Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy new year!
Happy new year! May this New Year bring you health, prosperity, happiness and love. Let's hope that 2009 will be much better than 2008, but not better than 2010 :)
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone! Ho ho ho!
I hope you'll receive some nice gifts :) I have to go now, the cat has climbed in the Christmas Tree again!
I hope you'll receive some nice gifts :) I have to go now, the cat has climbed in the Christmas Tree again!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
HAPPY CAPS LOCK DAY!
YUP, TODAY IT'S CAPS LOCK DAY! A DAY DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE WHO THINK THAT IF YOU WRITE WITH CAPS OTHERS WILL UNDERSTAND BETTER WHAT YOU SAY. WELL, NO! SO PLEASE STOP USING CAPS :)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Nd:YAG rod
Look what I bought:
[insert image here]
A used (but looks like new) Nd:YAG rod. At 5 x 76 mm with 1.0% doping it's a pretty powerful rod that should yield a few watts of laser in combination with the right flash lamp. Another nice touch is the AR coating on the heads.
I bought this rod from eBay.
Well, for the moment I can't do anything with it, just admire it's nice pink color :) so that's all the details I can give for now. More later, when I'll have a lamp and mirrors to experiment with.
[insert image here]
A used (but looks like new) Nd:YAG rod. At 5 x 76 mm with 1.0% doping it's a pretty powerful rod that should yield a few watts of laser in combination with the right flash lamp. Another nice touch is the AR coating on the heads.
I bought this rod from eBay.
Well, for the moment I can't do anything with it, just admire it's nice pink color :) so that's all the details I can give for now. More later, when I'll have a lamp and mirrors to experiment with.
Motor capacitors
Look what I bought:
[insert image here]
A brand new set of motor capacitors. All are rated at 450V and have 10 uF (4 pcs), 40 uF (1 pc) and 100 uF (3 pcs). They are designed as startup-capacitors for electric motors, but I intend to use them for powering my lasers. Although they are rated at 450V, I'm going to charge them at 1000V. My friend Bogdan already tested them at this voltage and they didn't blow up in his face, so it should be ok.
The small ones (10 uF) will be used in a voltage multiplier for charging te other caps. They will rise the voltage from 220 V to 880 V (I think I should add two more, to reach 1320 V, but that's 3 times more the rating of the caps and I'm a little afraid to do it).
The medium capacitor (40 uF) can hold a carge of 20 J at 1000V and should be ok for powering the SSY-1.
Now the interesting part: the largest capacitors can hold 3 x 50 J and should be just fine for powering the larger laser.
Unfortunately Bogdan tested these capacitors and they didn't discharge fast enough so his SSY-1 couldn't lase. On the other hand, on Sam's page I found an article stating that they should work just fine. I don't know what to say... I'll perform some tests and update this post.
[insert image here]
A brand new set of motor capacitors. All are rated at 450V and have 10 uF (4 pcs), 40 uF (1 pc) and 100 uF (3 pcs). They are designed as startup-capacitors for electric motors, but I intend to use them for powering my lasers. Although they are rated at 450V, I'm going to charge them at 1000V. My friend Bogdan already tested them at this voltage and they didn't blow up in his face, so it should be ok.
The small ones (10 uF) will be used in a voltage multiplier for charging te other caps. They will rise the voltage from 220 V to 880 V (I think I should add two more, to reach 1320 V, but that's 3 times more the rating of the caps and I'm a little afraid to do it).
The medium capacitor (40 uF) can hold a carge of 20 J at 1000V and should be ok for powering the SSY-1.
Now the interesting part: the largest capacitors can hold 3 x 50 J and should be just fine for powering the larger laser.
Unfortunately Bogdan tested these capacitors and they didn't discharge fast enough so his SSY-1 couldn't lase. On the other hand, on Sam's page I found an article stating that they should work just fine. I don't know what to say... I'll perform some tests and update this post.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Multimeter
Look what I bought:
[insert image here]
A brand new multimeter. Even if I bought it a few weeks ago, I thought I should present it because I've mentioned it in a previous post.
I was glad when I saw that this multimeter can measure temperature, capacitors and frequency besides the normal stuff. Also it has extended range: the old multimeter couldn't measure the 1900V from the CCFL, but this one could (well, the manual says that even if it can measure up to 2000V, the user shouldn't connect more than 1000V because the internal circuitry might fail).
In theory everything is very nice, but when I arrived home I saw that it's not that precise. It shows about 180 ohms for a 200 ohms resistor, 15 pF for a 22 pF capacitor and the thing I find the most annoying, it doesn't show 0 when connecting the two probes together. Well, you can't have them all :)
I like very much the temperature measuring function. It uses a K-type probe and when that isn't connected it shows the ambient temperature. Nice! You can see it below with the probe attached, displaying the room temperature (brr, 19 degrees Celsius).
[insert image here]
To test the temperature probe I've measured the hot and cold water from the dispenser. It was 10 degrees respectively 70 degrees Celsius. I don't know how precise is this, but I tried...
