably have to collect dust for a while.

I will look into meter surgery, I'm just not that good at it. This time however will require extreme patience and care because these meters are that rare now, the Z version anyway.

The saddest part is this is a calibration standard! Yaesu is using them right now to cal their radios, there just aren't any parts. ~_~

Are you sure you want a conductive flywheel that you can't isolate from the HV supply?

I would also suggest using set screws instead of hex bolts.

Also, since you're doing high speed, the arc length is actually longer at slower speeds. At higher speeds you'll get a plasma flume sort of like a flyback, hope that's what you're going for.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Sat Aug 08 2009, 11:14PM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

Are you sure you want a conductive flywheel that you can't isolate from the HV supply?

I would also suggest using set screws instead of hex bolts.

Also, since you're doing high speed, the arc length is actually longer at slower speeds. At higher speeds you'll get a plasma flume sort of like a flyback, hope that's what you're going for.

Im not even trying to isolate electrodes from disk (large aluminum disk makes great heatsink). My idea is to machine insulated bearing holders and piece of plastic shaft between motor and rotary. Fully metal disk is way more stable and completely vibration free (machining tolerance is less than +-0.01mm). Flying electrodes are 8mm tungsten carbide and stationary electrodes will be 10mm. All i want is rotary that will last forever

I know, theoretical max for this disk will be 12500rpm (1667bps) but with my largest coil (15kVA DC resonant charcing coil) I wont be using much more than 400-600bps. I just want to overdesign things for large headroom just in case... :)

This was just quick setup and i used screws i had laying around. Will buy some proper setscrews monday

If it's worth of doing, its worth of overdoing

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Mon Aug 10 2009, 09:17PM

Well'p I just got back from the post office and they need to have all the recipts and proof of purchase before they're willing to release any money. On top of that they want to KEEP my meter which they broke.

So to hell with them!

I've already contacted 5 places for repairs and they can't do it, including Yaesu.

I want to start a repair business, charge what I want $100 / hour and minimum billing of 3 hours. Then SUE the Post Office for the repair bill.

Insured for $150 doesn't mean anything.

When the Government STEALS from you its called INSURANCE. When YOU STEAL from the Government its called FRAUD.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Tue Aug 11 2009, 02:43AM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

Well'p I just got back from the post office and they need to have all the recipts and proof of purchase before they're willing

??? In OP you said it was UPS that abused your package. In other threads here, we've seen complaints against UPS, not the U S Postal Service. How many inches of packing/padding did your shipper have between the meter and the box?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Tue Aug 11 2009, 10:13AM

I planed make drsstc :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Aug 11 2009, 11:07PM

I'm sorry, I meant US Postal Service. USPS.

There was about 6" of padding all around, in packing peanuts too! But the package suffered a huge fall. The edge was accordian-ed in, but you had to look for it to see it. So the fall dislocated the movement.

I haven't opened up the meter yet, but I still feel like SUING the USPS for repairs!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Aug 12 2009, 09:56AM

Good luck! They probably have some fine print, like "We accept no responsibility for rending your package into its component atoms" and "by breathing air you agree to these terms and conditions"

I just had UPS send a load of our prototype instruments to completely the wrong address. :(

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Wed Aug 12 2009, 11:22AM

I know. In most circumstances this is considered theft at the very least and should be treated as such, but no, they cannot be held accountable for this or their actions.

I think its inexcusable. I am owed the full amount for repairs or replacement.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Wed Aug 12 2009, 08:12PM

Before the moderators have to speak up, let's move the discussion of shipping damage
away from "Post your Cool Pic Here!" I'm about to take a step in that direction.
-Rich

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Wed Aug 12 2009, 08:18PM

had an iphone screen rendered unconscious by Royal Mangle.. cracked. Grr.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Wed Aug 12 2009, 08:21PM

LED pics...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu Aug 13 2009, 10:41PM

The Metrology Gods are being generous. I got the pivot back in its proper place, so now that is left is to do some meter testing and alignments.

If you can't see the pivot, you're not the only one. It's dammed tiny and nearly invisible!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Fri Aug 14 2009, 12:13AM

Nice one, Matt. Hope it all works out for you

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Aug 15 2009, 01:50PM

Just got this pic here:

IMG 1344s

Full Size: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/203420/IMG_1344.JPG (3.8MB)

IMG 1353s

Full Size: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/203420/IMG_1353.JPG (3.31MB)

IMG 1377s

Full Size: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/203420/IMG_1377.JPG (3.06MB)

Here's a vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2_a4FeFrS4

All are of my MOT being shorted, with 3 turns in the secondary. I get a huge amount of current and the wire I am using is pretty small!

Njoy, I did

(mod edit: we'd have Njoy'd it even more if you obeyed the 400 pixel rule :P)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Sun Aug 16 2009, 08:33AM

Hi everyone!

I haven't been posting for a while, although I've been lurking around regulary. So I thought it would be about time to drop by to say hi.

Other hobbies have been drawing my interest and time away from electronics, but my electronics hobby isn't completely dead. I've actually got an interesting HV and photography related project going, so I might post it here when it's finished.

So photography is slowly becoming my favourite hobby. I shoot with a Nikon D40. I have bought the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, because I needed a fast prime for indoor photography without a flash. RAW is my preferred image format, so I develop the RAW files using UFRaw and do some sharpening and editing with GIMP as necessary. GIMP is a really good alternative for Photo$hop, especially when spiced up with appropiate plugins.

Here's a photo I took yesterday:

I've also been messing around with HDR and tonemapping. This one isn't actually HDR, but just a tonemapped jpeg file.

In case you want to see more my photography, you can visit my flickr page. Feel free to add me as a contact if you're on Flickr too!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Mon Aug 17 2009, 10:55AM

Complete 230V short/open circuit proof mini-SMPS on a breadboard

(sans the transformer)

...powering a 1W 90Lm LED

And something funny, electric drinking straw

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon Aug 17 2009, 06:36PM

A total of 6 current transformers salvaged from two Siemens 3RB2056 S6 Solid-State Overload Relays, they could easily be 1000 turns, have yet to do something about it to determine that.

Will properly be found in DRSSTC use later, cheers!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Tue Aug 18 2009, 01:25AM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

And something funny, electric drinking straw

Do you have to keep 1 hand in your pocket while you drink from it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Aug 18 2009, 05:32PM

And something funny, electric drinking straw

AC or DC? :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Wed Aug 19 2009, 08:31PM

Got Cable?

The picture was taken in Bucharest, where they don`t put cables under ground:-)

I was told that the poles tend to fall down on cars and people in the city, due to the heavy weight of the extreme wiring...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Wed Aug 19 2009, 11:19PM

I was also surprised to see similar wiring in india. I would be able to reach out a window where I was staying and touch the high voltage feed into a distribution transformer.
There where also a lot of fuse boxes around, but the fuses where pieces of wire twisted around the contacts. The worst part was the box's weren't locked shut, the doors where open O.O

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Aug 20 2009, 10:28AM

Daniel Uhrenholt wrote ...

Got Cable?
I was told that the poles tend to fall down on cars and people in the city, due to the heavy weight of the extreme wiring...

So we could say in Romania, cable got you :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GeordieBoy, Thu Aug 20 2009, 11:46AM

That scheme of bringing all of the cables over-ground instead of underground is very popular in countries like Japan too. It's a lot cheaper to fix fallen poles than dig up broken cables in earthquake zones. A lot of the poles have enormous distribution transformer perched on the top, with a yellow warning sign at eye level warning anyone stood beneath of a toppling hazzard!!!

The downside of running all the local LV cables on the top of poles in lightening prone countries is that the power quality is relatively poor. A company I used to work for, had far more returns from Japan than any other world market.

Don't get me started on electricity supply in India. All I will say is that i've heard that something like 50% of all electricity in India is stolen! Safety is surely not a prime concern.

-Richie,

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Thu Aug 20 2009, 05:53PM

I like the way it's just a rats nest; "oh we'll just coil the rest of this up and hang it here". Obviously they don't have problems with copper theives like we do here!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Thu Aug 20 2009, 08:41PM

The wire I have seen there is aluminium.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Austin, Thu Aug 20 2009, 09:00PM

Daniel Uhrenholt wrote ...

Got Cable?

Holy..... LOL

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Aug 21 2009, 08:52PM

family photo, I asked them to say cheese as well

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Aug 23 2009, 02:26AM

Avalanche wrote ...

family photo, I asked them to say cheese as well

Haha. Did they reply?

My big brother works at Fuddruckers, a burger place. They had a call from a group of people that wanted to eat there after church, so they decided to try something a little... different.

That is a normal i think half pound or one pound (not sure) patty on top. The patty itself is 25 pounds. Fudds is planning on setting a new world record for biggest beef patty, which is something like 100 pounds or something. Let me know if i am wrong!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Aug 27 2009, 08:44PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Aug 28 2009, 09:02AM

I can't say 15KW, but for me, 30W ++ from the FREGGIN PREAMPLIFIER Class A is pretty sweet!

I have to wait to build more of the power splitters and combiners for the high power section, but I think things are getting handled okay so far.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Cesiumsponge, Sat Aug 29 2009, 06:54PM

Aww, a BK Precision 40xx series. I've been trying to win one of those or a Tectronix CFG280 for months with no avail!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Aug 29 2009, 10:36PM

a little HDR I did with QTPFSGUI - I put up the one with the noise because I am still tweaking the noiseless version and keep losing detail

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Aug 30 2009, 05:57PM

Some pics from todays trip

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sun Aug 30 2009, 08:36PM

Some pics from todays trip

Some people have all the fun :P. I have nothing exciting around here like that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
omegalabs, Mon Aug 31 2009, 06:05PM

Broken TO5, and cmount diode.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Sept 08 2009, 03:42AM

Working on building my new workbench and test station. It has to be freestanding because the studs in the wall are unreliable. It seems that every year the wall mounted shelf leans more and more, and one day its going to pull out of the studs!
So, I have to build myself a workbench. Unfortunately I didn't have the 8 inches for a standard size 48" table, so I'm going custom.
This is the shelf A frame, welded by me and a little bit of paint. The AL frame was welded yesterday by torch with Alumalloy, a very touchy fill metal, but it worked, so I'm happy.

Spent some more time and got a bit further. This is what 4 days of work looks like, even though that doesn't look like much, these are tight fits. I'm having some binding issues with the wood so some sanding needs to be done.
My 'A' frame design suffers from wiggily movement, so I need to weld a cross spar on the back to stiffen it up. I wanted to avoid this because I want to maximize space for potential equipment.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Sept 08 2009, 09:55AM

You welded aluminium with a torch? High five! It's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to do.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Austin, Tue Sept 08 2009, 03:30PM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

Dr. Russell suggested popping in here once in while.

Can you say 15,000watt Liquid Cooled Class E Cathode modulated.

Henry in now playing and first fire @ more filter/ work indeed.......However big Mica Caps requiredâ€¦.

Back Underground,
Dr. Spark

I always thought it would be neat to liquid cool my IGBTS, similar to a computer's liquid cooling setup

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Sept 11 2009, 02:22AM

I redid the HDR I posted above of the Inwood Movie Theater, still not perfect but I don't want to spend too much time on it because I want to work on others, and here are a few others...

the other photo here is from Field Day (I FINALLY took it from the Dallas Amateur Radio Club site), I am on the left. W5DJK and I were trying to make contact with a station that, quite literally, had a 45 second CQ call... he called "CQ Field Day" at least twenty times before stating his call sign, then called CW an additional ten times, then his call sign again and left about 10 seconds before he called CQ again... we never worked him

DSCF1337

1252635762 902 FT6000 Inwood 02 Beta Copy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Fri Sept 11 2009, 02:05PM

DaJJHman wrote ...

I redid the HDR I posted above of the Inwood Movie Theater, still not perfect but I don't want to spend too much time on it because I want to work on others, and here are a few others...

Nice work! How many exposures, and what TMOs did you use?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Fri Sept 11 2009, 06:59PM

Every time I go to Poland for work, I'm greeted with something which looks like a Tesla coil! Any ideas what this is?!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Sept 11 2009, 07:31PM

It's a tracking radar inside a weather protective housing, they look like big white soccer balls.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Sept 12 2009, 04:12AM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Nice work! How many exposures, and what TMOs did you use?

that was three exposures, one under, one just right, and one over - I used PhotoShop for this one, as I now have access to the school computers - but my teacher (not photography teacher, I never took a photo class) suggested another program to try, I think he said imagemajix? - I am a little fuzzy on the name, I only got to talk to him for a couple minutes between classes about it.

I spent about 30 minutes, trying lots of different adjustments and tweaks, but the most effective were careful level and contrast adjustments

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Mon Sept 14 2009, 05:47AM

DaJJHman wrote ...

my teacher (not photography teacher, I never took a photo class) suggested another program to try, I think he said imagemajix? - I am a little fuzzy on the name, I only got to talk to him for a couple minutes between classes about it.

Could it have been ImageMagick? According to this page it can do HDR. I think I'll have a try...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Thu Sept 17 2009, 08:40PM

Here is my new lab smps!

It was obtained from my work, at a auction over unused stuff, I got it at a mere 14 euroes!

Its a adjustable 2 - 57V smps rated at 25A, featuring selectable overvoltage protection, 32A output circuit breaker and a 10 turn potmeter for voltage regulation.

It is a heavy unit that I have pulled out of its transport enclosure, it was made for Televerket (scandinavian telecom company), its named ESP 630 and I have not been able to find much about it.

Comes with heavy jumper cables and have so far been tested on a 100W resistor pushing it with 40V at 6.25A, 250W, also tried pushing 48V at 9.6A, 460W into my ZVS driver... I need to find some load that can take this smps to its limits, I want the 5 fans in the casing to start :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Thu Sept 17 2009, 09:23PM

That is a nice supply there

Be careful running flyback drivers from it, I fried a nice 40v 10a supply with I had some noise get back into it

Lightwave Electronics (now JDSU) 210g 2.5w 532nm (green) laser system, and a Coherent Avia THOR 15w 355nm (UV) laser system

400mw 473nm DPSS Laser, and beamshot of it with 50mw of 532nm and 200mw of 632nm.

The pile of broken glass in the Avia head after UPS shipped it (the hardware was left over from taking out the 10 million screws to get to that picture), and a closeup of the 210g head.

The avia has had a UPS insurance claim paid out on it, and they let me keep the head, so while it will probably never lase in the UV anymore, I should be able to get about 100w of 1064nm (IR) from the pump modules, which were resilient enough to survive shipping in tact

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Thu Sept 17 2009, 09:33PM

Mads Barnkob wrote ...

I need to find some load that can take this smps to its limits, I want the 5 fans in the casing to start :)

Congratulations on your acquisition!
How about an array of 12-volt 100-W light bulbs? Then you can -see- the work done by your SMPS.
Here is a resistive load for a MOT, made from twenty 120-volt lamps in series. Christmas lights at the office.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Fri Sept 18 2009, 07:50AM

Indian Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) mechanic Sawarn Singh, (56), repairs electrical wires at the road side in Amritsar on September 2, 2009.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Sept 19 2009, 04:31AM

Dr. 2N3055 wrote ...

Could it have been ImageMagick? According to this page it can do HDR. I think I'll have a try...

"Photomatix" also does HDR's ....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Sept 19 2009, 09:27AM

Finishing up things around here. Yea.. its more of my desk, but I made it from scratch.. so there.
BEFORE.... YEUCK!

AFTER: A powerful desk for power mad .. mad scientists! Featuring sturdy 'A' frame welded struts, 14 outlet equipment strip, 7 outlet accessory strip, Birch Plywood work surface, 18" deep shelving decks, the only things missing are the tool cubbies that I have to make.
Brought to you by MadScience Co. Conquering the World, one demented project at a time. Wire Rack not included, All Restrictions Apply, Mad Scientist Not included. Base Model does not include Beer Tap or Kegerator. Warning! Contains Mercury! Contact us for our March Madness Sales!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
teslacoolguy, Sun Sept 20 2009, 06:24PM

Got scilicon?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sun Sept 20 2009, 08:34PM

Where i can got this sample ?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Sun Sept 20 2009, 10:20PM

teslacoolguy wrote ...

Got scilicon?

*drool

Nice collection! :) What are you planning to make out of those hefty bricks?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Sun Oct 11 2009, 03:44PM

A very good week at the dumpster. Two dozen 4CX250Bs (with sockets and chimneys). A Bausch&Lomb StereoView 7 and a SV4! All topped off with a rack of 450V 2000uF electrolytics.

This ought to use up all my luck for the next year or two.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Sun Oct 11 2009, 03:50PM

Pardon the double , I don't know how to eliminate the first sans picture post?

A very good week at the dumpster. Two dozen 4CX250Bs (with sockets and chimneys). A Bausch&Lomb StereoView 7 and a SV4! All topped off with a rack of 450V 2000uF electrolytics.

This ought to use up all my luck for the next year or two.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sun Oct 11 2009, 04:45PM

scott fusare wrote ...

Pardon the double , I don't know how to eliminate the first sans picture post?

A very good week at the dumpster. Two dozen 4CX250Bs (with sockets and chimneys). A Bausch&Lomb StereoView 7 and a SV4! All topped off with a rack of 450V 2000uF electrolytics.

This ought to use up all my luck for the next year or two.

wow, where is that dumpster located with such fine equipment in?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Sun Oct 11 2009, 04:51PM

That stuff reminds me of Micron Technology in Boise, Idaho, who would routinely throw out old Semicon. mfg equipment. A scrap yard in Nampa Idaho, right down the road from where I worked (Zilog) got most of it. I burned out buying all the stuff Micron tossed and sold a bunch back in '02 at a Hamfest in Washington state. Made $1000's.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sun Oct 11 2009, 05:40PM

Not a dumpster-dive, more the wonders of ultrasonic cleaning and a bit of TLC. i.e never give up hope!
Before:

After:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Sun Oct 11 2009, 05:45PM

Mads - The "dumpster" is at my place of employment here in Vermont. This was a rare find, pickings are normally not this good.

MinorityCarrier - I know what you mean about scrap overload. Between working for National Semiconductor, then Lam Research and also having access to a scrapyard that had the IBM contract I could have started my own fab

Well, at least the plasma etch sections... Age and constrained space have (mostly) cured me of this disease.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Sun Oct 11 2009, 05:50PM

Nick - Stunning job cleaning up those sockets. I don't even see any pitting. Did you re-plate them?

Scott

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sun Oct 11 2009, 06:03PM

scott fusare wrote ...

Nick - Stunning job cleaning up those sockets. I don't even see any pitting. Did you re-plate them?

Nope, I used 5 minutes @ 50C in a 3% Tikopur & water solution at 45kHz/100W followed by a good scrub with a toothbrush/interdental-brushes & "Goddards Silver Dip" - a non-abrasive silver cleaner we get in the UK - available in the USA too... If you look, you can see the occasional ding in them...

I like your dumpster dive - very neat! My best

is not so cool (only caps) but useful blocks and lots of them...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Sun Oct 11 2009, 06:58PM

An ultrasonic cleaner is something that I lack, but have coveted for years now. Sure did do a nice job for you.

Nice find on the banks of RIFA caps. I miss my local scrapyard, it's been gone for some 15 years now. I don't know were the local high tech goodies get tossed now. I suspect they a hauled out of state.

The 2 B&L stereo scopes will make a wonderful addition to the lab. Having reached that age at which the eyes become traitorous I have been wanting just such a crutch to help with the SMT work.

One wonders if the VTTC crowd has any interest in the 4CX250Bs? I have only seen one coil built with them and that was back in the early 90s.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Oct 11 2009, 07:27PM

Hi Scott,

That looks like a distributed RF amp. It's basically a lumped transmission line with gain instead of loss. I don't see any tuning components, so it's probably broadband, Class-A: an EMC test amplifier or similar. If it were Class-A, it would be very tolerant of mismatch, so would be fun to experiment with. You could hook one end up to a RF generator and the other to the base of a Tesla resonator.

4CX250Bs are too nice to waste in a VTTC. They have way more gain and frequency range than necessary and it's not at all obvious how to use a tetrode in the classic VTTC circuit without burning out one or other of the grids.

The best bet is to sell them to hams and buy some cooking-grade triodes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Sun Oct 11 2009, 08:08PM

Hi Steve

You are spot on about the source of the amplifier bank. It came from a Maxwell Labs pulse amplifier that our EMC lab scrapped out. The rack I rescued was only one of the 3 that it contained. This was also the source of the bank of electrolytics.

I know they are not well suited for VTTCs but they will work and are compact, although for my money they lack the aesthetic appeal of a glass enveloped valve.

As I don't much care for VTTCs myself and have no desire to build a high power VHF amp I will likely part out the rack on Ebay. Would that I had the room for an antenna farm to justify the power at VHF, but I don't.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dennis Rogers, Sun Oct 11 2009, 11:21PM

Nice one Scott on page 62! I just picked up a 90 year old Bausch & Lomb microscope off ebay. It's built like a tank and works perfect. It must weigh 20 lbs. They don't make em like they used to.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Mon Oct 12 2009, 10:07AM

Lovely scope Dennis, a true thing of beauty!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Mon Oct 12 2009, 10:10AM

Scott,

Yay, lucky guess here! :^)

You're right, the 4CX250B just don't look as nice as glass tubes. But they can put out fiendish amounts of power, and I like them for that in a kind of "Pretty is what works" way. The ceramic seal sometimes glows cool colours, too, but too bad it's buried in the socket and you can't see it.

If you do part it out, would you consider selling me two tubes together with the chimneys and sockets? I've always wanted to try an audio power amp with these, and I recently got a huge output transformer from an old Fender bass amp, and a power transformer from a Yaesu FT-560.

Dennis: Nice Nixie clock I see peeking into the picture...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Mon Oct 12 2009, 10:51AM

Steve,

Agreed, they are pretty from a design perspective. I just have a soft spot for the warm glow and the smell of hot dust that emanated from the back of the TV when I was a kid...

Sure, I'll save a pair for you. I will put them up for sale here prior to hitting Ebay anyway, best to keep it in the family

I need to come up with a test circuit so I can have some confidence that I am not selling junk. Checking filaments and for shorted elements is OK, but not great.

Scott

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Mon Oct 12 2009, 09:42PM

Last month we took a day trip to Columbia, a 19th century boom town.
It has many preserved or restored buildings from the 1850's California gold rush.

Along the highway, we saw a tanker truck loaded with the -other- yellow element dug from the earth:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Oct 12 2009, 10:46PM

scott fusare wrote ...

Steve,

Agreed, they are pretty from a design perspective. I just have a soft spot for the warm glow and the smell of hot dust that emanated from the back of the TV when I was a kid...

Sure, I'll save a pair for you. I will put them up for sale here prior to hitting Ebay anyway, best to keep it in the family

I need to come up with a test circuit so I can have some confidence that I am not selling junk. Checking filaments and for shorted elements is OK, but not great.

Scott

I ha ve to agree, nothing beats the nice warm glow - I got my first tube device that worked at a hamfest for free, it is a General Electric Sweep Generator and it has plenty of tubes, and it still works beautifully. The first time I saw those tubes light up I immediately started looking for parts to build an Amp... I still haven't built that amp, but that is because I want to custom design the best one I can!

also, here is a photo of my latest Radioisotope for my collection/experiments: one microCurie of Cesium-137

EDIT: I noticed that the auto-image-resizer is finally working - I noticed only because I forgot to resize the image before uploading it!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Oct 13 2009, 10:12AM

I love that warm glow too! But I also love the idea of a bass amp with enough power to shatter windows and loosen teeth, that doesn't need six expensive glass tubes.

You could argue that if I used 4CX250Bs, I might as well use transistors, and you may be right.

1255428747 30 FT6000 Imgp1241 Glowing 6l6s

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Scott Fusare, Tue Oct 13 2009, 11:16AM

I could make that argument but, having "been there" and "done that" with the guitar playing EEs here at work I won't bother.

You'll have to post a video of the thing when you get it rolling. Better yet I need to arrange a trip to one of our UK plants that coincides with a Teslathon and see it for my self.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Oct 13 2009, 11:24AM

Well, I accept that argument completely. A big part of Hendrix's live sound came from germanium transistors. And there's an effects pedal called a "Tube Screamer" that most guitarists think has something to do with tubes, even though it contains a transistor, two diodes and an op-amp. When you try and explain that a Tube Screamer has no tubes in it, it's like the "Up to 11" scene in Spinal Tap.

But I still love tube amps for non-scientific reasons. (They give off a warm glow, smell good, and impress the layman

) I've built three already.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Oct 13 2009, 07:10PM

Either way, tubes are very cool to work with. It is hard to kill one, especially if you have a clear view of the grid(s)! I actually made a 'Tube Screamer' effects pedal for my little brother. It went ok. I was going to make a single board with a some 10 position rotary switch to choose between stuff like treble boosters (A perfect name for that would be 'Little Bitch'), Wah pedals, and differential fuzz and all kinds of fuzz, but then he got a new amp that did tremolo and a few different amp effects -.-. Oh well.

I have made a semi-successful tube amp and semi-successful semiconductor amp, and i would say the tubes where the funnest to work with. No op amps to hook the inverter/non inverting inputs up wrong

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Tue Oct 13 2009, 07:16PM

Klugesmith wrote ...

Last month we took a day trip to Columbia, a 19th century boom town.
It has many preserved or restored buildings from the 1850's California gold rush.

I've had some great times exploring ghost towns and abandoned mine workings in So. Cal. I guess the finest ghost town I've seen is Bodie, in Bodie State Historical Park, where the buildings are subject to continuous archaeological conservation. It hasn't been ruined like Calico, a few miles from Barstow-Dagget MCLB, where the original Swedish miners whose first impulse was to build a church and a school have been usurped by fantasy gunslingers who never lived there, and the original collapsed adobe structures have been built over with Wild West film set frontage, a children's entertainment now disconnected from history.

It's good to go out into the Mojave on an ATV and look at all thel Indian rock art, abandoned mining equipment of a hundred years ago and more, and the mines themselves, which are great places to see bats roosting at very close quarters.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dennis Rogers, Tue Oct 13 2009, 11:03PM

Steve McConner wrote ...

it's like the "Up to 11" scene in Spinal Tap.

You need to see "Anvil" if you haven't already.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ConKbot of Doom, Thu Oct 22 2009, 05:04AM

Got my new chemical fueled projectile accelerator in the other day. Complete with report attenuation device for user hearing protection.

linked because its a big pic.

100% legal, including 5 month BATFE wait period for background check. So no one flip out about the suppressor ;) I figure there could be enough video gamers here that there might be some appreciation for it :) I'll be getting around to more on topic stuff for this board soon enough though, just got a new ICD3 in the mail and In old scanner to make into a UV exposure box for etching PCBs

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zenador, Mon Oct 26 2009, 12:38AM

A Fantastic Shopping Day...

Triplett VOM 801 - $15
4044895228 Cc2a7700eb

B-K Precision VOM 290 - $15
4044151595 022ac3915a

And this... I don`t know what it was for, but caught my eye as I was leaving the `trading post.` - $10
4044897814 0bea2c2714

... and it contained 2x 33ohm wire wound variable resistors, 2 Eupec HV Diodes, 2 Eupec puck SCR`s, 2 Ferrite looking 35ohm resistors, 3 aluminum plates, 2x 1200V stud diodes and some every-day resistors and capacitors.

4044155837 3e92741033

This has to be my best find at a flea market...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Mon Oct 26 2009, 12:52AM

You're a lucky dog, Mr Zen!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GluD, Tue Oct 27 2009, 09:03PM

Heres a couple photos of my 100kV Marx Generator.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Tue Oct 27 2009, 11:12PM

Full science ahead!

Not really, more for utility and preparative work such as distilling/recovering solvents, or distilling the product from a reaction....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Wed Oct 28 2009, 04:28AM

Some of my glassware, used for extracting organics from plant samples.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Oct 31 2009, 01:27PM

Last Wednesday I received a nice packet from Conundrum.

A nice 100w led, mounted it to a proper heath-sink with a nice delta-fan and powered it up with some very bright results

I plan on making a focusable torch with it running on a 2s2p lipo pack with 3600mAh cells.

Ow for those that think tdu was joking with burning a hole trough a cd cover, this is what it did in 20 seconds @ 2cm away from the led.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Sat Oct 31 2009, 08:58PM

My school just got a premature christmas present from Statoil, and amongst a truckload of expensive pressure transmitters and regulators was this: A three phase variac, input 230V output 0-250V, rated at 11,5kVA.

