Adding a subject to learn

[AtomSoft]

I have so much free time these days and i love learning electronics. But sometimes a change of scenery is wanted/needed. I was thinking about taking up another subject.

I know Carpentry, Plumbing, Electronics, Electrical, PC Repiar, and some others

but i was thinking about Chemistry... is it something hard to get into ? Seems like a great subject to tackle and learn. Anyone else here into chemistry ?

 

[Birdman Adam]

Chemistry may be a neat thing for you, but sometimes its good to have lots of open space where you can experiment. Friends and I have had fun with this - KNO3 + Sugar smoke bombs, homemade fireworks, etc.

Also, we have experimented with melting metals and pouring them into moulds. Very fun, and not something a lot of people get to see. Pouring liquid copper and aluminum is truly beautiful!

Maybe I will upload some videos/pics?

 

[AtomSoft]

Yeah i plan to get access to our buildings terrace. Its a nice open space with one wall being a fence so very good open air and kind of dirty so they will be happy i cleaned the area. Each floor (20 story building) has its own so mines would be just to me.

Sounds like fun and would love some pictures and videos. I feel kiddish and gitty about this. I really want to learn something different and new.

 

[Ian Rogers]

Jason!! I'm told as we programmers use mathematics... We should be part musicians as they go hand in hand (apparently).

 

[AtomSoft]

heh i mostly like old school stuff like QUEEN and stuff... but im no musician. I used to play Piano but thats about 15 years ago.

 

[cr0sh]

If you don't know, welding is always a useful skill to pick up. Chemistry is something that can be fun to know, but unless you are doing it for research or other "for-a-living" - or you are interested in the science aspect of it; it might be more work for learning it than you'll get in payback. It's rare that I've said to myself "If I only knew more chemistry, I could do XYZ" - your interests and needs, though, may lead you to ask it more often (?). I will suggest staying away from "high energy reactions" (aka - explosives and pyrotechnics), until you understand and are very familiar with general chemistry and lab work; more than one bubba who thought they knew all about homemade explosives has been seriously maimed or killed over the years because of it. There's also the issue of obtaining the chemicals (many/most can be had fairly easily - but some can earn you visits from TLAs, even if your goals are non-illegal, and you have the paperwork filled out properly), storing them properly, and having a safe and secure area to perform your learning (note - the kitchen is -NOT- the proper area for chemistry experiments - unless you don't ever intend to eat in it again, or sell it to someone else in the future). Even with all that, you get some weird fumes and such going on, and all of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of a raid for a supposed meth lab...



I do like the idea of home smelting, as suggested - fairly easy to get started with that, and the raw materials in many cases are thrown away (old alluminum and such).

Another option: Homemade jet engine building (do not go this route if you live in an HOA neighborhood - jet engines are anything but quiet)...

 

[gabeNC]

About 10 years ago, I burned my GI Bill at the local community college. Already had a good job and didn't "need" the degree. Well... to be honest I was undeclared for two years hahaha. I took piano, couple of welding fabrication classes, java, c++, audio recording, art etc. What a blast! It was pretty cheap too was actually making money going to school. Peruse the catalog and do something crazy!

 

[AtomSoft]

Cool! Welding does sound cool and fun. I never tried it. I think your right about obtaining chemicals tho. would be hard and i bet i would be hounded... by the man heh... I think i would stick with melting and welding since its almost free and not to much of a hazard to play with. i mean no long term effect like chemicals unless i get burned with liquid aluminum and stuff

 

[atferrari]

Buy a lathe (not the smallest one). Learn how to use it.

 

[AtomSoft]

heh im cheap smallest is best ... na just kidding. I think if my mom knew i was going to get a lathe she would bug me all the time since she has old fashioned chairs and such... would make me build legs from scratch

 

[cr0sh]

If you want to learn about welding, I'm going to plug a tutorial on my own site:

**broken link removed**

Believe me - welding isn't as easy as some make it look (although there are "naturals" for every skill - maybe you'll be lucky). Personally, though - I've only learned stick welding, and I'm no expert at it. I also know how to use a cutting torch for - well - cutting (you can weld with one, too - but I've never had the experience). I've heard that wire-feed welding is pretty easy compared to stick, but I've never used one yet.

Welding can be pretty dangerous if you aren't paying attention to what you're doing (it's pretty dark inside one of those helmets - dark enough that you can't see flames). The biggest "gotcha" you'll run into, likely, is touching something that doesn't look hot - but is damn hot. Wear welding gloves - they help. Get and learn to use safely a right-angle grinder. Chop saws are also fun. Once you learn how to weld, you'll look at metal in a whole different way...

