New Vacuum

[davetranter]

I bought myself a new 'vacuum' last week.
Built in the '60s by Edwards High Vacuum Ltd, my nice new (to me) 'Speedivac' High vacuum pump doesn't shift much air, (and God help anyone who may try to move dust with it while I'm about), but it should achieve a final pressure of 0.1mm Hg or less .

I'll post a picture or two when I've tidied it up a bit.

Hopefully I can now get on with demonstrating Crookes' Tubes to my Goddaughter

All best

Dave T

 

[davetranter]

Photograph, as promised

Isn't she a beauty???? She's had an oil change now Though what came out hadn't been 'oil' for years by the look of it.... It was just sludge and water... :-(

 

[tolivac]

NEAT your own vacuum pump-seen these in high school,college science classes and neon sign shops for pumping out sign tubes before putting neon gas in them.There is one of those here at work,too for the building engineer to put a vacuum in the AC chiller system before adding the refrigerant.

 

[davetranter]

Useful

Yes, Tolivac, I think it could be a useful (and fun) tool to add to my collection. I have a goddaughter who has just started secondary (high) school here, and I'm hoping to perform a few of the 'Lab Demonstrations' which our 'dumbed down' education system no longer provides. I already have my 100kV lab supply for Crookes' Tube work, the next project is to build a Van de Graaff Generator....

All best

Dave T

P.S. Yes, I also have several lead-lined aprons, as used by Radiographers.... ;-)

 

[madabouthoovers]

Ah the VDG genenerator - I remember them - a big shiny ball and a long rubber belt that linked it to a motor - there was one in our science lab at Comprehensive school - great fun to watch the girls with long hair put their hands on it lol!


I remember building a washing machine programmer out of unilab boards in science one year - all linked up to a tiny motor, a pump and a heater, to simulate the stages of a wash cycle.


Oh the good old days of School - I was the first year to ever do the GCSE way back in 1988, before this it was the old Physics, Biology and Chemistry O levels which I have no doubt you would have done Dave. They watered them down when they introduced the National Curriculum and Integrated Science.

 

[tolivac]

We do "Crooks tubwe experiments" going right now-A transmitter with a tube switching modulator stage running 30Kv at 10A produces a lot of X-Rays-don't hang around the modulator cabinet when the tx is on.Glad you have apronns-again be careful--X-Rays are VERY dangerous!!And at our site some vacuum capacitors and vacuum contactors can emit X-Rays.Esp if you are hi potting these items.We have DC hi pot tester that goes to 100Kv.And an AC one to 60Kv.

 

[davetranter]

School, etc.

Yes, I did the old GCE 'O' Levels, MadaboutHoovers... I have had a look in several modern 'Science' schoolbooks, and frankly I'm not surprised that children generally no longer like 'science'. Firstly, it's all so 'jumbled up' that even having already done the same work (and more) it was hard to determine the aim of the various exercises. Secondly, in my day, science was FUN!! It was a chance to play with electricity, handle corrosive liquors, and even cut up dead rats. Now it seems children just sit and write, perhaps occasionally watching a video of someone doing the kind of experiments which we watched done 'live' in front of us, or watching a 'live' demo of the kind of experiments we did ourselves!! They may (a couple of times per term) (semester, for those Statesside) get their hands on some apparatus to do some incredibly 'safe' (read: 'Boring') experiment, the outcome of which is no mystery, then we 'wonder' why Science (as a subject) is so unpopular!!

Ok.... Rant over ;-)

As regards the VdGG, I've wanted to make one since I was at school... I finally have the time, money, and workshop space to do it, and a keen young scientist/mathematician to do it for.

As regards the dangers of X-rays, I am aware, and I will keep my Goddaughter safe. I will also teach her how to keep herself safe. As an extra precaution, I also have a small fluorescent screen, so if I am in any doubt as to shielding, I can 'look' for emissions. The 'Inverse Square Law' is your friend!!

I have several sources of Ionising Radiation of the various kinds, so another project for the vacuum pump, a reservoir, and some solenoid valves is a Cloud Chamber (I already have a 'Geiger Counter')...

All best

Dave T

 

[madabouthoovers]

The trouble is nowadays, compensation culture has well and truly established itself in the UK, and "where there's blame there's a claim". Schools are now so paranoid about being sued by money grabbing lawyers over silly incidents that would have gone totally by the by when we were at school , that they are not prepared to have school trips, science experiments, swimming lessons, harsh contact sports, allowing kid to play conkers etc for fear that a pupil may get hurt and the parents then being egged on to sue for compensation.