My blurry friend on the left is exited too, but that is his thumb. In case you were wondering.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Nov 10 2009, 07:50AM

Yay. MOT arcs.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Nov 11 2009, 02:14PM

Syncronous rotary gap, construction and testing:

Modified motor, asyncronous to syncronous salient pole:

Checking it with syncronous stroboscope

first try with a previous disk (designed for a DC-RESONANT coil)

time to a new disk

cutting the conductive ring with plasma

done

time to design the support

Checking the feasibility

finishied gap with phase shifter controller

ready for the first test

WELL DONE!!!!

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GeordieBoy, Wed Nov 11 2009, 02:23PM

Looks good! How many BPS?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Nov 11 2009, 05:27PM

Looks good! How many BPS?

So far 100 BPS (230Vac, 50Hz, 3000RPM, two pole motor with two electrodes), but i have made another two blank holes so i can test even the 200BPS operation, this gap is not intended to be used with this coil but with a future bigger coil instead.

anyhow, this is a "Post Your Cool Pic Here!" so i imediately post some other pics.......
.....an 1200CÂ° electric furnace isn't exactly "cool"......... but who cares???

i bought it few months ago for 8 euros, this pic is relative to his first test, before the massive cleanup

another "HOT" items...... an old smoke detector containing 72 microcuries of Americium 241 (!!!!)

Ciao!
Fabio

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Nov 14 2009, 03:59AM

FRIDAY the 13th Milestone for Turkey9

BROKE 100W Barrier at 200KHz with improved phase splitter amp, driving output pair in Class B at 100V.

I've been playing with a single pair as a 20W amp in Class A and I was going to use it to drive the phase splitting matching torid that I have setup as a distribution box, but I decided to do a quick setup and make a step-up driver so I could study I/O power gain, and it looks like that has really paid off here.

The first box is the small phase splitter with output maybe .75W max, so I had output power limitations due to finite gain. I could see the need for boosting that signal, so I lashed together the push pull booster that cranks that signal to 4.5W. That seemed to be a good answer to my power problem.

The final stage is just 2 high current transistors at 100V supply Crankin' into a 70W core. It's class B with switching distortion, but this is the next step to 400W, and an amp to drool over. Next is to check out if it will handle 500KHz. I know there are some people here who would really like to have an amp for their research. And I could really use the money because I'm laid off... so we'll see how things go, and maybe I'll be in the Amp business soon ^^. 200W is around the corner!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Nov 14 2009, 04:30AM

I see you finally got your meter fixed hazmatt, darn USPS...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Nov 14 2009, 04:44AM

Yea, they really do suck! It was really important to have this one work so I could validate low AND high power, but it works now and is doing a good job for me.

Here's a pic. of the amp driving a coupling loop to fire the coil. Had to shut down because the corona was tracking on the PVC and causing it to burn. This is the largest and most cumbersom flyback ever invented! hehe. Now my room smells of PVC and ozone, which I mind less then burnt expensive transistors! The little white star is where it started burning.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Nov 14 2009, 11:46AM

Nice work Matt! \o/

Have you tried adding a little bias voltage to bias your final transistors into Class-AB? I bet the crossover notches would go away and the waveform would look just about perfect.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Nov 14 2009, 06:21PM

Yea, I'm looking into that. I will have to sacrifice some power with gain leveling circuitry, and I need thermal tracking for the finals, which also means active bias.

The 5W booster amp needs some work too, the outputs were not amplitude symmetrical, but were good enough for testing.

I really want to get a 200W module going, and get the artwork setup for a really sweet board. If I can do that, then I can go into a small production run and hopefully make some money.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sun Nov 15 2009, 02:36AM

Some goodies I picked up at the Hamfest in Azle today (more than this, but I figure I'll post before and after pics of those when I restore/"modify" them)

The top image is an overview of the three items. The first is an Adjustable Vacuum Spark Gap, with the Vacuum still intact (even if it weren't, I could easily re-evacuate it). The second item is a 872-A Vacuum Tube Rectifier rated at 10,000 Volts max - I plan to use it with a neon sign transformer, a capacitor, and more of the tubes (the vendor only had one left, but he says he will get more soon) to make a CW DC supply - very simple, but should be effective as a starter High voltage tube project.
The third device is a High Voltage Probe I got from the same vendor as the spark gap.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sun Nov 15 2009, 03:19AM

Very nice tubes

I have an 872A also but it doesn't look as clean because it's been used. Be careful with the UV output from it (mercury generates some pretty short wavelengths of light).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sun Nov 15 2009, 03:33AM

Myke wrote ...

Very nice tubes

I have an 872A also but it doesn't look as clean because it's been used. Be careful with the UV output from it (mercury generates some pretty short wavelengths of light).

I plan to put some kind of UV protective shield around the tubes, as such a device I plan to have run for long periods of time and I might have to monitor it while I do.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sun Nov 15 2009, 04:11AM

Received a graphic LCD the other day, connected it up to an arduino and have been playing around with it. :D

IMG 1828s

[Edit: 400 pixels]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun Nov 15 2009, 11:06AM

hmm. i have a request from one of my 'shack' (Lan meet) friends, does anyone have a spare 9" to 12.1" screen which is fairly compact and accepts VGA input?

i did look into adapting a scrap flat panel with a smaller screen but this is pretty complex without schematics.
-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Backyard Skunkworks, Sun Nov 15 2009, 08:56PM

Have a look at what I made saturday night...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Nov 17 2009, 02:36PM

Some of my last gadgets:

High frequency spark tester (10 to 55 kV)

Testing an "insulated" screwdriver!

various frequency reference clock generator + DC to 1 GHz frequency meter + digital reclocker and holdover with rubidium masterclock (yeah! this is an atomic clock!)

some goodies buyed at a local hamfest (double variac, scintillator probe, oxygen meter, some HV capacitors and other small parts).

Video enlarger.

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Nov 17 2009, 10:34PM

How do you come across so much? you have too much stuff....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Nov 17 2009, 11:59PM

Hi RP181!

I have an enormous quantity of strange items because i do this hobby for almost all of my life and i always scavenged any useful items from junk and i often go to some local flea markets and hamfests where sometimes i can found some really hot stuff for a ridicolous sum.; i'm also the founder of "ALTATENSIONE" mailing list (the italian HV-related mailing list) and i have many friends that work in some technical factories who sometimes thrown away the old equipments so i have the possibility to collect many other things as "donations" of someother!

For example, the melting fournace was found at a local flea market for 8 (EIGHT!) euros, the enlarger and the spark tester were found in another flea market for 5 (FIVE!) euros each; i also got the atomic clock for free from a subscriber of ALTATENSIONE (!!!)

This is another great item got for free from the same subscriber:

http://4hv.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?66101.0#post_66254

Ciao!
Fabio.

**************************************** **********************************

EDIT: this is the "post your cool pics here" theread so i add some other cool pics!

i'm currently working in this secret R/C apparatus that will be used as special effect in a TV show

i previously worked with another RC item for this show..... an RC car, a SPECIAL RC car!

************************
RE-EDIT: Fixed broken links!
************************

me playing with this "toy-car"

the show (only one piece)

ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Thomas, Wed Nov 18 2009, 02:11AM

Now that's putting the Gee-Wiz to good use, lol.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Wed Nov 18 2009, 02:38AM

CNC machining railgun parts!
Mate plate:

Rails:

beats my work by a mile....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Nov 18 2009, 08:38PM

Now that's putting the Gee-Wiz to good use, lol.

TRUE!

this is the worst car that i drove so far, but at the same time this is the best RC toy that i played so far!

this isn't the only one Reva i (G-Wiz) converted to a toy, even "top gear" show it in a modified RC toy version while racing against a "real" RC car

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Nov 21 2009, 04:00PM

Solar cell + Arduino + Audio triggered strobe + laser + long exposure =

20IMG 1883

This thing is fast!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Tue Nov 24 2009, 03:49AM

Man, being away for many months changed a lot of stuff x_X

-2 Plain old magnetron-

-My new HD Camera (Yay, I can record in HD now)-

-Toroidal Transformer destined to be wound-

-Super cheap $4 well working magnetic stirrer-

-My backyard on gloomy evening-

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Tue Nov 24 2009, 07:45AM

Some of the stuff I'm still working on, 30KHz to 500KHz 200W amp.

20W Class A Preamp driver, Broadband non-isolated and isolated Phase Splitter, and 200W Brick unit here. I can't really qualify it for full 200W because the meter goes to 150W, but I believe it will go close to 200W peak power. It's probably not 200W throughout its useful bandwidth, but I'll have to see where this leads me, it should prove to be interesting. I'd like to see this whole thing setup as a finalized amp, sweep it, and see how it measures up.

I was playing with the amp a little last night and set part of the wood base on fire! XD heheh. Gotta be careful with this RF energy now that its getting to big numbers!
What I thought was interesting here is that being driven from a coupling loop, the TC secondary is absorbing a particular amount of energy and at a critical point, forces the driving loop into heavy compression. I want to study this saturated mode a bit more further down the road. Also I want to make a horrendous power amplifier right now.. heheheh. The one I have right now is 2 pair, and I want to double that! Should prove to be very painful when it comes to RF burns.
I would also like to further investigate something very interesting, the coil's particular frequency is 256KHz, but driving at 175KHz causes a harmonic emission at 256KHz with a peak much greater then the source peak. I can't really do much about it now because the amp gets very hot within my time limit, but hopefully future improvements will allow me more time to play.
.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Nov 27 2009, 02:55AM

Heh..Electrothermal guns are fun..

Upgraded to PVC

Now, 200V.

It appears, one string in that 200V picture went off the view of camera. No load, but man was that a loud bang. I have shot marbles at 200V and they made a mark in my wall 7ft away, at a 45 angle, then the bounce off the wall, and hit my desk.

32 camera capacitors, charged to 150V...discharged to a small peice of foil, on 2 copper contacts, in the PVC pipe..most shots here had a marble being fired.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Dec 07 2009, 09:25PM

Guess I get 2 in the row..Use to be busy here! Got the mail today :P

Got them used/pulled from BG Micro, 4.45 each. 450V 2400uf. Not tested yet but they all seem to hold a 12V charge for a very....very long time.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Dec 17 2009, 07:23PM

I always wondered what ten thousand pennies looks like, I guess it has to do with my obsession for ridiculous numbers:

[br

EDIT: I did a little weighing, and these things LITERALLY weigh as much as they are worth: they weigh 61 pounds, they are worth 61 pounds - I love the way numbers work out!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu Dec 17 2009, 07:37PM

@DaJJHman: lol

125 watt mercury vapor blacklight bulb, produces ridiculous amounts of UV and a lot of fun

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Mon Dec 21 2009, 12:55PM

I had one of those explode overhead once, had a nice glass shower, however the main filament remained in place blasting me with an intense white light, which caused me problems when I was trying to find the switch to turn it off! :-/

My new tornado machine, it's 1.8 metres tall (Will make a seperate thread for this once I have completely finished it)

IMG 1895s

The interface:
20nado

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Mon Dec 21 2009, 02:58PM

My new x-ray lamp.
She have :

:(

Jea she work! When i give 60-70KV i can't see any spark and light inside lamp!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Tue Dec 22 2009, 04:36PM

She looks good

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Tue Dec 22 2009, 07:57PM

lpfthings wrote ...

(Will make a seperate thread for this once I have completely finished it)

Im looking forward to that, cause this thing looks awesome. Do you use some thin liquid or is that just plain air?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
vasil, Fri Dec 25 2009, 11:17AM

Santa's gifts:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sat Dec 26 2009, 12:13PM

Some ice that hang from the roof :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sat Dec 26 2009, 12:22PM

Nice transformers vasil. Where did santa find them?

I had a flyback which looked exactly the same as the middle one in your picture, and it survived by far the highest voltage output of all my unrectified transformers. Arcs firing at 4+ cm and even some little streamers from the output like a very low power SSTC.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
vasil, Sat Dec 26 2009, 01:53PM

Santa has a friend who dismantle old B$W TVs.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Sat Dec 26 2009, 11:27PM

My new toy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Sat Dec 26 2009, 11:29PM

After long time i got something actually done:

(note the quickn dirty topload.. this coil seems to love large topload objects)

MiniSSTC is not so Mini anymore. This picture was taken in complete darkness only light source being the spark output.

Better than fireworks..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Dec 27 2009, 05:40AM

Coronafix wrote ...

My new toy.

Hehe, I saw a similar one at Harbor freight before, Enjoy :)

edit as of 12/28/09
Well, My SSTC old base was being ripped apart, so I started a new base, for expansion use for future coils. Sadly, it isn't near done, and my uncle is leaving Tuesday...So, I made a scrap one out of knex..isn't too bad...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Z28Fistergod, Mon Dec 28 2009, 02:36PM

A hastily set up double slit experiment and some pictures of my coil running last week. Target is set at 5 feet to promote frequent ground strikes. Two videos of the coil:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Tue Dec 29 2009, 10:40PM

Winter has been weird this year, its been really cold here for months but no snow. Until today that is. In the last 12 hours we went from bare ground to a snowdepth of 50 cm, and it is still snowing.

Season's greetings from me and my brother. 'Tis the season to be jolly.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Jan 01 2010, 08:10PM

Another of my sorta not-so-cool pics. *shruggs* I'm learning

Broadband 160W not quite 200W yet, heh.. actually this one is now a 0W amp for obvious reasons. I need to fiddle with the combiner transformers which is a bit of black magic, as you can tell by the board. The black magic is supposed to stay inside the parts!

I can get a solid 100W out of a pair and I really want 200W out of this quad, or new quad setup.

Note to self:
1. Perhaps 1/4W resistors are too small
2. Fuse Collector leads.
3. Overdriving with inductive loads seems to be a bad idea, but it sure is a hell of a shakedown!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Fri Jan 08 2010, 08:56PM

I think this photo qualifies as cool, in the literal sense. My wife spotted it online. I think the caption said:
"Photo of snow-covered Britain by Terra satellite, January 7, 2010."
Am I mistaken, or is Ireland still green?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat Jan 09 2010, 10:44AM

Yep, somehow southern Ireland has avoided the snow.

The picture is on the front page of most papers here. With cheesy headlines like "Great Brrr-itain"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sun Jan 10 2010, 09:01PM

It's not often we get snow here in the South of England, but we have about 12 inches and temperatures of down to -5C, which is almost unheard of in these parts...

Here's a shot of someone having fun! (he's a 4 y/o German Shorthaired Pointer, and has never seen real snow before...)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sun Jan 10 2010, 09:48PM

Hi All!

This is the new gadget i bought today on a local hamfest for 20 euros!

This is a variable HV power supply capable of 0-6kV output, both positive, negative, alternate, positive pulsed and negative pulsed.

is almost entirely electromecanic (there is a VARIAC to regulate the output voltage, a rugged rotary switch to select the capacitors and two robust relays to select the polarity and make the pulses) so is really easy to repair or modify!

Ciao!
Fabio

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Mon Jan 11 2010, 12:07AM

@CoronaFix, nice little toy

. What will you be using that for? I should make something like a lathe to hold glass. Maybe make glass stuff for a neat little hobby. If it didn't cost anything, i would!

@Nicko, snow is amazing, is it not?! Seen it twice here in Texas, beside that time it snowed maybe a few mm :P. The German Shorthaired Pointer sure seems to be having fun :). For some odd reason his/her coat looks almost like he/she is wearing... a coat :P.

@Fabio, nice! What wattage is it made for? Some 100-200 watts?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Z28Fistergod, Mon Jan 11 2010, 02:47AM

Nicko wrote ...

It's not often we get snow here in the South of England, but we have about 12 inches and temperatures of down to -5C, which is almost unheard of in these parts...

You have a soft spot for imperial units?

Pictures of the PCB for my current ultra-top-secret-classified-at-an-echelon-above- reality project. There are is a TQFP and a TDFN package on the board, they have a 0.5mm spacing between centers!

Cimg0018

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Mon Jan 11 2010, 06:16AM

Z28: looks like an RF board with the stripline and place for a RF transistor?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Z28Fistergod, Mon Jan 11 2010, 02:32PM

Those are transmission lines, but I don't have any discrete transistors on the board. I'm bad at keeping secrets so I'm going to shut up while I'm ahead.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Mon Jan 11 2010, 03:27PM

Klugesmith wrote ...

I think this photo qualifies as cool, in the literal sense. My wife spotted it online. I think the caption said:
"Photo of snow-covered Britain by Terra satellite, January 7, 2010."
Am I mistaken, or is Ireland still green?

I just found the original high resolution image here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Tue Jan 12 2010, 03:27PM

Ionized air anyone ?
NdYAGlaserfires

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Fri Jan 15 2010, 03:08PM

first light:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sat Jan 16 2010, 05:22PM

Well, the thaw has set in big time here, but guess from the photo below where the three sets of underground coils for our domestic ground source heat pump are? Not tricky!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Sat Jan 16 2010, 06:04PM

A 100 PSI shot with the railgun injector.
4272874692 9849b86818

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jan 16 2010, 07:41PM

A CrystaLaser QG532-300-YV-H 300mw diode pumped q-switched frequency doubled Nd:YVO4 laser, doing about 500mw in the pictures-that I snagged on ebay for $150 :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Jan 16 2010, 10:43PM

here is my flame thrower/air cannon - it uses compressed air to propel alcohol out of the barrel and into a pilot light - or it can just launch vegetables, and tests have shown that it can launch a quarter-pound roll of 50 pennies at 25 MPH at half pressure

Also attached are the youtube links (and don't fret, the person being shot at in one of the videos is actually quite safe thanks to tricky camera angles hehe

here
and here

-Jimmy

1263681790 902 FT6000 21546 1286756323397 1064826965 916256 4423670 N

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Jan 16 2010, 11:13PM

Nicko wrote ...

It's not often we get snow here in the South of England, but we have about 12 inches and temperatures of down to -5C, which is almost unheard of in these parts...

Here's a shot of someone having fun! (he's a 4 y/o German Shorthaired Pointer, and has never seen real snow before...)

Not the only one...

Such nice dogs. Was told they dont be around you much, owner was wrong. Our dog wont leave you and likes to lay down by you. She sometimes even sneaks into my parents room and sleeps on their bed at night...

2nd picture, She never got the bird. We have an electric fence, so she was standing up but knowing that fence was there, and never went after it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Mon Jan 18 2010, 08:48PM

is rated for 100W maxium and 2J per pulse.

Back to topic, this is the photo of my dog!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Jan 21 2010, 03:04AM

my "new" medium format camera: a Mamiya C220 I pickup up today, with an 80mm twin-lens and a waist/eye level combo viewfinder

photo's not mine but of the same unit... I left my digital camera at school today

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GalliumMan, Thu Jan 21 2010, 11:53PM

Scotland in the snow.

This is my Glenocoe 8 wheel drive all terrain vehicle stuck in the snow, Damn!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Jan 28 2010, 02:24AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Jan 30 2010, 04:36PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Sat Jan 30 2010, 08:00PM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

15,000 watt Liquid cooled VTTC standing over 7.5 feet...... ETA W.W.T. 2011!

Spark on indeed!
Dr. Spark

Nice coil Dr. Spark!

Which tube is it going to run? I assume a Russian one? Looks great like all your coils, just one thing, won't that secondary be a bit small for such high input, or is the spark/length ratio the name of the game?

Best Regards,
brtaman

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Jan 30 2010, 10:18PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
vasil, Mon Feb 01 2010, 04:08PM

Magnifier, hmmm? Interesting idea... (I am planning to use 15 kV input on a GMI90 VTTC)...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon Feb 01 2010, 05:00PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
vasil, Mon Feb 01 2010, 05:27PM

Screen modulation, 2 NSTs (10 kV@100 mA) in parallel, full rectifycation, bare copper primary, 10 nF primary cap. Have to start a thread for it, but dont have even 30% of parts.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Mon Feb 01 2010, 08:13PM

Wow nice tubes everyone. Kinda makes me want to get into VTTC country. :)

Dr. Spark: Makes sense, I was thinking that the secondary was a bit smal. Love the magnifier idea looking forward to your results.Come to think of it don't remember seeing a VTTC Magnifier before? Will you be going for CW flame style spraks or the swords?

The question now is, once finished where do you go from here...;-) Maybe a GU-49A-1

,notice the similarity to my avatar...8-)

Vasil: That is a beautiful tube, one of my favourites from the Russian tubes. But going strictly by looks the GMI2b is the one I would most love to own.
GMI2B

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Feb 02 2010, 01:09AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Feb 02 2010, 05:21AM

Please Chris, stop it with the SFW porn! Hehehe, eye candy for sure! Most beautiful things are tubes! I prefer a large transmitting tube over a full bridge worth of CM600 24 modules any day!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Feb 02 2010, 11:30AM

Yikes! The plate curves on that thing go up to 120 *amps* O___o

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Thu Feb 04 2010, 03:16PM

Here are my russian tubes I received today. They're nothing compared to your monsters but anyway I think they look cool

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
mb, Thu Feb 04 2010, 07:23PM

My new litte class e sstc

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Tue Feb 09 2010, 10:01PM

This is how you show a free-wheeling diode (MUR1560) its place.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Tue Feb 09 2010, 11:47PM

Another field termination bites the dust.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Feb 10 2010, 09:57AM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

Here are my russian tubes I received today. They're nothing compared to your monsters but anyway I think they look cool

Nice coffee pots Dr. kV!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sat Feb 13 2010, 12:36AM

Hi All!

My new toy!

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Sat Feb 13 2010, 02:30AM

Nice machine! the color sucks though :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Mon Feb 15 2010, 12:20AM

Nice machine! the color sucks though :)

Yes, but this is the most common color for mechanical machines in italy, almost the 40% of lathes are green here!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Mon Feb 15 2010, 05:19AM

Fabio wrote ...

How stable is it on those blocks of wood? We always used to bolt floor-standing lathes to the floor and or two-pot epoxy to the floor as well.

If you get a decent mass spinning nicely that then jams for whatever reason (e.g. poor tool feed) the whole lot can tip over...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ScotchTapeLord, Tue Feb 16 2010, 01:25PM

Today I bought a server unit for 10 dollars from someone on another floor of my dorm. He just had it in his closet! He claimed he didn't need it since he had another one. I don't know anything about servers, and I didn't have the space to store it, so I did what I do best... I gutted it for what it was worth... in my opinion.

Many nice and fast IGBTs all over one board. MOSFETs for high voltage and moderate current, and some super low resistance high current FETs for low voltage. Also Schottkys in large-ish package styles. Also, my heatsink problems will be solved for the next week or so =P and I'm not sure what to do with all these fans... In fact, I'm not even sure what to do with all the wires coming out of the fans! Well, the yellow and blue ones, anyway. Big ferrite cores and some filter capacitors in there, too.

I kept one of the power supplies intact (there were two) and have it currently jury rigged to three very powerful fans (each 12V@ 2.4A!). In case you were wondering, I went through the trouble to confirm that a fan such as this will, in fact, easily cut into one's finger. I guess I'll be playing with my 90 watt fan setup until I get to work on my brick driver! Not sure what else to do with 12V at a maximum of 55 amps! (I'm open to ideas...)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Tue Feb 16 2010, 06:55PM

complicated way of making tea

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Tue Feb 16 2010, 08:48PM

Guess it does work

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Tue Feb 16 2010, 09:15PM

Linas wrote ...

complicated way of making tea

7,45A x 12V x 0,95 = 84,9W

0,2L x 4,18 x 90Â°C x 1000 = 1254Wmin
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ60

1254Wmin = 14,8min = 14 minutes and 48 seconds
Â84,9W

Not horribly quick tho

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Tue Feb 16 2010, 09:45PM

it's working when current is 20A and voltage is 24V, but 2,2Ah akku can't take long and BMS shut down akku.
but water was boiling :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sun Feb 21 2010, 11:20AM

war of the currents

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Mon Feb 22 2010, 06:43AM

Avalanche wrote ...
war of the currents

Beautiful pictures. Is the dynamo in a museum?

Less well known than the "war of the currents" is the more general "war of the systems". By 1895, polyphase AC was well ahead of single phase AC in orders for new generating plants and transmission lines.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Mon Feb 22 2010, 08:31PM

E.T. phone home

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Mon Feb 22 2010, 10:11PM

Klugesmith wrote ...

Avalanche wrote ...
war of the currents

The dynamo is actually here

The hall has a small industrial museum attached to it, and that dynamo is coupled to a steam engine IIRC. There was also some switchgear nearby, I'll have to have another look through my pics.

I never realised there was any non-polyphase AC generation, other than those small portable generators

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
radiotech, Thu Feb 25 2010, 07:34PM

This is a General Electric Cat#250229 oil test receptacle,

Transformer oil was placed in the cup to find the AC breakdown
voltage. One of the prongs slides in to adjust the gap spacing.

It was in our generation department and was used on the 66kV line.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Fri Feb 26 2010, 02:33PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GhostlyFigures, Fri Feb 26 2010, 04:13PM

here's some neat pics
thank you Steve McConner for telling me how to make these a bit smaller!

Gorges State Park, N.C.

9223 1236464717713 1412082993 686482 6241018 N

9223 1236438157049 1412082993 686374 5572327 N

9223 1236500078597 1412082993 686587 1646698 N

some lightning!!!

25034 1356892568334 1412082993 1002191 5629521 N

Photoshopped to lessen brightness

25034 1356892168324 1412082993 1002182 4461192 N

25034 1356892448331 1412082993 1002188 1158461 N

SUNSET~.~
Crowder's Mnt. N.C.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Fri Feb 26 2010, 04:38PM

GhostlyFigures: wow, nice photos

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GhostlyFigures, Fri Feb 26 2010, 05:58PM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

GhostlyFigures: wow, nice photos

thanks!! I have like several thousand photos that I can't keep track of - I love photography:-p

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Feb 26 2010, 06:04PM

For reference, here is the ghetto way to make linkable thumbnails.

1. Add width=400 to the opening img tag.

2. Enclose the img tags in url tags pointing to the same link.

Before:

[img]http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs245.snc1/9223_1236464717713_1412082993_686482_6241018_n.jpg[/img]

After:

[url=http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs245.snc1/9223_1236464717713_1412082993_686482_6241018_n.jpg]
[img width=400]http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs245.snc1/9223_1236464717713_1412082993_686482_6241018_n.jpg[/img]
[/url]

There's no cute button for it, you have to edit the BBCode yourself. I did your first one for you.

The preferred way is simply to post the pictures as attachments, then the forum software thumbnails them for you.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
aonomus, Sat Feb 27 2010, 03:37PM

Some eye candy:

I grew over 2 months, large crystals of the air sensitive compound FeCl2 and recovered them today. I *was* going to use the FeCl2 for ferrofluid synthesis, but now I'm just going to store them cause they look *awesome*.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Feb 27 2010, 11:49PM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

What is that largest one? The internal structure looks like the GU-81M, except for the bottom internal part :P.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Feb 28 2010, 09:09AM

Arcstarter wrote ...

What is that largest one? The internal structure looks like the GU-81M, except for the bottom internal part :P.

It's the GU-80, an earlier version of the 81 I think.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Mar 06 2010, 02:37PM

A few pics I have taken of random stuff:

60W RGB LED array:

IMG 2286s

Dual eyewalls created in my tornado machine:

IMG 2439s

Retuned the green laser module from my scanner and slapped on a lense for a test:

IMG 2507s

My new laser scanner:

27s

I hope that isn't too many pics for 1 post.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Mar 06 2010, 02:47PM

Had a little surprise during my Judo training. I got this award for my works as a volunteer for the local Judo club. It was handed out by the municipality governing board. They had an independent jury that selected me in the category juniors from the 6 villages.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Mar 06 2010, 06:22PM

DAMN, that's really nice to get an award. It's nice when you get noticed.

I've never been "leet" But I am now!!! HAHAHHAHAH

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Mar 06 2010, 08:58PM

How not to drill glass :) fwiw this is a kludge that would make Macgyver throw a hissy fit..

it worked though.

(its for a flat plate vacuum pump experiment)

-A

"Bother" said Pooh, as the LHC quenched AGAIN!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Mar 07 2010, 10:43PM

You're going to have to flame polish that hole because any small crack in that glass is the start of a fracture point. After you polish the hole you should anneal the glass too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Sun Mar 07 2010, 11:53PM

You could also try grinding it to a fine chip free finish and then preferably polish it, thus avoiding any heat treatment. Wet & Dry paper will do.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Mon Mar 08 2010, 07:14AM

Early Spring in California

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Mon Mar 08 2010, 11:51AM

Klugesmith wrote ...

Early Spring in California

How nice, up here it's almost a meter of snow right now.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Mon Mar 08 2010, 05:50PM

In July-Aug, the same Calif. location will be 104F (40C), 50% humidity, sky brown with smog. And then there's those pesky earthquakes...

