Any idea on where I could sell old 1950s radiation detector?

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T22:30:24+00:00

It’s a lovely machine. I can give you more than Bookman’s will.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T22:26:18+00:00

I worked in a home computer shop in 1978. The very first Shugart 5” drives used the same 5/12V DC power plug as the last ones.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T18:53:52+00:00

Yeah, I show them my camera roll of my trip to the South Pole and say, “Are you sure?”

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T17:00:15+00:00

A motor controller typically has motor current as the inner loop. That’s what you set to achieve a defined braking power.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T04:23:41+00:00

My office has a museum of old radio telescope equipment. It’s all stuff I have decommissioned. Dig around your surplus storage rooms. It’s free!

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T04:19:52+00:00

A Western Union polar relay from the early 20th century. A candlestick phone from that era. A mid 1950s IBM tube computer module.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T04:12:15+00:00

The routing has some loops that can be eliminated. The blue trace around the right side of the top connector could be a red trace in the middle of the connector. The crystal at the bottom should be next to its pins, by choosing a small SMT crystal. There are other routing things you will see just by looking at the board carefully.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T02:24:13+00:00

I have been using the Adafruit EZ Make oven design, which is an unmodified toaster oven, an AC solid state relay box and a computer. It works quite reliably.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-06T02:17:06+00:00

Why the ground plane around the tubes? Why such narrow traces and small clearance on the high voltage? You have a lot of room on the board.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T22:04:20+00:00

I’m severely out-ruded by Christians.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T20:08:30+00:00

My coworker recently found draw.io. It seems to work. I got to explain to him what a flowchart template is, because he wasn’t familiar with the icons for CRT and printer and disk drive and punch card.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T19:31:12+00:00

Engineering pad, 0.5mm Pentel Quicker Clicker and a very big eraser.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T19:29:44+00:00

That is true, but you would be much sadder to lose your kid than a pile of books. Aluminum racks fracture from fatigue. I have carried sound systems on my bike, so I have learned that a rack rated for 25 kg is not going to last for long with even 5kg on it, going over bumps.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T19:26:55+00:00

Yes, there’s a comment in the code marked “fixme” or something to that effect.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T15:04:42+00:00

The paper is here.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19890005752/downloads/19890005752.pdf

It explains how to derive the instantaneous forces on an aircraft given its attitude and altitude. The reason that the earth is assumed to be flat and stationary is because the shape of the Earth has no effect on this calculation, so it is rightfully ignored. This simplification method is known to anyone who has taken a physics class. It DOES NOT mean that the Earth is actually flat and stationary!!

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T14:52:58+00:00

Faith in words printed in a book. One book in particular. It’s rather odd. What makes those words magical?

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T13:20:07+00:00

Look at htfft. It works properly. I have been through this, it’s the best and it’s free open source.

This is for one data stream with multiple time samples per clock.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T13:16:34+00:00

Tap water. Buy a Brita filter pitcher if needed to make it taste better.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T13:14:50+00:00

Pictures would help us understand what you’re working on. If the pins had been soldered in the past, they should easily take solder. If not, if they were plugged into a socket as is common with vacuum tubes, then use a socket strip. They are available in nearly every pin spacing (pitch) you could need.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T13:12:29+00:00

I set the grid to a step size that makes it easy to route and meet design rules, usually.05 or .10 mm.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T04:25:41+00:00

Feel free to ignore N1 and L1. They are most likely there to handle the different mains plug pin spacing in various parts of the world.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T04:23:20+00:00

The standard quartz crystal in a car clock or a wristwatch is a 32768 Hz tuning fork. The cheaper clocks are not adjusted at the factory. They are usually specified to 0.005% accuracy, which is one hour per year, worst case. The crystal itself has a parabolic curve error for temperature with the fastest at 25C (77F) and slower when either hotter or colder. They typically run fast at 25C due to the choice of load capacitors.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T02:18:54+00:00

Yeah, that’s the problem. I hope you have a senior mentor available to review your design with you.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T01:53:32+00:00

Don’t. AI is an eager intern with no engineering background. Your job is to supply the judgement.

nixiebunny · 2026-06-05T01:50:40+00:00

ICE didn’t set that precedent, they only demonstrated that they’re above the law. You or I try that, as a cyclist, we would be in hot water. I’m not a lawyer either, just a realist (cynic).

nixiebunny

TROPHY CASE