Brainiac75

Embarrassing blooper compilation...

I am not sure why, but when recording my latest video I had an unusually large number of bloopers, fails and questionable decisions.

Could be because it was a new subject for me, a stressful June month with a lot of tight deadlines at my day job and a major sewer project on the street I live on (with drainage pumps and rats on the run keeping me awake at night).

Anyway, for a little laugh, here is a compilation of me not being at my best :)

At the end, I also have an observa...

New King of Magnetic Power? | Electromagnet vs. Neodymium Magnet

Time for a new subject after making videos for over a decade. Well, not really new, since I will test a magnet. Not a permanent magnet, but an electromagnet!

I have bought my first commercial electromagnet and will do some initial tests with it in this video. Including comparing it to a similarly sized neodymium magnet.

This video was extraordinary interesting for me to make. Hope you will find it interesting too!

Bad colors? Part 3: The Expensive Solution

Time for part 3 of my series on bad colors. After not having the wanted success with the filters for my fluorescent studio lights, I unbox and test some new LED studio lights of much higher quality in this video. Are they better?

PRO vs. DIY | Is my laser beam dump any good?

As you know from the unboxing video here on Patreon, I have bought a professional beam dump. I finally found time to properly test it against my homebuilt beam dump.
Will my DIY model fail in the comparison when tested with three of my strongest lasers?

To improve on the homebuilt model, I will even - for the first time - attempt to 3D print my own design: A custom holder for a variable aperture. Found out how it all works out in my latest video.

Bad colors? Part 2: The Cheap Solution

Time for part 2 of my series on bad colors. I let you know what the difference is between the two color profiles used in part 1.
I then explore and try to fix the underlying issue with the colors in a cheap way. Will it work?

Ingenious hybrid lamp sold in a mindless way...

The last two years' pandemic has caused a flood of UVC germicidal lamps. Even a renaissance for an odd light bulb, GTL3, I haven't heard about before and apparently was considered obsolete by the industry.

In this video, I take a closer look at the science behind this hybrid of an incandescent and gas-discharge lamp. Lovely little lamp.

Unfortunately, it is sold online in questionable configurations. One is downright hazardous. Not just because of the UVC light. Let me show you wh...

Bad colors? Part 1: The Poll

This poll relates to the video in my previous post ( https://youtu.be/svKGj7F7xDA ). Watch the video and let me know what color profile, 1 or 2, do you like the most?

Feel free to elaborate on your choice in a comment. In any case, thanks for participating in the poll, giving input to help me decide on how to color my videos!

Bad colors? Part 1: The Video

Time for a little series here on Patreon on the 'color profile' of my videos. This will likely be at least a three part series.

For a start, I am looking for your input in a poll that will be posted right after this one.

Watch the video first and decide whether the clips marked 1 or 2 looks the best to you. Then fill out the poll.

Remember: There are no right and wrong answers. It is your personal preference - on your monitor - I am looking for.

In part 2, I will expla...

Laser color limits data capacity?

Phew. This may be my shortest video in 2022 so far, but it took more time and effort to make than usual. I am neither a graphics designer nor an animator but needed a lot of graphics in this video. While the animations may look simple, they were a challenge to pull off for an amateur like me. Hope you like them :)

The video is about focusing a laser. And how choosing laser color and focal length matters. There are some surprising consequences. One of them, you can tell from watching a r...

Unboxing laser modules for upcoming video

My upcoming video will be on laser focus. It may seem trivial, but it matters in ways people may not be aware of. Like the effects of choosing different laser colors and focal length.

In this video I unbox three laser modules, two of which have the same power output but different lens assemblies. What difference does it make?

And what can a rainbow tell us about focusing light? All answered in my next public video planned for release Sunday, March 27th.

Laser engraver Aufero...

Magnet Mystery | Help me explain it!

Time for the craziest tests with my large magnets so far. Oddly enough in an attempt to explain why I act safer than it appears...

There is a counter-intuitive phenomenon happening on the center of the large magnets that I demonstrate and try to explain.