Chico was also very pretty in spring, and total hell in summer.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun Mar 21 2010, 04:44PM

Fan guts.. btw i have 36 of these (35 now.. lol)

specs 48v, 0.24 amps, 1500+ rpm, 120mm dia.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Thu Mar 25 2010, 12:37AM

My DRSSTC 2th run !

35 1269477401

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Mar 26 2010, 09:55PM

here is one of my first Large Format photographs,
camera was a rented Horseman 45FA with a Fuji 210mm lens, film is Ektachrome 64 (4x5 inch sheet size and expired in 1990!), image scanned in to a 150MB TIFF file @ 8142x6440 originally (can't post that here lol).

The subject is a flower in my backyard, but I tried to make it a more dramatic image using camera settings, and I think I did a pretty good job for my first time using this film and camera!

I would have more, but the ones that survived the TSA opening my film box have yet to be scanned, and the ones at the lab won't be ready until Monday. (They opened it on accident, as they had no idea what to do with sheet film, but then again I shouldn't assume they'd ask)

-Jimmy

1269640536 902 FT6000 Flower Large Format Basic Edit

EDIT: Whoever responds to this gets to be post number 2000 in the "Post your cool pic here:" thread!!

EDIT #2: I would hate to have to take post number 2000 in this thread, as I have post 1999 - but I get my other 4x5 film sheet scans tomorrow and if no one else takes the legendary post I will!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sun Mar 28 2010, 11:23PM

My new toy, and it unleashed against a razer blade...

1269818494 56 FT6000 Burning Razor Small

The resulting hole I cut, and a shot of the cut edge. The spot size for that shot was about 250um, and the power was about 40w quasi-q-switched.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Mon Mar 29 2010, 01:17AM

nice macro shot!
Is that a pockels cell?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Mon Mar 29 2010, 10:42PM

A beefy DC supply, for a project I am working on.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sun Apr 04 2010, 04:37PM

forgot to congratulate "..." on getting the 2k post mark for this thread!

here are some more Large Format Photos I got back from the lab... The first one is my also my first successful long exposure start photograph, exposed for around 15 minutes; the second one is a photo of a tree at my school (the sun washed out though) and the photo beneath it is a subsection of it. With large format photography, it is possible to take very small sections of the negative and make a good quality image; The next one is of a cactus grove, and the one below that is, as with the tree, a subsection of the first one. This one is not as good quality, mainly because I threw the focus off a bit and it is a much smaller section.

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Wed Apr 07 2010, 04:31PM

Another successful trip to the recycler. This time stacks of capacitors [low ESR (30mOhm) & low ESL (17nH)] all at 2,200uF @ 500VDC, lots of flexible 1000V 1/0 & 4 AWG jumpers, lots of copper bus-bars, 2mH @ 120A chokes, all sorts of stuff in pristine condition - ex-equipment but never used and now decommisioned...

Photos of some of it:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Wed Apr 07 2010, 04:50PM

Nicko wrote ...

Another successful trip to the recycler. This time stacks of capacitors [low ESR (30mOhm) & low ESL (17nH)] all at 2,200uF @ 500VDC, lots of flexible 1000V 1/0 & 4 AWG jumpers, lots of copper bus-bars, 2mH @ 120A chokes, all sorts of stuff in pristine condition - ex-equipment but never used and now decommisioned...

Photos of some of it:

I cannot even begin to explain how envious i am. Especially of those RIFAs!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Apr 11 2010, 03:51PM

Finally got my Class-E SSTC case underway...For those who want to know, it's a Hammond Diecaste aluminum RFI/EMI shielding case. So far all is going well on it, Capacitors and transformer is mounted down, currently is going to support 60V doubled (Yes i know this is mains power but i wanted limited amperage) Later if things go well, i may consider mains or mains doubled.

I also on Friday got my 200mW Green laser, yay! Sadly the battery ship separate for FDA reasons, those come Monday or Tuesday. And yes, I do have proper IR / Green laser blocking glasses...Don't want to fool around with a 200mW without them.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mark-H, Tue Apr 13 2010, 09:28PM

It's been a very long time since I posted here... 2008 I believe. Been following though. The reason is I gave up most, if not all of my HV, Tesla, mechanical TV and radio hobbies was to persue a new one. (Had to sell everything and raise cash somehow.)And what a good thread to show it off.
Snooch was originally a 1990 Suzuki GSXR1100L. Now its a 1216cc, blow through turbocharged, 125 octane fuel drag bike. Now at Mk3 and by the weekend will be Mk4.
Between 220 and 380 BHP depending on boost setting.
I'm in my second season running in the ACU 9.50 second class.
The bike will run 8 seconds, but not with the swingarm seen in the pictures. That's now off and a 72" wheelbase one going in its place.
All mods are custom made by a UK turbo guru and personal friend.
Hope you enjoy it... Cheers. Mark.

1271194091 607 FT6000 Mr And Mrs H Plus Snooch

1271194091 607 FT6000 Snooch Turbo Exhaust

1271194091 607 FT6000 Snooch Turbo Inlet

1271194091 607 FT6000 Snooch Up Pipe And Blow Off

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Apr 13 2010, 11:38PM

Just messing around with the macro mode on the school's new cameras.

(tire of a car)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Wed Apr 14 2010, 02:48AM

Ohh, nice Gixxer, Baird! I would give up most of my projects to pursue the dream of building the dune buggy, but it's 7 grand for the frame and associated parts, and 2k for a used Hayabusa engine. Hopefully one day...!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mark-H, Wed Apr 14 2010, 08:55AM

Cheers... Gixxers in the UK are starting to fetch good money. An '86 "Slabby" can fetch Â£1000 in reasonable condition and a Slingshot or L (such as mine) Â£1500 - 2k. The Old Skool Suzuki lot are to blame. Many Gixxers get trashed and then "Streetfightered." Mine was a streetfighter, but I junked the flat bars, tiny fairing, Earl's oil cooler etc, put clipons and fairing back on plus stage 3 Dynojetted carbs, open pipe and Pingel air shifter to race last year. The 1127 engine was tired and 11.003 seconds was my best time. Now I have an MTC lockup clutch, 1216cc and TD04 turbo, with the longer arm, it should do 9.5 seconds without breaking into a sweat. Whether "I" can do 9.5, is another thing. I built most of this myself. The only thing I didn't fabricate was the new swingarm and turbo pipework. Turbo work itself came in excess of Â£1500 and that was very cheap. A usual figure would be over 3k for turbo work on one of these. Sure I could by a 7 year old Busa or K3 for that money... But where's the fun? A dune buggy with a blown Busa would be something too. I've seen dyno shootouts of blown/gas Busa's putting out over 700 horses with rumours of 1000 bhp. Totally unrideable as a road bike, but a bug! Wow...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Wed Apr 14 2010, 04:34PM

Yea, i wonder what all they had to do to the engine to get it to produce 700HP! I saw one with 700HP too. Twin turbo... I wonder how reliable a busa is after you put a couple turbos on it! Somehow it seems that it would not like all that power.

I have a gsxr-750 '92 model in my room, if only i had some money to fix it up!

Since the topic of this thread is cool pics after all, i have a picture that is relevant to the conversation as well.

Hayabusav8

A V8 hayabusa?!? Hehe, they took 2 cylinders plus the carbs, pistons and other associated parts, and custom machined a crankshaft and crankcase i believe. The output was 400hp if i remember correctly. Not sure if the first pic is the same.

Holyfuckhayabusa

A three wheeled busa... Now i have seen everything.

edit: fixed the oversized pic, it seems instead of saving the updated size of the pic on photobucket over itself does not work, had to make a copy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Apr 19 2010, 02:16AM

Laser anyone? In the day, When ambient sunlight enters my room, and my lights are on, the beam is clearly visible. In a dark room, the beam is bright. No need for 'smoke machines'

Pics reposted few posts down

Picture above, Was me shining the laser at my teeth. The reflection you see is well, spit. Just makes cool effects on the wall :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vbs6lNDYpA

200mW And yes I own laser glasses.
Youtube also shows my 120mW bluray laser.

Getting a 300mw bluray soon, and a 400mW red.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
thedatastream, Mon Apr 19 2010, 11:41AM

Is it a cat scratching post or a knitted furry tesla coil?
Answers on a postcard...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Mon Apr 19 2010, 12:14PM

Hi All!

My last fun experiment: a MAGLEV TOY TRAIN!

The rails are made with powerful neodymium magnet sticked on a iron plate, the train is made with a carved plexiglass and the "core" of the system are four YBCO (yttrium barium copper oxide) superconductor disks cooled with liquid nitrogen!

Unfortunately this is a bit off topic here, is a videoclip NOT a pic, but who cares?

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Apr 19 2010, 12:48PM

@ killa-x,

did you host the images somewhere else? - they are just showing as white boxes with "X" in the corner which means if you did they might have been taken down or the link broke. All the other images in this thread appear just fine.

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Mon Apr 19 2010, 06:41PM

Night vision tube pics...

This is a very old Gen 0 non intensified IR converter tube but it still works fine.
seems to need 16KV which i provided using a convenient plasma globe supply with one of Proud Mary's diodes in series to get about 10KV DC.

works well with one of my 0.5W NIR LEDs as the source.
Watch out though, as with the setup shown here the "front" of the tube is at -HT which is hazardous.

Now to get it to detect particles...
someone suggested using a piece of defunct EL sheet with the front ITO removed as a scintillator, reckon this might work?
obviously the better approach would be to spin coat the input window in uv adhesive, partially dry then carefully sprinkle (again using spin coating) some ZnS:Ag and fully UV cure to yield a bulletproof waterproof coating.

To add intensification (needed for most if not all particles) i could run it a little "hot" (increasing the photocathode's gain at the cost of tube lifetime) and also install a CMOS camera behind a well insulated "hood" focussed on the screen and underclocked by 50% to allow it to detect the fluorescence from a sub threshold event.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Apr 20 2010, 12:45AM

DaJJHman wrote ...

@ killa-x,

did you host the images somewhere else? - they are just showing as white boxes with "X" in the corner which means if you did they might have been taken down or the link broke. All the other images in this thread appear just fine.

-Jimmy

Odd, Showed for me. I'll do 4HV instead of my site.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Tue Apr 20 2010, 01:02AM

Nice pictures! The patch of laser light reflected from wet teeth
reminds me of Rapatronic camera pictures of early stage nuclear fireballs.

[edit] The Rapatronic shutter driver has a lot in common with pulse circuits popular on 4hv:

and

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Apr 21 2010, 07:02PM

Got the mail today! 25 mosfets!
IXFK48N50Q
500V 48A 500Watts

The cost for 25 on digikey, $321.
My cost for 25: $37

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Apr 21 2010, 07:29PM

Killa-X wrote ...

The cost for 25 on digikey, $321.
My cost for 25: $37

Did you sample them or something?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Apr 21 2010, 10:12PM

Ebay.

He bought more than 4000 of them

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ragnar, Wed Apr 21 2010, 11:46PM

Killa-X wrote ...

Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260485631634&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

He bought more than 4000 of them

Ha, wow. Well spotted, sir.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Thu Apr 22 2010, 04:15AM

Hopefully they're not chinese counterfeits.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Apr 22 2010, 09:22AM

Maybe you should send some to MinorityCarrier for analysis...
But I notice that the seller warranties them to meet the IXFK48N50Q spec.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Apr 22 2010, 05:03PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Apr 22 2010, 07:11PM

Steve McConner wrote ...

Maybe you should send some to MinorityCarrier for analysis...
But I notice that the seller warranties them to meet the IXFK48N50Q spec.

Should talk to kizmo, He has put them to high levels. He's the one that told me about these, he currently has bought 100 of them.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Thu Apr 22 2010, 09:10PM

We would just de-process the package to see what or who's die is in there.

That's what we do with samples of mystery APT parts that show up at distributors without a proper paper trail. A lot of those have turned out to be functional counterfeits, the site of manufacture unknown but suspected to be in china.

Now back to those photos of big arcs...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Apr 24 2010, 02:15AM

Some pics of my SSTC halfbridge. 140V 3A to voltage doubler. Way under rated...I wan this for 15 minutes and my new ebay mosfet heatsink wasnt even 70F. Plan to rig a tripler so I can get more voltage..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sat Apr 24 2010, 07:04AM

Some pics of my laminar jet. I'm still waiting on some fibre optic cable from the UK so I can light the stream without a laser.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sat Apr 24 2010, 10:27PM

Can you guess what it is ?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andyman, Sat Apr 24 2010, 11:36PM

Ghetto speaker system installed in the trunk to replace the existing POS speakers.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Apr 25 2010, 12:36AM

Experimentonomen wrote ...

Can you guess what it is ?

Looks like the glowing filament of a vacuum tube.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Apr 25 2010, 03:33AM

What happens when a 18 year old gets bored in his room with a 200mW green laser? He shines it at his tounge. As disturbing as this may seem to some (I find it amazing) The pictures you see is the reflection of spit. These images where rapid-line moving images, very amazing to see in motion. Pictures are still cool :)

Gate break down wanted me to show the one that looks like a face...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sun Apr 25 2010, 06:22AM

Killa-X wrote ...

OH dear god its staring at me!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Apr 25 2010, 11:49PM

A dead 93A 1000V half bridge SCR module I disected.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Pylon, Wed Apr 28 2010, 01:39PM

My new unfinished micro vttc.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Thu Apr 29 2010, 12:49AM

Blinky things are fun to make

*waits 6 seconds*

yay

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Apr 29 2010, 02:32AM

Myke wrote ...

Blinky things are fun to make

*waits 6 seconds*

yay

*Faints due to the awesome point to point wiring*

I have you beat GBD, don't deny it bud!

P.S, tuba!

1272508360 1225 FT6000 Igbt Brick Internals 001

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Thu Apr 29 2010, 03:23AM

Arcstarter wrote ...

I have you beat GBD, don't deny it bud!

P.S, tuba!

damn you! ... still have mine covered in that clear gell....
and mine dont have any wires... :(

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Thu Apr 29 2010, 07:01PM

Just over a week ago I returned from a long cycling trip from home right up the west coast of Scotland. 1036 miles. I keep meaning to post a cool pic, but I have too many photos to sort through (well over 1000) so a rough image of the route I took will have to do for now. It doesn't look that far on the image, but the route wasn't as direct as it looks on a map that scale. I'm currently blogging the whole thing and it's taking forever...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Thu May 06 2010, 06:02PM

Yesterday i found three IC's on a very, very old motherboard, with windows! Thats kinda neat, but im stumped as to what the purpose of this is? Was it used during fabrication, perhaps?

The one in the picture has 40 pins, and since it says INTEL '77 i suspect that this might be a processor. The other two are somewhat smaller, and has TI's logo printed on them.

Oh, and if any hobby photographers knows how to take good closeups with a cheap digital camera, without using a big magnifier glass, im all ears. This image was the best of 20.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Thu May 06 2010, 06:23PM

EPROM is Erasable Read Only Memory. It's non volatile (keeps its contents when the power goes off) but you can wipe it by exposing it to UV light and then reprogram it. Seems rather quaint now but it was quite cool at the time and you get to look at the chip too!
I think mainly you found it with just purely EPROM chips, but there where some CPU's that had inbuilt EPROM that were windowed too I think.
On the down side, the optical quality of the window is generally abismal, but you can still have some fun with a microscope.
Wiki

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Thu May 06 2010, 07:25PM

IntraWinding wrote ...

EPROM is Erasable Read Only Memory. It's non volatile (keeps its contents when the power goes off) but you can wipe it by exposing it to UV light and then reprogram it. Seems rather quaint now but it was quite cool at the time and you get to look at the chip too!
I think mainly you found it with just purely EPROM chips, but there where some CPU's that had inbuilt EPROM that were windowed too I think.
On the down side, the optical quality of the window is generally abismal, but you can still have some fun with a microscope.
Wiki

I've always wondered how UV exposures were done in practice, shining through a normal IC sounds pretty intense. It makes more sense now, thank you.

I just wish i had my microscope here now.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu May 06 2010, 09:13PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Turkey9, Thu May 06 2010, 11:03PM

I collected four or five of those.... Along with an Intel processor that's DIP! about 40 pins like Dr. Spark mentioned. All of those chips i found had the windows covered by a sticker, did you're have that? I assume it was to prevent sunlight from wiping the chip

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Fri May 07 2010, 12:13AM

I think they were playing it safe with the stickers, to keep light out. I never heard of RF wiping before. Sounds like degaussing. EPROM's aren't that old by the way. I think the BIOS on my last PC (KT7-RAID) was on an EPROM - had a holographic sticker on it though to make look snazzy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri May 07 2010, 01:44AM

Renesis wrote ...

Yesterday i found three IC's on a very, very old motherboard, with windows! Thats kinda neat, but im stumped as to what the purpose of this is? Was it used during fabrication, perhaps?

The one in the picture has 40 pins, and since it says INTEL '77 i suspect that this might be a processor. The other two are somewhat smaller, and has TI's logo printed on them.

Oh, and if any hobby photographers knows how to take good closeups with a cheap digital camera, without using a big magnifier glass, im all ears. This image was the best of 20.

a lot of cameras, even cheap ones, tend to have a Macro mode of some kind, look for a mode with the picture of a flower, which is a common way of identifying it on most cameras I've seen that aren't high end.
Also, ignore using the zoom on the lens, it will send your focus range farther than the object, so if necessary rely on digital zoom which will drop your resolution but it will still be in focus.

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Fri May 07 2010, 12:02PM

Turkey9 wrote ...

All of those chips i found had the windows covered by a sticker, did you're have that?

Yes, in fact they did. Removing it was a mere coincidence.

DaJJHman wrote ...

a lot of cameras, even cheap ones, tend to have a Macro mode of some kind, look for a mode with the picture of a flower, which is a common way of identifying it on most cameras I've seen that aren't high end.

That seems to work, thank you.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Fri May 07 2010, 10:35PM

I think the claim of erasing EPROMs with RF is bogus. The ex-INTELista I work with never heard of that being done, UV erasure was used. What's the mechanism for RF causing gate charge electrons on a floating EPROM gate to tunnel away? Why doesn't address line 'antenna effect' introduce charge?

A 10,000 pin socket part with a core dissipating 264 watts sounds untenable. A co-worker with a spouse still working at Intel hasn't heard of that, or about Intel Pathfinder Engineering working with that. What's the socket designation? Address size?

Just asking.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Fri May 07 2010, 11:36PM

MinorityCarrier wrote ...
A 10,000 pin socket part with a core dissipating 264 watts sounds untenable.

I agree with you there. But can attest that there are 10,000 pin automatic chip testers (I just touched one). They go with robotic handlers to connect hundreds of chips for concurrent testing. Ever figure how many minutes of write, read, and erase cycles it takes to properly test a flash memory chip on the factory test floor?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat May 08 2010, 01:38AM

Cool Pic Indeed. Unfortunately they don't work, but I have 3 good projects here, and they will work, I will it so!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andyman, Sat May 08 2010, 03:01AM

Oh, cool is one of those an old FM deviation meter?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat May 08 2010, 04:22AM

No. These are curve tracers. The tube one passes basic functionality tek 575, I haven't tried the 576's yet.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat May 08 2010, 08:12AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sat May 08 2010, 07:43PM

10,000 pins! Pix or it didn't happen!

The Jasper Forest processor has 1366 pins, or lands if you want to be pedantic.

I still haven't forgiven Intel for bringing out the Core Duo the week after I bought my Pentium 4.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sat May 08 2010, 08:25PM

As far as I can tell Dr. Spark is talking about test equipment and not about chip packages but it is quite hard to decode the true meaning.

Here is a picture I took 5-6 years ago of one of those motherboard microcontrollers. Their main function was to handle the keyboard as far as I recall.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Sat May 08 2010, 10:02PM

LGA 1366, also known as Socket B

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
MinorityCarrier, Sun May 09 2010, 06:56AM

In 1986 I was a Semiconductor Process Engineer (Photolithography/Wet Etch/Planarization) working for Applied Micro-Circuits Corporation (AMCC) in San Diego. I was part of the BiCMOS team that developed AMCC's 350MHz BiCMOS mixed-signal gate array family (introduced in 1989).

So how does RF cause electrons to quantum-tunnel away from a floating EPROM gate?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bored Chemist, Sun May 09 2010, 08:50AM

The old-school way to erase them (if you didn't have a UV lamp, or time for the sun to do it) was to bake them in the oven.
I can imagine RF heating works just fine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun May 09 2010, 09:38AM

actually there is a mechanism for RF to work, but it requires there to be an inert gas inside the gap between the chip and case.
the basic mechanism is that you apply HV at RF to the top of the casing above the chip and ground all the pins.
if the field is sufficiently strong the gas ionises and wipes the chip in much the same way as uv does.
the catch is that this doesen't do the chip much good but it can work when all else fails (esp. on stubborn 27Cxx chips with stuck bits)

interestingly those old chips often developed failed areas due to (presumably) "tired" cells.
Worked fine once rewritten but the memory failed in weeks rather than years.

If you do ever see a failed chip and want to salvage the program one way is to read back at multiple voltages (5V, 4.4V and 4V) and see which bits change.
Then it becomes a trivial exercise to determine which combination is correct :)

I've used a homemade emergency light + UVC tube before, worked fine.
On the flip side those "UV toothbrush cleaners" ought to work, if anyone sees one in a sale.

-A
"Bother" said Pooh, as he discovered giant hornets in his loft...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Mon May 10 2010, 10:40PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue May 11 2010, 12:55AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue May 11 2010, 10:26AM

Thanks for clarifying that Dr. Spark. 10,000 pads for a wafer test jig is reasonable, but you made it sound like you were working on a cutting-edge CPU that would have 10,000 pins in its finished package. That would be extraordinary even for Intel.

As for bikes, just send over any old Harleys that you get bored with, that'd be grand!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Tue May 11 2010, 10:07PM

My little 1000Apeak 311V DRSSTC with 10.000uF Rifa caps and 600nF MMC ~40Khz

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu May 13 2010, 09:50PM

Looks awesome Linas :)

200mW Green laser
400mA red laser
a low battery 230mA bluray.

Custom build 400mA red laser adapted from 5W LED flashlight (Custom heatsink)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Slack, Fri May 14 2010, 03:39PM

This is cool rather than electrical.

I'm working in Montreal for a week. It was sunny Thursday, and walking along I suddenly saw these colurful trees outlined on the pavement. There's no mystery as to how they're caused, given the clues as to the sun's position, the colourful glass-fronted building to the left, and the trees to the right, but it stopped me in my tracks for a moment.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Fri May 14 2010, 04:11PM

Nice! I first saw coloured shadows on a stage and it blew my mind for a while. I've never seen it out of doors though. I'd love to know if the architect set this up on purpose? And hope we see more of it in future!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Sat May 15 2010, 03:52AM

So I shipped my railgun capacitor bank, and <sarcasm> UPS took great care of it. </sarcasm>

The bottom left is the charging box/distance operator that came like that, being dragged out of the box. It was probably dragged by the 5 18 AWG silicone wires I had connected to it. In addition to that, the top of the capacitor bank looks like a sledgehammer was taken to it, probably damaging some capacitors beneath. The top is also the most heavily packed, with around 3 inches of packing.

Filed a claim, good thing I bought insurance.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat May 15 2010, 05:28AM

Yea, unfortunately when you claim insurance they take your property and give you the money!

I lost that little battle with USPS over my YAESU wattmeter, and ended up having to fix it myself, All came out well in the end, but it was a close call.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Thu May 20 2010, 12:39AM

So the claim was denied. Why?
I had insisted on using my own box, even though the UPS store employees had looked over the whole thing, and told me which box to use, which I bought from them....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu May 20 2010, 04:33AM

What type of motor is this? Do they commenly try to run in sync? Would it be good for a RSG?

First time i ever open a motor with a smooth spindle. So to me, these are cool pics :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Thu May 20 2010, 09:17AM

Looks like an ordinary induction motor to me (asynchronous), but I'm no expert.

The rotor is a solid combination of iron and copper parts as visible in this cutaway

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Thu May 20 2010, 08:07PM

heres some pics that are my personal favorites so far..
1. my secondary end cap, (not yet mounted) has a plywood disk painted black, and some insulators
2. my 200,000uF filter capacitor bank powering a 30 LED strip

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mates, Sat May 22 2010, 09:29PM

Whale eye

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Sun May 23 2010, 09:25PM

Mates wrote ...

Whale eye

That looks like something you might see above the altair in a church.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Mon May 24 2010, 08:11PM

I'll believe ya, but if you look real close to at the center of the "eye" it looks like the end of a HV chicken stick and a purple arc going across to another electrode.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon May 24 2010, 09:26PM

You could also just zoom in 400% and see that too :) Whatever the image is, Was just called a Whale eye just because it just happens to look like an eye, and it's gray :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Mon May 24 2010, 10:54PM

It's one of his horns for his TC speaker system. Nice shot Mates!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Mon May 24 2010, 11:14PM

DOH!

I just realized that little purple arc... well played sir, well played...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue May 25 2010, 04:21PM

I planned a while back to just harvest parts from a giant oscilloscope I picked up at a hamfest, even though it has better specs I think than my much smaller one it takes a lot of space for what I thought was a primitive high end transistor unit... I was stupid to think so. It turns out, the thing is entirely Tube based and I can never turn down something based on tubes! I might clean up the inside, and make some Acrylic walls and make it into a table or something, where I can still use it but it looks nicer.

pics of the guts:

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Tue May 25 2010, 05:52PM

DaJJHman wrote ...

I planned a while back to just harvest parts from a giant oscilloscope I picked up at a hamfest, even though it has better specs I think than my much smaller one it takes a lot of space for what I thought was a primitive high end transistor unit... I was stupid to think so. It turns out, the thing is entirely Tube based and I can never turn down something based on tubes! I might clean up the inside, and make some Acrylic walls and make it into a table or something, where I can still use it but it looks nicer.

pics of the guts:...

The real and genuine tragedy about old tube-based Tek scopes is that some saddo so-called audio enthusiasts are buying them up and stripping them for the tubes & junking the rest. Yes, they don;t care, but some of these scopes are really rare. Over on the Tekscopes Yahoo! forum there's been loads of grumbling about this...

Sigh...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
quicksilver, Wed May 26 2010, 04:08PM

Got this HV power supply from Surplus Sales of Nebraska. It's a DUEL 11K supply designed for a plasma display. I can draw a 4cm arc from each....and they give you the schematic. I was told there was no obvious way to set them up in series

This actually the 1st time I've sen a LOPT being used in this manner.
However if anyone has seen them before and knows a bit about it I'd love to hear what you know. The design is very intriguing.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Wed May 26 2010, 04:50PM

Can you post the schematic?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
quicksilver, Wed May 26 2010, 05:08PM

I will do my best. I need to scan it and sharpen the image as it's poorly printed. It runs very cold. This may be not only because of the huge heat sinks but they (LOPT's) are not driven very hot but head into a voltage multiplier (black boxes). It's a neat little supply.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
quicksilver, Wed May 26 2010, 06:08PM

I put up the Photo-Shopped .gif at 600dpi
If you learn anything that may be helpful, please let me know. I have many of the parts needed to make my own. I know I have two new AC LOPT's but the IC is what takes me back. It has a single Lg IC that appears to be a controller of some type. For me, it wouldn't be a light-weight project!

What I know about it is this:

It was designed as a DUEL 11k supply for a plasma sign. I don't know if drawing arcs is what it's made for; so I put a 100K 3W resistor on the ground wire prior to drawing an arc. I got a some good one about 4cm. The protection is supplied by one fuse but that seems to protect the AC input. There appears not to be anything to keep it protected on the individual units. But putting it into a plasma screen would sustain a given voltage: correct? So drawing an arc shouldn't be a big deal.
The "black box" voltage multipliers are made very well. The whole thing was produced in Japan for a sign mfg company.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
quicksilver, Wed May 26 2010, 06:10PM

11k schematic

1274897434 1408 FT6000 Schematic 11k Ssn Copy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed May 26 2010, 06:58PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Wed May 26 2010, 07:21PM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

Keep close to W.W.T 2011 and bring some extra underwear indeed! (bring any old tools you want to melt)

2011 is the year I'll finally be able to attend! Looks like a lot of fun is planned.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu May 27 2010, 07:49AM

It wouldn't surprise me if the chip in that high voltage power supply were a TL494 clone. Does the pinout make sense for a TL494, and does the part number end in "94"?

Probably, you can't use the outputs in series because they're both the same polarity and both referred to ground.

Also, nice tube Dr. Spark

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
quicksilver, Thu May 27 2010, 02:45PM

Steve McConner wrote ...

It wouldn't surprise me if the chip in that high voltage power supply were a TL494 clone. Does the pinout make sense for a TL494, and does the part number end in "94"?

