Mini-break to Edinburgh
Over the school half term, we took a family trip up to visit relatives and had a quick trip over to Scotland in the middle. We dropped into Edinburgh Castle, The Camera Obscura and National Museum of Scotland. The castle is pretty well known so I’ll skip over that but to say that we did enjoy our trip there.
Camera Obscura
The Camera Obscura is right next door to the Castle and is perched on the top of an old townhouse. I’ve visited one before in Dumfries so knew a bit about this clever Victorian show. Maria Theresa Short setup this one in 1835, it is effectively a large camera with a movable periscope on the top. The audience stand or sit around a bowl-like screen and can see a live view of what is happening in the surrounding city.
Also housed with the camera is the World of Illusions packed over the 5 floors below the camera room. This contains a wide variety of amazing specticals from holograms and lenticular photos to plasma globes and nausia inducing tunnels.
For me some of the highlights were the automata from Keith Newstead Automata and the animations such as the praxinoscope.
National Museum of Scotland
Just next to South Bridge is a massive building housing the National Museum of Scotland. We spent a few hours here before heading back to the train station. There are lots of transport and industrial exhibits along with a great section of natural history items.
Whilst aadmiring a little model of a beam engine, my wife pointed out that there was a full sized version just behind.
Unlike the World 0f Illusions the high voltage generators were not turned on. Probably a good thing as this Cockcroft Walton Voltage Multiplier is designed to smash atoms.
There was also some excellent ironwork such as this 17th Century Gate from Perugia, Italy which was owned by Lord and Lady Carmichael.
Posted in: Exhibition
Tags: Edinburgh
Drilling hard materials
Following last weeks post, I quizzed Brendan about their smaller drills and asked if they too were ground with the split point. He pointed out that they were too small for that. “All drill bits from 3mm up to 13mm
Posted in: Drilling
Hard drills
Brendan from TTP Hard Drills sent me some of their cobalt drills and some cutting paste to review. He also threw in a handy drilling guide, a hat and some pens. As I was looking around the Workshopshed for some
Posted in: Drilling
Tags: cobalt, cutting paste
How to Waterproof Your Projects
You’ve just crafted a beautiful handmade table. How do you make sure it holds up for years to come?
Posted in: Guest
Tags: waterproofing
Motor Controls and Magazines
This week I have been looking at a stepper motor driver from Trinamic and revisited some magazines from my youth.
Posted in: Electronics
Tags: magazine, stepper motor
Squid Hunter
As a Christmas present from my sister, I received a Solarbotics Squid Hunting kit. This is a laser-cut wooden kit with a small PCB to assemble and a couple of solar panels. The sculpture has a small submarine, giant squid
Posted in: Kit
Frustrations of sourcing parts
Whether starting out with designing electronics, becoming a pro-maker or repairing obsolete kit, having a reliable source of parts can be key to success.
Posted in: Guest
Tags: Electronics, Sponsored, Suppliers
Composite Medal
For the 2020 PSTOIC dinner, the theme was “Something Blue”. Each year I make a medal for the dinner for the person who brings along the most interesting thing that fits the category. I like to use this as an
Posted in: PSTOIC Medals
Materials: UV Resin
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Metal sculpture in brass, mounted on an 1800s French Coin