Did I get the explanation right? I haven't found anyone else going into details with it. Any input on figuring it fully out is appreciated.

200x50 mm magnet in the thumbnail donated earlier by magnetportal.de

The Mini can't display 1 mW?

In my latest public video I tested two laser power meters with strong lasers from 20 to 1500 mW. But what if I test them with a weak laser pointer well under 5 mW? Not as easy as it sounds, since even the heat from my hands can mess with the results...

At the end of the video, I also have a teaser for the upcoming February video. Perhaps my craziest magnet experiment so far? Scheduled for release Sunday, February 27th.

By the way, today is Valentine's Day. I am not a fan of forced...

How bad is this cheap laser power meter?

Time to find out if the unbranded, cheap laser power meter is any good. At $79 including shipping, my expectations were set low. However, if it is better than not having a laser power meter at all, the price is attractive.

In the video, I compare it to the Sanwu Tracer 20W I have used for years and been pleased with. I also touch upon general use of a laser power meter. What happens if I touch the power head's heat sink? And since the cheap one comes with different screen colors: Does i...

Unboxing/preview of affordable laser power meter

I am often asked if there is a cheap laser power meter I can recommend. I have not had a good answer so far.

But through the help from one of my Turkish viewers, I may have found one. I bought it for $79 including shipping. That's dirt cheap for an LPM!
In this video, I unbox and demo the laser power meter.

But is it any good? It is unbranded, just sold under the name 'Pocket Laser Power Meter', Chinese and suspiciously cheap. In the upcoming public video I will test it against...

Radioactive Mushrooms vs. Affordable Gamma Spectrometer | This beats all Geiger counters!

Final video of the year. As mentioned in my previous Patreon video, I learned a lot from making videos in 2021. This final video is no exception.

I take my first steps into the world of gamma spectrometry. And man, do I enjoy it a lot. It is like discovering and learning about radioactivity all over again!

I've always had this need or desire to know 'why'? So having a tool that can tell me not only if something is radioactive, but also why it is radioactive, is just my thing :) 2021-12-31 19:17:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Recap: Videos of 2021

Like last year, I would like to share a short recap of the videos for the year with you. I sum up what I as a creator liked the most about each video. There's also a little sneak peek at the upcoming December video at the end.

Going through the videos I realized how much I have learned during 2021. New skills and solid improvements on old. Hopefully, you learned something too by watching the videos.

2021 was a hard year for me. Not sure how I found the energy and time for it all, ...

Metal in Food and Drinks | Ban incoming!

I am often asked where I get the inspiration for videos from. Well, it can be from anything I experience in my life. In this case it was simply from reading the ingredient list on a piece of candy...

It made me wonder and I ended up researching for metal and metal oxides as food additives. I even found one that is currently allowed but about to get banned.
Find out which one in my video :)

I bought a professional beam dump

In the above video I unbox and assemble a professional (expensive) laser beam dump. May seem like an odd purchase, given I have build one myself and am pleased with its performance. 

But since I have never used a professional one, I don't know how well they perform compared to my home-built one. So I bought one for testing it. Thanks for helping me fund these purchases!

At the end of the video I have a few, makeshift tests. I may be biased and unconsciously root for the one I...

Crazy difference between 5W LASER and 5W LED!

All right. It is time to take a closer look at the laser engraver I unboxed in the last video here on Patreon.

But with a twist: I will compare its laser to an LED lamp. Both are based on blue light diodes and advertised as being around 5 watts.

Sounds similar, right? Let's take a closer look at the crazy difference between them...

By the way, welcome to a lot of new patrons. I use your user names on Patreon in the credit section. Comment on Patreon or send me a message if y...

Have a free guess - laser strength

After you have watched the video in the previous post, I would like to hear your guess on the true strength of the laser in the engraver module.

When tested on my laser power meter - calibrated to 450 nm - how high will it read?

Unboxing my perhaps strongest laser

After a rather boring 2020, I am upgrading heavily on my creative tools in 2021. First a 3D resin printer and now it is time for a laser engraver.