Probably, you can't use the outputs in series because they're both the same polarity and both referred to ground.

Also, nice tube Dr. Spark

Yep: they use that topology. It's a pity because I got the little guy with the idea of grabbing 22k.

edit* - I mistyped the thing...sorry. I answered my own question.....But is there anyway to determine if this design is robust enough to continually draw arcs and generally experiment with? I put a 3w resister at ground to simply test it's functionality but i don't know if plasma sign PSU's are made with little slack for shorts or overvoltage.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
For those who don't live here....We grow those tubes in Arizona. They can be seen from the highway. If you ride a motorcycle you can stop and check them out up close. The older ones have more "arms" coming out.....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu May 27 2010, 03:00PM

quicksilver wrote ...

What & from where does the TL494 come from? Google turned up little material.

The TL494 is a classic and very popular SMPS controller chip. Even on this forum lots of people have used it in their projects. You should be able to find information easily.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. H., Thu May 27 2010, 03:23PM

Actually ... the tube is still in Bulgaria

Ohh ... and that is my hand holding it

It shure is a big tube

Cheers

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu May 27 2010, 04:25PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chris Russell, Thu May 27 2010, 11:08PM

Cage of death? How can I possibly say no to that?

Count me in! Any idea on the dates of the thon yet?

Fortunately, I grew up in the high desert of southern California, so I'm fairly used to the heat. I'm actually looking forward to not having to dig the barbecue out of the snow every time I feel like ribs in January. Noelle, though, is a little worried.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri May 28 2010, 12:39AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Fri May 28 2010, 01:23PM

A few from the last few days with my new camera, Canon powershot A640, This camera does great macro's!

IMG 0786s

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Mon May 31 2010, 06:39PM

Dr. Spark: That is not a tube...its an absolute sculpture, love the glass envelope. Can't wait to see what you do with it. :D Do you have any specs? Some tube datasheets are quite hard to come by...looks like an absolute XXkW beast though.

On a side note, I have been without a decent soldering iron/station for a while now. (don't ask :/) Everyone who has had to use a plug-in soldering pen after a decent station will know the pain I was in for the past months...

Well today I was visiting a friend when I noticed a nice Weller station on a bench. Asked him, if he was using it, turned out it was gathering dust. At the same time a nice PC monitor he was eyeing was gathering dust at my place. 15 minutes later, the trade was complete. Don't you just love trades? :D

Works great! Much better than my old "new" station...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Mon May 31 2010, 06:55PM

brtaman wrote ...

On a side note, I have been without a decent soldering iron/station for a while now. (don't ask :/) Everyone who has had to use a plug-in soldering pen after a decent station will the pain I was in for the past months...

Well today I was visiting a friend when I noticed a nice Weller station on a bench. Asked him, if he was using it, turned out it was gathering dust. At the same time a nice PC monitor he was eyeing was gathering dust at my place. 15 minutes later, the trade was complete. Don't you just love trades? :D

Works great! Much better than my old "new" station...

Whats the difference? Im too cheap to get a proper soldering station, but i seem to do fine enough with my regular inexpensive pen. What exactly makes it worth the investment?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jun 01 2010, 01:59AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Tue Jun 01 2010, 05:28AM

That coil will be fecking awesome Dr. Spark!

I like the water cooling, where did you get that fine radiator?

Cheers, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jun 01 2010, 06:22AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:15AM

A little playing around with my argon and some fiber optics

1275383695 56 FT6000 Fiber Coupler System

1275383695 56 FT6000 Small Fiber Coupler

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Tue Jun 01 2010, 11:43AM

Guess how fast this shaft turns?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Jun 01 2010, 01:57PM

Err, 1rpm with 25 billion foot-pounds of torque?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Tue Jun 01 2010, 02:03PM

OK, I'll try 1/2 RPM, but what's it turning? A valve?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Tue Jun 01 2010, 03:02PM

I think a more accurate estimation is about 5-6 rounds per hour, i dont know exactly tho. You could barely see it move

The picture is taken at a waste water cleaning facility, and beneath the floor is a gargantuous process tank. The shaft spins a stirrer/bottom scraper.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Tue Jun 01 2010, 03:57PM

Renesis wrote ...

...The shaft spins a ...bottom scraper.

How appropriate

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Tue Jun 01 2010, 04:22PM

Nicko wrote ...

Renesis wrote ...

...The shaft spins a ...bottom scraper.

How appropriate

Wastewater treatment has never been a glamorous buisness...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jun 02 2010, 03:11AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed Jun 02 2010, 11:35AM

looks like an attempted re-creation of that scene from Back to the Future

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Jun 02 2010, 12:39PM

A pretty successful attempt at that!

Avalanche, any more news on your epic bike ride?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Wed Jun 02 2010, 07:48PM

Henry will not give me a 45kw plate transformer (piggy) till I finish the LP, man you guys are hard to me, ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Please, come drive out here to Texas and pick up my 50kw 7.6kv pig. I can't be bothered to take it out to the street, and that'd be a shame to let them rip it down to the raw materials! Just buy a new gasket and fix some plastic that broke inside that held the HV input wire up away from the transformer itself

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed Jun 02 2010, 07:48PM

I keep meaning to finish my blog and get it online, but it's one of those things I just never seem to get around to

It took me about 17 days to get from Derby up the west coast of Scotland and then across to Inverness, and that includes rest days. I had full camping gear with me, but ended up mostly staying in hostels and bunkhouses which wasn't the original plan! Having said that, I didn't really plan the thing anyway, other than loading nearly 100 campsites, bunkhouses and hostels into my GPS and marking them on the map. My daily routes were usually planned the previous night, with the help of folk I met in the hostels and google maps whenever I could get on the internet.

Full route was: Derby > Standedge (Yorkshire) > Windermere > Keswick > South of Dumfries > Newton Stewart > Ayr > Isle of Bute > Inveraray > Ft William > Mallaig > Isle of Skye > Torridon > Badrallach > Scoraig and then Inverness. Couple of days in Inverness and then got on a 4.50AM train back to Carlisle via a change at Edinburgh. I was picked up from the Lake District the next day. The ride from Badrallach on the west coast to Inverness was the fastest ~60 miles I've ever done, as it was mostly downhill and nowhere to stop!

Awesome scenery, loved every minute of it. I was there early April - just timed it right with the weather

[link]

That's a pretty random selection of photos out of over 1000, must get my act together and finish the write up!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Wed Jun 02 2010, 11:11PM

Renesis wrote ...

Whats the difference? Im too cheap to get a proper soldering station, but i seem to do fine enough with my regular inexpensive pen. What exactly makes it worth the investment?

Well for me personally it boils down to three things ranked here in order of importance:

1. Versatility (I tend to solder PCB's and a minute later I need to solder a large wire etc. by twisting the pot I am ready for the large wire within 10 seconds, with several pens for each different task warm up time is a real time killer for me)

2. Heat up time (I plug in the station it heats up to 350C in ~20 seconds...with my pens the wait is much longer)

3. Temperature stability

Of course the benefits of a station vary with each user and his specific requirements/habits, but I have to say the past months with the pens were a real dent in morale for me personally. So, if your workstation habits requirements are similair to mine, I would recommend spending the money on a station.

Dr. Spark: I have also attempted to find a datasheet of the GU-10X tubes containing plate curves in the past, however my search came up empty. Hope you have better luck! Please be sure to inform us of the parameters of this new beast once you have them. I can say that I am extremely interested!

Best Regards,
brtaman

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu Jun 03 2010, 01:32AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Thu Jun 03 2010, 02:06AM

When you get it done make sure you post it's pics in the right thread... The ART one! ;p

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Sun Jun 06 2010, 06:19PM

The Tesla Midgets.

Nowadays, when Tesla Coils are gaining ever increasing popularity, even the little people are giving a hand.....

Cheers, Finn and Daniel

The tesla midgets of Denmark

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jun 06 2010, 06:35PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Sun Jun 06 2010, 07:42PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

The Tesla Midgets.

Nowadays, when Tesla Coils are gaining ever increasing popularity, even the little people are giving a hand.....

Cheers, Finn and Daniel

The tesla midgets of Denmark

I think someone wants their coil to look really big

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Sun Jun 06 2010, 08:06PM

Well, putting the coil on would be a good start. When do we see this thing working

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Sun Jun 06 2010, 09:16PM

Renesis wrote ...

I think someone wants their coil to look really big

We might argue that we don't have to....

Cheers, Finn

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Mon Jun 07 2010, 04:10AM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Renesis wrote ...

I think someone wants their coil to look really big

We might argue that we don't have to....

Cheers, Finn

Oh jeez. That looks... !

It looks like you have the topload grounded... I guess this is to make sure you do not get a big black hole in your head while setting up, or testing etc?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Mon Jun 07 2010, 12:35PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Renesis wrote ...

I think someone wants their coil to look really big

We might argue that we don't have to....

Cheers, Finn

And i might not argue against. That thing looks awesome!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Mon Jun 07 2010, 02:06PM

Wow!

Can we see it running?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Mon Jun 07 2010, 07:13PM

IntraWinding wrote ...

Wow!

Can we see it running?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Tue Jun 08 2010, 12:56AM

Renesis wrote ...

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Renesis wrote ...

I think someone wants their coil to look really big

We might argue that we don't have to....

Cheers, Finn

And i might not argue against. That thing looks awesome!

Just realize how proud that old man in the photo is! *pokes Finn in the liver spots*

In all seriousness, that thing looks like something the secret service would use around the white house

. Or make a portable one and use it for riot control... Just the terror the coil strikes into it's victims is enough, even if the sparks don't hurt they will think they do!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Tue Jun 08 2010, 10:17AM

Arcstarter wrote ...

*pokes Finn in the liver spots*

When a man grows old
And his balls grow cold
And the tip of his prick turns blue
When it bends in the middle
Like a one string fiddle
-He can tell us a tale or two

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Jun 08 2010, 04:48PM

Lol.

Nice job on the toroid, its seamless.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Jun 09 2010, 03:10AM

More like a video instead of pictures....I had fun with my 200mw Green laser burning electrical tape. The reflections to me looked like a mini laser show. The video starts really around 1:00 Maybe in a few weeks after I obtain some high grade glasses...I'll do the same video but with a ~1W blue laser. 445nm :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jun 13 2010, 05:00PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Jun 16 2010, 01:21PM

FERROFLUID sculptures:

FULGURITE making machine:

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Wed Jun 16 2010, 03:00PM

Any photos of the ferrofluid in action?

What power does it take to make the fulgurites?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Jun 16 2010, 03:48PM

Any photos of the ferrofluid in action?

Sorry, no photos available yet, but i have some videoclips instead:

First experiments with big coils

almost done

the intended use

Concerning the fulgurite-making machine, i'm not shure about the exact power drawn from mains because i insert a 60 amps panel meter in front of the machine but this meter is totaly useless because it instantly slam on overrange when i push the firing button and the mains voltage falls seriously and even the lights of my neighbors became dim, this puppy is really a power-hungry toy!!!!

For this machine i use two 20.000 - 100 potential transformer with HV coils wired in parallel and LV coils in series (power grid is 230V single phase - 400V three phase here) without any sort of ballast,....... of course can be used for short time runs only otherwise the two PTs could be destroyed!!!

here there are a videoclip showing the fulgurite machine in action:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Wed Jun 16 2010, 07:02PM

Thanks for that.

The shapes formed by ferofluid are really fascinating! I want to do something with it myself one day.

I was assuming the fugerites where formed in a vertical direction by a short violent discharge from capacitors, as with lightning. Your method is much more practical

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Jun 26 2010, 02:50PM

GEC Valve radio restoration

It's playing behind me right now, sound quality is fantastic (and surprisingly loud) with it's single class-A output stage

Only failed components were 2 resistors, and a potentiometer. Surprisingly the capacitors were ok, but I replaced one anyway.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Sat Jun 26 2010, 11:38PM

Nice one Avalanche!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Fri Jul 02 2010, 07:10PM

Guess what is behind me

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Fri Jul 02 2010, 07:27PM

Electron beam welder?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Fri Jul 02 2010, 07:57PM

Little hint:
This is one of many parts
Windings of the superconductor, cooled liquid helium...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jul 02 2010, 08:32PM

judging by the apparent vacuum system and the hints you gave, and the high voltage high current lines visible I'm guessing a type of fusion experiment.

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Fri Jul 02 2010, 08:55PM

is a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Sat Jul 03 2010, 02:21PM

Fabio wrote ...

is a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems?

Nice idea! So I wonder if they ever fit one of those in a mobile phone!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sat Jul 03 2010, 11:33PM

No, this picture is being done this year, near Moscow

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Jul 04 2010, 04:17PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Mon Jul 05 2010, 08:57PM

Helicopter autopilot:

didn't embed it because I couldn't figure out how to resize the thumbnail from 10MP :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Jul 13 2010, 04:13PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Thu Jul 15 2010, 11:08AM

Here is what I do at work when I'm bored. I'm try to draw a 3d model of my gerber multiplier.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Fri Jul 30 2010, 02:32AM

Some pics I took while walking around the labs.

More pics

1280800622 540 FT1630 6 4kv 200uf Caps Flash

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Aug 05 2010, 08:29AM

After soldering a lot tonight, I turned on a laser and thought "odd, the beam is brighter than i last remembered" Lots of fine particles in the air. So I started messing with my lasers with lights off to see the beam and found that yes, they were all a lot brighter. Rosin core solder must fill a room after awhile!

Fun little beam shot I took, 1W 445nm, 200mw 532nm, and 200mw 635...or so. Bright beams,no exposure had to be done! :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Sun Aug 08 2010, 06:38AM

Might as well add a few of my recent addition. I'm lovin these 445nm diodes

And of course, a raster

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Tue Aug 10 2010, 02:52AM

Not a laser diode, but ive found these things VERY fun to play with anyway, they are 1W blue LEDs. (running at 1/2w in the pic)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Aug 12 2010, 05:38AM

Electroholic wrote ...

Here is what I do at work when I'm bored. I'm try to draw a 3d model of my gerber multiplier.

I have an old pair like those

. Most of the accessories are broken, terrible condition. I got it from an abusive owner. Poor thing. I still use the pliers more than any other tool, and i may even say i cherish it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Aug 13 2010, 06:55AM

Does 'cool video' count?

Can skip through parts, but I have 200, 420, and 1000FPS videos of resistors exploding, plasma balls, and NST arcing.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sat Aug 14 2010, 11:40AM

From the BBC - Lightning over Zurich this week...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Sun Aug 15 2010, 11:53AM

Daniel came over for lunch and coffe, and he brought treats!

A cookie to the first who guesses what it is.

Edit: It is the white parts to the right of the well-known brick that are the mystery parts.....

Cheers, The Coiling Midgets

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Xplorer, Sun Aug 15 2010, 12:00PM

My 6in Lichtenberg figure

My 1/5th scale RC car

-Tony

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sun Aug 15 2010, 06:02PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Edit: It is the white parts to the right of the well-known brick that are the mystery parts.....

Water cooling jacket?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Sun Aug 15 2010, 07:39PM

Nicko wrote ...

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Edit: It is the white parts to the right of the well-known brick that are the mystery parts.....

Water cooling jacket?

Close, definately hot, but not quite as precise as we would like.
The word We am looking for starts with a "B".

-the midgets

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Aug 15 2010, 07:47PM

Water cooling block?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sun Aug 15 2010, 07:47PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Nicko wrote ...

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Edit: It is the white parts to the right of the well-known brick that are the mystery parts.....

Water cooling jacket?

Close, definately hot, but not quite as precise as we would like.
The word We am looking for starts with a "B".

-the midgets

Base plate water cooling jacket or something? Maybe a back plate water cooling jacket? (if there is a difference between back plate and base plate)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Martin King, Sun Aug 15 2010, 08:42PM

Not photo-shopped, taken with my mobile phone.

291762703 22e4f83de9 Z

[Edit: Image size]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GluD, Sun Aug 15 2010, 09:48PM

I'd certainly assume that dodgy looking device in that last photo to be dangerous. What is it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Mon Aug 16 2010, 05:04AM

Gatedbreakdown wrote ...

Water cooling block?

The water cooling part is right.
But this is an extra secret feature that serves multible purposes within the water cooling scheme, I can list 3 off the top of my head, to improve the water cooling.

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Mon Aug 16 2010, 07:56AM

Maybe one of the additional ways it cools is via evaporation? Maybe even forced air + evaporation?

"Black body radiation" starts with a B.
Could you tell us if these are ceramic or plastic (they look like plastic but just to make sure) and also take another picture at a slightly shallower angle?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Mon Aug 16 2010, 10:06AM

I believe he is using the IGBT substrate as part of the waterblock by having it sit directly on top of the water channels, with the perimeter sealed by an o-ring.
No more wasting delta T on thermal junctions, just cold water on the back of the IGBT.

Edit:
I knew I've seen it somewhere

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Martin King, Mon Aug 16 2010, 10:33AM

GluD wrote ...

I'd certainly assume that dodgy looking device in that last photo to be dangerous. What is it?

a 16" Shell

Martin.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Mon Aug 16 2010, 09:06PM

Electroholic wrote ...

I believe he is using the IGBT substrate as part of the waterblock by having it sit directly on top of the water channels, with the perimeter sealed by an o-ring.
No more wasting delta T on thermal junctions, just cold water on the back of the IGBT.

Edit:
I knew I've seen it somewhere

Jack, thatÂ´s close enough, just wondering now, how to deliver the cookie.

The word we wanted to hear is baffle. It is a baffle.
This baffle is embedded in an alluminum plate which forms the basis of the manifold.
The water enters the big rectangular holes on one side and have to pass the maze channels to exit the row of holes on the other side of the block.
The maze shape adds 2 features: first it creates resistance to the flow of the water, series resistance makes the flow equal in each channel.
It also forces turbulence to the flow, facilitating heat transfer to the liquid.
Third: The plastic insulates radiated heat from reaching cooling backplate made from alluminium.

Cheers, The Midget coilers of Denmark

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Mon Aug 16 2010, 09:24PM

Martin King wrote ...

GluD wrote ...

I'd certainly assume that dodgy looking device in that last photo to be dangerous. What is it?

a 16" Shell

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Martin King, Mon Aug 16 2010, 09:41PM

Nicko wrote ...

Martin King wrote ...

GluD wrote ...

I'd certainly assume that dodgy looking device in that last photo to be dangerous. What is it?

a 16" Shell

FX shuffles feet nervously, Could be, I'm sure it would be considered off topic to discuss it further here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Aug 17 2010, 03:40AM

Pictures taken with Casio EX-FH20 (High speed camera) while down south. All images are direct from the camera, No photoshop has been used. Just me not knowing how to use the camera!

My first MOTs... =D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Wed Aug 18 2010, 03:26PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Aww, I think I'm starting to see the genius behind this design now.
Running multiple parallel channels across the width of the device to minimize thermal gradient across the device. And you added baffles to equalize flow rate in different channels and create turbulence.
Not sure if I understand your 3rd point, tho, about the radiated heat.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Aug 18 2010, 08:05PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Fri Aug 20 2010, 12:51AM

My bricks... The big ones single igbts, and are good for 2500V, 1200A continuous. The little guys are 2500V 400A continuous. I have 3 more of each.

My SCRs. I cant remember the exact rating right now.

A gatedrive. Fiberoptic cmd/feedback. Undervoltage and out of sat protection.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Aug 20 2010, 01:26AM

O_O

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GhostNull, Fri Aug 20 2010, 11:47AM

0_o

*head explodes*

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Fri Aug 20 2010, 06:25PM

Jrz126 wrote ...

My bricks... The big ones single igbts, and are good for 2500V, 1200A continuous. The little guys are 2500V 400A continuous. I have 3 more of each.

My SCRs. I cant remember the exact rating right now.

A gatedrive. Fiberoptic cmd/feedback. Undervoltage and out of sat protection.

Looks like a nice H-bridge in the making for a DRSSTC

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Aug 22 2010, 07:24PM

VTTC parts

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sun Aug 22 2010, 08:49PM

Hi!

My DRSSTC with 455nF, news photo with longer exposure time :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Aug 22 2010, 09:02PM

Dr. Kilovolt wrote ...

VTTC parts

Is that a spool of litz wire, kilovolt?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Aug 22 2010, 09:33PM

Gatedbreakdown wrote ...

Is that a spool of litz wire, kilovolt?

nope, it's a standard magnet wire but with thin cotton insulation on the outside

I got it for (almost) free so thats what I'm going to wind my secondary with. It may be too thin on the inside (ca. 0.35 mm) and get too hot, but we'll see

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ScotchTapeLord, Sun Aug 22 2010, 11:04PM

Dalus wrote ...

Jrz126 wrote ...

My bricks... The big ones single igbts, and are good for 2500V, 1200A continuous. The little guys are 2500V 400A continuous. I have 3 more of each.

My SCRs. I cant remember the exact rating right now.

A gatedrive. Fiberoptic cmd/feedback. Undervoltage and out of sat protection.

Looks like a nice H-bridge in the making for a DRSSTC

I don't care if you use it as a door stop, just make sure whatever you do with it ends up on the forum, fully documented with arc pictures. Oh wait...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Muttyfutty!, Thu Aug 26 2010, 02:40PM

I'm not really sure if this is considered cool, but it is interesting nevertheless...
15Kv through a bottle full of water...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Plasmana, Thu Aug 26 2010, 08:16PM

Not something everybody would do, but that is really cool! I assume you used your NST to do this?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
IntraWinding, Fri Aug 27 2010, 12:55AM

Looks great, and very unexpected. Is that deionised water?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Matt Edwards, Fri Aug 27 2010, 02:28AM

My best lightning pic so far.... Canon 20d. I don't remember the settings but it was a slow shutter, no cropping. This is in the Mojave desert, CA
I love lightning

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Fri Aug 27 2010, 06:04PM

Hi All!

Modern version of a classic experiment: telephone bell under vacuum.

Enormous double rainbow over the city

Having fun with a dolphin puppy (Holidays in Cuba)

Giant iguana (Holidays in Cuba)

Impressive view of a street in Santiago (Holidays in Cuba)

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Muttyfutty!, Sat Aug 28 2010, 08:07AM

Not something everybody would do, but that is really cool! I assume you used your NST to do this?

Thank you! Yes! i did, its 15KV at 30mA. you can see it in the foreground.

Looks great, and very unexpected. Is that deionised water?

Yes, I was really surprised when I tried this too, to answer you question, its actually water straight from the tap!

That was the best picture i could get, the rest was completely washed out.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Sat Aug 28 2010, 04:02PM

Some Pics of my Dorm here at SMU. I have the computer setup to have the HDTV as an extension of the desktop, with a desktop blu-ray player connected via eSATA. I have an old machine that used to have vista, but now has Ubuntu, that I will make a media center as even though it is a laptop it supports two hard drives (the current SSD for the OS and then I'll install a standard for the media). However, Ubuntu still can't play blu-ray movies with DRM so I'm still a little lost at making that work without switching it back to windows.

and don't bother mentioning the mess o the room, it's just until we can adjust - would you bother to make the bed when waking up at 7:55 for an 8:00 class? haha

1283011328 902 FT6000 Work Room 1600x1200

1283011328 902 FT6000 Tv Light 1600x1200

1283011328 902 FT6000 Computer Tv Combo 1600x1200

1283011328 902 FT6000 Bd Drive 1600x1200

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Aug 29 2010, 11:49AM

I finally managed to get my sea doo right up and out of the water :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Xplorer, Mon Aug 30 2010, 05:42AM

I thought you might find this funny.

-Tony

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Mon Aug 30 2010, 07:32AM

Some low energy shots (3.5-6J) using photo flash caps. I'll post more later.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Sept 03 2010, 01:42AM

Finished SSTC interrupter with 555 and audio modulation modes

Explosion damage from my audio ground issue as seen in Tesla Coils thread. All the white on the black plastic is from the explosion.

My poor door. After shining my 1W arctic laser at it for 5 seconds, at 20ft away, it started smoking and burned...I just wanted beam shots!

I got 15 ceramic insulators from ebay, Here are 2 that I found screws for, and will be used for a dual resonant MOT stack.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Fri Sept 03 2010, 09:11PM

My biga$$ H-Bridge design: (For reference, the heatsinks are 16" X 10" X 1")
Igbtbridge

IGBTs are 2500V, 1200A RMS.
Bus caps are 3300uF 400V. There will be 2 rows of 6 in series/parallel giving me 9900uF @ 800V.
I also have some 4uF 1400V snubber caps (1100Apeak 0.7mOhm ESR and <20nH inductance) that I can stick in there. but it would make assembly slightly more challenging.

The bus bar will be 1" wide copper, probably 1/8th" thick. I was planning on buying some nice bar stock, but it looks like I'm going to need around 10 feet of it.

Most likely going to be building a DRSSTC, but I'll design it so I can drive other things.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Sept 06 2010, 02:10AM

I decided to paint my mots black for extra looks...Just to try something different, these were iron/Grey color to start with. I just figured a gloss-black may add more looks.

Question is...What I will be doing about the secondary. I rather not paint it as that risks issues, unless I cover it in varnish first. Or, I might just leave it as-is. The primary is rather fine. Secondary just has the super thick resin.

Ya, I like them. Just have to touch them up a little

By the way, The paint used is Engine Enamel which is ceramic based paint. It has only been applied to the core. It's made to withstand Gas, liquids, and over 500F temperatures.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Marko, Tue Sept 07 2010, 08:19PM

Jrz126 wrote ...

IGBTs are 2500V, 1200A RMS.
Bus caps are 3300uF 400V. There will be 2 rows of 6 in series/parallel giving me 9900uF @ 800V.
I also have some 4uF 1400V snubber caps (1100Apeak 0.7mOhm ESR and <20nH inductance) that I can stick in there. but it would make assembly slightly more challenging.

The bus bar will be 1" wide copper, probably 1/8th" thick. I was planning on buying some nice bar stock, but it looks like I'm going to need around 10 feet of it.

Most likely going to be building a DRSSTC, but I'll design it so I can drive other things.

Wow, what monster can we expect from this? :O More pix plz!

Anyways, here are some pics of me on a windsurfing school I attended this summer - nothing really spectacular yet, but it got me hooked. I'm definitely getting my own gear next year! Are there any Windsurfers/surfers around this forum?

Firstly, an obligatory pic of me in Neoprene:

Although it was not obvious near the coast the wind was really great that day - enough to stir large waves farther of coast and give me lots of pain getting the sail out of water. But riding it was so amazing.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GhostNull, Wed Sept 08 2010, 01:02AM

Some pictures from around Canberra I took on my 2mp pinhole mobile phone camera (how do I rotate the pictures with BB)

Some pictures when you got a nice dump of rain

More pics from around Canberra

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Muttyfutty!, Wed Sept 08 2010, 01:25AM

Whilst were on the topic of Scenery...
A beautiful Malaysian beach, in the middle of July!

*Looks Up Beach...*

*Turns around...*

Yep, No one there!
We saw only 3 or 4 people;
We had the entire beach to ourselves for the 6 days we were staying!
Lucky us...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Wed Sept 08 2010, 06:46AM

Product placement fail...

"aaugh i think my pc had a coronary, call a medic!"...

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Wed Sept 08 2010, 04:32PM

Took my new Canon 100mm macro lens out for a spin :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Sept 08 2010, 11:00PM

Nice macros Madz! I'll have to post some of mine when I'm home, I got supermacro which says it's minimum focal point is 10mm, and the camera is a 20x optical zoom. Actually takes good macros for such a high zoom rate! Will get pictures soon =)

I'll hopefully get outdoors tomorrow, but here's indoors of some parts! I litterly just put my cam lens as close as I can, to the point that my lens was 1cm to 5mm away from the object.

Had the camera set to focus on a specific spot, and track it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Thu Sept 09 2010, 08:06AM

My Canon Powershot A640 has an amazing macro mode, even with it's inbuilt lense. This pic is about 1cm from the lense, a scissor blade.

Imgb

And fog machine particles in a laser beam:

Lrp

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Sept 09 2010, 02:56PM

Nice blade shot.. Something I'll have to try, my casio also is 1CM with it's built-in lens.

Wish I had a fog machine!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Thu Sept 09 2010, 07:16PM

lpfthings wrote ...

My Canon Powershot A640 has an amazing macro mode, even with it's inbuilt lense. This pic is about 1cm from the lense, a scissor blade.

Imgb

And fog machine particles in a laser beam:

Lrp

Don't you have these in ful resolution or are these cut out?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
lpfthings, Fri Sept 10 2010, 11:39AM

Mads Barnkob wrote ...

Don't you have these in ful resolution or are these cut out?

