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After-hours Fun with Capacitors at Work?
Chiggy_Von_Richtoffe asks "Hey, Folks! I start a new job at a small manufacturing plant (capacitors and small run custom circuit boards) in a few days, which itself is kind of cool. What is even more cool is that their facilities include an electron microscope, programmable high temperature ovens (think kilns), rapid cooling chambers (liquid CO2) to test component robustness, a lapping machine, all the kinds of ceramics i can think off, as well as equipment for die cutting, electroplating, and a few other industry related tasks. This of course fills my mind with wicked designs for homebrew projects, but i am always looking for new ideas to try. Given this kind of workshop what sort of (non-destructive, and fully legal) DIY projects could you come up with?"
Hmmm ... It looks like I failed to state this in a way that would do anything but attract answers from jokers (Karnal , GMD, and HotNeedleOfInquiry exempted). Let me try this again by qualifying my statements.
*My new job is not something I am not taking lightly, I strongly respect my new bosses/co-workers and I plan on being there for the long haul.
*Because of this all of my extracurricular activities will be exactly that - done off the clock and in such a way that it does not interfere with any job related processes.
>> I would strongly recommend waiting until you have >>become a respected and valued employee before you pull >>stunts like using work equipment for non-work projects.
On this I agree whole-heartedly. I am just using this forum as a sort of brainstorming network for projects that I can look forward to eventually. Preferably those like what can be found in the "Bench Tested Circuits" series rather than "hey jeeter, lookit what i can do!" as well as other not-so electronics based projects - ceramics again (like making a nice graphite crucible for a gingery furnace), filters for optics geekery, or tiny reciever/trasmitter projects. If you have any suggestions of this sort great, if you have anything more imaginative even better.
Oh and regarding obtaining permission, I have tacit approval already (as long as it's not illegal, excessively dangerous, or would be distruptive to tommorow's workflow) but I want to be able to give strong cogent reasons why allowing me to use their equipment is a good-thing(tm).
For those who rise to the challenge, I thank you in advance and will post updates of selected projects both here and Hack-A-Day.
The proper name for something like that is marx generator. Damn cool shit. Just be careful.
Sounds like fun. (As an aside, I'm shocked by the number of people arguing against having after hours fun with such toys. Is the slashdot readership really so cowardly and unimaginative? Sure, one has to be careful and should avoid pissing off the bosses during the first few weeks at work. And it goes without saying that if the electron microscope happens to break while you're using it for personal projects, bad things are likely to happen to you, unless you have or happen to be a particularly cool boss. But, the risk may well be worth it.)
If you've got access to a scanning electron microscope, any sample should be fun. Around here (a multi-group academic facility) the machine is jealously guarded by a dedicated staff person and we get charged rather a lot of money for each use, so I haven't done any recreational microscopy. But, just looking at the stuff we're supposed to look at is overwhelmingly nifty. (Obviously you should stop and think before putting foreign objects into either the miscroscope itself or a sputtering chamber.)
With die cutting, ceramics, and electroplating, you could certainly make some beautiful cases for homebrew projects. If you go in for a retro look, try to cook up some faux-bakelite. (Or real bakelite, for that matter, if you can get your hands on the stuff.)
Another possibility would be tinkering with electrostatic levitation. Suspended objects are always neat.
You've also got the ingredients for making homebrew optics toys. With lapping and plating gear, you might be able to make your own optical quality mirrors for homebrew telescope parts / lasers / holography setups / etc. Anything else involving precision ground metal parts and custom ceramics is an obvious candidate: home made particle detectors / geiger muller tubes, for example.
And there's always the obvious option of making really big capacitors, charging them to really high voltages, and zapping things. (As described, for example, here http://www.amasci.com/amateur/capexpt.html )
I discharged the cap in a disposable camera once using the nearest handy metal object, which was a swiss army knife blade. The edge needed a good sharpening afterwards, since it took two nicks out of it. If it can vaporize metal, just think what it does to flesh...