I haven't tested yet the frequency function. It states that it can measure up to 20 KHz. This should be easy to test: just set up a timer on an AVR to output a fixed frequency and see what the multimeter shows. I hope it won't display 13 KHz for a 15 KHz signal :(
Hmm, if I think about it, the old multimeter was better as it was more accurate (even if it didn't have so many functions). Too bad it blew up ;)
Summary:
Price: 38 ron (15$)
Pros: can measure temperature, capacitors and frequency
Cons: not very precise
[insert image here]
A brand new multimeter. Even if I bought it a few weeks ago, I thought I should present it because I've mentioned it in a previous post.
I was glad when I saw that this multimeter can measure temperature, capacitors and frequency besides the normal stuff. Also it has extended range: the old multimeter couldn't measure the 1900V from the CCFL, but this one could (well, the manual says that even if it can measure up to 2000V, the user shouldn't connect more than 1000V because the internal circuitry might fail).
In theory everything is very nice, but when I arrived home I saw that it's not that precise. It shows about 180 ohms for a 200 ohms resistor, 15 pF for a 22 pF capacitor and the thing I find the most annoying, it doesn't show 0 when connecting the two probes together. Well, you can't have them all :)
I like very much the temperature measuring function. It uses a K-type probe and when that isn't connected it shows the ambient temperature. Nice! You can see it below with the probe attached, displaying the room temperature (brr, 19 degrees Celsius).
[insert image here]
To test the temperature probe I've measured the hot and cold water from the dispenser. It was 10 degrees respectively 70 degrees Celsius. I don't know how precise is this, but I tried...
I haven't tested yet the frequency function. It states that it can measure up to 20 KHz. This should be easy to test: just set up a timer on an AVR to output a fixed frequency and see what the multimeter shows. I hope it won't display 13 KHz for a 15 KHz signal :(
Hmm, if I think about it, the old multimeter was better as it was more accurate (even if it didn't have so many functions). Too bad it blew up ;)
Summary:
Price: 38 ron (15$)
Pros: can measure temperature, capacitors and frequency
Cons: not very precise
Sunday, October 19, 2008
UV CCFL
Look what I bought:
A brand new Cold Cathode Fluorescent Light (whoa, long name). The package contains everything you need. Two UV lamps, cables, the inverter, a switch, connectors and a little adhesive thing for sticking the inverter to the case.
This gadget was intended for computer case modding, but as with most things I buy, it won't be used in the application it was designed for. I intend to remove the lamps and use the output to charge capacitors for my lasers.
Under the innocent look of a little black box a beast is hiding. The inverter takes 12V from a regular computer source and outputs in excess of 1000V. I tried to measure the raw output using a multimeter. Both my multimeters can measure up to 750V of AC. I hooked the new one directly to the output and got a fluctuating reading between 1300V and 1900V. That's a lot of volts! Now the old multimeter, maybe I get a better reading. Well, in the instant I touched the pins with the probes, my computer powered down. And so did the multimeter. Fortunately the computer source entered in thermal shutdown and 5 minutes later it restarted normally. Unlike my multimeter wich is dead. I think the fuse blew up, but I don't think I'll replace it. I intended to throw it anyways, that's why I bought the new multimeter.
Unfortunately the box doesn't have any screws and it seems to be glued or something. I tried to pry it open with a screwdriver but without any success. You know what they say: "Don't force it... get a bigger hammer". If I won't be able to open it I'll cut the box. One way or another, I'll see what's inside (and post some photos so that you don't have to break your own CCFL).
And now the fun part! The tubes are black light sources. This means they emit UV radiation, which will light up any fluorescent materials. For example white paper, white shirts, shoelaces, my green glue tube, some green marker on paper and many other things are fluorescent.
Also official documents have UV-sensitive safety marks. Most things you carry in your wallet like money, driving licences, MasterCards glow nicely under UV light.
But the most interesting are food stamps. They have lots of UV ink and light up they come close to my lamp.
[insert images here]
I'll come with more details when I'll start hacking it as a laser power source ;)
Summary:
Price: 40 ron (16$)
Pros: very fun, 1000V
Cons: none
A brand new Cold Cathode Fluorescent Light (whoa, long name). The package contains everything you need. Two UV lamps, cables, the inverter, a switch, connectors and a little adhesive thing for sticking the inverter to the case.
This gadget was intended for computer case modding, but as with most things I buy, it won't be used in the application it was designed for. I intend to remove the lamps and use the output to charge capacitors for my lasers.
Under the innocent look of a little black box a beast is hiding. The inverter takes 12V from a regular computer source and outputs in excess of 1000V. I tried to measure the raw output using a multimeter. Both my multimeters can measure up to 750V of AC. I hooked the new one directly to the output and got a fluctuating reading between 1300V and 1900V. That's a lot of volts! Now the old multimeter, maybe I get a better reading. Well, in the instant I touched the pins with the probes, my computer powered down. And so did the multimeter. Fortunately the computer source entered in thermal shutdown and 5 minutes later it restarted normally. Unlike my multimeter wich is dead. I think the fuse blew up, but I don't think I'll replace it. I intended to throw it anyways, that's why I bought the new multimeter.