The blade one is just .. more blade, so I decided to just use a little bit of it instead of posting a massive image.

As for the fog, I do have a higher resolution, however I can't seem to find it on my computer. The focal point is also quite small, so you only get a strip of fog particles in focus and the rest is blurred.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Martin King, Thu Sept 16 2010, 08:55PM

Funny firework photo

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GhostNull, Fri Sept 17 2010, 01:04PM

I was doing a science experiment on some coilgun designs (I might make a post on that later) and my High School didn't have the equipment I needed, which is unsuprising since they bearly know how to work an O'scope

So I called up some local science institutes, I call up CSIRO greenmachine they had nothing, so I called up the ANU (Australien National University) switchboard and they hooked up me through to the Rescearch School of Earth Sciences, Electronics work shop. I told them about my experiment and they said sue! come around.So I went there for a week on work experience (to get around red tape, insurance) to do my experiment. The people of this facalty (only 7 of em) do repairs for the University's equipment (I saw alot of 30kV and higher PSUs about) and design custom equipment this includes worki on the SHIRMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe) mass-spectrometers! And they took me around to see them!

Sorry for blurry pics, still pretty awesome though. They work on stuff for this, yet they spend one week helping me this my stupid coilgun xD

Edit:btw this happened two weeks ago

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dave Marshall, Fri Sept 17 2010, 01:52PM

Myke wrote ...

Some low energy shots (3.5-6J) using photo flash caps. I'll post more later.

Myke I'd love some details on this one (like, how I can do it myself!). Maybe start a thread for it. That first photo is absolutely fantastic.

-Dave

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Linas, Fri Sept 17 2010, 02:42PM

Google chrome speed test is bull-crap:
Look at file address, it's not www, but C:\users\...etc

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Sept 17 2010, 02:51PM

I don't think that Youtube commercial is supposed to be a scientific speed test, just a collection of geek pr0n

In any case, it's the speed of the browser they're advertising. If they were loading a real web site, it would be the speed of the internet they were testing.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
big5824, Fri Sept 17 2010, 03:29PM

I thought that video was supposed to be more a show of how fast chrome can render a javascript page, not the speed of the net connection

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Fri Sept 17 2010, 04:51PM

GhostNull wrote ...

Some pictures from around Canberra I took on my 2mp pinhole mobile phone camera (how do I rotate the pictures with BB)
...

I lived in Canberra when I was little (my father had a sabbatical at ANU) - all I can remember is REALLY BIG RATS and very nasty spiders... oh, and it snowed once, but it melted before it hit the ground.
Had a kookaburra in the garden which made a hell of a racket...

Odd place...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Sat Sept 18 2010, 08:23AM

Dave Marshall wrote ...

Myke wrote ...

snip

Myke I'd love some details on this one (like, how I can do it myself!). Maybe start a thread for it. That first photo is absolutely fantastic.

-Dave

Thanks. I'll make a thread for it when I have the time and remake the setup.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Sept 18 2010, 07:31PM

sort-of finished valve amp, from the other thread.

Got it sounding ok-ish in the end with NFB from both before and after the output transformer.

Long exposure with blast from torch included

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Sept 24 2010, 12:21AM

Got some toys...
Big giant heatsink (11 x 7 x 2.3) ($15 on ebay)
800V 300A STUD diode ($22 on ebay)
1200V 650A SCRs (2 for $20 on ebay)

Wonder what I'll make. A hint, the SCR and STUD diode goes together, the heatsink is off to the site, for a future DRSSTC. Right now I'll stick a 3" peltier on it =D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GhostNull, Fri Sept 24 2010, 01:24PM

damn, people in other countries get stuff so cheap!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Mon Sept 27 2010, 04:43AM

Those thyristor module's isolated baseplates make good bussbars for caps... not to mention its also a switch at the same time!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dingo27, Mon Sept 27 2010, 09:45PM

Xplorer wrote ...

I thought you might find this funny.

-Tony

this was great, i has great laugh!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GhostNull, Mon Sept 27 2010, 11:38PM

Gatedbreakdown wrote ...

Those thyristor module's isolated baseplates make good bussbars for caps... not to mention its also a switch at the same time!

Nice idea! Shame it doesn't work with my IGBT, my screws are too short and the mounting holes too deep.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Tue Sept 28 2010, 04:37AM

well, it works rather well with these "skinny" bricks, best part is, on what im running these things at, the baseplate alone seems more then enough to dissapate all if any heat made by the devices, so they run rather cold, though this is probably a dumb idea for any repetative high powered application.

yeah, the copper busses and brass bolts are overkill, but I had these pieces on hand, might as well use em.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Myke, Tue Sept 28 2010, 05:11AM

Gatedbreakdown wrote ...

well, it works rather well with these "skinny" bricks, best part is, on what im running these things at, the baseplate alone seems more then enough to dissapate all if any heat made by the devices, so they run rather cold, though this is probably a dumb idea for any repetative high powered application.

yeah, the copper busses and brass bolts are overkill, but I had these pieces on hand, might as well use em.

I wouldn't rely on the insulation between the die and the heat sink (if there is any at all). Otherwise, you would be shorting out your caps. If the insulation breaks down, I'm pretty sure the SCRs wouldn't be too happy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Tue Sept 28 2010, 05:15AM

Hmm.. the isolation's rating is quite high, but with only 20VDC flowing through these capacitors, and these SCRs switching around the same. probably more of a worry at higher voltages?

also, I posted far earlier in this thread, I killed one of these bricks before, pushing thier very limit, and upon disection I discovered the nice white insulation between the die and sink.
that and electrical tests show no connection from plate to any terminals.

Edit: Here it is!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Sat Oct 02 2010, 04:37PM

fuzz farce, sparked off by using my recent valve amp project as a guitar amp and needing something to generate overdrive!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Oct 06 2010, 12:17AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Wed Oct 06 2010, 12:53PM

Enjoying the last few weekends before winter sets in

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Oct 07 2010, 10:38PM

Thats one heck of a view Dalus!

What to do with 4 new mots... :D

Some other pictures of my dog, sky, and some grass. Just random test pictures.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Fri Oct 08 2010, 08:23PM

Killa-X wrote ...

That looks like a pretty chunky GSP - they tend to be a *lot* lighter than that! (at least all of ours have)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Oct 09 2010, 01:54AM

Well, They say you want the ribs visable, ours isnt, but is easily felt through the skin. The vet said she is just a TAD heavier than average. We don't do much hunting, just play. She still runs a TON when people walk by, running up and down the yard at full speed. I took this picture of her while standing on my deck 100ft away. using zoom :) Hunting for ground moles, she loves when they squeak when she jumps on them.

So you know, she's a German Shorthair Pointer.

My finished SCR clamp. ~1650 pounds of force, 1200V 650A.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sun Oct 10 2010, 07:38AM

Been meaning to try the macro and super macro function on my camera, so I figured I'd try on my new hand wound secondary

Then while cleaning the brush disaster....

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Oct 10 2010, 04:41PM

Nah, Just run your fingernail along the wire and straighten it out, then you'll need to learn how to use your palms to "twist" large sections of wire to take the slack out. It takes a couple of hours but that coil is salvagable. This also happens when it gets fairly cold outside and the form contracts. I've been through this many times, it's a pain, but you don't really have to start over.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Oct 11 2010, 02:02AM

Went to Croton and Hardy dam on this nice sunny Sunday. Took fall pictures and happen to come across the high voltage fields at the dams. Just some random pics I thought I would share. More will be put into video later.

Most the HV stuff was taken with 10-20X zoom.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Mon Oct 11 2010, 04:26PM

Hazmatt_(The Underdog) wrote ...

Nah, Just run your fingernail along the wire and straighten it out, then you'll need to learn how to use your palms to "twist" large sections of wire to take the slack out. It takes a couple of hours but that coil is salvageable. This also happens when it gets fairly cold outside and the form contracts. I've been through this many times, it's a pain, but you don't really have to start over.

I knew it was salvageable, since none of the wires were broke and it didn't look like it damaged the enamel too much, but I was a bit hasty and I unwound the coil to about 10 turns before the offending spot, but now the wires are ticker and I have some of that excess urethane and is making it difficult to wind it back and have it look good and still have 1000+ turns, so now I'm trying to figure out a way I can strip the urethane off but not harm the enamel, which I'm starting to think is either going to be difficult or impossible, since a good paint thinner would probably strip both off, using a knife or something also has the risk of stripping off the enamel, and heating the urethane off would burn off the enamel also, and just using my fingernails doesn't do a good enough job.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Mon Oct 11 2010, 08:00PM

I decided today to give my ancient trannie a paint job;

Unforchantly I messed up a bit with the tape, the sides of the black insulators arent quite covered, Ill have to fix this later.

1286827232 2628 FT6000 Traniepainted 001

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Oct 17 2010, 07:46AM

I got a feeling when this computer dies one day, the 1000W PSU may come in handy for a ZVS or something... =D

EDIT
Video of fall colors and hydroelectric dams up north.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Tue Oct 19 2010, 04:02AM

Im pretty happy with how my secondary turned out, now its getting coated with polycrylic and epoxy, still need to decide if Ill leave it clear, or make it diffused.
32 gauge, winding dimentions: 4" X 12"

1287460961 2628 FT6000 Greensecondarywound

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
wylie, Thu Oct 28 2010, 01:20AM

Found this lil guy in my room this morning.

Couldn't get a better close up, so i kept looking for him throughout the day hoping for a better shot. Got my chance early in the evening when i found him caught in another spider's web

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Oct 29 2010, 08:19PM

Long ago I got 8 capacitors from BGMICRO for $40. $5 a capacitor. Then i saw these capacitors on ebay, 16 for $100. Less than 5 dollars a capacitor, and they have holders. I couldn't let a good price down so I bought them. They are a lot better shape than my BG micro capacitors, Nice and clean blue coating, not a single dent. This bank came in series, hooked for 900V 9600uF, or 3888 Joules. Not bad for $100 + $20 shipping. It came here as 42 pounds, UPS.

So here's pictures of the bank and other future projects. Quad MOT stack, 3 grey caps for a coilgun, 4 blues for exploding stuff, electrothermalgun, and the big bank...Still planning =D SCR in the picture is 1200V 650A. Diode for anti-parallel voltage spikes is 600V 320A.

Anyone else see this 16 pack on ebay?

Random drawing i did at school, during free time. 2-5 mins a day, for maybe 3 days.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
plazmatron, Sat Oct 30 2010, 12:28AM

Electron beam in air, emerging from the Aluminium foil window of an experimental Lenard tube.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Tue Nov 02 2010, 08:15PM

Toying with ambilight. With a bit more power then philips uses in their tv's :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
uzzors2k, Wed Nov 03 2010, 03:57PM

plazmatron wrote ...

Electron beam in air, emerging from the Aluminium foil window of an experimental Lenard tube.

Epic! Make a project thread!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Thu Nov 04 2010, 01:20AM

Holy crap I want those caps.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Nov 05 2010, 04:15AM

Been making a 445nM laser.. when done I am hoping for 1000-1200mW of power..

For today a low powered test with no heatsink, running fairly cool, and probably 150-200mW.

The beam and its reflections are indeed blue, but my camera probably oversaturates and makes it appear purple.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Nov 05 2010, 02:55PM

Yup, bit of cameras make it purple instead of blue because of how bright it is. Just as you know use these with care, as they are extreamly dangerous. I'm looking to buy my third one soon for CNC use, since I have a 700mw Arctic and 1200mw 18650 CREED

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Nov 05 2010, 03:17PM

I installed my Photo Gallery on my new Website, and I'm adding a few things every day so far and I think I still have another drive full of images not seen by anyone other than me yet, including some project stuff and art

Photo Gallery

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GluD, Sun Nov 07 2010, 04:21PM

Went to my first hamfest today

this is what I came back with

The tektronix scope is broken but I got it dirt cheap and hope its just something simpel that i can fix. Not sure what the Interrogator set is suposed to do, interrogate people ??
Just bought it for the guts though as I have no plans to interrogate anybody

Also got a really cool looking tube voltmeter.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Nov 07 2010, 11:28PM

Looks like a nice find GluD!

Pics discharging 120J into foil with exposure. Bank can handle a total of 780J. I thought it was cool how you could see a rainbow-type effect in the aluminum dust around the trails.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Mon Nov 08 2010, 04:12PM

No logging today, the old Ferguson apparently wanted a day off. I was barely out of the garage before a steering joint snapped. No big deal perhaps, but if it had snapped while at speed it could have ended in a disaster. The surface of the severed bolt had some rust on it, which implies that this was an old crack that had grown over time.

Looking a little cross-eyed there, grampa?

While i'm in this thread, i'll post two pictures from my spare time job, unloading grain boats at the harbour. I used to have a ton of great pictures from there, but after annoyingly formating the wrong memory card im down to just these two:

Good thing these bobcats have seat belts...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Wed Nov 10 2010, 04:22AM

Now running around a watt
(4.25V, 1250mA)

I just love the patterns it makes on my walls when plastic melts.
but the camera just fails to do it any justice, in reality its about two times brighter, and the entire room glows blue from the dot.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sat Nov 13 2010, 11:18PM

Old electric oven bought today on a local flea market for 20â‚¬

I haven't a cool pic of them so i post a REALLY HOT pic instead!

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesla Fan, Mon Nov 15 2010, 10:03AM

GhostNull wrote ...

Gatedbreakdown wrote ...

Those thyristor module's isolated baseplates make good bussbars for caps... not to mention its also a switch at the same time!

Nice idea! Shame it doesn't work with my IGBT, my screws are too short and the mounting holes too deep.

lol

Are you guys really using those big SCRs and IGBTs as... bus bars ?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Mon Nov 15 2010, 06:19PM

You bet!

Although I wouldn't want to try this with anything higher the 24V or so.... wouldn't trust it.
but it works! (isolated devices)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tesla Fan, Mon Nov 15 2010, 07:25PM

Ok, but it still sound like a waste of the device...

I do not think that you should be afraid of the voltage, my thyristors are meant to "switch" up to 1600V, and so they are verified to not leak any voltage to the case (heatsink) up at least that voltage. I assume yours are similar, so they must have at least 1KV "breakdown" voltage between pins and case. I am not 100% sure, but mine used to actualy rectify about 500 volts and the heatsink was connected to case of the machine (ground).

Anyway, here are some cool pictures of Greece (mine, no photoshop):

1289848994 3353 FT6000 Grammatiko Resize

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Turkey9, Mon Nov 15 2010, 09:58PM

This was taken at 90,000 feet on board a balloon. This was the last picture taken before the balloon burst and the payloads hit Mach 1 coming down!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Nov 16 2010, 12:48AM

Was that your balloon? If so, any more information?

Cool picture!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ScotchTapeLord, Tue Nov 16 2010, 02:21AM

Hope there were no kids in that balloon. :P

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Tue Nov 16 2010, 11:37AM

That was the paper aeroplane attached to the helium balloon that the UK guys sent up wasn't it?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Nov 18 2010, 12:55AM

Been having some fun with Zen Magnets... (216 pack)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Thu Nov 18 2010, 01:03AM

Nevermind, I looked at the wrong price.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Thu Nov 18 2010, 03:43AM

Killa-X wrote ...
Been having some fun with Zen Magnets... (216 pack)

Those sure are fun. Could you use them for a little nuclear-fusion experiment (that belongs in a new thread)?
1. make up some "rings" of 3 balls and 5 balls. Odd numbers are less stable (higher energy) than even-numbered rings.
2. scatter the 3-ball rings (triangles) on a rug, and bombard them with 5-ball rings dropped from a foot or so above.
Do you find that more than 50% of the time, the result is an 8-ball ring and not some other pattern?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Turkey9, Thu Nov 18 2010, 04:19AM

Yeah it was a balloon satellite that was sent up as part of a class here at the University of Colorado. It's through the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. For the class, 10 groups each built an experiment into a small enclosure and sent it up to the edge of space. Pretty cool! If you want even more info about COSGC go here : spacegrant.colorado.edu

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
quicksilver, Thu Nov 18 2010, 04:17PM

Ken M. wrote ...

Then while cleaning the brush disaster....

One tiny little blip out of thousands of turns & the coil is clean except that one.....I can really empathize!
My nephew wound one of the ugliest coils in history: overlap over overlap. But he was determined to see if he could just get it lit up. He coated it with paraffin and hot-melt glue (actually a clean job on that) and it worked fine. Virtually no corona and even though there was almost countless over-laps, it's performance was appropriate. It was simply a off-white tube. You might be able to tape off a "band" around that over-lap and coat that with hot-melt glue and paraffin in a small very clean band and it may not look all that bad. It would certainly work. In fact I doubt that if covered deeply enough with polyurethane, you may have not problem at all. But I DO understand the blemish issue, especially from a hand-wound coil: it's really annoying. A thin white band may not be all that nasty.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Nov 25 2010, 10:35PM

my first Hard Drive Window in years:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Nov 25 2010, 10:38PM

my first Homemade Hard Drive Window in years, this time with access to a real clean room!:

EDIT: pics didn't resize for some reason (though when I previewed it they seemed fine), in process of fixing

EDIT 2: fixed

here is the link to the page on my site: Hard Drive Window Phase 1

-Jimmy

p.s: I just realized, I don't think I've been on 4hv in almost a month now O_o - college has been B-U-S-Y!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Fri Nov 26 2010, 12:20AM

I've always wanted to get a cover for a HDD CNC'd out of lexan. Hard drives are amazing pieces of hardware.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Fri Nov 26 2010, 01:02AM

A new toy. Any volunteers for polishing the toroid?

More pics added daily @

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Nov 26 2010, 11:44AM

OK, but no sneaky switching it on while we are polishing :/

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Fri Nov 26 2010, 03:48PM

Clean rooms are the best. Worked in a class 100 with a SEM (zeiss supra 55).

Larger than most, main room was almost 200 feet square, and the SEM room (2 SEM's, one with ECCI) was the size of a standard room.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Fri Nov 26 2010, 05:39PM

I have access to a cleanroom at moog. It's just the matter of getting things done.

I've also always wanted to play with an SEM. They look fun.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Nov 27 2010, 01:13PM

Steve McConner wrote ...

OK, but no sneaky switching it on while we are polishing :/

Sure conner pretty much garanteed since this needs finishing. Think it's the biggest MMC on this forum

and this

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sat Nov 27 2010, 05:40PM

Dalus wrote ...

Sure conner pretty much garanteed since this needs finishing. Think it's the biggest MMC on this forum

I think Philip's has more than 300 CDE caps...

Cheers

Nick

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Nov 27 2010, 10:13PM

Alright, almost these are 225 1uF 2kV 940 series cde caps

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daniel Uhrenholt, Tue Nov 30 2010, 10:25AM

Dalus wrote ...

Tell me Dalus,

Where did you get that Toroid? And what is the size of it?

I have been looking for an source for toroids here in Europe for the last decade or so

Cheers, Daniel

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Dec 01 2010, 01:28AM

Well, I always had a like for cutting sheet foil into stars and throwing cards...Then pratice throwing them into wood targets at range. Sadly, being made of aluminum, they bent a lot, and eventually broke after unbending so much. So, I decided to get into the real stuff. For now, I just bought 2 throwing stars, and 1 throwing knife. Later I plan to get the razor throwing cards, and some other style knife/stars.

Specs:
Star - 4.5 inches from tip to tip. ($4.99)
Weight -- 66grams
Body thickness -- 4mm
Metal: Stainless Steel 440C
Coatings: Titanium then Spectrum coat

Knife - 6.25 inches long ($7.99)
Single-blade front
weight - 78 grams
Body thickness -- 3mm
Metal: Tempered steel

The knife is sharp, but factory isnt really sharp. The stars is made to be point sharp, not sides. But the sides are angled so you have a choice to razor them. I did a drop test, from 4ft, to see how far the knife went in. It fell straight, as these are made to throw. So, In all, Happy with what I got. Love them!!! Just a break from HV/electronics.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Wed Dec 01 2010, 03:27AM

just dont take it to school :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Wed Dec 01 2010, 03:40AM

Yea, some kid at my brother's middle school in the 6th grade brought a gun to school because of bullies. Needless to say, he was in juvenile haul for awhile, and i bet that did nothing but turn him bad.

And Killa, don't cut yourself with them... Oh wait, you already did!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Renesis, Wed Dec 01 2010, 03:44PM

We used to make ninja stars out of these spike plates used in timber construction. Not particularly sharp, but heavvy enough to really embed themselves in a board or a tree.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Dec 02 2010, 03:22AM

I made stars and cards out of sheet alum, works good.

But I expected to damage something. and I already damaged the knife. Lesson learned. First, Tempered steel, makes a weak blade Dropping to 4ft, made the razor thin tip bend a little at pressed wood. Stuck, but bent. Seeing its tempered, it breaks if you unbend it. I stupidly was throwing these without using any form of CARPET coverting. I went a centimeter off the board, and hit right at the foot of the board. Which hit my carpet, hitting concrete. I pull it up, it stuck. Great, I bent it. Now I have a 2mm wide flat tip. I did a fast angle cut to it. it still works GREAT and goes into wood with little to no effort at all. Despite the no-tip ugly blade, it still works. Now I know to either buy stainless or put down at LEAST cardboard...The stars are stainless, the tips are still razor sharp after a ton of throws into a hardwood benchtop. Nothing bending despite how fine pointed they are. I was told, stainless is REALLY hard to bend without heating it by like Welding?

So I did some light throwing from 6ft just to see if the knife is now a peice of crap, or good. I think, seeing i didn't throw hard at all, its good still! Just looks bad. But I expected this. It was my first throwing knife, I expected this to be full of dents by time I was done practicing. It was far too big of a broken tip to re-point it. Chisels was my only choice.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Dec 02 2010, 10:19AM

I got a fisheye lens for my Pentax DSLR!

I've always wanted one, but Pentax's own was far too expensive. I recently found out about the Samyang 8mm one, which is less than half the price of the Pentax one and gets very good reviews.

It's also sold in Canon, Nikon and Sony/Minolta mounts, and rebranded under various names like Bowen, Falcon, Pro-Optic etc.

It has a remarkably solid metal body. Only the lens hood and aperture ring are plastic. The quality of the lens coatings is beautiful. The Pentax body recognizes it and gives auto exposure, though the focus is manual. (This might be different for Canon, Nikon etc. versions.)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
brtaman, Thu Dec 02 2010, 04:06PM

Nice fisheye shot.

On a side note, bet that PRS sounds great through the tweed, eh?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Thu Dec 02 2010, 04:15PM

Steve McConner wrote ...

I've always wanted one, but Pentax's own was far too expensive. I recently found out about the Samyang 8mm one, which is less than half the price of the Pentax one and gets very good reviews.

It's also sold in Canon, Nikon and Sony/Minolta mounts, and rebranded under various names like Bowen, Falcon, Pro-Optic etc.

did you buy it on ebay? I see there is 200Â£ ones from Poland.... Might be a christmas present for myself... and a tele lens... and and... :)

Comparing it to a sigma lens, double price, it would come with auto focus and 1/3 minimum focus distance.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Dec 02 2010, 04:32PM

Yes, but don't worry, I didn't put chrome corners on an original Tweed Fender :) It's a homebuilt clone:

Mads: I got it on Ebay from 360 Tactical VR. They're based near Glasgow and it arrived the next morning. :)

Autofocus is kind of pointless on a fisheye lens, but the shorter minimum focus distance might be nice.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Fri Dec 03 2010, 01:29AM

Love those paintings Steve, are they yours? I mean did you paint them?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Dec 03 2010, 06:22AM

Laser shot ive taken at night, 445nM running at 1.5W. its -30C outside, still wind and no snow fall, but the snow glows quite brightly from the beam.

Lazor002

Thingie that im working on:

Guass

EDIT: I changed the picture with the same device, but just a bit better picture (also handle attached)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Fri Dec 03 2010, 06:40AM

hat is that? I see a lead acid battey in thee...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Dec 03 2010, 06:46AM

Tis gonna be a dual 445nM laser thing (I dont even know it should be called, laser spotlight? rifle? mess?)

That part is the battery holder (6V 12A/H sealed lead acid), there is a steel bushing and a 5/8" rod along with 1/4" rods as supports, they will connect the battery to a laser head (not made yet), reason I made it as it is, is because the battery compartment wieghts 12LB total, and the head will wieght around the same, so I didnt want it loose and squirming around.
Its far from done though.

the head will have 2 rods, each housing a 1.5W 445nM laser.
Ill post more pictures when I finish building it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Patrick, Fri Dec 03 2010, 09:04AM

can we be blessed with a pic of your silicon die or laser tube itslef, 1.5 W @ 445nM is too cool...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Dec 03 2010, 10:33AM

Coronafix wrote ...

Love those paintings Steve, are they yours? I mean did you paint them?

No, they're by my brother. He did them graffiti-style using spray cans on big sheets of MDF.

The two outer ones are copied from the cover of Autechre's "Amber".

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Dec 03 2010, 04:00PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Dec 03 2010, 04:12PM

Patrick wrote ...

can we be blessed with a pic of your silicon die or laser tube itslef, 1.5 W @ 445nM is too cool...

Eh.. I dont know if my camera can zoom that well onto the chip itself, but heres a shot at it:
seems the bond wires came up okay, the die is ontop of that brass plateform inside.

Diodeagain

Diode running without collimating lens:

Coherentlight

It is a 5.6MM can diode, (InGan die probably) a projector was released with 24 of these things inside, they where meant for under a watt, but they have no problem handling exess power (some people even pushed them to 2W)
these are 445nM multi mode diodes. lots of power in such a small package, so they need heavy heatsinking for any decent run time.

google A-140 diodes Patrick, there is quite a bit of information on them, they are indeed powerfull.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dave Marshall, Fri Dec 03 2010, 04:56PM

One of them days, Tater.

Spent yesterday at this massive 6 alarm industrial fire. It destroyed a city block and damaged houses on adjacent blocks on all sides. 24 hours later, there are still firefighters on scene.

-Dave

EDIT: I'm going to find a screen capture later on, but the fire was so hot that it appeared the zinc on the outside of the galvanized steel siding was beginning to burn in big patches, resulting in areas of blinding yellow/white flame on the siding.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bored Chemist, Fri Dec 03 2010, 05:27PM

Dave Marshall wrote ...

One of them days, Tater.

Spent yesterday at this massive 6 alarm industrial fire. It destroyed a city block and damaged houses on adjacent blocks on all sides. 24 hours later, there are still firefighters on scene.

-Dave

EDIT: I'm going to find a screen capture later on, but the fire was so hot that it appeared the zinc on the outside of the galvanized steel siding was beginning to burn in big patches, resulting in areas of blinding yellow/white flame on the siding.

Cool!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Dec 04 2010, 06:06AM

More of a video...

I always wondered what happens when you put a MOT to snow =) So i put foil on the sides/bottom of a glass container, packed in snow, and zapped it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sat Dec 04 2010, 07:22AM

For while I'll be hell bent on making a SSTC with a display to read off all the important info, as well as usign a uC, well I have started fiddling with the uC that will control the control box, where you adjust the interruptor, and select from pulsed, single shot, or burst mode.

As for right now the uC only does the part of the display, haven't yet gotten any of the other items set up yet to actualy test out.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Dec 04 2010, 02:34PM

Looks very nice, Always wanted to do alt least a microcontroller style interrupter...Never thought of a whole controller.

What is it driven by? PIC? AVR? Adriano?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sat Dec 04 2010, 04:39PM

Cutest little x-ray tube ever!

Specs:
0.8mm focal spot
70kV
7mA
4V heater

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sat Dec 04 2010, 05:40PM

That is a niffty little xray tube, does it still work?

@Killa-x, its ran off a Stm8s105c6 ATM, Not sure if I'm gonna jump up to a 20x series to get a 2nd uart or try using the I2c or Spi on the 105 and have TX nad RX use fiber optics and a fiber optic PWM out to the driver board, which will also have a uC on it to track primary, secondary, and over current readings, as well as reading the resonant frequency,

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sat Dec 04 2010, 06:25PM

I imagine it does, --It's brand new. It tests OK as a diode too, so that means the vacuum is good.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sun Dec 05 2010, 10:01PM

Ah ok, I was just wondering nad didn't realize it was brand new, I just figured that with the brown ring on the glass it was used, shows how much I know about tubes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sun Dec 05 2010, 10:49PM

That's from when they test it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Mon Dec 06 2010, 01:26AM

Grenadier wrote ...

Cutest little x-ray tube ever!