 

[Pommie]

If you do decide on chemistry then a good forum is sciencemadness.

Personally, I love chemistry but as I now live in an apartment it's tricky to do any experimentation now.

A tip, avoid organic chemistry if you don't want a visit from the authorities.

Mike.

 

[atferrari]

I had in mind a lathe for metal work. Too small seems good enough until you want to go bigger. Space and resulting dirt IS a concern. I know.

 

[jpanhalt]

You asked for comments from chemists. I am a chemist -- organic photochemistry -- and have been for a very long time. Some people have said chemistry is about as useless to someone doing electronics as a vestigial tail. I would disagree. Probably a day doesn't go by that I don't use chemistry somehow, whether cleaning a part from a machine, washing dishes (see earlier thread on Pease's solution to dirty dishes), etching a PCB, or trying to figure out why my thick and creamy salad dressing liquifies. If you have any doubt about the importance of chemistry in the kitchen, here is a useful book:

Food Chemistry, 3rd ed., Belitz, H-D, Grosch, W, Schieberle, P. Springer-Verlag, 2004 (ISBN 3-540-40818-5). You can find it on Amazon. Unfortunately, there is no electronic version. It is a delightful book of over 1000 pages. In brief, it is nice to know why toast tastes like toast.

A tip, avoid organic chemistry if you don't want a visit from the authorities.

While I was in school, more than one student in the liberal arts asked me to make something. They all got a brief six-letter, two-word answer. Yesterday, I read something about a new brew called Crocodile. That is simply crazy. The really sad part is that as the illicit drug culture thrives and fear of terrorism grows, each "advance" they make causes a reaction to place more and more restrictions on legitimate users. Almost 40 years ago, I had to abandon an entire line of research, because one of the starting materials could also be used to make psilocybin.

If you do pursue chemistry, remember there are three large divisions of that field: inorganic/physical; organic; and analytic. Most introductory courses start with basic inorganic and analytical chemistry concepts. The second course often gets into organic chemistry. Then there are advanced courses in almost anything.

John

 

[AtomSoft]

Thanks to everyone for the info. I dont see why i cant study a bit of both heh. When i say i have time i mean, LOTS OF TIME heh.. Welding doesnt seem to be something that would take too long to learn, i dont think i would have a huge use for it really besides fixing things like Bikes and such. Im no artist so creating something would be hard heh... But smelting seems really cool! Also Pommie that link is great... i found this link on there site

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6hPgGV_qAg

If you stick through the crazy sound and watch entire thing you will here him say something about a mirror at the end. It looks like the back of a ipod like the polished surface. But this video was cool, Looks like you can do a lot with basic chemicals. I guess its crazy thinking time

Also ill do some reaseach on rules and regulations for obtaining and storing certain chemicals....

Thanks a ton also John very informative

 

[BrownOut]

If you want to learn about welding, I'm going to plug a tutorial on my own site:

**broken link removed**

You suggest in your article that it's OK to weld using only goggles for eye protection. Bad idea. One can get severe burns to his face from the UV light of the arc if not fully covered with a proper welding helment.

 

[Mickster]

Hi Jason,
since you have a lot of free time on your hands right now, why not combine your electronic talents with a little mechanical education and build yourself a desktop CNC machine. There's oodles of stuff over on the DIY woodworking machine section of www.cnczone.com and you could also use one for engraving project enclosure face plates, making isolation-routed PCB's, making a better CNC machine, making the extruder parts for a FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) attachment such as used on a RepRap.

With your experience on the electronics side, you could likely knock up your own stepper drivers and PSU's, along with spindle speed controllers etc.

Some other links which may be of interest:
http://www.cambam.info/
http://www.machsupport.com/
http://buildyourcnc.com/default.aspx
http://reprap.org/wiki/ShowCase

Regards,
Mick.

 

[AtomSoft]

Hey Mcik i love the idea! I always wanted a CNC machine. The thing i never understood really is the controller. Like where would it start? is it like a printer? where it starts top left goes right then down and repeat?

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Do some research: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-code

If you really want to do some wierd stuff, build your own 3-D printer. https://www.makerbot.com/

 

[cr0sh]

You suggest in your article that it's OK to weld using only goggles for eye protection. Bad idea. One can get severe burns to his face from the UV light of the arc if not fully covered with a proper welding helment.

I wrote that article quite a while back, and it needs an update bad - thank you for pointing that out; I will definitely change that.