Dissecting the Mini Solar Show

One of the most useful items I have ever gotten as a gift is my new digital microscope. I can take pictures and video, I can zoom in hundreds of times farther than the human eye, it has eight super-bright LEDs to illuminate the object being viewed.

Call me paranoid, but I'm always afraid that the LEDs will burn out, a thought I can't bear. Of course, I still turn them on when I'm showing off my microscope to friends, but when I'm doing my own work, I tend to turn on other lights to save the LEDs. One of my more powerful lights is attached to a mini solar show. When light hits the solar panel a motor turns a bunch of little airplanes. I decided to put it to use.



I took off the bottom cover with a common screwdriver to find its insides. Simpler than I imagined, the wires were neatly connected with plastic covers. Very convenient, its like I was expected to dissect it.



Making sure it was unplugged, I unscrewed the panel that covered the motor.



Under it sat the unsuspecting motor, ready to be taken apart.





I took off all the little metal prongs, which was actually tedious work because of how they were fastened.



I unscrewed the bulb so it wouldn't get damaged, and decided how to cleanly separate it from the rest of the body.



I whipped out my dremel tool, and put on some goggles and a simple respirator for protection. The cutting took no more than a couple seconds and I used a metal gripping tool to hold it so my fingers would be in no danger.



I cut through the short plastic tube I was left with. I now had a bulb that I could easily use with my microscope freely!



In addition, I now have a solar panel and a motor to use. This project was well worth it.







Coming soon: The Science, Mathematics, and Future of Flight: Exploring Flight Theory.

Dissecting the Xbox Part III

There is not much to say about this stage of the dissection that the pictures below cannot tell us, other than the two main objectives: 1. Successfully extract the laser diode. 2. Successfully take apart the hard drive.

This is where we get into some of the much more fun stuff, as you are finally taking apart the most delicate and valueable parts. From my experience, the more fancy and expensive the object you are taking apart, the better. This is what I discovered:

The hard drive is what I had read about: It was a large mirror-like disk complete with a reader.

This post will cover the disk reader anatomy and the overview. The next two post will dive into the laser diode extraction and the hard drive.

Guest Posting

After exploring several other blogs, I thought it would be great to work out a guest posting system, where anyone can add a scientific/ educational post. Of course, all posts will first be reviewed by myself.

You may e-mail me your project, experiment, etc. as an attachment or directly pasted onto an e-mail. Send it to me at brennonw at gmail.com (written as such to defend against the evils of spam bots).

I encourage that you add your credentials (optional, none needed). Of course, your name is mandatory, and please keep in mind that all submissions may be edited. When writing, please remember that your targeted audience is all ages. You may be of any age to submit. How-to formats will be the most useful. Submissions may be of any length (within limits), though I recommend about 1 page.

Html/ Java code may NOT be added for any purposes unless your tutorial is on how to program in html or Java.

Examples, Robots, computers, or other mechanical or electrical devices that you have built, chemistry projects (safety 1st), programs that you have written in any programming language (C#, C++, BASIC, etc.), and so on.

Please, only submit projects that you yourself have done.

I look forward to reading and adding your submissions.

Thank you.

Hang on!

Hmmmmm. I ordered a card reader a couple weeks ago so I could process my images. It, to my suprise, still has not arrived.

Please sit tight for a couple of days. I wanted to give an update an let you all know that I have not forgotten about BW Science Labs, though I have little content to bring.

Thank you for understanding,


Brennon

Dissecting the Xbox Part II

I've spent the past few days taking apart the Xbox. I managed to extract the laser diode module and I even took apart the hard drive. I documented it thoroughly with my camera, however I've been having trouble putting the images onto my computer, so I ordered a card reader from the web. It should arrive in a few days, when it does, I will upload the photos and give a full- report.

I regret not being able to give a more rich post, but at this point, my dwindling time is essential.

Brennon

Building the OAR

Those of you who know me know that I've built a few robots, all with very limited success. Now, I will try t follow a tutorial for once. Letsmakerobots.com has a great beginners' robot, so I'll be following that. Unfortunately, the parts list is from UK suppliers, so I spent a few hours tracking down the same parts, in U.S. sites.

Here's what I came up with:

Spark Fun
1x PICAXE Kit http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8353
2x Jumper Wires http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8430
1x Heat Shrink - Black 5' x 1/4" http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8830

Mouser Electronics
1x 330 ohm resistor http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=Q3j9DDvm8Sy1Fxr2jBbc1Q%3d%3d

Solarbotics
1x Servo http://www.solarbotics.com/products/servo/
2x GM Series Plastic Wheels http://www.solarbotics.com/products/gmpw/
1x L293D Motor Driver http://www.solarbotics.com/products/l293d/

Hobby Engineering
1x Sharp GP2D120 IR Sensor - 11.5" / Analog http://www.hobbyengineering.com/H1060.html
1x Cable for Sharp 3-Pin IR Sensors http://www.hobbyengineering.com/H1182.html
2x Gear Motor 9: Right Angle Shaft http://www.hobbyengineering.com/H1415.html

Our friend Google, Thank you all, Coming soon

Over a week ago, I googled "BW Science Labs". I sorted through hundreds of sites, I couldn't find it. Two or three days ago I searched again, I found it at 25 out of 990,000. Not bad. Today, I looked again... Ranked NUMBER 1!



In the span of a week, BW Science Labs has surpassed hundreds of thousands of other sites. I'm hoping that this growth will continue, until we reach the top of the "science Labs" search. You can help make this possible by:

1. Put a link from your site to bwsciencelabs.com

2. Spreading the word, and telling your friends about BW Science Labs.

3. Visiting regularly and contributing with comments, responses, etc.

Thank you, all my reader for your support, and I hope to continue BW Science Labs for years to come.

Yours Truly,


Brennon W.


Coming soon:

An O.A.R (find out what this means) robot that you can build. A multi-Part Series.

A security robot made from a Roomba vacuum cleaner. A multi-Part series.

Hacking the Xbox, Continued. A multi Part series.

(in any order)