University

So I'm sure some of you have been wondering again why its been so long since I have posted something on this blog, especially since the last few updates showed the lab extremely close to completion. Well fear not, I am still here and so is the lab, its just that I haven't been able to work on it these past few months for a very important reason. 

I have officially started University studying Electronic and Electrical Engineering. The perfect blend of physics principles and creative practicality lies in the field of engineering; the discipline where ideas come to life. And as electricity is my specialty, this branch of engineering is the perfect choice to cultivate and elaborate my passion.

So this means the only time I will be able to work on projects in the lab will be on holidays such as Christmas and the summer as well as odd weekend when I return home. This is unfortunate but it does mean I will be acquiring more electronics knowledge and skills to push projects further then ever before, even into the depths of space perhaps (hint hint ;).

I will be able to work on some aspects of experiments whilst I'm at University such as planning and programming so upon returning to the lab I will be able to immediately return to the practical side of my projects.

At any rate, I'm at the lab as of right now and will be for the next few weeks so expect more blog posts and videos updates of the lab. Yes, it is complete and now I am currently working on making the insides look nice and provide functionality (e.g. shelving). Pictures coming soon.

Free Electronic Stuff

For me, there's nothing better then acquiring a whole load of assorted electronic items and devices, especially if its all free. Recently, a friends of my family came across someone who was throwing out 2 large cardboard boxes full of technology, naturally, this friend decided to take the items off this persons hands and gave it all to me.

At first I didn't actually think much of it. This was because there was so much stuff and all of it was so useful, the items must not be working else they wouldn't of gave them all away for free. However, to my surprise all the items actually did work which was fantastic!

The best items include a VGA monitor, 5.1 surround sound sub woofer, 3x 5.1 logitech speakers, loads of headphones and tones of useful cables including 5x IEC power cables! There was even 5 of the special type of USB cables that Arduino's use so they will come in handy.

Other items include:

• Keyboards
• Webcams
• Microphones
• Cassette player
• Other speakers
• Telescopic Lamp
• USB hub
• Other random cables (Cat5e, Aux, RCA, etc)

There was also a very old digital picture camera and a camcorder. Both are too old really to be of much use since the camcorder uses cassettes (not even the mini DV cassettes, like the REALLY old massive ones) and the picture camera has a 2mb memory card that has the physical size of a credit card. However, they may be cool to have as tech antiques or just for parts.

There were lots of useless cables such as Scart, ADSL and some I don' even know what they are, these can still be re-purposed however.

Some stuff I have no idea what I will do with such as the joystick and the DVD player as I have no use for them and they don't really have any useful parts.

Despite this, most of the stuff is great and all in working order. The speakers and giant sub woofer will be excellent for the lab as well as some of the other stuff like the USB hub and VGA monitor.

Finally, on top of all of this there was some vintage shortwave radio equipment which is actually quite pricey. I could sell it but a more fun idea would be to set up my own short wave radio for the lab by mounting an antenna on the roof. I feel another project idea coming along! 

Either way, this was a spectacular find, all free and all working and useful. When its time to move into and setup the lab, I will point out where the free equipment is used. Speaking of which, the builders will be coming over to fit the work surface and do the floor soon, once that's done I can finally move in and start on more projects. Stay tuned for more updates soon.

Lab Build : Electrics Phase 3 - 30-31/07/17

The electrics took longer then expected, two whole days instead of one. Never the less, all the electrics for the lab are now complete and operational.

Firstly, I uncoiled the armoured 40m cat5e cable and ran it parallel to the power armored cable along the garden. 

Me and the electrician then fitted the 4 LED strip lights as well as the central LED dome light. Outside, a bright LED security light was fitted above the door and two decorative LED lantern lights were put up equidistant from the door. A 4 gang light switch was then installed inside to control all the lights from one panel.

Now that the lab side was complete, work in the house could commence. I connected a 30m cat5e cable into the houses internet router and secured it to the wall. The cable then passes through walls and floors until it enters the garage where it meets the labs power cable. A 40 amp breaker was then installed in our houses consumer unit dedicated to the lab. The power cable and network cable then travel through the rest of the downstairs through plastic trunking until it reaches the garden. The power cable connects to the isolator switch and thus to the armored cable, the network cable goes through a different hole and connects up with the armored data cable. Both then go on down the garden, through the trench and into the lab.

Inside the lab, I did some finishing touches such as repainting the roof, putting the skirting boards back on and vacuuming up all the dust that has coated the floor due to all the work that has been taking place in there.

Finally, I rigged up an old router to the end of the cat5e cable to provide internet to any device that connects up to it. The routers wireless capability has also been enabled allowing wifi for any device inside the lab and even out the front.

Here are a few pictures of the ambient lights, inside lights and security light a night.

Lab Build: Electrics Phase 1 & 2 -

23-25/07/17

As promised, now that the building is done structurally, the fun parts can begin and this starts with the installation of our power, networking and water systems. On Sunday, our electrician came and fitted chrome sockets to the bare wires hanging out of the wall. Filling in the holes in the wall really transformed the feel of the place as it rectified the impurities that made the walls look incomplete. Sorry for the blurriness, this was mostly due to bad lighting which wont be a problem when phase 3 kicks in.

On Monday, I mounted the power cabinet onto the wall and secured it in place using 4 sleeve anchors to lock it directly into the concrete brick of the building. Before that I needed to cut a hole in the back to allow the cables for the socket ring main, socket radial, and lighting circuits to enter the cabinet. After it was mounted I proceeded to attach the breaker panel I had already wired a few months ago.

Phase 2 commenced on Tuesday and involved deploying a 40m steel wire armored 3 core power cable down the length of the garden. To hide and protect the cable, it was dumped into the trench that we dug the week prior and the rest was hidden behind the bushes and trees that ran parallel to the garden fence.

At the lab end, the armored cable was ran through conduit into the building and into the cabinet and secured to the underside then properly grounded. At the house end, the cable was secured to the wall and a hole was drilled into the house. An isolator switch was then fitted over the hole outside to act as a junction between the SWA cable outside and the standard twin and earth cable inside. The Cat5 ethernet will pass through a different hole and will be dealt with in phase 3.

Finally, the contacts inside the cable were wired up into the power cabinet. I then fitted the door on it and made some other small but needed connections; cabinet wiring was then finished.

This pretty much concludes the lab wiring for the power network. On Sunday, phase 3 will begin which involves connecting the isolator to the houses main breaker panel which will complete the circuit providing power to the lab once and for all. Trunking will need to be fitted throughout the house and many more holes will need to be drilled so phase 3 will be an all day operation. On top of this, the 4 LED strip lights and central LED dome light will be drilled to the roof in the lab and connected up as well as the 4 gang light switch. The exterior security light will be added but the symmetric aesthetic lights will not be connected as they have not yet been purchased.

Concurrent to all of that, I will deploy the 40m armored Cat5 network cable along the garden and connect it to an internal Cat5 cable in the house which will run through the existing trunking for the power and into the upstairs router. At the lab end, this will run into another router providing a wired connect as well as WiFi.

After that, the electrical and networking infrastructure of the lab will be mostly complete, only the water system will remain. This will involve deploying a 40m water pipe down to the lab and the installation of a sink. This will take place at the same time as the construction of the main work surface which has not yet been decided. 

More news, updates and video are on their way. Before long the lab will be operational.