Specs:
0.8mm focal spot
70kV
7mA
4V heater

I will trade you a working laptop for it

. Just need to solder on the new backlight i got for it. It has a new inverter in it, too.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Mon Dec 06 2010, 02:14AM

Nope, it's going in my portable machine. :p

This is the company that makes them in case you want to buy one.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Dec 06 2010, 11:09PM

Well..I did a 300 / 450V shot to a penny today. 500J out of 980J. I always wonder exactly how much power that is, besides "Oh it can fire a ring XXX feet" I was surprised to be honest. Seeing I don't play with bombs or anything. I had 30db reducing earmuffs, and it still seemed like a loud thud. The explosion was strong enough that i felt a thud in my chest. My mom, who was in the house, near other side, even said it sounded loud. This made me a bit afraid to be playing with 500J...And im a bit afraid of 1KJ. I'm not going to discharge 1KJ now to a solid short. After hearing how loud half power was, im not going to risk complaints. This makes me a tad nervous for my 1KJ bank, 4KJ, and 12KJ banks. I'm going to have to test these in a field...

But wow..Such a bang of energy =D Loved it!

The black crap on my driveway was from that single 300V 500J shot. Messy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Dec 07 2010, 02:06AM

Killa-X wrote ...

I always wonder exactly how much power that is, besides "Oh it can fire a ring XXX feet"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Dec 07 2010, 03:42AM

Grenadier wrote ...

Killa-X wrote ...

I always wonder exactly how much power that is, besides "Oh it can fire a ring XXX feet"

Nice site full of false information.

First. 1 Calorie, is 4.184 Joules.

"Since your body requires 2500 Calories, you burn 10,460,000 Joules of energy every day"

2500 * 4.184 = 10,460J not 10,460,000 Joules.

"energy is in one can of coke. 585,760 Joules to be exact"

One can of coke is 115 Calories. 115 * 4.184 = 481.16J, not 585,760J.......

Or to Google, "155 calories = 648.52 joules"

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Dec 07 2010, 03:58AM

1 calorie = 4.184 J
1 Calorie = 4184 J

Digestible calories in a can of coke = 140C or 140,000c

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Tue Dec 07 2010, 07:45AM

Grenadier is right about the numbers -- food nutrition data is given in kilocalories which are called "calories" on American standard labels, for some reason.
(I disagree that the capital C is a standard way to distinguish the units).

Sanity check: an active man burns about 2500 "calories" per day,
which is 10,460,000 joules or around 20 cans of sugary soda.
That's about 121 watts, which is consistent with the average heat dissipation of a live person. 10460 joules per day might sustain a mouse.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Dec 07 2010, 11:19AM

Klugesmith wrote ...
(I disagree that the capital C is a standard way to distinguish the units).

It is actually, at least in the US.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Dec 07 2010, 11:46AM

On this side of the pond, your diet soda might say "Only 40 calories!" on the label, but on the fine print it's "kcal".

The c/C thing seems wrong. The big ones are kilocalories, or some people call them kilogram-calories and the little ones gram calories, referring to the mass of water that it would heat by one degree centigrade.

We also have SI units, so nobody uses calories for anything other than food, hence you can assume that they're kilocalories by default. Engineering calculations are done in joules. (But bizarrely, boilers and radiators are still sized in BTUs.)

The Australians actually rate their food in kilojoules and their cars in kilowatts, which is a step too far IMO.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Dec 07 2010, 11:56AM

That's because 99% of people have no clue hat a Calorie is, other than it being a "fat unit".

Fom Wikipedia.

The small calorie or gram calorie (symbol: cal)[2] approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 Â°C. This is about 4.2 joules.
The large calorie, kilogram calorie or food calorie (symbol: Cal)[2] approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 Â°C. This is exactly 1000 small calories or about 4.2 kilojoules.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Dec 07 2010, 12:50PM

OK, it's in Wikipedia. I'd edit it, but it references the Webster Online Dictionary, so it must be technically correct.

That doesn't make it any less dumb, though. Using kcal for the kilogram calorie or kilocalorie avoids a little confusion.

I noticed that one food calorie is 2.6 x 10^22 electronvolts, which would be a fun unit. If an electron ate my dinner, it would probably create a mini black hole or something.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Dec 07 2010, 03:45PM

Ah I see now. Didn't know there was a c C making the difference of a thousand. So this means my small 8FL oz of mountain dew, 110 Calories, is 460,240 Joules. Fun. Now if only you could harvest that all into a capacitor right? >_>

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Tue Dec 07 2010, 05:56PM

The capitalization of the unit symbol (cal,Cal) has nothing to do with the capitalization of the unit name.
s, S, ns, nS, nSv stand for second, siemens, nanosecond, nanosiemens, nanosievert.

From Wikipedia:
In an attempt to avoid confusion the large calorie is sometimes written as Calorie (with a capital C). This convention, however, is not always followed (and is sometimes impossible). Whether the large or small calorie is intended often must be inferred from context. When used in scientific contexts, the term calorie refers to the gram calorie. In nutritional contexts, however, a larger unit is more useful. In such contexts the term calorie can be taken to refer to the kilogram calorie. The term kilocalorie (symbol: kcal) can also generally be taken to refer to 1000 gram calories since metric prefixes tend to be used only with the gram calorie.[citation needed]

Examples where following the convention is impossible in proper written English:
1) When the word for small calorie is the first word of a sentence.
2) When the word for large calorie is attached to a prefix such as kilo or milli.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
pauleddy, Tue Dec 07 2010, 08:11PM

for a science fair i studied the the force applied to a metal disk by a varied energy pulsed magnetic field, i basicly had 10 identical flas caps that i ran trials with. seing how high, inturn how much force, the disk went. i add one cap at a time (with my costume varieble capcitor bank) and did the math. i evently had the disk fly nearly 3 meters. thats pritty good for 1000uf at 300v.
but i now have a .0376F bank at 800v which is about 12Kj ithink i had the same type of scorch marks on my drive way, but i never found my penny, just had a ringing noise in my ears and a after image of where it was, from charing test for my future railgun project.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
wylie, Wed Dec 08 2010, 09:28PM

Now if only you could harvest that all into a capacitor right

In a way, that soda IS a charged capacitor, just takes some oxidizer (and possibly a source of ignition) to discharge.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Thu Dec 09 2010, 01:26PM

HdAN9

This IRFP264 got a little bit too hot, the silver stuff you see between the copper/plastic junction was the die attach solder.

This was C-clamped to a heatpipe based heatsink out of a laptop.
I was logging a 9A discharge curve for a 4S lipo pack that i got, using this and a 1ohm resistor as the dump.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Fri Dec 10 2010, 09:17PM

I got some small 700v 20w dissipation horizontal amplifier tubes from eBay. It was a lot of 8 for 6 dollars plus 11 shipping, and this is what i received...

Ten tubes

. When i first opened the box and picked up a tube in it's original box to check the condition, it dropped 4.5 feet onto the tile floor due to a ripped box! The little sucker did not break!

Now, i still have some GU-50's coming

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Turkey9, Sat Dec 11 2010, 08:52AM

Haha nice. Gotta love people that have a hard time counting.... Good thing you didn't receive 6 instead!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Dec 11 2010, 09:10PM

Turkey9 wrote ...

Haha nice. Gotta love people that have a hard time counting.... Good thing you didn't receive 6 instead!

Indeed! Some damn quality tubes, too. I ran it with a fairly cool plate (just a tiny bit of color change on the edges of the plate where the two halves meet) but a molten screen grid and it still works! I accidentally ended up with CW DC on the screen and AC on the plate due to a dead diode... Anyone well versed with tubes knows that is bad!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Thu Dec 16 2010, 12:41AM

Internal current limiting my ass, this 7805 died with a bang.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Thu Dec 16 2010, 01:09AM

It was current limiting, and current reserving, reserving all the current in its silicone die, it just decided it couldn't handle it any more.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Wed Dec 22 2010, 08:58AM

Another sneak peak of my ongoing project.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Wed Dec 22 2010, 12:38PM

Nice work Dalus! I love the watercooled HS.
Shouldn't be long til first light?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Thu Dec 23 2010, 04:31AM

Not a pic, but cool nonetheless.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Dec 23 2010, 12:22PM

Jrz126 wrote ...

Nice work Dalus! I love the watercooled HS.
Shouldn't be long til first light?

Thanks, first light should be somewhere next year.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Dec 23 2010, 04:12PM

I took about a hour if not more undoing over 100 screws taking apart my capacitor bank of 16 that I got on ebay. To make this system work as 450+450, for 900V, I have to undo the clamps and turn the caps. So I'm using this to clean the dust off, polish the metal plate, and so forth. Caps are 450V 2400uF each. Mallory.

Not sure why but something about a stack of capacitor looked cool enough for me to want to post it here

[Edit: Image size]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sat Dec 25 2010, 03:05AM

Hg is dense; it puts so much pressure on the glass it traps air. At least that's my hypothesis.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun Dec 26 2010, 02:34PM

interesting stuff, including EL sheet illuminated with uv, innards of RC car, colour wheel from DLP and a Â£1 microSD adaptor.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sun Dec 26 2010, 07:13PM

allmost done

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sun Dec 26 2010, 07:17PM

Hi All!

Some days ago i was invited to Geneve for visiting the CERN, this was a GREAT OCCASION to see and take photos of something of really exiciting!

I'm not sure if a pic of a magnetic dipole of the Large Hadron Collider could be considered "cool".........
.........if not, just add some superfluid liquid helium to cool it down to 1,7KÂ° and it will surely become a "really, really, really cool pic"

weeeeee..... this is me with a super electromagnet used for testing purposes, note the brand name!

Test bench for a magnetic dipole for the LHC; a spare dipole is installed over it.

cutaway of a LHC magnetic dipole.
When cooled with superfluid helium (1,7KÂ°) the Niobium-Titanium superconductor coils can be carry up to 17000 amperes without any losses and can generate a magnetic flux up to 8,3 Tesla

LHC spare parts (magnetic dipoles) on test benches

LHC spare parts (resonating cavities)

cutaway of a joint between two dipoles.
a defective solder between two superconductive wires had caused a huge failure of the entire system during the first tests:

-the magnetic field caused by the high current had caused high mechanical stresses on all joints

-a poorly made joint wasn't able to withstand the stresses and suddenly it broke interrupting the electric current on many electromagnets (all wired in series)

- the electromagnets responded to the quickly switch off of the current flow by generating an enormous back EMF causing a really powerful electric arc on the failed solder joint.

-the electric arc caused a quick evaporation of the superfluid helium wich caused an overpressure inside his tube; the safety valves was proved to be undersized and failed to release the helium quickly enough; the result was the tube explosion!!!!!

-since outside the tube there is a long chamber, under high vacuum for thermal insulating purposes, all liquid helium was sucked inside the vacuum chamber where it quickly evaporated again causing a pressure wave inside the vacuum chamber.

-the pressure wave had stripped away the thermal insulating layer that is entangled everywhere and cause huge damages over about 1.6 kilometers of accellerator....... in other words a small defective solder joint caused an enormous mess that required about 1 year to fix!

Now they use the accelerator at reduced power because they haven't no way to test all joints (more than 16000) other than give the full current on the coils and cross the fingers!!!!!!!!!

Trust me, the CERN is a must see place for every coiler, expecially who live in europe!
Anyway, this is a "post your cool pic here" theread, follow these links to see all photos of CERN laboratories!!!!!

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Proud Mary, Sun Dec 26 2010, 08:20PM

Coo, Fabio, I wish I could have seen all that! What a treat!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Andyman, Sun Dec 26 2010, 11:42PM

A semi-gag gift from my uncle this Christmas.
Looks like a normal fuse right?

But look at it with a size reference, and....

It's says "Current Limiting Fuse type EJ-2" rated for 2400 volts and 80,000 amps

it's certainly the largest fuse i've ever seen in my life...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sun Dec 26 2010, 11:49PM

Christ, what is that for, protecting a factory?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Mon Dec 27 2010, 02:01AM

Forgot to wear gloves when applying retr0bright.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Mon Dec 27 2010, 11:13AM

Ouch!!!! thats gonna hurt.
I've heard of a similar story with someone applying grout to tiles, figured "the gloves keep falling apart so I won't use any".. BAD BAD move. Took three weeks for all the blisters to finally heal.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Mon Dec 27 2010, 05:44PM

Actually it doesn't hurt much, and it goes away in a fe hours. The h2o2 fills the capillaries with oxygen, and that turns them white.

Ever see 3 of the same antique radio?

Due to the wonderful thing that is the internet I managed to collect 2 more radios. I picked the best parts from the 3...

...and after a little UVB + H2O2 + Glycerine + Oxyclean + Xanthan gum...

...I have a brand new 47 year old radio! Now to find the leather case that went with it...

Edit: New label.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Dec 28 2010, 12:59AM

Got some stuff in the mail today.
~200 MESH, 1 pound of Copper Oxide
625 MESH, 1 pound of Aluminum Powder

Fun fun...
Randomly behind it is a SMPS power board from a DLP projector.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Dec 28 2010, 01:05AM

watch out for flying bits of metal!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Dec 28 2010, 02:41AM

Heh I know the 2 combined can make a little fun, but I always wanted to get aluminum powder to try in my ETG instead of foil strips. Just to compare power =). I read the MSDS for both so its alll good!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Tue Dec 28 2010, 09:07AM

Killa-X wrote ...

Got some stuff in the mail today.
~200 MESH, 1 pound of Copper Oxide
625 MESH, 1 pound of Aluminum Powder

Fun fun...
Randomly behind it is a SMPS power board from a DLP projector.

It is fast termite, you must be very careful! He can detonate, often burns explosively.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Dec 28 2010, 01:12PM

Robert2 wrote ...

He can detonate, often burns explosively.

I'd love to see a video of helium detonating.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Dec 28 2010, 02:35PM

Just look up at the sky...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Dec 28 2010, 02:36PM

O i c wut u did thar.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Dec 28 2010, 03:45PM

He can detonate, often burns explosively.

I'd love to see a video of helium detonating.

Even on the earth crust (or even UNDER the earth crust) helium can cause huge messes

-the electric arc caused a quick evaporation of the superfluid helium wich caused an overpressure inside his tube; the safety valves was proved to be undersized and failed to release the helium quickly enough; the result was the tube explosion!!!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Dec 28 2010, 03:56PM

I see your exploding helium and raise you some xenon trioxide.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Dec 28 2010, 04:25PM

Robert2 wrote ...

It is fast termite, you must be very careful! He can detonate, often burns explosively.

Yes, I am aware of this. One mixture can get you nice thermite that's fast, the other mixture gives you a boom. I'm also aware of the MSDS of each, especially the copper oxide

Looks cool...100V (50J) to a soda can, to test my rammer.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Dec 30 2010, 11:17AM

a little project that kept me busy during the holiday

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Thu Dec 30 2010, 11:48AM

Dalus wrote ...

a little project that kept me busy during the holiday

Looks like a Tubehobby NCV2.1 with IN-14s?

Good kit, but I absolutely hate the IN-14s - the Russian's use of the cheapskate inverted "2" for the "5" is just ... strange. Nearly all other Russian nixies (and all those made in other countries) use a "proper" "5".

If you get fed up with the inverted 2 (though some people like them!), you can always swap them for IN-16s or similar for a few bucks.

Cheers

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Thu Dec 30 2010, 11:58AM

Nice! Which kit is it? Would you recommend it? I've got a heap of Nixie tubes waiting to be made into a clock or three. Probably not as big as Nick's nixie heap, but size doesn't matter, it's what you do with them that counts!

On the "cool pic" subject, here is a gratuitous pic of a cat that escaped from a leaky intertubes near my home.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Dec 30 2010, 01:03PM

It's indeed the Tubehobby NCV2.1 kit with IN-14s I'm indeed tempted to swap them for IN-16s Think it would look better but the inverted 2 has something to it. We'll see. Need to make a housing for it first. Thinking of using plexi around the pcb's and have a copper top and bottom plate. nice and shiny

It's quite a nice kit to build. Takes around 3 hours. Most of the hassle is getting the tubes wires in the holes on the pcb. Might change the neon bulbs for something smaller.

Talking about cats. This is my pet a Maine Coon

btw Nicko what's the status on the migratory junkbox?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu Dec 30 2010, 03:43PM

A little collection,one may say. =D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Coronafix, Thu Dec 30 2010, 08:52PM

I got a new camera for christmas and they are baling the paddock next door.
A photographer friend showed me that if I track the moving object then everything else is blurry.
All my "cool pics" are of my new baby boy though, which I won't put anyone through.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Thu Dec 30 2010, 09:27PM

Inside a 4gb microdrive.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Fri Dec 31 2010, 07:58PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Dec 31 2010, 09:48PM

There should be a win thread for this kind of stuff.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Fri Dec 31 2010, 10:41PM

I lol'd.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wolfram, Sat Jan 01 2011, 05:04AM

Grenadier wrote ...

D50a4008ace6

This is not the point of this thread, this is a thread for your own interesting pictures. Yeah, the chatting forum is a bit looser on the rules, but I can't see anything good coming from this derail, the most likely scenario is that the whole thread is reduced to reposting 4chan images.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Jan 01 2011, 05:32AM

Well..I find taking things apart interesting. So to me at least, Pictures of a projectors SMPS is interesting =D The yellow board is a simple line filter and 120/240 converter to take that 240V down. The board then pumps 130VDC into the SMPS board. The bottom side of the SMPS is filled with many tiny SMD parts.

No idea what to use it for yet, and the HV side doesn't seem to work without the master control board.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sat Jan 01 2011, 06:10AM

Here is a sneak preview of my secret project that I have been working on for a while.
I wont say any more other then that Ill show more of it in a few weeks

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Sat Jan 01 2011, 06:10AM

Anders M. wrote ...

Grenadier wrote ...

D50a4008ace6

Aw c'mon, that is plenty on-topic. I thought it was interesting, in a funny way. Different people find different things cool :P. Not to mention, it does contain science, sorta

. Don't you see other people posting humor on other threads about things like Tesla coils or high voltage? Not to mention, 4chan images would be right on the grey line between legal and illegal, this is more like... Funnyjunk.com-esque images. It got a few laughs, i think that is worth much more than the space on 4hv it took up.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sat Jan 01 2011, 06:21AM

I agree with arcstarter. yes its offtopic, but its still in the sence of this forum. I think the limit to that statement will become fairly clear once it has been crossed.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sat Jan 01 2011, 06:58AM

Eh, I posted it because it was both sciency and funny.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Bjørn, Sat Jan 01 2011, 08:01AM

Some silly/lazy posting once in a while is fine but if it happens often it has to be rather clever to keep the moderators happy. If you don't put any effort into your post you should put the material on your website/facebook/twitter and we can find it there.

The whole existence of 4HV is founded on that it is different, the day it is like any other site it has no reason to exist anymore. So using copy and paste to make easy and funny posts undermines the existence of 4HV because it is a quick way of turning it into yet other linksite. Be witty, be clever, be funny, but do it yourself, don't scrounge on others.

What can be discussed is how much is enough and where to post it but you have to create a new thread for that discussion or visit the chat room when there are some moderators there.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Sat Jan 01 2011, 09:52AM

Sending 2010 out with fire

Happy new years everyone!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Jan 01 2011, 11:06AM

I found it was nicer to go out with a more traditional kind of bang.

More pretty bangs can be seen at

Too bad it was so foggy. Could only photograph my own fireworks. At least the fog did ad a bit to that

Anyway happy new year all.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wolfram, Sat Jan 01 2011, 11:32AM

Arcstarter wrote ...

Anders M. wrote ...

Grenadier wrote ...

D50a4008ace6

Aw c'mon, that is plenty on-topic. I thought it was interesting, in a funny way. Different people find different things cool :P. Not to mention, it does contain science, sorta

My point wasn't that it doesn't belong on 4hv, my point was that it doesn't belong in this thread, as this thread is for your cool pictures, i.e. pictures you have taken or created yourself. If you want to post funny pictures from elsewhere on the web, a new thread would be more appropriate for that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Jan 03 2011, 09:16PM

Hehe...Little Mario character bombombs. Inside is a tasty treat known as cherry flavored powder sugar. Like a fun-dip, in bomb form.

Apparently these were removed from market stores due to 9/11 as it made people always on foot when they saw kids eating them...They are apparently back, and can be bought from sites like Amazon. In a video I uploaded to youtube, i put a foil strip in a plastic shell and it made a large bang. I plan to do the same with these, as a fun little epic "working bombomb" I will keep some as a little display prop.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Tue Jan 04 2011, 06:06AM

Cookie to anyone who can explain my picture

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Tue Jan 04 2011, 12:13PM

Cookie to anyone who can explain my picture

using LASER diode as photodiode (illuminated by another LASER)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Wed Jan 05 2011, 06:41AM

If anyone needs some CAD work done I'm your guy.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Wed Jan 05 2011, 11:56AM

Toying with macro

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Jan 05 2011, 10:05PM

WOOOPSSSSSS.... too many joules!!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Jan 05 2011, 10:56PM

Man how many joules did you put into this (launcher?) you make me a bit etchy knowing i dump 1KJ-4KJ into 10awg stranded wire now...xD Here's the best super-macro pictures i could get with my camera indoors. Force-exposure, as my camera likes light. This is casio EX-FH20, 20X optical zoom. Rather amazing it can do super macro, and 20X optical, if you ask me.

First one is 00 grade steel wool

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Wed Jan 05 2011, 11:18PM

I use this for my macro photos:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Wed Jan 05 2011, 11:29PM

Man how many joules did you put into this (launcher?) you make me a bit etchy knowing i dump 1KJ-4KJ into 10awg stranded wire now...xD

About 2kJ on a 4 squared millimeters (european standard) cable.
for your information a 10AWG is equivalent to 5.27 sqmm and at the moment i never had any problems with a 10sqmm cable (near equivalent to 7 AWG) even at full power (2.8kJ) but for safety reasons and for better performances i usually prefer the other two coils made with a 16sqmm and 25sqmm cables (closer to 5 and 3 AWG)

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Thu Jan 06 2011, 12:02AM

Guess we're on the electronics macro tour. Think this will fit right in then:

smd by roy.piepers, on Flickr

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Thu Jan 06 2011, 09:42AM

90KVDC from my new 9 stage RTG multiplier :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Jan 07 2011, 06:54AM

IMA FIRING MAH LAZOR!

IMA re-CHARGING MAH LAZOR
what.. 1W lasers need sleep too...
besides, those 18650's dont last forever either.

Rechargingmahlazor

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Jan 07 2011, 07:12PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
ubuntupokemoninc, Sat Jan 08 2011, 03:43AM

This my profile pic

this is me drawing an arc of my quad mot stack that arced over

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GluD, Tue Jan 11 2011, 09:40PM

A new toy arrived this morning from RS

Its a Testec HVP-40 high voltage probe for use with DMM's rated for 40KV= and 28KV~

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sat Jan 15 2011, 12:45AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Jan 16 2011, 12:07AM

Well. I had this capacitor in parallel to an induction heater. It was warm. but was fine. 5 days later after storage, I was looking for this capacitor for my SSTC to make 1.26uF. And look what I found...

I dont think I will trust this to parallel to make 1.26uF anymore...My meter wont read a storage, yet its not a short.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sun Jan 16 2011, 05:29PM

made with:

5fisheye

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nicko, Sun Jan 16 2011, 06:24PM

Dalus wrote ...

You need help - your desk is FAR too neat...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sun Jan 16 2011, 06:57PM

That usually changes in a matter of minutes.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Jan 17 2011, 11:23PM

Well, I havnt seen anyone do it this way. I bought some 2-part Glaze (Harden/Resin) for $22 at Lowes. FamoWood glaze or something. Anyways, I figured this stuff dries hard, and sounds like your knocking on a block of glass. Unlike polyurethane vanish, it feels glass hard. I have 1cm above and blow the coil. This is for a ring launcher, so I have hopes it will constrain itself, and not rip apart. I looked up the data, and its rated 400PSI tensile strength, 800PSI compression. Some JB weld was put on the bottom of the coil for fun, that's rated 3200PSI tensile strength. We will just have to see how it handles when there's no snow! Looks cool too, Crystal clear

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Tue Jan 18 2011, 12:42AM

Nice Killa

Some of my new pics

climbing? by roy.piepers, on Flickr

perpendicular lines? by roy.piepers, on Flickr

let the sun shine by roy.piepers, on Flickr

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Tue Jan 18 2011, 02:04AM

Killa: It would be better to get something with a little flex. Epoxy is very brittle, so It would probably just crack.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Tue Jan 18 2011, 02:43PM

Or maybe wrap the coil is glass cloth before you add the epoxy? I'm more worry about your heat dissipation i.e. limited rap rate, tho.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Jan 18 2011, 02:53PM

Heh, bit too late for that. Resin only takes 4 hours to get hard so...That stuff is all done. Just have to go with what I have made. Worth a shot to see how it lasts though, was for experimenting with anyways!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Jan 20 2011, 05:22AM

I was looking at pics in my photobucket, and in retrospect, i guess my halfbridge sstc was not that inefficient. I could run CW pretty much forever. For scale that ball was 4.5 inches, and the pan was around 12 inches.

Edit: that is awefully wrong

I guess the pan was the 8 inch one.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Jan 21 2011, 04:36AM

Here are my pics for the day:

A pair of X-Y galvanometers for a laser projector Im building (20KPPS at widest)
I dont know when it will be done.. Ill finish when I finish.

XYgalvo4hV

445nM laser in my backyard, now that the weather is pretty nice (3C outside), rather then constantly freezing, I took the chance to go out for a bit.

4HVbeamershot

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Fri Jan 21 2011, 11:25PM

GBD I think its great that your laser looks like a light saber, and the fact you can see it so clearly without any air particulates.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Jan 23 2011, 06:00PM

Thanks Ken,
At 1W, Rayleigh scattering has already long taken its effect and no particles other then the ambient air is needed to see a beam.

On another note, I get these mysterious figures on my wall.. they are quite bright. I also somehow managed to waste a full hour watching them move around.

EDIT: 473rd post!
473nm is my favorite wavelenth, even though these pictures are 445nm

DOUBT EDIT: Heres a video of these effects...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Jan 23 2011, 07:09PM

Burning plastic with a laser does indeed put on an interesting light show. Nice pictures, little over exposed in a way but who cares xD

As an update to my launcher, the glaze is separating a little from the PVC end cap. Its not cracking, I'd just separating. So far it been handeling 980J 900v just fine.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Jan 28 2011, 07:33PM

Heres a couple of pictures of a project Ive been working on for the past little while.

Projectorassy4hv

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sat Jan 29 2011, 06:15AM

I may have missed it somewhere or another, but if I guessed you were building a Laser projector, would I be correct?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sat Jan 29 2011, 06:24AM

You are correct my good sir.

Ill be posting some shots of it in action when I finish it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sat Jan 29 2011, 06:47PM

You going for single color or are you going to try RGB?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sat Jan 29 2011, 10:53PM

Since this is the first projector I ever built or owned, for now im doing single color just to familiarize myself with the system (2W @ 445nM).

Later on I will upgrade this system to a 1W total, white ballanced RGB.
I still have alot of work ahead of me to finish it anyway, so It will be a while before either one of those happens.
If you have any questions, feel free to fire me a PM, it probably be better then me starting to hijack the thread.

14hv

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Sun Jan 30 2011, 03:31AM

Very true.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Sun Jan 30 2011, 10:03PM

800 watt carbon arc skylighter

-not focused properly in this photo-

I'll try to take more pics from a distance with the beam focused properly...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Feb 01 2011, 08:38PM

Large snow storm expected tonight. Saw in the paper, West Michigan plans to fight the storm. With a picture of some super heavy duty snow blower. Just thought it looked cool =P I'd hate to see a car accidentally go into that...

Standard

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Feb 01 2011, 09:46PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Feb 01 2011, 10:31PM

Those nice white looking frozen patterns of water you get from the sky due to a change in atmosphere temperatures =D

What, dont get snow there? Lucky...Im looking forward to a 2-day school cancellation. I have been running a tesla coil for 1 hour straight so far =D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ken M., Wed Feb 02 2011, 06:45AM

Yep Just got home and just about every road that has been snow plowed properly now has a nice 3-6mm thick sheet of ice of them, 35min ride turned into a 1hr drive, 1 delivery truck slid off the road and rolled over in the ditch, an accident on the interstate just before my exit, and another semi jack-knifed just under an over pass at the 1st exit to my town, yay and I'll have to go to work again tomorrow...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Patrick, Fri Feb 04 2011, 07:28AM

Precious Ruthenium metallic crystals. Strategic metal for civil and martial purposes, rare Platnium Group transistion metal.

1296804525 2431 FT6000 Ruthenium Crystals

what our HV resistors look like before there made.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Fri Feb 04 2011, 11:21AM

So your the one who grew those crystals i saw on Wikipedia?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Fri Feb 04 2011, 01:10PM

New toys:

An analog oscilloscope with digital memory, used for displaying a 53A/div waweform (10 euros on a local flea market!)

