Testing both spectrometer 3.0 and OTK - assembly Beta program

by Tofu | about 9 years ago | 2 | 5

Hi!

First part, assembly of the spectrometer and OTK

Shipping boxes, simple, elegant

I like the idea of a "low cost home spectrometer" so I might get a little overboard here...

OK, so is the kit safe with kids around? A believe yes (But parents need to hide the laser and oils) The only caution is the possible small and sharp DVD pieces Is it easy to let on the side partly assembled? Yes Is it easy to repair? Yes Can it be managed and used on a kitchen table? Yes

What about a rainy delivery of the kit? Can high humidity be a problem for the OTK?

Comments for the written documents - Page numbers for quick reference - To some people, going to step 1,2,3 is easier and also make troubleshooting easier - In the images, the contrast for the edges should be more clear. I tried to assemble the kit with only the content of the boxes but also had to rely on the website - A list of proposed tools for assembly and testing (scissors will be easy to get but not everyone has a CFL) -Bigger and uniform fonts

Straightforward instructions for the DVD, must be added earlier in the text that the edge of the DVD must be oriented

If you have large fingers, it takes a moment to get used to the tape

The only place I find a little fragile on the spectrometer

Again, straightforward

For people not used to large bands of tapes, it could be added to slowly remove backing from the velcro as you apply it

Adjusting the slite with the tip of scissors worked well

The OTK pieces are a little less obvious to figure out as is (With blurry image...)

I knew the v shape piece was too big but it was a good place to try what if someone tried hard to make it fit anyway Well, I think the v shape could be doubled (the m shape also), I know that I will take out the laser and hide it from kids at home, so I believe it should be stronger

Removing the extra 1-2 mm from the v shape piece

I had some trouble with this fold As noted elsewhere, a white mark should be added to help find the openings

What demanded a readjustment is the tape on the back of the camera. After I started calibrating and experiencing with various light sources, moving the usb cable moved the camera slightly. I will look soon into posted solutions

And in all it's glory...

So general feeling after assembly Very satisfactory to build! The spectrometer is more "intuitive" and demanded me less thinking and back and forth between the website, the written instructions and trying figuring it out

The spectrometer has double walls, I believe the OTK should too, since it is as likely to experience light beatings##

The camera could have a more stable place, I will try to place it between two wood sticks (popsicle) or maybe something else

One question I have is if some oil is accidentally in contact with the OTK, could there be a way to wipe it out, change parts, or use materials that won't be affected? Would soap or a specific not too toxic solvent be used?

Thanks!

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Week 2: recap from Oil Testing Kit Beta Program: Assembly and Calibration

by warren | about 9 years ago | 0 | 0

Hi, all - welcome to the Week 2 recap; we just wrapped up the weekly chat and some folks are making great progress (thanks for the above image by @Cindy_ExCites!). Thanks to everyone who showed, and for the great posts we've seen in the past week. Remember to stay up to date by reading the Oil Testing Kit blog:

http://publiclab.org/blog/oil-testing-kit

Assembly

Lots of folks have started or even completed assembly. We discussed if anyone had a "hardest part" or most difficult step; @tofu mentioned that he had to cut the "shelf" for the laser -- and will post later in the day. @Cindy_ExCites also described making relief cuts in the triangular holes for the shelf.

A quick update -- there's an extra piece in your kits, shaped kind of like a space invader, which was added at the end. It's to cover your chamber to reduce ambient light and to protect your eyes, and was added last minute; instructions for it are here: http://publiclab.org/wiki/oil-testing-kit-construction#Assembly

@Cindy_ExCites posted a very thorough note on assembly with lots of suggestions and input:

http://publiclab.org/notes/Cindy_ExCites/10-07-2015/oil-testing-kit-beta-programme-assembly-cuvette-frame

Calibration

If you haven't gotten to calibration yet, you can use the old procedure, which is tried-and-true, or the new procedure, which is potentially higher precision, but still just a prototype.

So for those who've calibrated, was there any confusion about calibration, or any suggested improvements to the instructions?

@tofu has calibrated, and his data is here: https://spectralworkbench.org/spectrums/show2/58780 - it looks good, although a little low-resolution. What kind of light bulb did you use?

Has anyone tried the new calibration system?

So I wanted to highlight this kind of intense discussion going on in the post I put up on the new calibration procedure: http://publiclab.org/notes/warren/09-30-2015/new-wavelength-calibration-procedure-preview-for-spectral-workbench-2-0

Chris has been working to help make the procedure more precise; you won't have to do anything different, but hopefully in the next couple days it'll be really really improved. One interesting point is that Chris is doubting the Wikipedia record of known peaks from a fluorescent lamp: http://publiclab.org/notes/cfastie/10-06-2015/twin-peaks-tb-or-hg

There's some excellent empiricism and skepticism going on :-) and basically, it's been a good opportunity to attempt to link our data to other sources, such as an Ocean Optics device on wikipedia, and the NIST database by the US gov't.

Also, one member, Bill, couldn't make the chat, but said it was all right for me to pass on his update; he may post his own in more depth later in the day:

I have all of the materials I need, mineral oil, isopropyl alcohol ("solvents" easily obtained at the local pharmacy), glass cuvettes, quartz cuvettes, and your cuvettes, to start generating data. My approach will be to run one sample at a time in triplicate with both solvents and all three cuvettes. In addition I'll also run a spectra of each sample using an old analog scanning fluorometer at the same wavelengths as your spectrometer/fluorometer. If you have any additional suggestions please let me know I'll try to include them as well.

