Experiment 21: Sulfur Casting
After seeing Theodore Gray's sulfur fish casting, I decided that I wanted to try sulfur casting, too. Since sulfur melts at 240°F, it can be easily melted with a stove, campfire, or hot plate. I had previously tried melting the sulfur (I used plain garden sulfur) over the exhaust flame from my large aluminum furnace, but I overheated the sulfur a lot and it turned into some sort of tar substance. For my next attempt, I melted it using my hot plate (WAY less heat) with a tin can crucible (middle picture) and poured it into another tin can. It made a nice-looking disk with fascinating crystals visible on the surface. This has since broken, but I thought it was interesting enough to land it a spot in my element collection (I will be making a page about that shortly), Later, I also cast a sulfur cube using a wood fire for heat and a 1" section of aluminum box tube for a mold. When I poured the left-over molten sulfur into the fire, the liquid (which glows a dull red) caught fire and streamed into the flames with the coolest blue flame I have ever seen. I thought the sulfur looked amazing, a thin stream glowing both red and blue at the same time. In conclusion, sulfur is quite easy to melt and is amazingly fun to cast.
YouTube Account Suspension
To all my blog readers and excited fans:
Recently, I was shocked to learn that my YouTube page had been suspended, apparently for spam, scams, or deceptive content. This was strange, because I had familiarized myself with the Community Guidelines and honestly believed that I was following them. I believe I never did anything wrong. A week before the suspension, my account was in good standing, with a green circle.
As you all know, I don't post anything wrong or try to cheat the system with artificial likes or views. No spam, no scam, everything is legit. You have seen my cool metal-casting and science videos.
In other words, I feel that my account has been mistakenly and unjustly terminated. You have seen the respectful nature of this post and of all the stuff I do; if you feel the same way about my account suspension and want to continue to see all the cool projects I've got cooking up, leave a comment below expressing your support. My channel means a lot to me, to you, and to the general infrastructure I use to get my projects out there (this blog, Instructables, etc.).
Channel located at: http://www.youtube.com/user/sciencewithscreens
Yours respectfully,
ScienceWithScreens
Recently, I was shocked to learn that my YouTube page had been suspended, apparently for spam, scams, or deceptive content. This was strange, because I had familiarized myself with the Community Guidelines and honestly believed that I was following them. I believe I never did anything wrong. A week before the suspension, my account was in good standing, with a green circle.
As you all know, I don't post anything wrong or try to cheat the system with artificial likes or views. No spam, no scam, everything is legit. You have seen my cool metal-casting and science videos.
In other words, I feel that my account has been mistakenly and unjustly terminated. You have seen the respectful nature of this post and of all the stuff I do; if you feel the same way about my account suspension and want to continue to see all the cool projects I've got cooking up, leave a comment below expressing your support. My channel means a lot to me, to you, and to the general infrastructure I use to get my projects out there (this blog, Instructables, etc.).
Channel located at: http://www.youtube.com/user/sciencewithscreens
Yours respectfully,
ScienceWithScreens
Experiment 20: Greensand Casting
This one's a special one - it's extra big and beautiful! In this experiment, I made a mold of a bowl using greensand, a type of sand used in the metalcasting industry for molding. Then, I poured a crucible full of molten aluminum into the mold and let it cool. After breaking the sand, I had an amazing aluminum bowl! The process was extremely fun and I am pleased with the results. Check out this experiment in more detail at Instructables: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cast-an-Aluminum-Bowl/
Experiment 19: Lost Wax Casting
Lost wax casting involves making a wax replica of what you want your final object to be. The wax is placed in plaster and then the plaster is heated, which melts all the wax out, leaving a void in the shape of your finished item. When molten metal is poured into the mold, it takes its final shape and cools, leaving you with a metal replica of the wax carving. Jewelers use this to make rings, so I decided to give it a try. Actually, I made an Instructable on this endeavor, and the Instructable got featured (yay!), so check it out! I am also happy to say that the ring turned out absolutely stunningly!