An high current earth tester, nothing more than a variable 0-12V / 0-100A AC power supply with a voltmeter and an amperometer (again 10 euros on a local flea market!)

A 400A / 150mV resistive shunt (got for free)

An homemade 100A / 100mV resistive shunt

Everything seems in working conditions with accurate calibration

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Patrick, Fri Feb 04 2011, 03:44PM

Grenadier wrote ...

So your the one who grew those crystals i saw on Wikipedia?

NO! I should have given credit to the source for this pic, my bad.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Feb 06 2011, 02:01AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Zum Beispiel, Sun Feb 06 2011, 02:46PM

Speaking of snow, me and a couple of friends built a snowfort at the school parking lot:

1297003105 514 FT1630 Llw

The text above the entrance reads: "Fortress. No girls allowed".

It's pretty badass. There's an entrance at the ground level which leads to a small room inside the pile. Then there are stairs inside the pile that lead to the top some 3 meters higher. It has sentry tower too (far right in the picture), that's some two meters from the ground. I think we moved a couple of cubic meters of snow building that.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Feb 06 2011, 03:25PM

Aw man.. no inside pics?

Pretty sweet anyway.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Feb 12 2011, 12:02PM

Commodore calculator (working) vintage 1976 (!)

this thing is older than I am !

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
radhoo, Mon Feb 14 2011, 06:52PM

Spark gaps:

The long tube placed horizontally is the Eii-43-100 containing 0.9uc of Cs137 (beta emitter) at the time it was manufactured. Most of the Cs decays into metastable barium 137, responsible of gamma emission of aprox. 0.5MeV. I would need very tick lead to shield that completely.
The tick tube is the GL 471A used in radars.
The brown base tubes is the russian RB5 .

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Wed Feb 16 2011, 07:04AM

Proof that other people besides Chris know how to handle plexi

(not my coil it is build by Alexander Driessen)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Feb 19 2011, 12:35AM

You can never have too many capacitors...I just got my 48 yellow capacitors from ebay today for a MMC. These are the Arcotronic 1200V 1.2uF capacitors. Cost was about 70 dollars.

Then i decided for fun to fill my desk with my older capacitors, such as my SGTC MMC.

You can never have too many capacitors on a desk..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Feb 19 2011, 01:54PM

Found this at ze scavenging yard

I traded it to a fellow HV enthusiast at the time...

At the time I also found:- an xbox, a PS2 Slim (aka doorstop), and two RX-80 series dot matrix printers.
Oh, and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 on the floor with bent pins but none broken (yet!)
I will have to try my syringe trick

EDIT:- One working dual core.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sun Feb 20 2011, 11:34PM

Bbzzzzzzzbbbzzzzztttttt.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Mon Feb 21 2011, 10:21PM

"Bother!" said my oil heater as this part went KABOOM!

It appears to be a common problem with these heaters, see fixya.com

Reckon its repairable, as it only seems to be there in case the main thermostat fails short.

I've seen similar sensors on MW ovens and other devices.
-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Tue Feb 22 2011, 12:16AM

I never seen a more catastrophic failiure of those thermal cutoffs before.
at worst Ive seen it fail internally and look like nothing happened to it.

Those things are almost always nearby a magnetron in a microwave.. no shortage of those suckers.

Did anything else get damaged?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Feb 23 2011, 05:08AM

Got my $140 variac from ebay today. New condition. 120 in, 130 out, 30A rated =D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Feb 25 2011, 03:29AM

I dont wana do anything else today.. Do Dah, Do Dah...

More to the topic:
Clutch brake controler for a project im working on.
Board

With the cover on:

Torquer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daedronus, Wed Mar 02 2011, 02:06PM

This is where my (not so) mild obsession with lasers lead me to:

From left to right:
Alexandrite, Ruby, small nd:yag, long nd:yag and 3 big nd:yag's
Img3747p

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
radhoo, Wed Mar 02 2011, 02:21PM

Daedronus wrote ...

This is where my (not so) mild obsession with lasers lead me to:
From left to right:
Alexandrite, Ruby, small nd:yag, long nd:yag and 3 big nd:yag's

Congrats for having those nice rods/lasers! You're all set to take down the moon

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Mar 09 2011, 10:13PM

This is why you don't use PVC parts on a 800J ETG. After 3 shots..I added 10V more, and well...The projectile still shot, but the barrel went KABOOM!!!! Was a lot louder than normal.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Inducktion, Wed Mar 09 2011, 10:29PM

radhoo wrote ...

Daedronus wrote ...

This is where my (not so) mild obsession with lasers lead me to:
From left to right:
Alexandrite, Ruby, small nd:yag, long nd:yag and 3 big nd:yag's

Congrats for having those nice rods/lasers! You're all set to take down the moon

It's not often you hear someone compliment someone else's rods.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Wed Mar 09 2011, 10:45PM

GBD wrote ...

I never seen a more catastrophic failiure of those thermal cutoffs before.
at worst Ive seen it fail internally and look like nothing happened to it.

Those things are almost always nearby a magnetron in a microwave.. no shortage of those suckers.

Did anything else get damaged?

Doesen't appear so, it fell over and dented the front cover.
It was intermittent before that but it was 100% bricked afterwards.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Mar 20 2011, 03:47PM

Hey its centered properly now.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
..., Tue Mar 22 2011, 03:28AM

oww

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daedronus, Sun Apr 03 2011, 07:50PM

One day worth of work on the lathe got me a shiny new spindle for my cnc.....to replace my crappy brushed old one.
+- 0.015mm run out

the er11 chuck, flexible coupling and brushless out runner are purchased ready made...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sun Apr 03 2011, 08:22PM

New toy!

Is a 10-200A pulsed DC TIG welder with HF start (works also as a MMA welder), i bought it yesterday.
I'm still waiting for the argon bottle.

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Freitsu, Wed Apr 06 2011, 02:43PM

I hacksawed an old (broken) ac-fbt open in half and polished one of the halves with a finegrit sandpaper.
Here are a couple of macrophotos!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Fri Apr 08 2011, 08:02PM

A lump of copper/aluminum alloy i made in my induction heater, cant see it on camera but some parts shine bright yellow like gold:

[Edit: Removed oversize picture]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Inducktion, Fri Apr 08 2011, 08:10PM

Experimentonomen wrote ...

A lump of copper/aluminum alloy i made in my induction heater, cant see it on camera but some parts shine bright yellow like gold:

I hate you Experiment. :I

[Edit: Removed oversize pictures]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
hsieh, Sat Apr 09 2011, 02:35PM

F-100

These pictures were taken at a university near my school.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Mon Apr 11 2011, 10:06PM

External drive scam...

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Fri Apr 15 2011, 08:20PM

It lives by roy.piepers, on Flickr

just a test run 1.5KVA

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Apr 17 2011, 03:55AM

I built a new pair of 445nm lasers... its an addiction.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sun Apr 17 2011, 10:16PM

Well, Happy i finally got my DRSSTC secondary done, 12" x 48" Waiting for poly to still fully harden so its all clear.
Also picked up a few rocks from a mineral show down down.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Sat Apr 23 2011, 02:49PM

Hi All!

Kenotron tube goes bad!

The implosion literally turned the glass bulb into sand!

X-ray cemetry!

Ciao!
Fabio.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sat Apr 23 2011, 04:33PM

"Bother!" said Pooh, as smoke poured out of his cordless drill...

Yep, one entire copper "finger" is missing, no way to fix.

No wonder it smoked like a chimney.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sat Apr 23 2011, 09:07PM

My new motorcycle, brand spanking new Kawasaki ER-6N 2009 model, I love this bike, its so easy to ride that it feel more like a toy :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Sat Apr 23 2011, 09:20PM

Mads Barnkob wrote ...

My new motorcycle, brand spanking new Kawasaki ER-6N 2009 model, I love this bike, its so easy to ride that it feel more like a toy :D

I love it, Mads.
But is it really old scool to think that a bike with these looks should have clip-ons for cafe racer atitude?

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sat Apr 23 2011, 10:04PM

Fabio, thats not a cool picture, thats a sad picture!! Rest in peace(pieces) old tubes. :(

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sat Apr 23 2011, 11:21PM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Mads Barnkob wrote ...

My new motorcycle, brand spanking new Kawasaki ER-6N 2009 model, I love this bike, its so easy to ride that it feel more like a toy :D

I love it, Mads.
But is it really old scool to think that a bike with these looks should have clip-ons for cafe racer atitude?

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Not at all! This bike gets crazy hot with clip ons which get the handles about 10 - 15 cm lower than the original, add some small mirrors underneath the handle, replace the headlight and instruments with some minimalistic and you got a beast! Unfortunately that is uncomfortable to ride around Europe on such a bike :)
Going back to The Netherlands again this year, this time to see MotoGP in Assen.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Thu May 19 2011, 01:39AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Tue May 24 2011, 07:19PM

Nice sparks.

Here are some of mine

groundstrike! by roy.piepers, on Flickr

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Inducktion, Tue May 24 2011, 09:05PM

Dalus wrote ...

Nice sparks.

Here are some of mine

groundstrike! by roy.piepers, on Flickr

Wow, that building is beautiful...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed May 25 2011, 08:21AM

Woot! Congrats Dalus, the sparks look great. :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Wed May 25 2011, 08:35AM

The building is amazing. It's an old now closed lab where they did high current research. So basically medium and low voltage switchgear. The big cap bank you can see was used for a pulsed magnet for MHD experiments. Field strength was over 3T.

As for the coil it's running quite smoothly with one exception. My primary is getting rather hot so it's about time to add cooling to it. At the end of the week I'll also get a big variac stack so I can run the coil on higher powers then the two 10A 300V lab psu's allow. Guess thumper has a bit of competition

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Mon Jun 13 2011, 08:48PM

Reviving this thread! A wirelessly heated tetrode, they had these in the Soviet Russia even back in 1969...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Electroholic, Tue Jun 14 2011, 01:35AM

Does it have a lump of Pu239 in the middle?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Tue Jun 14 2011, 09:38AM

I hope it doesn't... Two exposures and MS Paint did it

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Jun 17 2011, 10:10PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Jun 28 2011, 02:00AM

My hand grenade collection.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Thu Jun 30 2011, 05:47AM

These pics are worth of sharing i think. Its a dc bus for my cm300 drsstc, using 4 RIFA Peh200 series 5600ÂµF 420VDC caps in series parallel.

Being machinist is not entirely bad thing with this hobby :) These parts will be laminated together with some epoxy and overhead projector sheet

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Arcstarter, Thu Jun 30 2011, 06:47AM

Kizmo wrote ...

These pics are worth of sharing i think. Its a dc bus for my cm300 drsstc, using 4 RIFA Peh200 series 5600ÂµF 420VDC caps in series parallel.

Being machinist is not entirely bad thing with this hobby :) These parts will be laminated together with some epoxy and overhead projector sheet

You creative bastard!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Thu Jun 30 2011, 07:21AM

This is 3rd generation of this style busbars and still no sparks

Just cant finish something when i know there is better way..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
hboy007, Thu Jun 30 2011, 11:38AM

Kizmo wrote ...

Just cant finish something when i know there is better way..

You name it. Look at this planetary differential. I've dumped the design and went for a better one. Parts are on their way!

1309433912 1667 FT6000 Differential Exploded Planetary

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Forty, Thu Jun 30 2011, 04:27PM

that looks exactly like the gear setup in a cordless drill i took apart.
very nice busbars kizmo

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Jul 01 2011, 02:02AM

Got a hold of a 1W> 532nm laser system (judjing by the model/make, should be outing anywhere from 1.3W-1.8W).

Need to get some optical power readings later.

4HVpost2

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Fri Jul 01 2011, 02:05AM

HOLY JEEBUS!

How much $$$? I want it.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Jul 01 2011, 02:09AM

*gulp* I don't even wana say.
(suprisingly, pretty cheap for what it is and how much they usually go for).

PM sent.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. ISOTOP, Fri Jul 01 2011, 03:52AM

Get some blue (dirt cheap) and red (less so) and make a projector!
Gogogogo!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Jul 01 2011, 04:59AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Fri Jul 01 2011, 05:44AM

bwang wrote ...

Get some blue (dirt cheap) and red (less so) and make a projector!
Gogogogo!

That, minus the red. (B/G projector)

I have some 35K scanners on hand, and am working on a large knife-edged 445nm array to ballance out the green. might throw in a 200mw-300mw 650nm/660nm for shits and giggles.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun Jul 17 2011, 09:13AM

Interesting stuff:-

1) Homemade EL using old DVDR disk split down and treated with boric acid electrolysis then coated with phosphor.

2) Hacked EL T-shirt so all pixels independently controllable by careful use of HV to "split" the ITO inside the panel.

3) Really ancient analogue meter

4) Macro shot of the CCD linear sensor from an old HP AIO scan head.

5) No comment!

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
rp181, Mon Sept 05 2011, 06:09PM

[deleted]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Mon Sept 05 2011, 08:07PM

Box o'bits being sent to fellow 4HV'er.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Sept 29 2011, 03:07PM

Some photos from a CNC machine I am currently working on in a lab. The machine was built by a mechanical engineering student here a few years ago, then he dropped engineering all together. I was given the task of restoring this machine, and so far I have seen: some of the worst wiring in my life (but hey, he was an ME student, not an EE); motor shafts bent (that's right, not out of alignment, BENT); encoders without wheels on the inside; an arcade style E-Stop button that didn't do its job; parts harvesting with no apparent regards for safety (someone removed something that used 120V. They left the 120V lines free hanging inside the all metal control box and also didn't bother to label it or tell anyone they did anything with it); and the X axis in motion scrapes against the steel support frame, which has standing legs that are not of all equal lengths.. Needless to say I've had my work cut out for me.

But it will be worth it. I may not own the machine, but I have 24 hour access to the lab with it and freedom of use and modification as long as I don't break the expensive motors.

It has an Optical Grade XY table, I just installed 900W AC Servo Motors for the XY, and am planning on an at least 400W AC servo for the Z-axis; we have a copy of Mach, and every CAD software imaginable on the school machines and I have the entire Autodesk suite on all of my personal computers to design things at home; the homemade varieties of CNC machines with these motors have achieved unbelievable results of milling 1/2" Aluminum with a 0.001" tolerances (with pics and vids to prove it BTW). And that's just what they've documented in their logs, I could maybe even push it more!

Anyways, the photos.

The X axis drive screw and the magnetic limit and home switches.

1317308243 902 FT6000 Limit Switches Lead Screw Resized

The shiny new motor control board to replace the Frankenstein'd rats nest of wires (of which I have no pics, but I wish I did now). The board supports four axis, and an X' axis; limit switches for each axis, e-stop; power conditioning; etc. Then each of the motor drivers are also mounted. You can also see the new E-Stop switches, which are a huge step up from a big read Arcade game button that didn't work.

1317308243 902 FT6000 Motor Control Board Resized

One of the 900W AC servo motors mounted to the table. I may have to remake the aluminum mounts as I changed the gear sizes and may not be able to get the right size belt.

1317308243 902 FT6000 Mounted Motor 01 Resized

A photo of the Z-axis sled, with the Stepper motor that was already installed, but will be replaced by a smaller version of the XY motors once the rest of the table is ready (we didn't want to blow all of the $1k budget at once, and we hadn't picked a milling tool yet which could make a difference).

1317308243 902 FT6000 Z Axis Sled Resized

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mark-H, Thu Oct 06 2011, 12:07PM

An update from Page 67... It's come a long way -

And what happens when you shove over 350 horses through a Suzuki clutch!
Not such a cool picture...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Oct 16 2011, 01:17AM

Um... yeah...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sun Oct 16 2011, 01:17AM

/me jelly

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GrantX, Sun Oct 16 2011, 04:52AM

A recent photo from my current endeavour to get the largest, most destructive arcs out of a single MOT :D

The setup has a MOT with a tiny little toroidal choke on the input and 5uF of capacitors on the hot side. The transformer boils after about a minute :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Harry, Sun Oct 16 2011, 10:44AM

GBD: Quite a collection you have there ;) what voltage are they? you could make a very primitive vehicle, or a spot welder?
XravenorX: Very nice, looks like an explosion! just cut up my MOT, decided its far too dangerous for me. Bet the primary is enjoying its little 'heat treatment' ;)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Sun Oct 16 2011, 03:41PM

They are 385v/4700uF... not much use other then to make things go bang and to act as a filtration device. (not enough capacitance for vehicular use, and for spot welder, well, it mostly vaporizes then welds)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Oct 17 2011, 01:16AM

GBD wrote ...

They are 385v/4700uF... not much use other then to make things go bang and to act as a filtration device. (not enough capacitance for vehicular use, and for spot welder, well, it mostly vaporizes then welds)

That makes for 55,732.6 Joules if I'm not mistaken... Particular project in the works?

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Mon Oct 17 2011, 01:29AM

That is correct, or 289.6 Coulombs for a 160 bank.

Im only making a bank of 16 for now for some ETG experimenting.... should I ever feel like turning gun into cannon.. I guess thats a project on its own.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GrantX, Mon Oct 17 2011, 08:29AM

Harry wrote ...

XravenorX: Very nice, looks like an explosion! just cut up my MOT, decided its far too dangerous for me. Bet the primary is enjoying its little 'heat treatment' ;)

Haha, yeah the arcs grow to about 40cm and are too bright to look at directly. I can hear the windings creak as it cools down, so I doubt it'll last much longer, but I have 2 more to replace it, and a big 3 ohm resistive grid to use as ballast. I wonder if 2 MOTs can handle 19.2kVA >:D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Chip Fixes, Wed Oct 19 2011, 01:55AM

Hooray for shop class!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Pieznice29, Mon Oct 31 2011, 10:46PM

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/1517/imag0266f.jpg
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/7820/imag0259p.jpg

My first working tesla coil :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex M, Tue Nov 01 2011, 04:11AM

Does my profile picture count?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
CZA, Tue Nov 01 2011, 10:23AM

5442063667 C25ca70c42 M

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Nov 21 2011, 11:06PM

what happened to this thread? Just no more cool pics O_o

Here's my shotgun i got recently and my shooting case.
Got 7 1/2 shot for skeet and clay sports, rubber buck for the home (had my bike stolen and car broken into this month alone, and my house has been burglarized in the past with us in it)

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Nov 22 2011, 04:46AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Tue Nov 22 2011, 04:57AM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

Nice gun!

Ahhhhh sounds like its time to moveâ€¦.uggggggggggggg Do you have an alarm system in your house?

OK you got me excited. Here a cool pic for youâ€¦just in case you are wondering if the new Archangel M1A Precision Stock @ fits a Springfield M1A. After three houses of very careful filing, this new stock just fits snug and tight. Cannot wait till this weekend to try it out indeed! Here turkey, hee hee!

Very Nice! I actually have to modify my stock a little, this gun is so lightweight that the 12ga shells have a phenomenal amount of kick (bruised a friend's shoulder even). I'm debating on whether to adjust the gun's weight or just try to custom fit on a spring pad (may just make one from the ground up).

The condo has an alarm but it is not currently active (company is different from other family properties, needs to be rewired, etc). We are going to reactivate it soon but are going to look into the company that has the unit currently installed first.
I also recently replaced the deadbolt myself, the previous one allowed for an inch of door movement while locked, and was able to be Raked open. With all of my gear I am taking it seriously. And if I catch someone breaking into my car again, they're getting a rubber slug to the back. If they enter my home, in lieu of rubber they shall taste lead.

I would electrify the car and do some other things, but unfortunately that is a felony here...

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Nov 22 2011, 04:02PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
omegalabs, Wed Nov 30 2011, 09:40PM

A little fun with FEMM.
http://omegalabs.eu/kep/3F.gif
Cross section of a 3phase cable magnetic flux density.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Wed Nov 30 2011, 11:00PM

awesome, it just needs a rotor now

Did you make a loop in the built in LUA scripting to do that? I've done a couple of animations on FEMM like that with motors, but never actually got around to assembling them into an animation

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
omegalabs, Thu Dec 01 2011, 10:29AM

No it's not a script, I made every frame separately. It would be cool to make such scripts that makes every frame automatically. You should try to make a few frames from the motor, and put it in a gif.:-)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Thu Dec 01 2011, 03:32PM

Here's one from a few months back, that I just uploaded to youtube

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
dmg, Thu Dec 08 2011, 06:40PM

Its not an uncommon occurance in this hobby; parts fail, sometimes violently, but when they don't get completly destroyed, thier insides are interesting:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Fabio, Fri Dec 09 2011, 05:47PM

Turning a cheap unknown radiation sonde (4â‚¬ on a flea market!) in a PC based multichannel analyzer!

Playing with RADIOACTIVITY

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Sat Dec 17 2011, 09:36AM

I think we need more cool pics so:

Me vs Resonant Rise by roy.piepers, on Flickr

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Dec 24 2011, 10:03PM

Haven't posted much in a long time now, but I have been busy with work and other things.

My cool pic is my low power "drawer" amplifier, which is an amplifier that fits in a storage drawer and can be pulled out to test power combiners, drive higher power amps, couplers, etc.
I am working on a series of amplifiers to cover a wide range of frequency responses so I can stepwise characterize impedances of Tesla Coils and such.

Here are the prototype "brass board" amp, maxes out at 70W rms in its midband, and typically outputs up to 50W spanning 100KHz to 900KHz.
And the pseudo-finished WB-1 amplifier which typically delivers 20W across its powerband. My power goal was at least 25W in this package size, which is a huge amount of power
compared to other amps on the market which deliver 1W or so. My WB-1 cannot deliver the 30-50W the prototype can because I over-estimated what the supply could deliver, in short the amplifier is a victim of supply "sag". But that's fine, I don't need much power to characterize combiners, splitters, or drive HPA's, and this is a good start as a piece of standardized equipment in my arsenal.

-Matt

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Download, Sun Dec 25 2011, 02:41AM

Dr. Spark wrote ...

Nice gun!

Ahhhhh sounds like its time to moveâ€¦.uggggggggggggg Do you have an alarm system in your house?

OK you got me excited. Here a cool pic for youâ€¦just in case you are wondering if the new Archangel M1A Precision Stock @ fits a Springfield M1A. After three hours of very careful filing, this new stock just fits snug and tight. Cannot wait till this weekend to try it out indeed! Here turkey, hee hee!

You Americans and your guns.

I have to wait 3 months for my gun licence to clear, then I can only have some less cool toys than you

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
GluD, Thu Dec 29 2011, 09:23PM

Hello

I recently finished my plasma sphere so here is some pictures.

If you think the front and top of the wood box seem to be lose it is because they are, so I can take the glass out and re-fill it with Neon or Argon and play with diffrend pressures. It only takes a few minutes to re-fill it and have a completely diffrend plasma. Very amusing in my opinion.

1325193487 1221 FT6000 Plasma Sphere Arne 1

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Kizmo, Wed Jan 04 2012, 11:01PM

Interesting how this spark has loop and small streamers

Ah yeah, 640kV bipolar marx

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Avalanche, Tue Jan 17 2012, 10:05PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Fri Jan 20 2012, 01:39AM

Dell...You have failed me.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Fri Jan 20 2012, 02:12AM

killa-x, this is a modern art!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jan 20 2012, 03:15AM

A surprise I found sent to my house today... and I am quite serious when I say it was a surprise, I never expected anything at all!

Siemens Photomultiplier Tube... looks like my radiation projects may get back into swing after all, maybe I should run my random numbers against the NIST testing system afterwards.

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Fri Jan 20 2012, 02:23PM

Couldent resist:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wolfram, Sat Jan 21 2012, 12:18AM

Experimentonomen wrote ...

Couldent resist:

Looks like an FE-5680a, is this right?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Jan 21 2012, 06:07AM

Robert2 wrote ...

killa-x, this is a modern art!!

the longer it was on the more it kept changing. the screen was getting hot too :) i returned it, free 1 day ship replacement :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sat Jan 21 2012, 10:29AM

Killa-X wrote ...

Robert2 wrote ...

killa-x, this is a modern art!!

the longer it was on the more it kept changing. the screen was getting hot too :) i returned it, free 1 day ship replacement :)

Huh, i just got a new job in the service of laptops and games consoles PS3 type. They made me a manual skills test for a faulty console. When I asked if I could take optics to home, show me all the optics in a big bag. I am talking about 405nm lasers:)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Sat Jan 21 2012, 09:21PM

Yeah those are the 90mw or so 405nm lasers, The sleds alone ebay about $10-$12 + shipping, and the diode removed people sell for $20. Im not suggesting you sell to make profit, if I was in your shoes, id be building lasers or maybe even making a big array of them, and make a 405 flood and see if it can be good for UV etching =)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Inducktion, Sun Jan 22 2012, 01:46AM

405 nm isn't UV though... It's very CLOSE to uv, but it's not UV.

Also, PS3 diodes suck in respect to the ones in HD DVD drives from the XBOX360 ones.

I think the max a ps3 diode can handle is actually more around 50 - 60 mW.

The ones from the xbox drive can handle 100 - 120 mW.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Sun Jan 22 2012, 11:48PM

Killa-X wrote ...

Dell...You have failed me.

I know the feeling killa-x.

Testing on a locomotive, started shuttering, keyboard fell off the chair and the corner hit the screen. Trying to get it repaired. Luckily the scope has a vga output.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Mon Jan 23 2012, 02:46AM

Yeah at least its in warranty.

Inducktion - Im saying if the guy has unlimited supply (or near to) a set of 20+ diodes should be able to do something... I mean, I used a 445nm 1W laser to dry UV cure PCB solder mask...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Tetris, Wed Jan 25 2012, 04:15PM

Why do computers make those funny colors when it is broken?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Forty, Wed Jan 25 2012, 05:33PM

because the liquid crystals go on strike and stop working when you break them. same as calculator screens but more colorful.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Wed Jan 25 2012, 10:08PM

ooooo...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Feb 08 2012, 05:20AM

I was messing around with my MOT stack today and caught some cool video/photos. You can see the conductive channel inside the the hot gasses that make up the arc.

300, 600 and 1200fps video here >>

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
HB, Wed Feb 08 2012, 05:32AM

Wow Nik that video is definetly cool.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sun Feb 12 2012, 11:25PM

Seems like silicon is pretty much 100% x-ray transparent.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Wolfram, Mon Feb 13 2012, 11:02AM

Excellent picture. By coincidence I have a pretty similar one in my collection. It has been taken at somewhat higher voltage, but otherwise it's very close

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Forty, Mon Feb 13 2012, 07:41PM

That's quite the detailed xray image, good job. Looks like you could use those images to duplicate circuit board layouts after a little image editing.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sun Feb 26 2012, 02:26PM

O_o

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Sun Feb 26 2012, 05:03PM

gren wrote ...

O_o

I don't get it. Where's your cool pic, or your comment on a pic posted here?

Back to your technically excellent gren-hued radiograph:
I'd love to see more of your setup. Is posted image a digital shot of intensifying screen with an x-ray shadow? Near or far side? Mirrors or x-ray-shielding glass? One of your leaden boxes? Approximate kVp? Post-processing of image? Thanks!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Sat Mar 24 2012, 10:23PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sun Mar 25 2012, 06:16PM

This is my "MK Cool Tracer"

Saw the youtube video of people tracing tubes with the 576 and I didn't want a good idea to go to waste, especially since a friend of mine is into tube hi-fi. Being an engineer, and totally dis-satisfied with their adapter plate concept, I made everything internal.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Dark Current, Fri Apr 27 2012, 11:01PM

A collection of RF high voltage ceramic caps (from Russia and Germany). Almost impossible to heat them up with tens of kVArs flowing through them, and are known to survive impulse voltages several times over their rating. These are the good ones which will run forever in your VTTC, with no heating.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
mister_rf, Mon May 07 2012, 08:08AM

There's traffic in the sky and it doesn't seem to be getting much better ...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Tue May 08 2012, 03:02PM

Just got a package in the mail, full of cheap tubes :)

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
mister_rf, Wed May 09 2012, 02:45PM

There are fake lithium-ion battery packs for digital cameras on the market.
One example counterfeit SONY NP-F970 Li-Ion battery.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed May 09 2012, 05:53PM

Whao, I was gonna buy one of those cheap sony batteries for my camcorder but I didn't think it was THAT cheap.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Wed May 09 2012, 10:31PM

Thats horrific.
How can these scumbags sleep at night knowing that their creations may burn people or worse?

Wish I'd kept a picture of that T68I pack I got off Ebay with a coin cell jammed in there instead of the correct LiPo cell.
Guess what, it worked fine for about a month then stopped taking a charge.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Thu May 10 2012, 03:08AM

On a positive note....you got yourself a pair of nuts for some rods o.O Did they really sell it with those in it??

