experiments – MickRed

Gold Rush and other We’re Alive Updates

This is just a brief sharing of information. We just recorded an episode with Kc Wayland Tuesday night chuck full of info. That episode will be put out next week.

This is a partial update to Gold Rush – What we do and don’t know.

Gold Rush
- Gold Rush will have a western feel
- Occurs in “Berg” outside Irwin somewhere
- 4 soldiers
- Lots of exploring
- Lots of comedy
- Characters will include Muldoon (Shaun Lewin), Puck (Brett Newton) & Robbins (Tony Rey) for sure (expect comedy) AND BURT!!! (Scott Marvin)
- According to Tony Rey when asked, does this reflect Kc’s time in service, Tony replied I hope not
- To release sometime this fall

Patreon – Wayland productions is going to be supported through Patreon instead of other crowdfunding options.
We’re Alive Archive – Replacing Apartment 2C We’re Alive Archive is a Director’s commentary providing and behind the scenes with a window into the making of We’re Alive.
Script Book – Creating a limited special edition series of the scripts in print and digital format.
Family Book – A book about the families with the backstory to Angel and Scratch.
Theater for the Mind – A new podcast series is coming that will feature an anthology of audio theater stories and experiments. One of which is the Improv Audio Theater in number 6. Think Twilight Zone.
IA(Improv Audio) Theater – Part of the Theater for the Mind series, featuring improvisational audio drama fully sound designed and produced.
Special pin series – A limited edition pin series is being made with the first one commemorating our 8th birthday. Limited as in once they’re gone they’re gone. Each pin will have a sequential number on the back, making each one unique. Pre-orders start June 1st.
We’re Alive: Scout’s Honor – The next series after Goldrush. The story takes place on the island of Catalina off the shores of California, where a group of scouts must work together to get off the island.

Microwave Plasma Chamber – Part 3 – What is Plasma? Experiments planned

Photos of plasma being created in a microwave oven from 2 experiments I conducted in the past

Most people are familiar with 3 states of matter being solid, liquid, and gas but a lot of people are not familiar with the 4th. The fourth state of matter is plasma defined as an ionized gaseous mixture consisting of highly charged positive ions and free electrons (negative charge) that result in little or no electric charge. The amount of energy in each state of matter increases as you progress. Plasma is typically created at low pressures or at very high temperatures. Believe it or not plasma is the most common form of matter in the universe. [taken from definition, wiki, and general knowledge]

Examples of plasma are neon signs, CFL bulbs, lightning strikes and probably what I’m most interested in Fusion (the sun). Uses of plasma can be found in the manufacturing of electronic components such as semiconductors, metal plating of glass/silicon/etc, mineral extraction, ion propulsion and one day a very clean and efficient energy source.

Plasma conducts electricity and can be manipulated with a magnetic field. These properties are at the core of what I want to accomplish with the plasma chamber.

Experiments for the chamber

Small scale plasma accelerator
Plasma sputter plating of metals on to glass
Ion drive simulation
Magnetic containment fields
Effect of plasma being pushed through a coil
Plasma being formed with various gases and/or particle filled gases
Custom waveguide antennas to concentrate energy for various applications
Effect of electricity being applied across plasma
Effect of shooting electrons through plasma
Find a way to manipulate power and frequency of RF signal

Microwave Plasma Chamber Part 1 & Part 2

Click here to browse through posts written about my interests in Microwave Projects

Microwave Plasma Chamber – Part 2 – RF Energy Shielding Primer

There’s a lot of ~~in-depth overview~~ random basic RF information. With that said I don’t mind getting into the details because this information will help keep me safe while I perform experiments in the future.

A magnetron generates large amounts of RF energy and emits that energy as an antenna pumped through a wave guide. Most microwaves transmit/operate at 2.45GHz. Unless something is wrong with your microwave or you have taken it apart like I will be doing the RF energy, 2.45GHz, transmission is contained within your microwave using a Faraday cage. On your right is an example of a crude Faraday cage. While crude this mesh size would probably be safe to use for 2.4GHz.

