Thursday, July 31, 2008

Starting to Solder

Will left a comment asking how to begin soldering. There are plenty of basic projects to begin with.

As I said I am away from my computer so I can't demonstrate all of this, but I can tell you.

You can pick up a soldering gun at Radioshack for about ten to twenty dollars. You only need the lowest power iron they have. Check the package to be sure that it was designed for electronics. Be sure to also grab a roll of solder.

Read "Soldering Safety 101" before you begin. I was a few posts ago, and if its not on the front page then it will be in the archives.

One great project to start soldering is called "A Simple and Cheap Dark-Detecting LED Circuit". It is an article on the "Evil Mad Scientist" Labs. See it here: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/nightlight

For this simple project I got most of my parts from Mouser Electronics (mouser.com). Be careful about which transistor you buy. There are many closely related to the 2N3904, so pick carefully.

You might want to make a few of these for practice. This circuit can be a great add-on to future robots that can turn on their lights in the dark either for show or to help it's camera see better.

I recommend you check out Make Magazine (makezine.com) which is full of great projects. They have a blog (blog.makezine.com) which is free to read. I check it almost every day.

I will undoubtedly be posting countless more projects involving soldering, and its a wonderful skill to learn.

Let me know how your project turns out.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Audio Analysis

Once again, I am away from my home equipment and lab, so I will do something on my computer, using only what I have available: my computer and an Internet connection.

I have had Audacity, an audio manipulation software, on my computer for a long time now. It allows you to edit sound very simply.



In 2005 NASA's Cassini space probe picked up a rather odd radio emission from Saturn. In fact, similar emissions have been picked up by Cassini since 2002. Hear these sounds at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-072505.html

Undoubtedly eerie, and fascinating. To the untrained ear it would sound as if aliens were trying to communicate with us. As exciting as this would be, there is a more logical explanation. As you will read in the above link, the sounds picked up were very similar to that of Earth's aurora borealis. Thus, we can logically conclude that the emissions received are the result of a natural phenomenon, though exactly what is still in debate as NASA explains:

"The terrestrial cousins of Saturn's radio emissions were first reported in 1979 by Gurnett, who used an instrument on the International Sun-Earth Explorer spacecraft in Earth orbit. Kurth said that despite their best efforts, scientists still haven't agreed on a theory to fully explain the phenomenon. "

To get a closer look at these emissions put them into a program called Audacity. After downloading it, the easiest way to get the emissions into the software would be to play it in a quiet area while recording in Audacity.

It should look something like this:



You can now alter it and experiment with the "Effect" menu in the toolbar.



You can zoom in and out to increase and decrease the detail of the audio. Some of the smaller lines remind me of an oscillope. See them here:



Regrettably, there is no hidden secret to detect, nor is there a message to decode. However, you can play around with it, compare it to our Northern Lights's sound, and whatever else you want. I encourage you to think conceptually when analyzing this.

Please, by all means post your finding as a reply and I will relay any note worthy findings in a later post.

Good luck.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Randy Pausch Passes Away

You may have heard that the other day, Randy Pausch passed away leaving his wife and three kids. For those of you who do not know, Dr. Pausch taught computer science at Carnegie Mellon after working on the Disney Imageneering program in virtual reality.

More importantly, he inspired thousands of people to live out their childhood dreams not only through his final speech, but also through his book: The Last Lecture.

Upon being diagnosed, he was supposed to have 3-6 months left to live. Fortunately, he lived slightly longer. Long enough to share his life experiences and tech the rest of us how we can live our lives better.

His combination of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom was unmatched, and though he has passed away, he left teaching the world some of the most important life lessons.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Soldering Safety 101

Often times, in lab notebooks and textbooks, we all tend to skip over the safety section and onto the fun stuff. However, just this time, we need to realize the dangers of soldering.

When you melt solder, you are essentially melting lead, which is a toxin. The fumes can be held responsible for numerous diseases and disorders so it is only logical to protect yourself. I have written a simple guide on how to solder without hurting yourself or those around you.





First things first: always work in a well-ventilated room. Keep all windows open to allow the solder to escape. If you must, set up your workbench outside, away from dry leaves, grass, etc.

Soldering guns can cause severe burns, that's why it's important to wear relatively thick gloves that can defend your skin from molten metal droplets. Do not wear thin rubber gloves, as they will do nothing to protect you. Make sure they are thick enough!

Next, wear plenty of eye protection. I happened to have a pair of sealed aviator goggles which provide maximum protection, however regular lab goggles will suffice.

Most importantly of all, be sure to not inhale any produced fumes. I have a "Nanomask", which works very well. Most doctor and surgeon masks aren't protected enough to keep out solder fumes. Be sure to buy your mask from a reliable source like a hardware store (Lowes should carry them). You may need to make an inquiry about the strength of your mask.

Always have a safe place to put your soldering gun when not wielding it. The one I have came with a small stand, but I later upgraded to the spring holster built in to my helping-hands station. Soldering irons are extremely hot and can easily start a fire if touching the carpet, pile of papers, etc. Be sure to clean your working area of flammable materials before beginning to solder.

Finally, a sponge is always handy to clean your soldering gun after use. I find that putting a wet or damp sponge into a Radioshack project box works great.

You should not be afraid to solder, on the contrary, soldering is a wonderful skill to learn. You just need to take the proper safety precautions and everything should run smoothly.

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