Einstein's Blackboard

In a recent visit to Oxford, we went to the small but FOC history of science museum open there. We saw all the usual archaic instruments used for research throughout the years from telescopes and planetariums for astronomy to Leyden jars and electroscopes for physics. But the most famous exhibit available was a black board hung on the wall. On it was a differential equation describing the expansion and density of the universe over time. What made the black board so special though is that the text on it was hand written by Albert Einstein himself in 1931. Someone decided to keep and preserve the board all this time. I find it pretty awesome to say that I have seen the original work of one of my idols in real life.

Old Time Movies

As I'm sure you're all aware by now I'm always on the look out for new items and trinkets to add to my inventory of "stuff"; my latest acquisition is a vintage Elmo 8mm reel to reel movie projector. This and a series of silent movies were sourced from my grandparents old house in a recent clear out and so I decided to take it home. I'm not much of a geek for old tech but I did want to see if I could get it running.

Luckily the thing still worked without a hint of a problem which is quite a surprise considering how old it is. I even learnt a thing or two about how reel to reel works and how to load a film (as this wasn't one of those fancy automatic threading projectors). 

Sorry for the poor quality photos, my camera doesn't quite seem to like the dark...

Observant viewers will notice I don't have a take up reel so I'm using 2 CD's from my old failed Wimshurst machine to act as one instead.

Lab Build: Windows + Doors, Plaster Board, Roof Insulation And Drainage - 22/04/17

In the short space of time since last update and now, a tremendous amount of work has been done and I'm happy to say the building is very close to completion! 

This week the majority of the time was spent putting the plaster board over all of the bricks to create the actual walls you will see when the room is finished. During this time, insulation was pushed up into the roof cavity and then covered over with more plaster boards. This created a proper boarder between all 4 walls and the floor making the concrete brick structure look much more like a fully fledged lab.

Today, more builders were called in to work double shifts to ensure that the schedule was being adhered to. The windows and door frames arrived as well as the glass and they were all installed today. A meter deep hole was dug and filled nearly to  the top with gravel. A plastic tube was then ran in a ditch from the base of the gutter into the hole which created a drain away from the building which was then shortly covered back over with soil.

For the first time, I was able to enter my lab through the glass double doors, shut them and get a proper feel for how self contained the room was now that it was completely sealed off from the elements and any wildlife that were trying to make a home in there. The insulation is certainly doing its job, I went in there at night when it was cool outside to find the lab at a comfortable room temperature despite no heating device in there at all.

Now that I'm able to lock up the doors to my lab it really accentuates the fact that construction is drawing to a close. Next week the plaster board will be skimmed and the final windowsill's will be installed. After that the builders will leave and we will paint the walls, ceiling and floor. Then the fun task of moving in can begin.

Line Following Robot

As a part of the electronics and robotics lessons I teach, we designed and made our first robot that follows a black line. The robot works by using two IR sensors to detect either side of the line. The sensor data is sent to an Arduino micro controller that alters a PWM signal to two current limited transistors that control the left and right motors. By having both motors on at the same time the vehicle moves forward but by only having only one motor on the vehicle will turn. The Arduino was then programmed using C++ and all runs nicely off a single 9 volt battery with switch.

Its only a basic robot that took only a few hours to design and build but it shows the fundamental principles at play when designing any electronic/mechanical project including ohms law, component characteristics, sensors and control systems, programming, gearing and chassis building. If we had more time then we would have built something bigger and better such as a quad-copter but with everything going on this wasn't possible. 

This is just a taster of the Arduino projects to come in the lab once its complete.

Lab Build: Concrete And Sockets - 17/04/17

Firstly, the concrete floor is down and dry allowing us to get a proper look at the height of everything. Unfortunately I couldn't get any photos of the concrete tube and truck as I was not present when it was done.

Secondly, the electricians have been round twice and fitted a mount at every location I wanted sockets at. They've ran cables to each one through holes in the roof and also wired the areas where the internal, external and security light will be placed. Once the plaster boards are up in a few days time's, the ugly cable holders will be covered up and all that will remain is the ends of the cables ready to be fitted to the sub panel,light fixtures and switches.

Finally, the outside has been given a proper clean up. All of the lose bricks and wood used for the scaffolding have been removed, the trench around the perimeter of the structure has been filled in with spare soil and all of the brickwork has been given a thorough clean to remove stray bits of motor and mud.