After-hours Fun with Capacitors at Work? 82
Chiggy_Von_Richtoffe asks "Hey, Folks! I start a new job at a small manufacturing plant (capacitors and small run custom circuit boards) in a few days, which itself is kind of cool. What is even more cool is that their facilities include an electron microscope, programmable high temperature ovens (think kilns), rapid cooling chambers (liquid CO2) to test component robustness, a lapping machine, all the kinds of ceramics i can think off, as well as equipment for die cutting, electroplating, and a few other industry related tasks. This of course fills my mind with wicked designs for homebrew projects, but i am always looking for new ideas to try. Given this kind of workshop what sort of (non-destructive, and fully legal) DIY projects could you come up with?"
Permission? (Score:5, Insightful)
On a related note, in my early years as a sysadmin some people were "let go" from a company I worked for because they were using the company assets to play games on. Now, this was after hours, and nothing was destroyed, but management finding out about what was happening (from network traces) was all it took to say "See ya!"
Of course, I could just be over-reacting, thinking you'd be using the facilities just for fun. You might just be willing to be a customer of the company you work for. I guess you didn't spell that out either....
Just dot your i's and cross your t's.
What kind of first impression are you giving? (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously, getting permission is important. But even if you get permission, do you really want to be playing games with work equipment right away? I would strongly recommend waiting until you have become a respected and valued employee before you pull stunts like using work equipment for non-work projects. Hey, I'm a technical manager and I read slashdot damn near every hour -- does your new boss? If s/he sees your post and can easily figure out who you are, what are they going to think about you? You haven't even started work and you're preoccupied with how to play games? That's not the kind of employee I want working for me.
My advise? Concentrate on doing good work and impressing your co-workers and management before you even think about playing around. You can repost your Ask Slashdot question in six-months (and don't include so damn many details about yourself and your job next time).
GMD
Re:What kind of first impression are you giving? (Score:1)
Where I work, We like engineers who build toys for themselves. That is what separates the creative mastermind from the average engineer worker bee.
We are 'told' to place 10% of our work time on a pet project. (let alone after hours stuff)
i'm sorry to here about where you work and how you are.
Re:What kind of first impression are you giving? (Score:1, Insightful)
When you (the original poster) start your new job, some of your most expensive and highest-performing test gear will say "Hewlett-Packard," "Tektronix," or "Agilent" on it. That equipment was designed by people who were hired, given the key to the company storeroom, and politely asked to go home and take a shower once in awhile.
Nothing excellent has ever grown from a culture of micromanagement and managerial niggling.
Re:What kind of first impression are you giving? (Score:2)
No, more like "the reason I will chose job Y over job X".
I spend roughly half of my waking hours at work. Why would I want to spend that much time with a bunch of self-righteous micromanaging pricks, when I can spend it with Kumbaya-singing hippies who appreciate a good Foozeball game during the occasional break?
"I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints..."
You dont need bean bags and ping pong tables to come up with something "revoluti
Re:What kind of first impression are you giving? (Score:2)
More than a couple of great products were coctail napkin ideas that an engineer ran off and created a prototype and then showed it to his boss.
Re:Permission? (Score:4, Informative)
*My new job is not something I am not taking lightly, I strongly respect my new bosses/co-workers and I plan on being there for the long haul.
*Because of this all of my extracurricular activities will be exactly that - done off the clock and in such a way that it does not interfere with any job related processes.
>> I would strongly recommend waiting until you have >>become a respected and valued employee before you pull >>stunts like using work equipment for non-work projects.
On this I agree whole-heartedly. I am just using this forum as a sort of brainstorming network for projects that I can look forward to eventually. Preferably those like what can be found in the "Bench Tested Circuits" series rather than "hey jeeter, lookit what i can do!" as well as other not-so electronics based projects - ceramics again (like making a nice graphite crucible for a gingery furnace), filters for optics geekery, or tiny reciever/trasmitter projects. If you have any suggestions of this sort great, if you have anything more imaginative even better.
Oh and regarding obtaining permission, I have tacit approval already (as long as it's not illegal, excessively dangerous, or would be distruptive to tommorow's workflow) but I want to be able to give strong cogent reasons why allowing me to use their equipment is a good-thing(tm).
For those who rise to the challenge, I thank you in advance and will post updates of selected projects both here and Hack-A-Day.
Re:Permission? (Score:2, Interesting)
Many of us maintain signifcant home labs specifically because anything created using the company gear is the companies' property.
Re:Permission? (Score:2)
Huh?
Are you or are you not taking your job lightly? Not, not?
Re:Permission? (Score:2)
And why do you want to stay at work any longer than you have to?
non-destructive (Score:5, Funny)
Where's the fun in that?
Get back to work... (Score:2)
Sounds like a fun job to get to break stuff.
I have no suggestions because all of my ideas or various combinations of non-legal and destructive. Carry on, now.
Serial and Parallel games. (Score:3, Interesting)
Put them all in parallel.
Charge them up.
Quickly put them all in serial.
The results can be interesting...
