Hello!
Welcome to Laboratory@Home - Derek Low’s science and technology playground.
Lab@Home is a self-initiated home laboratory project, and this site showcases the projects and experiments I’ve done in my free time. Each project is comprehensively explained in detail with clearly written guides, plans and schematics, in the most informal language possible without causing a collapse in the space-time continuum. Photos, videos and other multimedia items are also available because they look nice. So enjoy your stay and do leave your comments!
Please leave your comments for the site and Lab@Home in general in the Comment Wall, and your enquires and suggestions specific to a project in the comment system at the bottom of each project page. Thanks!
I can be reached at:
This site is a member of the Tesla Coil Web Ring
NOTICE
For the best viewing experience, and simply for your own benefit, please use Mozilla Firefox.
This site’s made with Firefox, for Firefox. It’s optimised for viewing only in Firefox 3.0.
Internet Explorer support is mediocre, although I’ve tried my best to make it as compatible as possible.
This site is not cool enough for Safari and Macs – compatibility is unknown.
Current Projects in Progress
1. Blue-Violet (405nm) Blu-Ray Laser
2. Blue-Violet (405nm) HD-DVD Laser
3. High-Power Red (658nm) DVD Laser
4. High-Power Red (660nm) Phazor Laser
Future projects
1. Musical Tesla Coil
2. Portable Travel Telescope
History
A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. – Walter Bagehot (1826-77)
Laboratory@Home started off in late 2006. I had just completed secondary school education with the Cambridge O-Levels examinations, and found quite a fair amount of free time on my hands.
Earlier in the year, together with a friend of mine, Shaun, I decided to embark on one of the most bizarre projects, the Oil PC. We were inspired computer fanatics and overclockers at that time, and were also impulsive enough to submerge a high-performance computer in a dielectric liquid – because it looks cool. We forked out quite a lot of money for the project in order to purchase a fully functional PC, while being partially funded and supported by a extraordinary teacher, Mr Chiam, to carry out such a ridiculous and meaningless experiment in school.
Needless to say, the project turned out to be a little disaster and much of the money was literally washed down the drain, along with decomposing oil.
After my O-Levels examinations, I decided to revive my experimenting ways that seem to be based on doing things for the purpose of not making any goddamn sense.
Today, Lab@Home has grown into a full-time hobby which I dedicate myself to showcase what one is able to achieve with science and technology in the comfort of your home. And that nothing should interfere with your education – including statutory laws and parents.
Comment Wall.
a: I look up to u!
Peter: Secondary 16 inch of 24 guage mag wire (about 730 turns) Secondary coil diamter is about 1.4" Toroid is 4 inch diamter aluminum ducting in a circle with a 8" inner diamter and 12" outer diameter. I have tried tapping everything to achieve a spark and still nothing. My calculations show that tapping around turn 9 should be resonant. Once concern is that my capacitor .01mF capacito is too high. I didn't think that the .01mF capacitor and 0.007mF would be enough to make a difference. The spark gap fires regularly but no sparks off the toroid. I thought about closing the spark gap from .5 inches to more like a quarter inch or so, so the capacitor wont charge fully. Let me know if you have any advice. I have been working on this for weeks, and have to prevent on Tuesday. Any help is very helpful. Thanks again. -Peter
Peter: Alright, I am building my first coil for a physics class, and I have a little different setup than yours, but am having some problems that I thought someone reading this may be able to help me with. Here's the setup. Primary 12000v 30ma NST 15,000V 0.02mF Capacitor (2 in series) Static Spark Gap (Set around .5 inches) 1/4" copper tube primary (Flat pancake spiral) 1/4" spacing with inner diamter of 6" and outer of 12" and 12 turns.
AMP: tell me that the coke that the facilitator drank is real coke and not the one with charcoal in it ><
Mas: wow derek look at ur pageviews! and dude ur experiments are awesome!!very nice :D
HELiX: Yeah, it's labeled AW(VP) on the pipe, and it's considerably thicker than the normal PVC ones.
Azlyn: Pneumatic gun - how to know the pipe is pressure rated or not ? any markings on the pipe ?
AMP: Eh, with the addition of the Mont Blanc Pen Hack you might want to change your disclaimer to " All experiments and projects presented here except for the Mont Blanc pen hack are highly dangerous....(blahblahblah)." hehe
Shaun Sim: wow cool stuff
HELiX: Testing the new comment wall! :)
» Leave a comment