I also wanted to point out @liz's post on oil pollution testing at the New York State DEC: http://publiclab.org/notes/liz/10-07-2015/nys-dec-oil-samples -- a process we should look forward to trying to connect with, and maybe do co-testing to compare our results. @liz - what exactly were the tests they do? Fingerprinting? What kinds of evidence have they taken action on?

Next meeting

The next meeting will be one week from today, 1pm ET as usual -- for those of you a bit behind, please try to catch up so we can get to sample preparation, which will be a bit more involved!

Thanks, all! Below is the transcript from the chat. See you next week!

Chat transcript

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Oil testing kit Beta programme - Assembly: cuvette frame

by cindy_excites | about 9 years ago | 0 | 5

Oil testing kit Beta programme - Assembly notes Part 2: cuvette frame

Contributors: @TedF and @cindy_excites

Date 07/Oct/2015

Here we document our experience assembling the cuvette frame and put forth a few humble suggestions.

1) Manila envelope content:

2) The cardboard pieces have pre-creased folds, which are great. However, it was counter-intuitive to fold these inward. In my experience of working with box-making and cardboard cutting in general, I fold so as to expose the pre-creased lines. Yours looks neater but it makes it hard to fold parts, esp. if they are already in place - e.g. the tabs in the V-folded strip once it's been pushed through are a bit harder to fold back against the pre-crease.

3) We were a bit confused about "" the M-folded sheet"... in the end we figured it referred to the shape, not a part name or label!

4) We had a bit of a hard time pushing the laser holder in through the smaller triangular holes so I made tiny incisions:

So that the cardboard could slide through:

5) We were a bit uncertain about what the picture was trying to tell us...

6) ... the rectangular cut in the V-folded strip DIY get caught because we didn't read ahead and it was a pain to get it out again :O

7) We built the vuvette holder from looking at the picture (again, instead of reading ahead...) so then the next picture was confuding. This was because the first picture shows the little cuvette base already folded in:

so we just tried to make it look like in the picture.

8) General comment about assembly:

9) We thought that maybe some pictures like this would help to complement and better understand how to insert the flaps of the cuvette holder:

10) We also used the blade of a cutter to slightly widen the slits, making it easier to push/pull flaps out:

11) Again, we got briefly confused when reading "Now assemble the laser attenuator" because it is at the bottom of the previous picture. This would of course not be a problem when read online.

12) The laser attenuator cardboard has some markings on one side so we were unclear about which side would get folded in... we assumed in the end that because it did not say, it did not matter but it would be best to not have to assume ;)

13) A diagram showing where the attenuator goes would be useful

14) Left over piece?? Maybe belongs elsewhere... (ok - resolved: http://publiclab.org/wiki/oil-testing-kit-construction#Assembly --> it's to cover your chamber to reduce ambient light and to protect your eyes)

15) Final set up:

The elastics are just temporary to correct the buldging box.

This was really fun but it took much longer than we'd anticipated! Thanks for this! Look forward to building the rest.

Other research notes in this series:

Oil testing kit Beta programme - Package content

Oil testing kit Beta programme - Assembly: cuvette frame

Oil testing kit Beta programme - Assembly: spectrometer

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NYS DEC Oil Samples

by liz | about 9 years ago | 0 | 2

New York State Department of Conservation oil samples, from left:

• Bakken Crude (that travels via train to refineries along the Hudson River)
• ConEdison diesel electric fluid
• Motor oil 10w40
• No. 6 Fuel oil (heating oil slowly being phased out by 2030 in NYC)
• No. 4 Fuel oil
• No. 2 Fuel oil
• biodiesel
• diesel fuel
• jet A fuel
• gasoline, regular
• gasoline, premium

June 29, 2015 Oil Spill Workshop with Newtown Creek Alliance and NYDEC

Fantastic presentation by Randall W. Austin, the Chief of the Spill Response Program, Region 2 (NY City), Division of Environmental Remediation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

During this presentation, he covered some very interesting “101” basics for observing water quality issues on surface water that i took written notes on, but for now i will post some of his overview slides on oil issues in NYC and how a spill is handled bureaucratically:

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Oil testing kit Beta programme - Package content

by cindy_excites | about 9 years ago | 1 | 3

Oil testing kit Beta programme - Assembly notes Part 1: content

Contributors: @TedF and @cindy_excites

Date: 07/Oct/2015

Happy to finally dig into this. Packages arrived safely to the UK:

Here is the exciting content of both boxes:

All seems to be in good order:

Other research notes in this series:

Oil testing kit Beta programme - Assembly: cuvette frame

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Oil testing kit Evaluation

by chongyukwai | about 9 years ago | 2 | 0

What I want to do

The destop spectrometer kit and the oil testing kit was set up as below. The slit was using the standard slit provided in the kit

My attempt and results

The laser, the camera is working properly and the substance can produce certain color of fluroscene. However,No spectro data has been produced by this kit. There are several issue for this kit. Firstly there's a alignment problem between the laser and the currette. Therefore, the fluorescence light due to the blue laser was unable to produce. It is recommended that embedding the currette directly to the slit. Secondly, 90 degree fluorescence side light of the organic matter is too weak. It is recommended that forward light(Laser,detector and currette should form a straight line) should be detected instead of side light. Thirdly, spectrum was not produced even the light has been passed through to the camera(don't mention the camera, even the spectrum using naked eye cannot be seen). diffraction grating angle needed to be adjusted.

Questions and next steps

Conclusion: This kit cannot produce a significant result and need to be modified Update on 10/10/2015 Setting modified:

Technical problem:Camera cannot be anchored properly. Therefore, the diffraction grating is not completely on the view of the camera(which blocked some of the image) No spectrum has been produced at this stage even though I am directly spot on Desk Lamp!

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