Speaking of die cutters... make capacitors of two metal plates with a layer of ceramic in the middle. Before you put the ceramic in there and glue it all up, dunk the ceramic in water. Charging it quickly should be fun.
Re:Serial and Parallel games. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Serial and Parallel games. (Score:2)
Re:Serial and Parallel games - Backwards Games (Score:1)
and hook up those tin-can-shaped capacitors backwards to the power supply. It makes them blow up.
It gave us no end of fun... but they do create a bad smell.
Careful! (Score:2)
Re:Careful! (Score:1)
Re:Careful! (Score:1)
Re:Careful! (Score:1)
I'd pay a dollar to see that.
Re:Careful! (Score:1)
Seriously, be careful. (Score:2)
Goddamn that hurt like hell... just like a stun gun. Like hooking up one of the informercial ab-dealies to a lightning rod!
Re:Seriously, be careful. (Score:1)
Re:Seriously, be careful. (Score:2)
I have a portable, battery-powered fence energizer (Premier 20B). Well, my daughter was bringing it over to me. I asked her (she was only 6 yrs old at the time...), "did you turn it off?"
"Uh huh"
So I grab the leads, one in each hand, and start to hook to fence.
I was not laughing a couple of moments later (it's about a 7000V discharge).
Well, heart was still ticking afterwards, so I didn't defib myself.
Main message? Trust but verify.
Other source of fun was crawling under the wire, an
Re:Seriously, be careful. (Score:2)
Re:Seriously, be careful. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Seriously, be careful. (Score:1)
Unless your skin is made of metal, the discharge curve will be much, much less sharp. Your skin is far less conductive than metal.
Re:Seriously, be careful. (Score:2)
Or your nervous system. Or your heart.
Depending on what you discharge, it could be the last thing you ever do!
Re:Seriously, be careful. (Score:1)
The scanning electron microscope (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dear Slashdot, (Score:2)
Whats even more amazing is that you got the job in the first place.
From a disinterested third party... (Score:3, Funny)
Project 1: Gather up all the cast-off caps, surface mount parts, bits of stripped wire, and dust bunnies on the floor. Place them into a cylindrical faraday cage, lined with an insulative material, and leave the top off the cage so the odd gamma ray strikes them. See if they self-assemble into something interesting
Project 2: Perform high-energy tests of the superstring theory in the ovens. In order to assure that you have the required symmetries, you're going to have to use a bit of that easy-off and clean the gunk off the inside of the ovens first.
Project 3: Test for new low-temperature superconductors. Remember that you're going to have to refill all the empty CO2 canisters first.
Project 4: Perform a detailed analysis of the wave reflection properties of aluminum vs. tin foil. To ensure an accurate reading, recalibrating the electron microscope is going to be necessary. It's a 10-hour job, so make sure you start the minute you get off of work.
I'm sure I can come up with more projects for you. Let me know when you've finished these first.
Re:From a disinterested third party... (Score:2, Funny)
> bunnies on the floor. Place them into a cylindrical faraday cage, lined with an insulative
> material
Translation - Clean up the trash lying around your workplace.
> Project 2: Perform high-energy tests of the superstring theory in the ovens. In order to assure
> that you have the required symmetries, you're going to have to use a bit of that easy-off and
> clean the gunk off the inside of the ov
Re:From a disinterested third party... (Score:2)
Re:well... (Score:2)
You could have found plenty by taking apart an old TV.
(this was beforoe the interweb).
Beforoe the WHAT?!?!
I'm kinda glad I didn't find any.
Well, you might be dead of permanently disfigured if you had, but think how
much fun you would have had...
safety first (Score:2, Insightful)
Follow instructions and don't mess around unless you want to wear an eyepatch (or two) for the rest of your life.
Permission (Score:4, Insightful)
Be sure and post links to videos of the resulting explosions.
Think kiln (Score:5, Funny)
What's a think kiln? Is that where crackpots are hardened?
Wait a sec... (Score:4, Funny)
Does your girlfriend own a cat? (Score:5, Funny)
1) See subject title. Cat + Tesla coil = fun
2)Industrial strength Twinkie testing! - Nickel plated Twinkies anyone?
3) Raw hamburger + huge charged capacitor = "Insta-cooked" hamburger
4) Use electron microscope to take picture of a cell of yours. Use inductrial fabricating machine to create 100,000x actual size copy out of rare ceramic. Proceed to chrome it. Use as object d'art.
5) Does your girlfrind have a second cat? Rapidly freeze in liquid CO2 bath, soak in acetone to remove oily fats, then chrome plate cat.
6)Make ultra hard/dense ceramic Dungeons and Dragons dice - especially the pointy, pyramidal 4sided die. Can be used as emergency caltops to escape from bad guys.
7) Make shatter proof ceramic coffe mug out of $10,000 ceramic. "Accidentally" drop off desk often, and make co-workers envious of your "lucky" cup.
8) Freeze dry rose, and gold plate. This will be useful for making up with girlfriend from steps 1 & 5
9)Make rail gun and fire magnetically plated ceramic sabot at ultra-fast frozen pumpkin. Film at high speed.
