Recent content by Shadetree Engineer

caves lined with gold party film!:p

Yup, I'm starting to think it's gonna get shelved for use in something completely different. Meanwhile my single-pass magnetic-drive idea was very non-functional. I need to learn how to etch this stuff so I can draw a circuit onto the film. Mounting the magnets on a arbor spun with a drill...

I just happen to have some party film that's gold on one side, silver on the other. Neither side conducts, but a quick test just now shows a much better flammability. I think this is the stuff you were using, it was about three times harder to blow out! And stinkier too!

Maybe I need thicker stuff, mine goes out too easy. And it burns real slow. Darn. But don't let the melting part get on your thumb! That stings a little bit...

Hey! It's coated with aluminum! I hadn't thought of that. Awesome, I got a whole new line of ideas!

Well, that makes two votes for 'impractical, yet cool' so lets just call it engineering art. Maybe if someone's thinking of how to make a pretty looking steampunk load tester, or other device. But the amount of blade movement to get a tenth of an ohm change is really small, so I'm thinking it...

Yeah, probably easier to use wire. But I think this is more fun! But the one ohm experiment was actually me getting sidetracked, as usual!:p I have a set of magnets out of a hard-drive, I'm about to see what happens if I suspend an eight-ohm piece of this mylar between the magnets while...

Well, I suppose I ought to attempt some explanation of what's going on here. I was goofing around and playing with some magnets and otherwise just killing time when I decided to cut a small piece out of an aluminized mylar 'emergency blanket' to see how much it would take to get one ohm. Turns...

Well I wouldn't tell anyone my tables grid wasn't spaced evenly enough!:shhh:

What if you used a line-generating laser, with this table-top? I would expect an array of lines across the surface, with the spacing being adjustable by tilting the laser. Could be useful for times when you need to do some layout work. Do that in two perpendicular directions, and you have some...

The laser beam stayed in the glass? I had to re-read your post.

So if it was a sheet of glass surrounded by water, it would work? Well, I actually had the thought that it might be mineral oil or something other than water. But as I wasn't sure, I only said 'liquid'. But you mentioned the term 'refractive index' and I decided that was the variable I needed...

Interesting effect, I wonder if you can get anything similar by filling in a double-pane window with various fluids. Of course I would consider making that a permanent set-up and put the window back into it's frame:p

Thanks. I can see how precarious it is to just hold a laser in my hand doing stuff like this!

Just what I happened to be thinking about this very moment! But I only want to put a line generator at the end of the tube, and angle that about ten degrees off-axis. I'm not sure what it's called, but it's the kind of generator that's a cylinder with a chisel-point at it's leading edge where...