Photo from www.physics.montana.edu — Radio in a Faraday Cage photo from http://www.physics.montana.edu/demonstrations/video/5_electricityandmagnetism/demos/radioinfaradaycage.html

A microwave oven works by pumping a lot of RF energy into an enclosure where it bombards the molecules of food or whatever you have put in your microwave. This RF energy is not in a straight line but is guided through a wave guide then and then bounced off the metal walls of the inside of the microwave. The RF energy then vibrates the molecules which creates heat. This is like when you rub your hands together (friction) and they get warm but on a molecular level. What I don’t want is my molecules to get vibrated.

The Faraday cage is made up of the mesh in the window as well as the metal case which share a chassis ground. The mesh in the window blocks the the RF because the mesh size is smaller than the wavelength of 2.45GHz/2450MHz/2450000000Hz. If the mesh size is lower than the nominal wavelength the mesh should be effective. Look at the list below to see what the wavelengths in size is. For this project I plan on using the RF blocking glass that I obtained samples of from Viracon which is way different than a Faraday cage but same principle. You can see the article I linked to but I also included an image here.

Full Wavelength = 12.23643cm/122.3643mm = 0.1223643m
Half Wavelength = 6.118215cm/61.18215mm
Quarter Wavelength = 3.0591cm/30.591075mm

You can calculate the wavelength using the formula ? = c/? or 0.1223640816326531 = 299792000/2450000000

? = frequency in hz, c = speed of light in mps 299792000, ? = Wavelength in meters

N5JLC is my math right?

So basically if my mesh is smaller than 30mm, if I’m right, I should be protected. I plan to use the glass but if needed I will use hardware cloth.

RF Meters

In order to protect myself and nearby electronics I want to monitor external and internal RF to ensure there is not leakage. RF Meters in general are not that difficult to build but ones that cover the 2.4GHz range require a bit more than a germanium diode and multimeter. In short you’ll probably see a 2.4GHz RF Meter project coming soon. Below are some RF Meter projects but if you know of any please let me know.

Frequency Spectrum Chart

Symbols and Values

? = frequency in hz
c = speed of light in meters per second (mps) 299792000
? = Wavelength in meters

Microwave Plasma Chamber – Part 1 – The Plan

Normally I throw together a project with rough notes, research along the way, then after half attempts/failures I get around to cooking that down to a post on here. This time you will get everything. With this project I will be posting my ideas, planning, results of research and the project in stages. Here’s my initial idea written out and some really rough ideas thrown on paper. This has been a project I’ve been wanting to do for some time now and have been talking about it forever.

Roughed together a drawing of my ideas and what I think will work for this project. No measurements in mind while throwing ideas on paper.

What I want is a chamber with viewing windows to see the plasma when it’s created. In addition to the view windows and enclosure I will need a power supply to drive this thing.

Took my drawing and opened SketchUp with considerations for what measurements I do have. As I type this staring at my digital drawing already considering separating the power supply making it usable for other projects in the future. It would be cool to have a high voltage isolation transformer for things like a Jacobs Ladder or an arc furnace.

Regardless of the power supply what I have in mind here is the plasma chamber with viewing windows which are 12 inches square. I plan to have a microcontroller monitor and remotely turn on or more importantly off the chamber.

The main chamber will have the magnetron from a microwave mounted inside of it with a metal housing around it and it’s electronics to protect them. The antenna portion of the magnetron will rest inside a waveguide (horn) that points at the center of the chamber. This directed energy will excite particles creating plasma. I probably need to consider a way to draw a vacuum inside the chamber for later experiments.

I plan to use parts of the original microwave casing and sheet metal for the housing. If I need more material I might scrap old PC cases. To help minimize RF leakage I am considering using aluminum duct tape and angled aluminum.

Need to look at the manufacturer specifications and double check my work but I think this how the magnetron wiring is done minus the existing controls.

PreRelease Late Night Edit – Remember how I said I’d share everything? Well do you see where on the capacitor I have an element leading to an X? I think I already screwed up and that is supposed to be a diode going to chassis ground.

I also have this crazy idea in the back of my head thinking of using pulse width modulation to have greater control of the RF output. That may be total non-sense but the implications could maybe be cool.

RF meters will be needed to monitor interior and exterior RF levels. I plan to build at least 2 of them and will post that project soon. I will post more about the RF energy in my next post of this project.

Click here to browse through posts written about my interests in Microwave Projects