Experiment 18: UV Battery Attachment
While gathering sample IC chips for my Raspberry Pi laser cutter project (which is now on hold until I find some proper stepper motors - I searched two printers, but to no avail), I came across some really awesome ultraviolet (UV) LEDs. They were free samples, so naturally, I ordered some. After seeing this Instructable, I decided to replicate it with my LEDs. The idea is to connect two UV LEDs and a resistor to a 9V battery clip, in order to make an ultraviolet battery attachment that turns your battery into a flashlight of the most amazing (and ghoulish) purple color. I used this online electrical calculator to figure out the right resistor value for the LEDs. A resistor is absolutely necessary because without one, your LEDs will be fried by the 9V battery. For my two 3.4V 15mA LEDs and a 9V battery, the calculator told me to use a 150 ohm resistor. I didn't have one, so I used two ~87 ohm resistors, for a total value of ~174 ohms, which is close enough. Then, I bent the leads of the LEDs and soldered them and the two resistors to a 9V battery clip, obtained from Experiment 5: 9V Battery Clips. Thus, I had a battery clip flashlight that would easily attach to any 9V battery. I tried it and it worked great! The LEDs, as stated above, shine with an intense, ghoulish purple color that looks absolutely amazing! Here is a better-quality picture of the flashlight, in daylight:
Experiment 17: Melting Metal in a Campfire
If you want to melt metal at home, but you don't want to go to the expense, hassle, and surprising manual labor required to build a complete furnace, this experiment is for you! You can easily and cheaply melt metal in a campfire at home or while camping! To do this experiment, I cut a soup can down to about 2" and then cut holes in the sides so that an iron bar I had could pass through. Then, I secured the can to the bar with a piece of thick copper wire. My can-on-a-stick crucible ready, I put in a quarter's worth of pennies dated after 1982 (these pennies have mostly zinc cores) and lit the completely regular campfire. No fanning, blowers, charcoal, or other extremes are needed to melt your very own metal in a campfire. While the fire was going, I made a mold by placing a 1 1/2" diameter brass pipe about 2" long on top of a large flat piece of stainless steel. The specific metals for these don't really matter; I just had them on hand. This setup provided a good way to create a circular ingot mold for the zinc, without messing around with sand, wood, or plaster of paris. Once the fire was going, I put my can-on-a-stick over the fire and let the pennies melt. They melted quite quickly, actually. When they were molten, I used a short strip of steel to scoop off the copper shells of the pennies, revealing the amazingly shiny liquid zinc underneath. I poured this in a smooth, swift motion into the brass pipe on the stainless steel and set everything aside to cool. Cooling is really important, because very hot metal looks just like cold metal (I have a burn on my finger to prove this). Once everything was cool, I knocked my new ingot out of the pipe. Success!
The circular ingot blanks have a nice weighty feel and look very shiny to boot! Also, note that after some calculations, I figured out that I had a 70% efficiency with this process. Thus, 30% of the zinc metal I had in the pennies was wasted. Keep this in mind, and have fun!
Experiment 16: Waste Oil (Heh Heh!)
My mind is always cogitating with new ideas and exploits to carry out, so this experiment is part of something bigger - much bigger. Eventually, I plan to build a complete waste oil foundry capable of melting iron - yes, you heard me right, iron. The awesome thing about this idea is that it runs off of waste vegetable or motor oil, which should be able to be acquired for free. Thus, instead of paying for propane or charcoal (the latter of which is messy), I hope to be able to fire up my foundry whenever and pour a crucible full of liquid iron like it's as easy as walking down the street.
Anyhow, back to the experiment. I took some vegetable oil (it was new, but the basic concept is the same) and some used lawn mower oil and then soaked a paper towel in each. I placed these in a busted crock pot as a containment system for the fire and then lit the toweling on fire with regular matches. After these were alight, I soaked some newspaper in the vegetable oil and added it. To finish off the spectacle, I drizzled the leftover vegetable oil into the flames. Then I started to play with my fire. Yes, playing with fire. I try to do it regularly. To add oxygen to the flames like a waste oil foundry would, I blew hard on the fire. The results were truly amazing. The flames lept up to at least 1 1/2 feet and magnified in intensity tenfold. They were extremely fierce and sometimes even white. I really wish I had pictures, because these flames were really great - especially when one considers that they came from just oil and paper towels. Thus, Experiment 16: Waste Oil (Heh Heh!) proved that waste oil:
- Burns nicely
- Combusts SUPER nicely with added oxygen
- Will most certainly melt iron, given insulation, enough oil, and a lot of air
Successful experiment! Time to make a proper burner for the oil in the style of "The Brute" from here!