Kids nowadays seem so mollycoddled and wrapped up in cotton wool that its untrue! In the good old days, there was nowhere near the ridiculous health and safety laws that there are today.

[this post was last edited: 3/19/2014-20:40]

 

[tolivac]

Dave-good you have SAFE but adventurous experiments-makes science truely interesting and interactive.Doing the REAL THINGS you and the student learn more.As it goes we are ALWAYS learning-even after school.May yours and your students science experiments be good-can agree on the schooling-kids don't learn in modern public schools-and the BAD thing I am paying for it and not using it!!!Too bad the taxpayers don't have more "say" as to how their money is spent.

 

[davetranter]

Education/Tax

'Mollycoddled' - Excellent word!! The first products of the post 'blame culture' education system are already on the streets as adults. Sadly, that's where many of them will stay, as they have no usable skills for the employment market. They have managed to grow up (physically) while thoroughly 'Infantilised' mentally. Things seem to be (in my limited experience) no better at home in many cases. Parents do everything for their children 'to show how much they love them', which does nobody involved any favours. The best thing a parent can do for a child (IMHO) is to prepare him/her for life when the parent is no longer there.

At the moment, most of my work (as a gardener/handyman) is for older people who are no longer physically capable of doing the work themselves, but I am getting more and more calls now from 'twentysomethings' who just haven't a clue HOW to do simple jobs. They have got through our 'education' system with good knowledge of how a computer works (perhaps even how to program one), and maybe a reasonable knowledge of Differential Calculus, but no clue how to cook, maintain their home or car, or (for the most part) how to interact with a civilised society.

There seems to be no requirement in schools now for good spelling, grammar, or manners. :-(.

Tolivac - I also pay for our (woefully inadequate) education system through my taxes. I have never raised children, and am unlikely to (not my own, anyway), and seeing the harm that it has done to a generation of people (with little, if any, sign of improvement in the future) I see no reason why I should be subsidising it.

People like us on this site, who will tackle the repair and maintenance of old appliances, etc. are a 'dying breed', it seems.

The musician, Frank Zappa (d. 1993) said that 'the aim of our (the U.S.A's) education system is to give our young people just enough education to make them into 'Good Little Consumers'. I think he was remarkably observant, we now have a rising tide of people who 'want it, but have no idea how to make it / do it for themselves'. a sad indictment for education!!

Ahhh... That's better!! Few things set one up for the day like a good early morning rant!! :-D

All best

Dave T

P.S. We really ought to meet sometime, MadaboutHoovers.... We can't be more than 5 miles apart.

 

[madabouthoovers]

No Dave I don't think we are - I live in Boothen, behind the new retirement complex on London Road, although I'm in the "old" housing stock in Nursery Street.


I was always brought up by my father who showed me how to work on the car, how to try to mend things, and how not to be greedy and selfish. I feel that nowadays, society has changed from what it was even 20 years ago.


People are more selfish, and intolerant. Women don't stay home to raise a family and teach proper things to their kids. Everyone is obsessed with work, and lining the pockets of someone else with their hard work, so they just don't have much time to be good parents.


The cost of living has spiralled under this Tory Govt, and people are really struggling - many a time they have to sacrifice loving their kids to love their employer instead. Its Capitalism gone very wrong.


People should work to live, not have to live to work, and its this imbalance that is taking its toll on society in a bad way.


Kids need quality parent time, and love, and to be shown the meaning of respect and love towards others, but parents are now just too tired and miserable, and always worried about money, that they just not there for their kids. The Tories are closing youth clubs and making cuts to youth services - just to give tax cuts to the rich! It makes me so angry - I've never known a Government as bad as the current shower, who were never elected but are devastating the lives of millions in the UK.


Schools as I said before are only interested in doing what is least likely to get them sued - so is it any wonder that kids get bored?

 

[davetranter]

School Laboratories... R.I.P.

A thought I had just after posting my last comment.... The only reason that this pump (and a lot of other laboratory equipment) was on the market (Newcastle Market, as it happens ;-) ), is that it seems that schools locally are closing their laboratories altogether and selling the equipment. The chap I bought it off said that he had emptied three school labs between Stoke and Stafford (20 miles distant, for those not local) in the last year. How sad is that???

All best (and mourning for Education)

Dave T

P.S. Yes, Tolivac... I agree that we 'should' never stop learning. I know that I still learn new things every day. Quite a few of them have been courtesy of this site and AW.org. I despair of the rising tide of 'don't know, don't care' attitude in many people nowadays, and that's not just 'youngsters'. There seems to be a cancer eating away at our society. :-(

 

[tolivac]

Think another reason labs and shops are leaving schools-think the school systems don't want to be saddled with the liability of these things.But they are needed for "hands on" learning.A book or even a computer program just won't really do.

 

[Anachronism]

Wow! This discussion hits home! When I went through High School in the early '60s we had access to a complete metal working facility, forge, foundry, welding, lathes, mills, shapers...........As stated above, slip & fall lawyers have ended all of that. I doubt that even our trade schools are well enough equipped to provide a good knowlege of basic skills. The U.S. is still clinging to the old English system of measure, and when I mention the Metric system most students only complain about the complex conversion formulas, rather than simply embracing a the more logical decimal system outright. I taught briefly in the '80s, and was incredulous that in a class of Juniors and Seniors none of the students could deal with fractions well enough to read a measuring tape, yet they were terrified of the metric system!

Being a "poster child" for ADHD myself, I struggled with the monotony of having to work pages of practice math problems long after having grasped the concept being taught. I shared a belief with a friend at the time that what I needed to know was how to read, research via a library card catalog, and basic algebra. Geometry became a major asset during my 50+ years as a carpenter/cabinet maker specializing in stair building.

I now demonstrate how things were done "back in the day" when the worker was responsible for watching where he put his hands. I and my accomplice tour living history events and steam tractor shows with a portable line shaft shop and blacksmith forge

 

[davetranter]

The (non-) Education system(s)

Thanks for your input, Anachronism!! I have not the slightest objection to this thread 'drifting' to 'Education' (or, more to the point) the lack of it in schools on both sides of the Atlantic. The education of it's young is perhaps the MOST important investment that ANY society can make... And we are all being 'short changed' in this respect. It seems that our respective governments 'assume' that henceforth all manufacturing will take place overseas, so our children don't need to learn how to do it. It is impossible (as the U.K. government is about to discover) to run an entire economy on 'service' industries. People still need to 'get their hands dirty' in order to make (manufacture) 'new' wealth for the economy. (I hope that makes sense... I'm no economist).

The older term for 'slip and fall' lawyers on this side of the 'pond' was 'Ambulance Chasers', signifying lawyers who were so poor at their job, that this was the only way they could get work.

Our (U.K.) current government promised(!!) us in their election campaign that they would overhaul the legal system to prevent this culture of 'spurious claims'.... We're still waiting, Mr Cameron..... :-(

As far as metric and imperial measurements go, I am at an age where I learned/used both. The metric system is easier to calculate, but I still (and always will) 'think' in feet and inches. ;-) I have a basic conversion chart (fraction - thous - millimetres) and I can look up conversion factors, if needed, that suffices for me.

All best

Dave T

P.S. that's a nice collection of tools there, Anachronism, along with a 'user name' which I envy...

 

[Anachronism]

Dave:

I am a bit disturbed by the economic/social parallels across the "pond". BTW, my mother's parents left England in the 1880s, She from Yorkshire, he from Brighton. My fathers ancestors were run off of the Islands around 400 years ago.

Re: Imperial measure, since most of my tooling is at least 100 years old, I am also rather entrenched in it's use. In addition, screw thread standards following Society of American Engineers specs provide a wider range of options.

As for the User Name, as a youngster I found that discarded/obsolete tools and furnishings were inexpensive, versatile, durable, and generally immune to theft, hence a life-style that has served me well for 67 years.

I suspect the possibility exists for us to share a few more exchanges--

Steve H (Anachronism)

 

[davetranter]

Disappointing results

I have delayed replying for a couple of days, hoping to be able to report on the first 'test-run' of the vacuum pump. Sadly, results have not been too good. I think the oil I have used (not 'proper' vacuum pump oil, which is too expensive for 'mere mortals') is not coping with the high vacuum, and is breaking down. :-(

We seem to have a similar lifestyle/philosophy, Steve, though I did recently treat myself to a NEW lathe/miller, as a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, mainly because I don't have confidence in my ability to correct a century's worth of wear/use/abuse in an older machine. It's good if at least one machine is known to be straight and 'true' ;-)

Nice mower in the 'Garden Machines' thread, too...

As far as fasteners are concerned, Metric are easiest to obtain for new work here, though all others can still be got (even BSW!!).

I'm in the Chesterton/Crackley area, MadaboutHoovers....

All best

Dave T

 

[Anachronism]

Sorry to hear the old pump struggles. I evacuate old gas cylinders prior to cutting & welding using a salvage sulpher dioxide compressor from a 1930s vintage 'frig.

My newest lathe is an Atlas from 1937, but the one most used is an 1890 Acme turret lathe with a 14" swing

 

[Anachronism]

A more inclusive pic of the Acme