Balloon launch
I've been working with a team from Tech Shop RDU to put together a helium balloon as part of the Hackerspaces in Space contest.
Basic idea, build a balloon with a camera and gps, and try to get pictures of the curvature of the earth and the blackness of space. And I think we did.
We actually made two launches, the first included my camera (Canon sd850, running CHDK firmware, and a script to take a pic every 15 seconds and log some basic data). We thought we lost it after the gps transmitting via a ham radio data connectio stopped transmitting, but someone found it in Wendell, NC and called us.
The team also made a second launch that day. We thought the first one was long gone, so put together a second launch from spare parts. I had to leave early so didn't get to help out with the second launch though. Mk II was a simpler setup, with just a Spot gps tracker and a nikon point and shoot camera with a built in intervalometer. It looks like it was able to fly a little higher, probably due to the reduced weight (first capsule was about 3.5lbs, I think the second one was closer to 2).
I think the current estimate for the second balloon launch is somewhere in the 80,000 ft range. It is definately high enough to see the curvature of the earth and the thinning and the black of space in the photos.
We had a lot of people show up to watch the first launch.
We even maanaged to get a fair amount of press coverage, including a segment on the local news ,WRAL
Photos provided by lintqueen, and clubjuggler, and Ncnearspace
heart kalimba
I'm on a bit of a trend. This was built as a belated Valentines day gift so it was made from a heart shaped candy box. The main set of tines use a busbar, just like the kalimba's on the kalimbazooka.
The pine sounding board and metal resonator gives it a pretty good sound. It is tuned to two octaves of a pentatonic C major scale.
kalimbateeny
Kalimbateeny A tiny Kalimba, also known as a thumb piano, designed to be worn as a piece of jewelery. The Kalimbateeny is a fully functional musical instrument, tuned to a D major pentatonic scale (D, E, F#, A, B). It's made from purpleheart wood, and uses bobby pins for tines.
my build notes:
- laser cut purpleheart box
- purple heart sourced at Woodcraft, ~1/8" thick plank
- cut in four pieces
- top piece
- - sound hole
- - holes for retaining bar screws to go though
- middle pieces
- - most of interior volume removed
- - slightly larger holes cut for end of screw and nut to fit
- - should probably be even larger for washer/lock washers to fit
- bottom pieces
- - no holes, etc
- - (should have made holes through the bottom, would make assembly/disassembly easier)
- retaining bar is 1/4 inch steel rod
- sourced at hardware store
- two holes drilled through for retaining bar screws
- best done on a mill/drill press but I did it with a cordless drill
- cut to ~1.5 inches
- sound bars are 3/16 inch steel rod
- sourced at hardware store
- cut to ~1.25 inches
- in theory this can be free floating on the surface, but I found
assembly much easier after I glued them to the surface
- gorilla glue, clamped with the retaining bar, screws, and two extra tines
-tines
- used bobby pins
- sourced from the pile of bobby pins in the bathroom
- cut apart with dremel
- used the straight part, with the rubberized coating at the end
- (tried using tines cut from a sewer snake approx 1/8 inch wide, but these
tines seemed to be too stiff for the small size of the box)
- fasteners
- 3mm phillips pan screws
- 3mm hex nuts
- (washers and lock washers recommended if space allows)
- wood finish
- walnut oil
- (something a little clearer would have probably been better, to lessen discoloration of the purpleheart)
- hanging
- slot cut though 3rd layer of wood before box assembly
- large enough to fit some silver craft wire though to make
wire wrapped loops on each end
- cording created from hand-dyed silk ribbon and attached to wire-wrapped loops with overhand knots
- overhand knots covered with cones
- ends finished with ribbon ends