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Wed May 16 2012, 03:04AM

My laser cutter asplode.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
mister_rf, Fri May 18 2012, 11:28PM

I had to dismantle an old CPI VTU-6397 High Power Amplifier Ku Band.

Here you find some pictures of the Traveling Wave Tube.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Sat May 19 2012, 05:33PM

A chip from the lathe work done on large wind mill shafts, MW class.

The cut is 45 mm deep and about 1-2 mm feed, when you watch this lathe, these size chips comes out in a spray like you can not imagine.

to get an idea about the work piece and lathe size...

Wind5 Fullsize

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun May 20 2012, 01:43PM

Experimental device for mixing conductive paint.

Someone needs to put this into a RepRap print head already

I tried it at long last, having come up with the idea a couple of years ago but never had enough paint to make it worthwhile as it is only useable if there is a lot of solvent in the correct sized container.

The motor is a pancake type salvaged from one of those Samsung D500 or E700 screen assemblies, as the whole assembly is changed if one part of it breaks.
Talk about recycling...

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Neet Studio, Sun May 20 2012, 10:51PM

My now broken voltage multiplier build with "Safety Y caps" junked from rework. :)
slow exposure - wish it were that thick in real life. There is a inverter driving a IRFZ44 inverter in the back.

A tantalum cap that got blown up. I blame the discrete MOSFET driver from TI app note not switching on fast enough. What I ended up was the MOSFET switching at subharmonic resulting in cap self destructing due to high ripple current. I subsequently completed redesigned after running my own design in LTSpice.

My VDF driver PCB. It has a tiny BJT ZVS resonant driver for the filament and charge pump with a series regulator for the negative voltage. The display is driven by PMOS from a CPLD. It was fun lining the SO23 up for hand soldering. The rest of the CPLD was f100% utilized with prescaler and misc logic for a frequency counter.

This was the test program in C I wrote for driving multiplexed display and my 2nd Atmel C program. Power supply + uC PCB I made on the bread boarding.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
mister_rf, Fri Jun 01 2012, 11:06PM

Lightning Storm Pictures
F1m

Last summer thunderstorm video...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TwirlyWhirly555, Sat Jun 02 2012, 08:47AM

First Pic is a russian IV-27 13 Digit VFD Display , and second is a Flyback ladder .

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Mon Jun 04 2012, 01:38PM

Picture taken by a fellow student at the university. Coil and lights where setup for the universities open house day.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Thomas W, Thu Jul 05 2012, 07:53PM

my little Guardian of electronics! willow!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Jul 06 2012, 03:07AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Thomas W, Fri Jul 06 2012, 09:36AM

wrote ...

Wow, thats nice pole pig and Coon!

thats alot of... Bongs? in the background?
do you collect them?
hehe

Thomas,

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Fri Jul 06 2012, 10:24AM

LOL, I think those are paraffin lamps, not bongs. Kids nowadays...

Proof: If Dr. Spark collected bongs, he would surely have one in the shape of a skull (edit: with blue LED lights!) but I don't see one.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Thomas W, Fri Jul 06 2012, 10:33AM

hehe, one of my aunts collect the huge fancy ones from abroad for display on her cabinet, i was planning to collect variacs until some guy stole the bid while i was in the shower :x

while im here il throw in some pictures from where i did work experiance at from 6 months ago :D

each of those stainless steel cylinders weigh about... 30Kg and are about the size of my thigh
90% of the material is lost more or less, the bore it out with a HUGE drill til there is about 1inch left around the outsides, they were then tapped internaly along with some other stuff for a fireproof laser case.. and thats all i know about them ^_^

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Fri Jul 06 2012, 10:47PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Jul 13 2012, 09:06PM

Been a while since I posted in this thread haha.

Made this today:

Cheers,

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dri0m, Sat Jul 14 2012, 09:34AM

Blesk1s

I made some GIFs of lightning, because they're large files, you can find all of them here

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Jul 18 2012, 02:25AM

Messing about with my high speed camera.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Wed Aug 22 2012, 04:41PM

What I do when spending so much time at hotels in my work...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Fri Sept 14 2012, 06:29PM

DrunkCAD:
EKazV

Maybe not really cool, but anyways, the power stage for my latest class D amp project, capable of up to 3kW output into 2 ohms.
RI1up

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Alex M, Sat Sept 15 2012, 04:55PM

Mads Barnkob wrote ...

What I do when spending so much time at hotels in my work...

You have more self control than I would in that situation

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Sat Sept 15 2012, 09:02PM

Jenga anyone?

Stack is roughly 6 feet tall.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Experimentonomen, Sat Sept 15 2012, 09:41PM

Jenga with coke cans, something tells me that can get real messy in a hurry.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Sun Sept 30 2012, 06:36AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dalus, Mon Oct 29 2012, 07:51PM

What do you find scavenging in an old lab. Building something around these will be quite challenging, big QCW coil or IH.

Thunderstorm during my summer holiday

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Josh Campbell, Mon Oct 29 2012, 10:55PM

Crucible failure! After failure the molten steel is sucked into the coil where it shorts and explodes. No injuries, just lessons learned about proper crucible usage.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Oct 30 2012, 10:41PM

That's a mighty nice looking anvil you have there, where'd you get it? I'm using a cheapo anvil shaped lump for my smith work, I'm jealous to see a real one.

This is my 5th attempt at forging a knife.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Wed Oct 31 2012, 02:10AM

Some shots of the minecraft project I'm working on.

It's single quadrant of the final maze, and each quadrant is going to be about the same volume.

1351649397 902 FT6000 Phase One Crazy Redstone Copy

1351649397 902 FT6000 Phase One Dungeon Copy

1351649397 902 FT6000 Phase One Junction Copy

1351649397 902 FT6000 Phase One Lava Chest Copy

1351649397 902 FT6000 Phase One Lava Chest 2 Copy

1351649397 902 FT6000 Phase One Rabbit Hole Copy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Mon Nov 19 2012, 03:34AM

I've been experimenting with 360 * 180 panoramas lately.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Mon Nov 19 2012, 07:08PM

Nik wrote ...

I've been experimenting with 360 * 180 panoramas lately.

Which setup do you use, home made or bought one of those panorama things?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Mon Nov 19 2012, 10:31PM

I'm using a cheap* 8mm lens on my NEX VG20 camera, it gives ~170 degree FOV laterally so I can cover the full sphere of view in 10-12 photos depending on how much overlap there is. I stitch them with a program called Hugin. Hugin is a pain but once you get some practice it gives good results.

*cheaper then an expensive one

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Dec 03 2012, 11:23AM

Some panoramas I did at Great Falls Park. Both were done using multiple single shots from my Pentax WG-II rugged camera (rather than the built in panorama mode), stitched together in Hugin, then the second one was processed throug the Fattal tonemap on Luminance HDR (which, as I found out, does not like panorama sizes very much hehe)

and my latest rifle, a chinese variant SKS, also known as the poor man's hunting rifle. These are so cheap surplus I can finally make a hunting trip without worrying so much about the cost of something like a .30-06 or .308 The bipod, grip, and laser were cheap things off of amazon that I actually don't intend to keep on this gun, just there to make a cool photo. They mainly stay on my .22-lr

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Dec 11 2012, 02:55AM

Messing around with my revived van de graff, these images are of liquid wax being repelled upwards away from the van de graff sphere after the candle is blown out. When the candle is burning the flame acts like a sharp point and wicks away all the charge, as soon as its out charge can accumulate and begin to repel the wax

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Tue Dec 11 2012, 11:53AM

"Bob, you're going to need a bigger chicken stick to pull an arc from that."

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Tue Dec 11 2012, 11:40PM

Another day at the office.

Hanging on to the locomotive was easy. Getting the operator to stop before the extension cord ran out was tricky.
Also had to censor the scope waveform. Not sure if I can share our 'cutting edge' technology.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Dec 18 2012, 04:24AM

They don't have a generator for 120/240 service equipment on trains? Weird. I'de have the scope cord tied to something.

Today's experiment in photography.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
zippotix, Wed Dec 26 2012, 05:53PM

Nik, I don't know anything about photography, but your pictures are awesome.

DaJJHman, what do you hunt? I heard you have plenty of hogs in Texas, and that they're a real menace.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Steve Conner, Wed Dec 26 2012, 07:32PM

Nik, that would be the auxiliary inverter, I guess jrz was trying to get it debugged so he could plug his scope into it

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed Dec 26 2012, 09:22PM

Heh, how do you scope the outlet when the outlet doesn't work? Sound's like job I'de get.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Jrz126, Wed Dec 26 2012, 11:52PM

Was kidding about the extension cord. They dont allow engineers to hang off the side of it while its moving.
We have 74Vdc (loco battery voltage) to 120VAC converters. Great for powering laptops and lights. Not so great for powering scopes (ground loops).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu Dec 27 2012, 01:46AM

Derp, I didn't think to look closely at the cables. That and running a cord to a moving train seems pretty standard for the places I work.

This photo is my garbage parts capacitor run single phase motor. One of the coils has a (very unhappy) capacitor that I grabbed from my parts bin to provide the phase shift in one pole. It runs on 14volts and draws 2amps.

1356572763 53 FT6000 Img 20121226 203412 736

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Fri Dec 28 2012, 12:34AM

zippotix wrote ...

Nik, I don't know anything about photography, but your pictures are awesome.

DaJJHman, what do you hunt? I heard you have plenty of hogs in Texas, and that they're a real menace.

Now that I have a suitable rifle for hunting, I'm going to go after all the hogs on my family's ranch.
In Texas, hogs are an invasive and pest species and they are allowed to be hunted year round without any bag limits.

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sun Dec 30 2012, 09:34PM

Got my scrap parts series field motor running :D

1356903297 53 FT6000 Img 20121230 163143 764

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Physics Junkie, Fri Jan 04 2013, 09:00PM

Hi! Great pictures everyone. Here are some of my personal favorites I took with my camera phone

None of them are Photoshop, I have no photography experience I dont have any camera other then the one on my phone.

Some Fibonacci in celery stalks

cookie monster cake lol

This guy kept walking up to me at the zoo and staring right at me!! So Cool! He probably wanted to eat me though..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Jan 05 2013, 03:28PM

This is the results of my audio-on-film recording. The lower trace is a (poorly) modulated variable area signal, the upper one is the un-modified waveform. The results are ok, if I set up some optics in the reader I suspect that the recording is of reasonable quality.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Reaching, Mon Jan 07 2013, 10:52PM

Hey there.. on my holidays in Canada.. The icefields parkway.. Outstanding Nature there ..

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Jan 08 2013, 04:35AM

Wtf, I'm in canada and it looks nothing like that. All greys and browns >_<

Great photo!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Physics Junkie, Tue Jan 15 2013, 03:34AM

Crazy Laser Waves. I don't know how I did this! I'm assuming that the roughness of the surface I reflected the laser off of is what's giving it the multidimensional wave effect. None of these are photoshop. They are "static" looking due to high exposure.

Here is a video of this in real time with some better quality stills at the end (put it on 720p or 1080p if you can)

music: Lights (Bassnectar Remix) - Ellie Goulding

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Tue Jan 15 2013, 01:17PM

FTR, The same thing happens when you shine a high powered laser onto the cap of a sharpie marker.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Shrad, Tue Jan 15 2013, 01:59PM

this is a lumia effect

you can make this with bathroom glass rotated in front of your laser, or even with a bit of plexiglass with blobs of glue on it...

very nice effects are achievable with this technique

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Physics Junkie, Tue Jan 15 2013, 04:40PM

I didnt know that. It is really quite neat. I am shining it off of a glossy black paintÂ that has a sort of "gritty" texture. Thanks for the info

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Killa-X, Tue Jan 15 2013, 10:26PM

I get that effect when burning into electrical tape or shining a laser off my.teeth...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Thu Jan 24 2013, 08:10AM

New DRSSTC is coming

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Mon Jan 28 2013, 12:23PM

My new RAM Disk benchmarks.... for the fastest game load times ever hehe.

I used to use a program called "RAMDisk" by DataRAM, which worked great until I installed new RAM to max out my motherboard at 64GB. Then it crashed for some reason, so I've been using IMDisk VDD with manual saving to HDD until I fix it.

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Wed Jan 30 2013, 06:18AM

We had a casualty

Turns out these things are filled with 'caplets' and an oil that smells like pine-sol.

I imagine the caplets are still usable; and probably well suited for resonant work being oil cooled and all.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Wed Jan 30 2013, 02:34PM

Came across this while cleaning out a parts shelf. Last Spring I got bored between two classes which were separated by 45 minutes, so I put together a coilgun out of parts I had lying around (coil not found when I dug this up):

1359556474 902 FT6000 30 Minute Coilgun Copy

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Josh Campbell, Wed Jan 30 2013, 04:48PM

DaJJHman wrote ...

Came across this while cleaning out a parts shelf. Last Spring I got bored between two classes which were separated by 45 minutes, so I put together a coilgun out of parts I had lying around (coil not found when I dug this up):

-Jimmy

Disposable camera flash circuit dumped into a small coil. :D

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Adam Munich, Thu Feb 28 2013, 04:07PM

The wires in my wall are hot à¹_à¹

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
flannelhead, Wed Mar 27 2013, 02:53PM

Hi there!

I haven't been too much into high voltage lately, but I recently found an old secondary wound around a film canister. I threw together a simple driver from scrap parts, and much to my surprise, it worked!

This thing is powered by a 12V/300mA wall wart. The driver is simply 74HC14 -> BS170 (level shift to 12V) -> 2N3904/06 totem -> IRFP240. There's also a 555 timer which is interrupting the signal. Break rate is currently 2 Hz as I don't believe the little wall wart could survive much more. F_res is about 5 MHz. Antenna feedback is not too reliable, I might try PLL next. It occurs to me this one could also benefit from a boost converter charging a capacitor to a little higher voltage and discharging it to the primary... We'll see, this could become quite nice a nano coil.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ben Solon, Tue Apr 02 2013, 12:53AM

My Easter weekend was a bit of fun

This was what my half bridge smps turned into in a real hurry. It's running off of 28v @ 5.6A, I don't think it'll handle mains simply because of inadequate gate drive(don't try switching 300nC gates with 350mA gate drivers unless you like the looks of natural logs). Three stacked gate drive chips still aren't enough to charge all 12v across the gate during the entire half cycle, so i'm waiting on the 3A ones coming in the mail.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Fri May 31 2013, 02:39PM

942169 471498232929213 649889857 N

TRX 708 :) My new little x-ray staff

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Conundrum, Sun Jun 09 2013, 07:49PM

You've GOT to be joking.

I have a recycled sign similar to that on my shed, to keep tea leaves away.

-A

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Wed Oct 02 2013, 05:40PM

My new computer and audio setup.

new stuff:

Desk with 19" rack
Nady Crossover (for the subwoofer)
Furman Power Conditioner (I honestly didn't think I needed it but the power at my place sucks)
Berhinger Henyx Control1 studio desk control system - distributes the various inputs such as Aux, Computer, Turntable, and occasionally microphone to the various speakers in different rooms of my condo and has a nice big volume knob
Berhinger Graphic Equalizer with feedback destroyer - I have some old and oddball records that have poor reproduction in different ranges, not a true fix to a poor quality record but if I'm given a record by someone who would prefer it sounds good rather than true, then it helps.
rackmount UPS for the computer
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB audio interface for recording, small enough I can also take with me to record the podcast I'm starting up.
Technics SL-1700 turntable, w/ Azman YM-P20E cartridge with Empire stylus

Old Stuff visible:

my massive computer (big black box under the turntable)
Asus PA248Q 24" 1200p color-calibrated monitor
2x Yamaha HS50M studio monitors, on foam to prevent the desk from resonating (which it does otherwise)
Subwoofer and amplifier (actually behind the desk on the floor, with a foam block to prevent vibrations from going through the building)

-Jimmy

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Tue Nov 26 2013, 06:37PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Patrick, Tue Nov 26 2013, 08:40PM

Hillarious !!!

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
c4r0, Wed Nov 27 2013, 10:23AM

Robert2 wrote ...

TRX 708 :) My new little x-ray staff

Nice! Reminds me of the time when I did the same to my tube (oil bath enclosure). Did you notice any oil leakage through the wires? In my case, after a few months the transformer oil started to leak out at the ends of the wires (!). BTW what's your user name at elektroda.pl?

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sun Dec 08 2013, 10:33AM

Hi C4r0 ! My other nick are slu_1982

New DRSSTC is work

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
TwirlyWhirly555, Sun Dec 08 2013, 11:25AM

Raw output from a non corrected 670-690nm To3 package 500mW laser diode :D

IMG_0133 by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Dec 11 2013, 06:45PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dragon64, Wed Dec 11 2013, 08:36PM

Reaching wrote ...

Hey there.. on my holidays in Canada.. The icefields parkway.. Outstanding Nature there ..

Nik wrote ...

Wtf, I'm in canada and it looks nothing like that. All greys and browns >_<

Great photo!

Here's a picture of the glacier in the icefield parkway.

Noticed quite a bit of retreating unfortunately compared to when I was there in 2001.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Robert2, Sun Dec 22 2013, 11:45AM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Dr. Drone, Wed Jan 22 2014, 11:04PM

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Fri Feb 14 2014, 06:42PM

This UCC37221 also did the most epic of splits

Now we know that even inside a SOT8 it isnÂ´t crowded.

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Trying hard to remember to turn off power before making adjustments

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Daedronus, Fri Mar 14 2014, 08:53AM

Graffiti on a bridge, just so it this morning and snapped a picture.
I wander how many people know who he is

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hon1nbo, Thu Mar 20 2014, 05:56PM

I made a Firewall / Router for my home using some spare mini-ITX hardware, a rackmount chassis, a switch, and an install of PfSense (open source enterprise grade firewall and router software). After seeing all of the exploits found in SOHO routers recently, and the poor vendor support for secure features, as well as a general lack of advanced functionality, I went this route.

It ended up being really easy to setup, after assembling the hardware (as any standard computer), I had PfSense installed and my network up in under 10 minutes not counting all the advanced stuff I threw in like a Snort IDS and SSL certificates. I have a wildcard for one of my domains so now I have a valid SSL cert to manage this thing over the web interface, which I haven't found possible with most SOHO routers even though they are so critical to a network.

It has 4 GB RAM (overkill for most purposes, but I can even support a video stream going over a VPN to me and I offer a VPN to friends of mine on an isolated subnet), a dual-core AMD APU (since I didn't want to pay for separate graphics support, and it easily gets the job done for a low cost), the onboard gigabit NIC, and an add-on gigabit NIC.

WiFi is currently handled by a Cisco small business router on a different subnet until I get the wireless card working as an access point in the unit itself.

The switch underneath is a TrendNet gigabit switch, since I host some LAN parties and move a LOT of data over my network between my CableCard tuner (which is network based), my networked windows media center, my network storage, and every machine in general.

And yes, I managed to cram my cable modem into the unused disk drive bay :)

-Jimmy

1395337992 902 FT6000 Home Pfsense Resized

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Aard-Wolf, Fri Mar 21 2014, 10:01PM

I have a small piece of Baltic Amber (around 44 million years old) which has a number of interesting inclusions.

Here's a quick macro photo I took a few months ago (cropped to use as wallpaper on my laptop).

Thought it might be of interest...

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Tue Mar 25 2014, 09:28PM

Aard-Wolf brought the amber to the factory where we both work some time ago,
only through a great act of willpower (plus a weakness of funds) did I decide not to collect amber,
truly interesting, ancient animals in near perfect detail (with an eyepiece) in your hand.
I loved that I saw the big insect first, then 'discovered' a smaller one ... then another even smaller.
I can definitely recommend getting a interested friend to invest so you can have a look ;)

P.S. this is a photo of the current state of my HF PA everlasting project, roughly tested but needs work,
photographed by Aard-Wolf today ... nothing noteworthy but I like it.
(my first hf pa .. hopefully)(I bought a few spare transistors!)

1395782876 162 FT6000 Txrxii Pa Mfr185 Board Ii

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Ash Small, Wed Mar 26 2014, 03:09AM

Sulaiman wrote ...

Aard-Wolf brought the amber to the factory where we both work some time ago,
only through a great act of willpower (plus a weakness of funds) did I decide not to collect amber,
truly interesting, ancient animals in near perfect detail (with an eyepiece) in your hand.
I loved that I saw the big insect first, then 'discovered' a smaller one ... then another even smaller.
I can definitely recommend getting a interested friend to invest so you can have a look ;)

P.S. this is a photo of the current state of my HF PA everlasting project, roughly tested but needs work,
photographed by Aard-Wolf today ... nothing noteworthy but I like it.
(my first hf pa .. hopefully)(I bought a few spare transistors!)

You should post some more info on this, Sulaiman. It's worthy of it's own thread in the projects section. I might even pick up some tips on HF circuit layout

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Wed Mar 26 2014, 06:28PM

Ash, there is no technique, it changed as I went along
(read application notes, looking how others do stuff etc.)
e.g. started with the rf power transistor, last were the two bias 'modules'
and most of my future rf projects will be be mainly smd (easier than expected)
- through-hole components are an endangered species (I'm just obsolescent ;)
When/If it works as expected I'll write something ... things not to do probably !
Need to change the poor o/p filter of my eBay dds sig. gen., then I'll know.
to keep on topic, a poor photo' of the transceiver rack

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Wed Sept 16 2015, 11:00AM

Circular and complete rainbow as seen from a helicopter flying in rain.

I could not capture it all with the phone.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Wed Sept 23 2015, 08:30PM

Zinc whiskers on a cable clamp around a large supply cable for a industrial machine, it have properly been forming over some 20+ years, taking machine age into account.

Zinc whisker awareness from NASA:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Mads Barnkob, Tue Oct 06 2015, 05:04PM

Interesting LCD screen failure mode, seen in a shop window.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Oct 17 2015, 01:15AM

Cool whiskers! I always check our old equipment in the plan for them but I have yet to find any.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue May 24 2016, 03:02AM

Double post but it has been a few months...

I saw some shock diamonds at work this week! Compressed air was being used to clean equipment while the air dryer was turned off, as the air left a rounded over (converging) nozzle the water vapor condensed and made these shock diamonds visible. I plan on making a small nozzle for home use so I can get some better photos.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Tue May 24 2016, 10:20PM

Nik wrote ...
I saw some shock diamonds at work this week!

Nicely photographed, Nik. Did you add blue illumination?

When I became interested in shock diamonds without combustion, some 10 years ago, a co-worker told me of a similar experience. I learned that they form more often than not, in air jets driven by at least a few bar (enough for supersonic flow) from anything that passes for a nozzle but fails to "properly" expand the flow. For example, typical compressed-air blowguns and Dust-off cans.
The tiny, transparent diamonds can be visualized by schlieren or shadowgraph methods, e.g. shadows cast by sunlight, or sunlight reflected from a convex mirror, or an undiffused and unlensed LED or LD or flashlight bulb. Or just seeing distortion of a background scene that has high contrast and sharp edges.

This little video is a shadowgraph using flashlight bulb and un-lensed webcam sensor.

I'm looking forward to seeing water condensation diamond pictures from Nik. Diamonds visible from a safe distance without optical trickery.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Wed May 25 2016, 05:14AM

The blue is from my phone camera and the LED work light I was using.

Great photo and video, I never knew they were so common. I'll have to try out my canned air as well.

I'm going to start with a pipe cap and making 2 countersunk holes meet up. If that doesn't work I'll fill the cap with solder and "mill" a more conventional CD nozzle into the solder. I'm thinking of using a bare laser LED to cast a "schliren" shadow onto a screen or maybe onto a camera sensor if I cant get enough water vapor into my compressor (because that's not really the greatest thing for it).

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Thu May 26 2016, 02:10AM

Could a compressed air dryer be loaded up with enough water to become a humidifier?

CO2 gas from a bulk cylinder might make a different pattern than humid air. I bet the heat and volume changes from partial condensation, if there's time for that to happen, would make larger deviations from ideal-gas isentropic expansion.

They say great minds think alike. I started by making some CD nozzles from thin brass tubing on the order of 4 mm in diameter, plugged with solder, then drilled from both ends. At least one end was done with a small center drill, to get a 60 degree cone and untapered throat section. With inlet pressures on the order of 100 psi, they would have been "way" overexpanding. But I sort of dropped the ball after discovering that plain cylindrical nozzles make shock diamonds. I'm cleaning my workshop & will watch out for the little converging-diverging ones.

There's a ton of literature about over-, ideal, and under-expanded supersonic flows, because many real propulsion nozzles have to work in a wide range of atmospheric pressures.

[soapbox] Many people don't know the difference between schlieren photographs and shadowgraphs, which superficially look about the same. For any given very-slightly-refracting transparent object, the resulting image bright and dark areas are very different. In the schlieren case, they also depend on the orientation of the knife edge. Prof. Andrew Davidhazy tells it right:

The word schlieren is an ordinary noun (meaning streaks), not the name of some inventor. So in English it should not be capitalized, except in titles or beginnings of sentences. [/soapbox]

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu May 26 2016, 08:49PM

"Great minds think alike" indeed, you just described my original plan exactly, I was going to make 2 wedges to "drill" tapers into a plug of solder. I ended up finding 1/4" threaded steel pipe plugs and drilling into those but the results are about what I was looking for.

To make it more visible I was thinking of using a venturi pick up but for the sake of cheapness I put a pipe T before the nozzle with a short length of capped pipe, I'll fill the capped pipe with water and tip it just enough to get some vapour in the stream. I did wonder if I could feed extra humid air into my compressor but that's really not the best of it :/

Thanks for the link, I did some Googling prior to this but didn't see that page. Interesting about schlieren, I must have Googled it 100 times before and never noticed that it wasn't a proper noun. If it's has anything to do with optics and has a German sounding name I just assumed it was the name of the guy who discovered it >_<

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Weston, Thu Jun 09 2016, 01:19PM

Visited the electronics market in Shenzhen yesterday and I found the (a?) IGBT booth! Sadly I did not have time to see their full selection / ask about prices.

1465478365 1316 FT6000 Img 20160608 123752

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
klugesmith, Sat Oct 22 2016, 10:32AM

At last, a reasonably successful picture of the glow from my first spinthariscope.

I got some translucent plastic sheets with ZnS(Ag) fluorescent coating on one side.

Took a smoke detector board & removed the upper ionization chamber electrode. That lets us see the alpha particle source -- less than 1 microcurie of americium-232. Re-covered the source with one of the fluorescent screens.

Turned off the lights & waited for my eyes to become dark-adapted. After about 5 minutes, I began to see a very faint, fuzzy, luminous spot on the screen. On close examination with a small convex lens, the spot was all sparkly! Imagine how Prof. Crookes felt, as the first human to see the phenomenon.

Next challenge was to get a picture of it. Here with lights on:

and with lights off, except for a flashlight directed away from the subject for a few seconds:

Camera details to follow. Those are screen capture snips from original jpg's -- no image manipulation.

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Nov 04 2016, 08:51PM

My Fluke meters are showing their age, they are hand-me-downs I received as a result of another engineer passing away, and they have
been useful, but it is time for an upgrade.

I am looking to upgrade the power supplies too, but that is something in-process. For now the meters are all I can afford.

SAD BENCH

HAPPY BENCH

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Tue Dec 06 2016, 11:39PM

First hover from my Paul Ion Trap. I have to find a reliable way to get particles in without getting my fingers too close. The rails are at ~3kv.

Animated gif:

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Finn Hammer, Thu Feb 16 2017, 08:57PM

Treasure!

Cheers, Finn Hammer

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Thu Feb 23 2017, 02:22AM

A spark and "cloud" of charge jump from my VDG to my finger. I'm still not sure about the "cloud" but I think it may be charge in the air using the spark as a more conductive path to ground. Any one else with Van De Graaffs seen this? It's also interesting that there are/is streamers/charge coming from the flat surface of the sphere, I always thought that it took a sharp point to get that kind of behavior.

Image linked due to hugeness (4000x5989) 6 seconds, ISO-6400, f/2

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Sulaiman, Thu Feb 23 2017, 02:39AM

Finn Hammer wrote ...

Treasure!

Cheers, Finn Hammer

I'm jealous !

Re: Post Your Cool Pic Here!
Nik, Sat Mar 04 2017, 08:25PM

Whoa! Turns out, the air in front of a super sonic ping pong ball (>600m/s) is compressed enough to heat the ball to the point of incandescence when it hits another object!
The temperature outside has dropped below 0 recently and I can't get seem to get much more than mach 1 out of the cannon on cold days (I don't dare try heating the barrel and have it all go soft).