Unfortunately the box doesn't have any screws and it seems to be glued or something. I tried to pry it open with a screwdriver but without any success. You know what they say: "Don't force it... get a bigger hammer". If I won't be able to open it I'll cut the box. One way or another, I'll see what's inside (and post some photos so that you don't have to break your own CCFL).
And now the fun part! The tubes are black light sources. This means they emit UV radiation, which will light up any fluorescent materials. For example white paper, white shirts, shoelaces, my green glue tube, some green marker on paper and many other things are fluorescent.
Also official documents have UV-sensitive safety marks. Most things you carry in your wallet like money, driving licences, MasterCards glow nicely under UV light.
But the most interesting are food stamps. They have lots of UV ink and light up they come close to my lamp.
[insert images here]
I'll come with more details when I'll start hacking it as a laser power source ;)
Summary:
Price: 40 ron (16$)
Pros: very fun, 1000V
Cons: none
SD memory card (1GB)
Look what I bought:
A brand new SD card. Besides the very low price (just 6$) nothing unusual about this one. 1GB capacity, 45x transfer rate (in theory it's about 6.5 MB/s). I don' t care about the speed as I intend to use it as storage medium for my game console. When I went shopping I intended to buy a 128MB card, or even lower, but when I saw the price on this one, I bought it without thinking too much. Let's hope it works.
A word about the manufacturer. To be honest, I never heard about Silicon Power before finding this card. All my cards are Sandisk and I've never had any problems with them so I only bought this brand. But because I don't intend to keep any important data on this card I went ahead and bought it. When I arrived home and googled Silicon Power I was surprised to find out that they are "the leading brand in flash memory manufactories" (as stated on their site) and produce the SSD's for Asus Eee. Very nice! They even have a Romanian site here. I'm impressed when international companies care enough about Romanian market to dedicate it a section of their site (or even a full site).
Summary:
Price: 15 ron (6$)
Pros: cheap
Cons: none
A brand new SD card. Besides the very low price (just 6$) nothing unusual about this one. 1GB capacity, 45x transfer rate (in theory it's about 6.5 MB/s). I don' t care about the speed as I intend to use it as storage medium for my game console. When I went shopping I intended to buy a 128MB card, or even lower, but when I saw the price on this one, I bought it without thinking too much. Let's hope it works.
A word about the manufacturer. To be honest, I never heard about Silicon Power before finding this card. All my cards are Sandisk and I've never had any problems with them so I only bought this brand. But because I don't intend to keep any important data on this card I went ahead and bought it. When I arrived home and googled Silicon Power I was surprised to find out that they are "the leading brand in flash memory manufactories" (as stated on their site) and produce the SSD's for Asus Eee. Very nice! They even have a Romanian site here. I'm impressed when international companies care enough about Romanian market to dedicate it a section of their site (or even a full site).
Summary:
Price: 15 ron (6$)
Pros: cheap
Cons: none
ATX source
Look what I bought:
A brand new, no-name :), 500W ATX power source. Of course, because it isn't a true-power, I'm expecting about 350-400 W out of it, but for 20$ it's ok.
I was glad I could find a dual-fan source, as I intend to use it at full capacity. Also, besides the input plug, it has an output so I can daisy-chain more of these later if I need more power.
Inside the box, nothing unusual. Besides the source it contains a power cable. Good thing I checked the box before buying and I saw it inside because I intended to get a cable too.
The only thing that I don't like about this source is the absence of an ON/OFF switch. That would have been useful. Well, I intend to mod this source so I'll add the switch myself :)
Let's look at the power rating label:
What can I say? Nice. I have lots of amps at 12 V for the moment when I'll power the stepper motors and even more amps for 5 V (although I don't exactly know if I'll ever need that much power). Another thing I like is the presence of the 3.3 V line, as some sources lack this one. The ratings for -5V and -12V are very low, but I don't think I need them at all.
That's it for the moment. I'll post more details about the source when I'll start modding it.
Summary:
Price: 50 ron (20$)
Pros: dual fan, output plug, 3.3V line
Cons: no ON/OFF switch
A brand new, no-name :), 500W ATX power source. Of course, because it isn't a true-power, I'm expecting about 350-400 W out of it, but for 20$ it's ok.
I was glad I could find a dual-fan source, as I intend to use it at full capacity. Also, besides the input plug, it has an output so I can daisy-chain more of these later if I need more power.
Inside the box, nothing unusual. Besides the source it contains a power cable. Good thing I checked the box before buying and I saw it inside because I intended to get a cable too.
The only thing that I don't like about this source is the absence of an ON/OFF switch. That would have been useful. Well, I intend to mod this source so I'll add the switch myself :)
Let's look at the power rating label:
What can I say? Nice. I have lots of amps at 12 V for the moment when I'll power the stepper motors and even more amps for 5 V (although I don't exactly know if I'll ever need that much power). Another thing I like is the presence of the 3.3 V line, as some sources lack this one. The ratings for -5V and -12V are very low, but I don't think I need them at all.
That's it for the moment. I'll post more details about the source when I'll start modding it.
Summary:
Price: 50 ron (20$)
Pros: dual fan, output plug, 3.3V line
Cons: no ON/OFF switch
Monday, October 13, 2008
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