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Step 18Tips
Important: Periodically check to make sure the peltiers / chamber aren't sliding away from the center of the heatsink (this is bad). Gently reposition them if this happens.
Without a radiation source - you'll be able to see cosmic rays every few minutes. Definitely try this!
Get help / share your cloud chamber with others at http://forum.nothinglabs.com
It's possible to run the chamber with the top slightly off (or with a hole cut in it) for direct viewing. This can be great for shooting photos and video.
If you're not getting trails - or they seem to vanish quickly - try re-applying a static source (styrofoam cup / etc) as mentioned in the prior step. This is key to getting good results!
If you like playing with high voltage - you can try attaching a 1kv or higher DC source to the screw on top of the chamber. This will provide the same ion-clearing / performance-boosting effect the styrofoam cup does - but is way cooler because it's high voltage.
If too much alcohol builds up on the bottom of the container - it may hurt performance (wick it up with a paper towel).
If your sample becomes wet with alcohol - some radiation will get blocked (again - a paper towel can solve this issue). This is a very common issue with small Americium samples.
The rubbing alcohol on the sponge should last a long time - but if you stop seeing trails - it may be time to add more.
If you only see trails / mist over a small portion of the container - you may want to try applying more thermal paste between the container and top peltier.
Other directional light sources besides LEDs (like spotlights) can also provide good lighting results. Standard incandescent or florescent bulbs may even work at certain angles (especially if in a desk lamp or other fixture)- experiment!
To improve viewing contrast - black out the -inside- of the container with the black permanent marker. The downside of this is that eventually the alcohol will dissolve the ink - making a bit of a mess.
Depending on a number of variables you may find that increasing / decreasing the voltage for either cooler may improve results.
However - do -not- try running the top peltier at 12v instead of 5v. It won't work (at least not well) - trust me.
(The quick explanation is that each peltier needs to pump all the heat pumped by the one above it -plus- any heat the upper peltier generated itself. Since peltiers are not very efficient - this head adds up pretty quickly - and becomes a problem. Trying to stack two peltiers running at the same total power level will result in -less- cooling than a single peltier at the same power.)
Without a radiation source - you'll be able to see cosmic rays every few minutes. Definitely try this!
Get help / share your cloud chamber with others at http://forum.nothinglabs.com
It's possible to run the chamber with the top slightly off (or with a hole cut in it) for direct viewing. This can be great for shooting photos and video.
If you're not getting trails - or they seem to vanish quickly - try re-applying a static source (styrofoam cup / etc) as mentioned in the prior step. This is key to getting good results!
If you like playing with high voltage - you can try attaching a 1kv or higher DC source to the screw on top of the chamber. This will provide the same ion-clearing / performance-boosting effect the styrofoam cup does - but is way cooler because it's high voltage.
If too much alcohol builds up on the bottom of the container - it may hurt performance (wick it up with a paper towel).
If your sample becomes wet with alcohol - some radiation will get blocked (again - a paper towel can solve this issue). This is a very common issue with small Americium samples.
The rubbing alcohol on the sponge should last a long time - but if you stop seeing trails - it may be time to add more.
If you only see trails / mist over a small portion of the container - you may want to try applying more thermal paste between the container and top peltier.
Other directional light sources besides LEDs (like spotlights) can also provide good lighting results. Standard incandescent or florescent bulbs may even work at certain angles (especially if in a desk lamp or other fixture)- experiment!
To improve viewing contrast - black out the -inside- of the container with the black permanent marker. The downside of this is that eventually the alcohol will dissolve the ink - making a bit of a mess.
Depending on a number of variables you may find that increasing / decreasing the voltage for either cooler may improve results.
However - do -not- try running the top peltier at 12v instead of 5v. It won't work (at least not well) - trust me.
(The quick explanation is that each peltier needs to pump all the heat pumped by the one above it -plus- any heat the upper peltier generated itself. Since peltiers are not very efficient - this head adds up pretty quickly - and becomes a problem. Trying to stack two peltiers running at the same total power level will result in -less- cooling than a single peltier at the same power.)
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Great detail in the steps. I built a Holly Batchelor cloud chamber. Have you considered an aluminum plate to replace the plastic bottom in the dish? This is definately on my buld list. Thanks for sharing!
I've also tried cutting out the bottom - and exposing the peltier directly to the inside of the chamber - this worked pretty well. However - it didn't work any better than the approach of connecting the peltier to the outside of the container.
Getting the seal perfect on the bottom of the chamber seems pretty critical - and has been a problem for me in the past - so I'm pretty happy with leaving the bottom of the container intact.