JHCC Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 My friend Paul works at NASA, where he is part of a team building a highly sensitive instrument to measure the background radiation of the Big Bang (or something like that; it’s way over my head). He posted on Facebook yesterday with an interesting problem they faced and the solution that he came up with: ”We need non-magnetic conical spring lock washers to use at the connection between the thermal strap and the detector package. The detector readout circuit is one of the most sensitive magnetic field meters in existence, able to measure one 100 billionth of a single quantum of a magnetic field. (it’s a ratio measurement.) So I quickly made some conical spring lock washers out of spring temper phosphor bronze. As far as I know, these are not available from any vendor.” Cool, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 More blacksmith made junk going into space... But was it made to the required hundreds of thousand of an inch specs ?! Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 The core of the detector package is an array of several miles of 3 micron copper wire wrapped around a square frame. Paul helped program the CNC machine that did the wrapping, since the wires had to be put in exactly the right places while keeping exactly the right tension (too little, and it would sag; too much, and it would snap). This is a long way of saying that whatever spec Paul made the washers to was surely exactly the right one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 When it gets down to brass tacks, the right spech is the one that gets the job done. Your man Paul is “tha man” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 A real-life wizard. Looks like it, too: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 And not a pocket protector in sight My kind of nerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 Cool story John, it's the kind of creative problem solving NASA lost when decisions started being made by administrators and politicians. Paul looks like a modern day Genie, rub the computer case and pose your question or problem. Everybody needs a blacksmith. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 13, 2018 Author Share Posted May 13, 2018 I’m trying to get him to come join me in the forge if/when he comes to our next reunion (we were classmates at the college where I now work). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 8 hours ago, JHCC said: I’m trying to get him to come join me in the forge if/when he comes to our next reunion (we were classmates at the college where I now work). If I rub my laptop will he sign up on Iforge? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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