Author Archives: jimhannon

Making Acrylic Domes

Posted on October 31, 2021 by jimhannon

This is part of a project to make and improved enclosure for my all sky meteor camera and domes for other instruments that look at the sky. Looking around on the WEB I found some YouTube videos showing making acrylic … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, DIY, environmental monotoring, Machine Shop, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Smoke Ring Generator

Posted on August 21, 2021 by jimhannon

A quick project for the Forth of July. I saw a video of someone making smoke rings online. The device shot a burning ball of fuel into the air that turned into a vortex of black smoke. Searching the web … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, Pyrotechnics | Leave a comment

All Sky Meteor Camera

Posted on January 10, 2021 by jimhannon

A recent addition to my weather station tower is an all sky meteor camera. I purchased this camera from AllSkyCams as a kit. Building the kit saves me a little money and lets me know exactly what I have and … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen science, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Paper Tube Rolling Machine

Posted on October 19, 2020 by jimhannon

An important item to build black powder rocket motors is strong parallel rolled paper tubes. Paper tubes have an number of advantages for rocket motors. They are inexpensive especially if you make them yourself. They are biodegradable and if the … Continue reading →

Posted in Crafts, DIY, Machine Shop, Pyrotechnics, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Testing Paint for Solar Heating

Posted on June 8, 2020 by jimhannon

An upcoming project has an enclosure for electronics that is exposed to sunlight. I wanted to see if silver or white color paint was better at reducing the solar heating in the enclosure. I picked 5 different spray paints to … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, Astronomy, environmental monotoring | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Air Quality Sensor

Posted on July 18, 2019 by jimhannon

An air quality sensor (dust sensor) has been on my todo list for a while. There are a number of sensor modules on the market for the DIYer but all that I had seen seemed to not be suited for … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, citizen science, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Nature, Software | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Telescope Mount Adapter

Posted on June 25, 2019 by jimhannon

The University of Iowa donated the Rigel robotic telescope to the Cedar Amateur Astronomers. Plans are to install this telescope in one of the domes at the observatory. To mount the scope an adapter is needed to connect the scope … Continue reading →

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Biochar Study

Posted on April 18, 2019 by jimhannon

This is a  citizen science activity that I spotted on Scistarter. I keep an eye on the citizen science projects on Scistarter and this one interested me. Scistarter lists a lot of citizen science projects. I had seen a lot … Continue reading →

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Soil Temperature Probe

Posted on April 13, 2019 by jimhannon

A soil temperature probe has been on my todo list for a while. So I decided to build one now along with a number of other improvements, and repairs to my weather station. The soil temperature at four inch depth … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rain Sensor

Posted on January 1, 2019 by jimhannon

I thought it would be interesting to add a rain sensor to my tipping bucket rain gauge. Because it take time for the bucket to fill and does not always tip right when it stops raining a sensor that detects … Continue reading →

Posted in Amateur Science, Astronomy, DIY, Electronics, environmental monotoring, Imbedded Software, Nature, Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment