Spark Gaps and Coherers demonstrated and Measured by CuriousMarc

CuriousMarc provides a good demonstration of how spark transmitters work with coherer detectors.  His measurements are really illuminating.  His device just needed a "tapper" to de-cohere the metallic filings.  We see the tapper in this wonderful "Secret Life" video by Tim Hunkin: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2021/06/remastered-secret-life-of-radio-with.html

Tim Hunkin on Drilling Holes (Secret Life of Components Video)

 I guess that aside from being a great video, this is something of a test of technical nerdy-ism.  If you find this hour long video really interesting, well, you know... 

Really cool stuff from Tim Hunkin: 

-- I liked the angle driller.  Need one. 

-- The placement of the magnets near the hole to catch the shavings was really cool. 

-- Tim's reluctant admission that it is just better to buy new drill bits (as opposed to sharpening old ones) is good advice. 

-- WD-40!  Yea! 

-- Note:  No white "Boffin" coat for Tim.  Just "overalls."  But as I watched I found myself thinking that he could probably have used an armor plate or at least a Kevlar vest amidst all that flying metal. Perhaps a bit more eye protection too...  

-- Fiddley.  A useful tech term.  

--Swarf:  Another useful tech term:  the metallic remnants (shavings) of drilling. 

-- The digi readout on the milling machine looked really useful. 

Finally, I loved the sign that Tim has posted in his workshop:  

SMALL HADRON COLLIDER

Speaker Made from Potato Chip Bag: Tim Hunkin's Solenoid and Electromagnet Video

The potato chip ("crisp") speaker is very cool (I have it cued up here), but the rest of Tim Hunkin's video is also wonderful and worth watching.  (Note:  Posh bags work better as speakers.) 

Thinking of our use of signal relays, I kept wanting Tim to tell viewers to put a diode and a capacitor across the relay terminals to prevent back EMF from frying circuits.  But I guess this is not much of a problem with the arcade games that Tim builds.  

As always, Tim's scrounging and use of discarded parts is really admirable.   

I noticed in the credits that he is dedicating these videos to the memory of his colleague Rex. 

Thanks to Chuck WB9KZY for bringing this video to our attention.  And thanks Tim.