Notices by gigabecquerel (gigabecquerel@chaos.social), page 2

So here's a fun experiment:
Nuclear Track Detectors from the hardware store!
I bought some protective sheets for welding masks which are made from a plastic called CR-39, exposed them to a radium watch face (two sheets, one on the front, one on the back in case there is some coating) and now, if I etch them, they should show tracks / tunnels where alphas hit the plastic!

Now I only need a day off where I can watch a vat of 6M NaOH boil for 6-8 hours...

And in they are!

Another attempt and an ABSOLUTE success!
I am so happy with this, it's really simple and absolutely stunning!

And in the SEM it goes!

As of today I'm the proud owner of (my first!) 65 kg of low background lead and a comically large marinelli beaker 😍
Used to be a contamination meter used for food, built in the late 80s (go figure what for).

I am SO happy!

Box 👀

I dream of the day I manage to make a clean glue joint on PMMA.

Today is not that day.
But hey, it's functional ;-)

But what's the point of all this?
When a sample I'm measuring emits a beta ray there's a good chance that beta will hit the lead around it and produce Bremsstrahlung as well as characteristic x-rays, which smear the gamma spectrum and add to the background / noise.
The acrylic simply stops betas from reaching lead in the first place, plastics are great for that!

Flea market time!

I should finally get a vacuum pump in my flat, the alpha spectrometer would greatly appreciate it.
Also wow, that's a leaky detector!
Definitely not PIPS, probably older SSB

Has YouTube added a way to pay for videos to appear on the front page?
Mine is currently full of 1-20 view 10-30 second videos of random companies displaying their products.
Glass cutting, tuna processing, PET bottle cutters for recycling, you name it.
What the hell.

It amazes me how none of the replies so far are in any way related to my original question, but rather tell me to do something entirely different because that's what *they* like to do

I have poor self control

That's as far as I got with the parts here.
The upper compartment will hold the resonant capacitor and spark gap, I think I'll make that a bit smaller

Orks are nearby!

If I play my cards right I might be able to build this entire thing while having to buy nothing but the primary caps!
That means I have more budget for them, but it also kinda bothers me, lol.
Found this copper tube for the primary and some thick acrylic for the holder, maybe I can finish that today

I have tried and I have failed.
This definitely was not the right way to go about winding a 45° coil.
I'll redo and print the holders this time instead of lasercutting from acrylic, and I'll have the tube clip in instead of wind through, that was such a pain!

One 40 hour print later and they came out PERFECT!
The 6 mm copper tube clips in really well, can't wait to form the primary around them!

10ish primary windings, and one (probably optimistic) strike rail!
Still some cleaning up to do tho.
Next step will be the spark gap!

Guess who's getting a new coffee table

POV:
you're an average BMW driver.
we know the rules so we waited until it was green before crossing the street!