A Few Of The Many Things I've Made

[St. Phatty]

A little explaining on how it works.. Although the cooler runs on 12volt, a 110v> 12volt 200 watt power converter is included to run it off 110v while parked, and save the batt.. I used a 5 gal bucket as a reservoir and a 12v bilge pump to recirculate the water over the pad... This proto-type was used for testing different type pads for air flow volume and temp data... Using PWM speed controllers, air flow and and water feed are controllable from 0-100% ... On a dry day it'll deliver air at 26-29*f below ambient air.. When I say dry I mean 2-8% humidity, with an average of 6% at days end..
Max air flow on this model was 8-10 cubic ft a second.... About 750 a minute.. Measured with a cheap anemometer at +/- 3.5%.. and depending on what pad was being tested... Even with the error factor, the temp. shift between conditioned air and ambient air should be close to accurate.. On the first morning, 10:30am tested ambient air 92*f humidity 13%, fan on low, air off the cooler 65*f...

My AC failed a week before the super hot weather when it got up to 114 F.

I put a sprinkler on the roof the house, and the garage.

Kept temps under control.

Evaporative Cooling works great !

 

[davers]

looks great. I am into my current working project. I want to make wind panels because I have interest in using wind or solar energy. I used different automation tools like siemens driver here https://eltra-trade.com/catalog/siemens-g120c the device can perform the tasks of standard size inverters, while occupying a minimum of working space.

 

[mytwhyt]

Davers, I've seen a lot vertical wind chargers being sold online, mostly smaller ones.. Been considering a 1000 watt solar panel setup for my shop' with 4 L16 batts.. Most of my electric tools are only used for a short time.. I can't depend on the wind where I am..
Here's a couple pics of the Raiders plaque I mentioned in post 19.. I paid a friend for this mold cut from sand stone using silica carbide and a special type air brush.. This one needed a dozen coats of paint to eliminate all the under cuts.. I heat the rubber mold to 110*f, then dip out enough 165* molten wax to fill the mold to the depth I want.. Heating the rubber mold lets the wax fill the mold without having any bubbles in the wax..
Now I need to build a special steel mold to hold 2 wax plaques for casting at one time.. I'll farm that out with some kind of trade.. I hate to part with money, unless I really have to..

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[St. Phatty]

What kind of soldering iron do you guys use ?

I had a 25 watt Walmart cheapo, with a loose tip.

Tried to get a better one, paid $18 for a 40 watt Weller.

And it put out about 15 watts.

Ended up finishing the job with the 25 watt iron.

I also have a 200 watt somewhere in the garage.

The thing I'm working on is an immersion heater, like a big aquarium heater.

 

[brickweeder]

mw, nice burner...reminds me of the ones in the michael porter book. On your vacuum former, are you letting the plastic rest on top of the mold to slump over the mold before turning the vac pump on? nice diy set-up on the former and furnace.

 

[trichrider]

you're much cleverer than i. props for repurposing things that have outlived their usefulness.
i'll get my camera out soon and post a few pics.
since it began raining and snowing in oct/nov/dec i've been idle.(besides being banned during that time, lol)
are you residing in henderson, NLV, or LV? or have you moved on from that hellhole? speaking from experience....
catch ya later

 

[mytwhyt]

I've been over the hump for the last 30 years.. Haven't been back here for a while.. Here's a site you might enjoy.. The Home Foundry I'm trying to make a mold for use of Expanding Polystyrene beads.. EPS is what's used when making duck decoys.. Good videos on YouTube explain how it works for them..
Then I can do lost foam casting instead of lost wax. Cheaper, faster, and same detail.. Check the lost foam forum on THF.. The ones by AL203 are head and shoulders above all the others.

 

[St. Phatty]

I've been over the hump for the last 30 years.. Haven't been back here for a while.. Here's a site you might enjoy.. The Home Foundry I'm trying to make a mold for use of Expanding Polystyrene beads.. EPS is what's used when making duck decoys.. Good videos on YouTube explain how it works for them..
Then I can do lost foam casting instead of lost wax. Cheaper, faster, and same detail.. Check the lost foam forum on THF.. The ones by AL203 are head and shoulders above all the others.

I think you might enjoy Nuclear Science.

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/nuclear-...ecture-videos/

From what you've posted, you would be able to deal with the robotics that is necessary for material handling once you have removed the Uranium metal from the ore.

In case you ever wanted a 1 Megawatt heater.

 

[mytwhyt]

Actually, some of them are of interest. Takes me back to the day my 6-grade teacher said, "Everyone come over to the windows, Look at the mushroom cloud.. Stil had to look up to see the top of the cloud, even at 65miles away..

 

[St. Phatty]

Actually, some of them are of interest. Takes me back to the day my 6-grade teacher said, "Everyone come over to the windows, Look at the mushroom cloud.. Stil had to look up to see the top of the cloud, even at 65miles away..

I suggest the HBO series "Chernobyl".

The presentation by Jared Harris about the balancing of reactivity in a nuclear reactor is top notch.

I think that was in part 4 or part 5.

Also the paper by Mikhael Malko, Russian Nuclear Scientist, explains the details of Chernobyl -

https://www.rri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/NSRG/reports/kr79/kr79pdf/Malko1.pdf

400,000 pounds of Uranium in a space 20,000 cubic feet, 20 pounds per cubic foot.

Of course, 20 pounds of Uranium is only a few cubic inches.

Counter-intuitively, the Neutrons emitted by Uranium have a low probability of causing a Fissioning reaction (that releases energy and more neutrons) when the Neutrons are going Fast.

The Neutrons have to be slowed down by something with a High Scattering (slowing down) cross section, and a LOW absorption cross section.

Preferably with a high melting temperature, because it gets hot. When a neutron slows from 10 MeV to 100 eV, all that energy gets deposited in the material that slowed it down.

If you study Chernobyl, it boils down to blocks of Graphite with a 4.5 inch hole, where the fuel and the Boron absorber AND the flowing water go.

The blocks are 9.5 inches square, and 1 or 2 feet long.

So 5 inches of Graphite is the "Magic Amount". It slows down the Neutrons from one Fuel Rod, so that they can induce Fissioning reactions in the neighboring fuel rod.

The neutrons go in all directions, mostly randomly, like a "starburst".

I am learning to use a Solid Modeller so that it ACCURATELY calculates the intersection between the Neutron Flux and the Moderator, and the Uranium.


Paradoxically, you can ALSO make a nuclear reaction work by using High-speed Neutrons. That's what happens in a nuclear bomb.
The Neutrons have a much lower probability of interacting, but if they are SURROUNDED by uranium, more interactions occur.


You could use Melted Plastic as a Moderator in a Nuclear reactor, because it is rich in Hydrogen and Carbon ... as long as you keep the temperature low.