Search results

  1. P

    Frankenstein's Components.

    :) Wow! The subject of quantum physics usually only evokes a Wooh-Wooh! response. Yet nobody I know has ever done any practical work at all. Come on, me! Have a look! ... Dot. Dot. Dot. ... However it cannot be long now before one of the moderators notices that this thread has strayed beyond...
  2. P

    Wanted: optics parts from video projector

    I'm playing with ThorLabs' piezoelectric actuators, which can move quite heavy things very abruptly and often, but not very far... a maximum of a few micrometers full scale, in fact. I have several dreams of what I might do with these fairly high power devices. (My original idea of making...
  3. P

    Wanted: optics parts from video projector

    I need to make measurements of movements in the order of one micron, or a millionth of a meter. In order to do that I need to get a beam of light to interfere with itself, using a modified Michelson Interferometer (see YouTube). This means obtaining parts whose costs, as new devices, are...
  4. P

    Frankenstein's Components.

    And hey guys :) I'm looking for an old video projector, because I'm getting into physics, and I want to play with light. First up is a Michelson interferometer based measurement tool, which I want to use in conjunction with things that move only micrometers. (There'll be much electronics...
  5. P

    Frankenstein's Components.

    So, you want to hear about weird ways to do things with electronics parts. :) The resistance of a low resistance metal film resistor can be raised to any higher value by packing the resistor in an oxygen source such as KMnO4 Potassium Nitrate. When a voltage is applied, the resistor heats up...
  6. P

    Book Reviews

    Thanks! I also hope that others might notice, and download, these excellent resources. :)
  7. P

    Book Reviews

    Sorry, Bertus - I seemed to get stuck in a redirect when I clicked the 1st link and so became shy of the 2nd :(
  8. P

    Book Reviews

    I like Forrest Mims. I'll try to attach .pdf's to this post. Damn, the files are too large for this message. I'll send them by email to anyone who asks. I recommend printing them out in full in A4 format and using dabs of PVC to attach each page onto the leaves of some cheap, bound book - like...
  9. P

    How to Reduce Noise When Measuring 20MHz Frequency Using Relay

    This is the man to listen to.
  10. P

    how to trace a circuit board (tips, suggestions, video links welcome)

    Yes, that's right. I remember looking for the little bird singing in the tree, while my companion (a sniper) watched the same bird feeding, later describing the little black tongue flicking in and out of a blossom. It really was astonishing to me.
  11. P

    how to trace a circuit board (tips, suggestions, video links welcome)

    Hi :) I believe that only a relatively few human beings can readily comprehend a circuit board by looking at it and turning it over to look at it again. Those people's brains are made differently to mine, especially in the matter of their visual memories. (It will always astonish me, and, I...
  12. P

    How to Reduce Noise When Measuring 20MHz Frequency Using Relay

    Hi rtsrhtsh :) A SSR is a solid state relay, so the signal you want to measure is getting noised up by the active electronics in the switch. I recommend coaxial relays, which are electromechanical switches with very low noise and are usually specified with some frequency dependent insertion...
  13. P

    pinouts

    I've been using an Android app; Components Pinout. It seems OK so far...
  14. P

    Is there any analog radio receiver that prevents fading of the SW reception?

    Yeh, the signal cain't be read cos it ain't there. When that happens, poor old Marconi just has to suck it up. Sad.
  15. P

    Is there any analog radio receiver that prevents fading of the SW reception?

    Hi :) If you want better reception, it's often helpful to try and improve the aerial.
  16. P

    Component acquisition for hobbyists?

    The correct answer, which is almost incomprehensible, is that ultimately there is only one consciousness. This is the meaning of the mystics' "eye within the hand" symbol, which signifies the idea that we each are like windows through which One might peer (from all directions at once!) into...
  17. P

    Fixing the Circuit for a DC Motor with Rechargeable battery?

    Hi AST and forum fellows :) AST, it looks like your charger is faulty. You must have known that. You could try fixing it, but my guess is that it's likely to be made of non-commercial parts. It doesn't look cheap so I can see why you'd want to fix it. Personally, I'd soon conclude I was in for...
  18. P

    Obsolete Transistor HP35826E Hewlett Packard

    Pretty bad photo. I've seen similar looking components in high end RF gear, long long ago.
  19. P

    Component acquisition for hobbyists?

    Understanding is one thing... realisation is another. The "Universe" is an illusion, which owes its existence entirely to our habit of trying to differentiate "things", which we "think" about, from one another. It's fun though... isn't it :)
  20. P

    Component acquisition for hobbyists?

    It was Forrest Mims who got me properly started in electronics, although I was simultaneously doing my time as a telephone tech. Then when Horowitz & Hill appeared it seemed that the world had just unfolded another several dimensions! ... It's worrisome that paper books are disappearing...
Top