Flybacks you say?..

A small update, I don't have a picture of it but it's something i'll leave to the imagination at this point. A little bit ago I went to the thrift store and bought a few things that I found randomly. Two fo the things were useful, the third has yet to be determined. One of these things was a larger white modern flyback transformer. I was suprised to see it in this little briefcase with other random electronics. I got it and without even increasing voltage or winding my own primaries around the ferrite I was arcing easily over 1 1/4"

I though it was neat, especially since there's so much potential that it's arcing to the other pins from my connected ground pin. If i really wanted to be creative i could put the two i've got in series, but I don't feel like building another driver circuit. that and I lack the parts, because as soon as I gutted my old soldering job i tossed the board with the rest of the parts I didn't want to bother de-soldering.

Okay, i'm done for now
/bored

Schematic

Okay, so I was asked to put up the circuit I'm using for this. Here's the layout:




That's the initial layout, as you can see it's pretty basic and like i said before it only runs from 12V DC. An addition to this circuit is to add a voltage regulator and filter capacitor before the 555 and a snubber in parallel with the primary of the transformer. That way I could power it up to a larger voltage and a larger output. However, I'm going to be switching things up and since I've got my feet wet with this project I'm going to go a different route ultimately, and here it is:


That circuit will ultimately be a better choice in order to achieve the higher voltage. It'll make for a full wave AC output which can be connected to the voltage multiplier. As an added bonus this circuit is also self oscillating, that means I don't have to worry about tuning it, it automatically find the correct frequency to work properly.

Now to go screw with the transformers I tore out of that T.V.

Shocking! not really but it's a start :)

Okay, so this is my layout pre-soldier, yes it's messy but go to hell the FET's pins don't fit into the proto-board. I replaced the larger resistor (5kish) with a 10k potentiometer so that it's fully tunable, if i wanted to I could utilize this circuit with just about any transformer that I want a half wave signal out of.


Figuring out why I was burning my MOSFET's wasn't hard to figure out, take a look at the sheer size difference between these two.


Yes, that is a large paper clip holding my FET to a copper heatsink from a computer.


After soldering everything together, having a really bad failure. Round 2 ensues and here's the result:


Like the layout? I sure as hell do because I suck ass at board layout, and I cut the crap out of my fingers drilling through that heatsink to mount the FET.


So here's the final layout before I box everything up, the reason I haven't done so is because I can push more out of this flyback although it's not necessary as this is just a test run to experiment. Right now it runs on 12v, I'm thinking I can push it towards at least 18 - 24 volts, the problem is that I need to solder in a voltage regulator and a snubber to reduce the risk of frying everything that is actually sensitive. Once again, not totally necessary for the final project but still a personal goal to get the best out of a small package.


SUCCESS! I hear a whine from the flyback and FET, voila!




Yeah, yeah it's not really impressive. That picture has it at around 1 - 1.5cm. After I took the pictures I tuned the circuit a little and was easily getting over 2cm (remember, this is ONLY AT 12V!).
That candle in the background? Yeah I lit it with the solid plasma arc (low power arc welder ftw)

Also a few things of note:
1. This is using a cheap ass flyback out of a dell monitor I got at IKEA for 10$.
2. After prolonged use I think the heat got to the FET and reduced it's efficiency enough to actually reduce the arc that was produced, if you're making one of these remember that this isn't exactly the most efficient circuit. That's a lot of power being wasted!

I'll post the circuit I used and some neat upcoming things to play with (new transformers I tore from an OLD television set).

Tired eyes

Okay, so yesterday was probably the first day in god knows how long that I've actually sat down and just played a neat game for like 5 hours. I've gotta say, Bioshock is pretty badass. It's not my perfect game or anything, but overall pretty fun. My main reason for hitting it so hardcore is that it's a rental (yay free rentals!) and I'd like to finish it up within the next day or two so that I can return it and cross it off my to-do list. I'll probably give it a full on review after I'm done with it.
I don't know if it makes me feel young or embarassed but the nice older lady in the cube next to me just asked if my background was Power Rangers (wtf?). It's the background recently put up by the fine gentleman at Cad-Online. The one where it's the greek spartans vs. the Halo series spartans. I guess that's what I get when everyone else here at work has pictures of their family up as a background.

Hmm...

So it's been over a year since I last posted on this thing, I really doubt it matters but what the hell, I'll pick it up again. Anyhow, this semester I'm a workin' boy... ohhh goody. It's great not having to worry about being broke over the course of it though. I gotta tell you though, programming in C while sitting at my cubicle is about as fun as hitting my bean bag with a hammer, I can't wait until I get to move into a different area in the summer... yay!

I think I may use this blog as a spot to put up reports and pictures of upcoming projects. I finally decided to grow a pair and order everything I need to create some things I've been waiting to do for a while.

*Currently Playing: BioShock (and loving it)

Me = Tired

Man o' man am I tired this week, it's so goddamn hot! I can't wait until they lay me off, couple more paychecks are coming to me then after this it's friggin party time! well, that and research for summer projects, that and moving into the new place... yay!

Jebus

Yay, we have teh cable internets now! I know it's been like 2 weeks since I've posted. But I honestly didn't think anyone was pulling their hair out to get an update from me. Last night was great, at like 11:00 my buddy calls me and says we're going out to the Alumni Club. I figured it was kind of late to go out, but what the hell.. so I went with. I've never been to the place, but it is in fact a night club, a pretty nice one at that. I have to tell you though, it never ceases to amaze me how creepy some people are at those types of places. There was one guy there last night who just stood at the bar watching all the people dance with the most creepy wide eyed look on his face. It kind of reminded me of the guy who just wants to stab everyone in the face. It's also hilarious to watch girls get freaked out by guys just coming up and grinding on them. You've always got the group of girls dancing with each other and when a guy gets up and danced with one of them, the seemingly "Mother" of the group really angrily shoo's them away, it's funny as hell. Don't get me wrong, I love to dance, but I pretty much danced by myself which is just as fun to me as I have a girlfriend who I would've rather had there to dance with me. I did however, run into some old friends who were celebrating a 21st which was really cool. Alright, this is getting too long. later!