In this video I unbox the Laser Master 2 Pro donated by Ortur. It should potentially feature the strongest laser diode I have ever tested. Having a seriously strong laser may not always make sense or be practical, but in a laser engraver it is a must!

In my next public video, I will use it to clarify on the huge difference between a "5 ...

Mystery of the Demagnetizer | What's inside it? How does it work?

I honestly did not know how the magnetizer/demagnetizer tool worked before starting on this video. The online answers I could find were vague (or just wrong) in explaining how it works.

So I had to do my own investigation and why not document it on video. I show some basic tests and some advanced 3D teslameter measurements. I then open the tool and finally figure it all out through a rendering in the FEMM program.

The animations in this video were unusually tedious for an amateur ...

Upgrading the Teslameter

For my next video, I need to figure out the magnetic field inside two different cavities. In three dimensions and with two possible polarities/directions for each axis it can get difficult to visualize and compare in a video.

Luckily, I have access to a new beta firmware for the F71 teslameter donated by Lake Shore Cryotronics. The new firmware should have just the right function for visualizing it all at once.

In this Patreon exclusive, I update the firmware and show some short d...

Cola is perfect for lowering a laser's power?

I have always been fascinated by strong lasers - the stronger, the better!
But times have changed since my most powerful laser was a <5 mW red laser pointer and I could only dream of owning something stronger.

Now, I have lasers so strong that I prefer to have their power lowered when setting them up or testing for example divergence.

In my new video, I test ideas from my viewers for lowering the power. All of them work, but which one is the best?

The tests will take u...

A good peel with a fail...

I can't tell if people truly like the peeling of a protective film or it's just a 'meme'.

Anyway, I am not going to cheat you for some uncut clips of the massive peeling from the latest main video. Even though I failed badly at it and managed to scratch the cover before the peeling was finished... 

So enjoy the blooper and uncut clips set to relaxing music in this Patreon exclusive video :)

In the next public video I will test some of my viewers ideas on lowering a lase...

Build in 3D using light!

Time for my first steps into the world of 3D printing, where I will explore the science of a fascinating printing technique. A resin printer that uses photons to print ultraprecise.

It feels so futuristic to use light and liquid to print something solid in 3D. And based on your answers in the latest poll, resin printers are still relatively rare compared to the filament 3D printers.

I will show you how the printing proces works in a UV resin printer and do some measurements on the...

Do you have a 3D printer?

In an attempt to get just a little vacation this summer, there will be no bonus video here on Patreon this July. Hope for your understanding.

I am in stead focusing fully on the main video scheduled for release July 31st.
It will feature my very first 3D printer - kindly donated by Anycubic.

I feel like I am late to the party of 3D printing but I may misjudge how many people actually have a 3D printer.

Therefore I would like your answer in the poll below: Do you own a 3D...

Are lasers safer with rechargeable batteries?

Using an ND8 filter on different lasers in the divergence video, I felt like it really didn't lower the power 8 times as specified. To my eyes, the spots looked too bright.

So why not make a video on testing a neutral density filter?

During the filming, I noticed my Dilda laser seemed underpowered and suddenly my focus switched to testing batteries' effect on output power.

Will rechargeable 1.2V Ni-MH batteries lower the output from a cheap eBay laser pointer?

Find out...

Don't throw away anti-theft tags!

After 1½ hours of close to nothing happening in the upload, the servers woke up. Yeah!

Anti-theft tags contain some incredible science despite their low value. I will focus on their magnetism in this video, since the foil strips inside them are highly magnetic.

The combination of being low-weight and ferromagnetic makes them amazing to handle near a powerful magnet. Time for some new magnetic experiences - including a three-pole magnetic strip?

Next public video should be r...

While we wait for YouTube's servers...

Finally finished the exclusive video for June, but the upload is only averaging 100 Kbps on my 500/500 Mbps connection...
Something is up with YouTube's servers - other websites are working fine on my laptop. At this rate it will take 160 000 hours to upload the 2 GB video?!?

I will try to upload it later. The video features something 'worthless' you may have thrown away many times without realizing what it can be used for.
While we wait, I have a question for you relating to my ...