10) Use industrial kiln as personal trash incinerator.
Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:2)
That one will always make your co-workers laugh.
Disclaimer: This is a joke. Never intentionally bridge the leads of a capacitor - dummy.
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:1, Interesting)
Never intentionally bridge the leads of a capacitor - dummy
Uhm, what? Whenever I fix, say, a microwave oven, the first thing I do is discharge the capacitors and then short the terminals to each other and to ground and leave it that way until I'm through replacing whatever part I'm replacing.
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:1)
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:2)
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:2)
You must have missed the lecture where they discussed what capacitance is.
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:2)
Try partaking in it someday - you might find it humorous.
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:2)
Your comment would be funny if you said something like, "Take the capacitor and plug it into the mains." That would be funny, because it's likely the capacitor would explode like a mini-grenade and take out the victim's hand. That's funny enough that I'm having to restr
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:2)
Your point is taken.
Now go blow up a capacitor!
Re:Short one of the big giant caps... (Score:2)
A year... it doesn't matter because if you charge a capacitor with a 1.5V battery, you're only ever going to get 1.5V out of it.
If you charge it with 10,000V (at low current), then you get 10,000V at HIGH CURRENT out... which is why a flyback won't kill you, but caps charged with one will. FYI.
How it should be done... (Score:1)
A few random thoughts. (Score:4, Informative)
If you've got access to a scanning electron microscope, any sample should be fun. Around here (a multi-group academic facility) the machine is jealously guarded by a dedicated staff person and we get charged rather a lot of money for each use, so I haven't done any recreational microscopy. But, just looking at the stuff we're supposed to look at is overwhelmingly nifty. (Obviously you should stop and think before putting foreign objects into either the miscroscope itself or a sputtering chamber.)
With die cutting, ceramics, and electroplating, you could certainly make some beautiful cases for homebrew projects. If you go in for a retro look, try to cook up some faux-bakelite. (Or real bakelite, for that matter, if you can get your hands on the stuff.)
Another possibility would be tinkering with electrostatic levitation. Suspended objects are always neat.
You've also got the ingredients for making homebrew optics toys. With lapping and plating gear, you might be able to make your own optical quality mirrors for homebrew telescope parts / lasers / holography setups / etc. Anything else involving precision ground metal parts and custom ceramics is an obvious candidate: home made particle detectors / geiger muller tubes, for example.
And there's always the obvious option of making really big capacitors, charging them to really high voltages, and zapping things. (As described, for example, here http://www.amasci.com/amateur/capexpt.html [amasci.com] )
Re:A few random thoughts. (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. I do a lot of work for startups, and I would never hire a geek that wasn't inclined to play with the toys. They should be smart enough not to break anything expensive. But if I want a job done in a perfectly regular fashion with no
Re:A few random thoughts. (Score:1)
Why? Doesn't that take all the fun out of starting a new job? Then again I am like a child always testing other people's boundries.
Re:A few random thoughts. (Score:2)
Finish it for them. (Score:2)
No updates since 2002.
Re:Finish it for them. (Score:1)
Is there any reason that this same principal could not be used to move a conductive liquid (such as seawater)?
Re:Finish it for them. (Score:2)
Re:Finish it for them. (Score:1)
Re:Finish it for them. (Score:2)
The army doesn't play with capacitors, they just use a nuclear reactor to produce all the electricity they need for the sub.
Re:Finish it for them. (Score:1)
Dangerous fun with Capacitors aside... (Score:4, Interesting)
These are a blast. Everything looks better if you electroplate it!
Any of the cool looking, under the hood gagetry for your car, found cheaply at Schuks Auto would look better in gold. Any flat sided metal object can be enhanced with whatever artwork you can make a sillouette of on your computer, print in Press-n-Peel [techniks.com] masking material
iron on, and plate.
Flatware should never be monochromatic
Your own Electron Microscope? Sweet.
The first thing to do is find the guy that's good at operating this and buy him several good lunches. Getting good images is tricky. That done, there is a world of stuff that looks better super close up, and best yet, the annoyingly black and white nature of this device lends itself to.... Yes! Electroplate sillouttes! Imagine how cool the aluminum case sides of your favorite computer would be if this [ist.utl.pt] were etched on the side. Your kids/nephews could have the coolest metal lunchboxes in the school. Like this [columbia.edu] or this [iastate.edu] or this [maths.org] or this [tamu.edu].
A clear spray-on enamel will keep oxidation from uglying things up if your experiment with some of the more easily tarnished metals like copper and silver....
Sounds like you're in for a good time. Good luck.
Take a BIG electrolytic capacitor (Score:2)
nothing bad will happen...really
Actually, it can explode - don't actually do this, if you have a good enough power supply and capacitor you can get an explosion that's about as powerful as a hand grenade
You are probably right... (Score:2)
Be Careful (Score:1)
Re:Be Careful (Score:2)
It's definatly on my list of things to do.
Electron Microscope (Score:2, Funny)