I urgently needed a high-intensity UV/IR/visible light source for a work-related industrial inspection project, so this weekend I recruited Abigail to help me build a 10W LED flashlight that features swappable UV/IR/visible heads. We decided to document the build since this flashlight would fit nicely in a photographer’s kit for light painting, IR illumination, UV
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On a recent trip to Israel, Abigail (10) saw a very pretty, large, and expensive sand pendulum. In it, the pendulum was able to swing, while at the same time, the sand pan was able to rotate freely. We applied our motto “Why buy it if we can MAKE it!”.
The high-gain antenna on my space communications array is based on a Fortec Star 120 cm dish. This is a high-quality, large dish designed for motorized FTA reception of analog, digital, and high-definition programs on Ku band satellites. I built a feed that combines a KU band horn for free-to-air (FTA) satellite reception with a helical feed
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One of my current work-related projects required me to buy some gyroscopes for prototyping. I purchased some of the beautiful, motor-driven demonstration gyros made by Glenn Turner at www.gyroscope.com. Also as part of the project, I came across the professional-grade (and professionally priced, starting at $1,600) gyroscopic camera stabilizers made by Kenyon Laboratories. These devices
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Last week I posted detailed construction information for my rubidium atomic clock frequency reference. Besides that unit, I also built a GPS-disciplined 10 MHz oscillator to serve as a secondary frequency reference, as well as a source of GPS NMEA data for my ham shack instruments that can use precise location and real-time-clock data (e.g.
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SharkVision – A Sensing Suit for the Blind Hannah Prutchi, 8th Grade, Science, VMS, October 2011 Blind people often use canes to avoid obstacles when walking. But, these are intrusive, can only detect obstacles where they are pointed, and could be dangerous to other people. I devised the “SharkVision Suit” to help blind people move
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Today we received the first two copies of our new book! It is a do-it-yourself book on Experimental Quantum Physics, and was published by John Wiley & Sons. From the back cover: “Build an intuitive understanding of the principles behind quantum mechanics through practical construction and replication of original experiments. With easy-to-acquire, low-cost materials and
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