Experiment 15: Burning Lithium Metal!
Well, I'll keep this one short and simple. I disassembled a lithium battery pack from an old cordless phone and then extracted the lithium metal foil inside (Experiment 2: Lithium Battery). The foil was stored in a jar full of baby oil. My baby oil was made out of mineral oil to preserve the lithium. When I was ready to light the metal, I dried it off with paper towels and then folded it neatly. The lithium was readily ignited with a propane torch.
Raspberry Pi Laser Cutter (In Progress)
I have begun to build a Raspberry Pi laser cutter! It uses CD player/radio modules for the X and Y axes, and will hopefully use a DVD writer laser to cut stuff. I haven't found this yet. The CD player/radio modules, in my case, have DC motors instead of stepper motors. DC motors are less precise than stepper motors, so I am not certain of the precision available to this machine.
A Raspberry Pi controls the extremely simple electronics. Five outputs from the Pi go into a L293D dual H-bridge chip, which controls the motors. Four otuputs are for the motors, while the fifth goes into the enable pins of the chip to enable the motors. This output can be controlled with PWM to vary the speed of both motors. If you attempt to replicate the L293D setup, I recommend Adafruit's great tutorial on using the chip.
I have written some custom Python code to do some basic stuff with the soon-to-be laser cutter, but I will need to do more complex programming to get any good results. These DC motors are more complicated than stepper motors when it comes to successfully positioning the axes, so this code will have to be creative!
A Raspberry Pi controls the extremely simple electronics. Five outputs from the Pi go into a L293D dual H-bridge chip, which controls the motors. Four otuputs are for the motors, while the fifth goes into the enable pins of the chip to enable the motors. This output can be controlled with PWM to vary the speed of both motors. If you attempt to replicate the L293D setup, I recommend Adafruit's great tutorial on using the chip.
I have written some custom Python code to do some basic stuff with the soon-to-be laser cutter, but I will need to do more complex programming to get any good results. These DC motors are more complicated than stepper motors when it comes to successfully positioning the axes, so this code will have to be creative!
Experiment 14: What's in a Computer Mouse Ball?
So mouse balls, the kind inside computer mice, not real mice (!!!), are very heavy, but what inside them makes them heavy? To answer that question, I cut one of them open with a box cutter. Then, I scientifically observed the contents, and came to the conclusion that mouse balls have a steel ball bearing inside them to give them their weight. I observed that the metal sphere inside the rubber outer coating was 28 grams in weight and was dull silvery in color.
The sphere was magnetic as well. I then calculated the diameter with a pair of calipers, then halved this to get the radius. By cubing this, then multiplying it by 4/3pi, I got its volume in cubic centimeters. Then, by dividing its weight by its volume, I got approximately 7.03 grams/cm^3 as its density. This seems a little bit light for steel, but the material was magnetic. Select other elements are magnetic, but most elements with similar densities (~7 g/cm^3) don't make sense for a mouse ball. Who makes trackballs out of neodymium? Therefore, without other data, it is reasonable to conlude that it is indeed steel inside a computer mouse ball.
The sphere was magnetic as well. I then calculated the diameter with a pair of calipers, then halved this to get the radius. By cubing this, then multiplying it by 4/3pi, I got its volume in cubic centimeters. Then, by dividing its weight by its volume, I got approximately 7.03 grams/cm^3 as its density. This seems a little bit light for steel, but the material was magnetic. Select other elements are magnetic, but most elements with similar densities (~7 g/cm^3) don't make sense for a mouse ball. Who makes trackballs out of neodymium? Therefore, without other data, it is reasonable to conlude that it is indeed steel inside a computer mouse ball.
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